ABSTRACT
The creation of a General Staff in the decade before the First World War belatedly crowned the edifice for which the Staff College had long provided a foundation. Financial opposition also goes far to explain the slow development of the Intelligence Department which, before 1904, constituted an inadequate substitute for a General Staff. The fundamental assumption was that the War Office should be reconstituted with a view to the effective training and preparation of the military forces for war, and not administered as hitherto from the point of view of peace. No measure of reform would avail unless provision was made for providing the Cabinet with all the information and expert advice required for shaping national policy in war, and for determining necessary preparations in peace. The first military member would be entitled Chief of the General Staff and would be responsible for all aspects of military policy.
