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The book is a sequal to Julian Paget’s The Story of the Guards, starting in 1969 where that book finished. This book covers a period that has seen a great deal of change for the Guards, especially after the end of the Cold War with its resulting defence cuts and repeated restructures of the army. The book starts with the first of those changes – the merger of the Royal Horse Guards and the Royal Dragoons to form the Blues and Royals. Since then the remaining seven Household regiments have survived, although are generally smaller than in 1969.
In the period covered in this book the Guards have taken part in just about every significant British military engagement – most notably Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the first and second Gulf Wars and the campaigns in Afghanistan, as well as forming part of the British Army of the Rhine during the Cold War. We thus get a cross-section of British military history of this period.
You can tell that both authors served in the Guards – for an impressive 33 years in the case of Doughty. One theme of the book is a look at what makes the Guards special, starting from the assumption that they are. Their conclusions are that the attention to detail needed for their ceremonial role plays a part in improving their war fighting abilities (although that some in the Army high command believe the opposite) while their high level of discipline makes them well suited to conflicts where firmness and restraint must be combined – Northern Ireland or the later campaigns in Afghanistan come to mind. The result is a good history of the Household Division, although one written very much from the insider’s point of view, so don’t expect any significant criticisms of their performance.
One irony of this period is that the end of the Cold War, and the resulting demand for a ‘peace dividend’ as the threat of a massive war in Europe faded, was followed almost immediately by the First Gulf War and fighting in the Balkans, signs that the post Cold War world wasn’t going to be as peaceful as expected. However the bulk of the combat experience for the Guards came in the last twenty years, with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which followed the same pattern – early success against the incumbent government, a mis-handled aftermath, rising insurgency and eventual western retreat (although at the time of writing this review Iraq is still a parliamentary republic, so some success can be claimed there).
One unusual feature of this book compared to similar regimental or divisional histories is that we get a fascinating chapter on their ceremonial role, made more relevant by the recent funerals of Queen Elizabeth II and coronation of King Charles III, two massive public events in which the Guards played a major role.
Chapters
1 – Setting the Scene: The Guards, 1969-2023
2 – Commendable Restraint: The Troubles, 1969-2007
3 – National Renewal: The Falklands Campaign, April-June 1982
4 – The Household Division in Germany: The British Army’s latter Day ‘Raj’, 1969-2008
5 – Disengaging from Britain’s Far-flung Battle Line
6 – Pomp and Circumstance: Ceremony and Drill
7 – Cold War, Hot War and Options for Change, 1990-92
8 – The Guards Depot: Septum juncta in uno
9 – The Household Division in the Balkans, 1993-2007
10 – Iraq and Afghanistan, 2003-21: A Strategic and Political Failure?
11 – Afghanistan, Operation Herrick, 2006-14
Epilogue: Op Shader in Iraq and the Beat of the Drum
Author: Paul de Zulueta and Simon Doughty
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2024