ABSTRACT
The century began with British forces fighting a frustrating and unsatisfactory war in South Africa. The war itself went through various phases, revealing, in its earlier and more conventional stages, inadequacies and shortcomings in British strategy and weaponry. Even so, by 1901, many observers thought that a British victory was in sight. However, the guerrilla tactics employed by the Afrikaners ensured that this was far from being the case. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) did get away to the Continent within a fortnight. When it fitted snugly alongside the superior Belgian and French forces it was only a couple of divisions short a feat of organization. It soon found itself in action in Belgium against the advancing Germans and soon found itself in retreat. In March 1918, during the German spring offensive, the Royal Air Force (RAF) was formed. It was a controversial testimony to the very rapid development in the use of aircraft during the war.
