{"slug": "british-army", "label": "British Army", "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army", "wikidata": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q222595", "qid": "Q222595", "description": "United Kingdom military land warfare branch of the British Armed Forces", "entries": 44, "years": 38, "span": [1537, 2013], "span_label": ["1537 CE", "2013 CE"], "topics": [{"title": "Conflict & Security", "count": 32}, {"title": "Technology & Infrastructure", "count": 3}, {"title": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "count": 3}, {"title": "Culture & Society", "count": 2}, {"title": "Births", "count": 1}, {"title": "Science & Discovery", "count": 1}, {"title": "Health & Medicine", "count": 1}, {"title": "Deaths", "count": 1}], "also_known_as": ["British army"], "related": [{"slug": "provisional-irish-republican-army", "label": "Provisional Irish Republican Army", "shared": 4}, {"slug": "dublin", "label": "Dublin", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "boers", "label": "Boers", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "anglo-ashanti-wars", "label": "Anglo-Ashanti wars", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "london", "label": "London", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "india", "label": "India", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "ottoman-empire", "label": "Ottoman Empire", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "uskudar", "label": "Üsküdar", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "ireland", "label": "Ireland", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "december", "label": "December", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "afghanistan", "label": "Afghanistan", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "punjab", "label": "Punjab", "shared": 1}], "items": [{"year": 1537, "year_label": "1537 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "August 25", "text": "August 25 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1362632656#July–September", "title": "1537", "revid": 1362632656, "section": "Events › July–September"}}, {"year": 1717, "year_label": "1717 CE", "section": "Technology & Infrastructure", "date": null, "text": "The Board of Ordnance establishes an Officer Corps of Engineers within the British Army, the immediate predecessor of the Royal Engineers.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1320245148#Events", "title": "1717 in Great Britain", "revid": 1320245148, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1722, "year_label": "1722 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The \"Brown Bess\" muzzle-loading smoothbore musket becomes the British Army's standard infantry firearm for land combat for more than a century.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1365128046#Date_unknown", "title": "1722", "revid": 1365128046, "section": "Events › Date unknown"}}, {"year": 1741, "year_label": "1741 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "May 21", "text": "May 21 – War of the Austrian Succession: King George II of Great Britain orders the British Army to prepare for an invasion of Prussia to defend his Electorate of Hanover.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1360183595#April–June", "title": "1741", "revid": 1360183595, "section": "Events › April–June"}}, {"year": 1756, "year_label": "1756 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "June 20", "text": "June 20 – A garrison of the British Army in India is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1349937992#April–June", "title": "1756", "revid": 1349937992, "section": "Events › April–June"}}, {"year": 1761, "year_label": "1761 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "August 29", "text": "August 29 – Cherokee chief Attakullakulla and British Army officer Major James Grant meet at Fort Prince George in the Province of South Carolina and begin negotiations to end the Anglo-Cherokee War.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369831762#July–September", "title": "1761", "revid": 1369831762, "section": "Events › July–September"}}, {"year": 1777, "year_label": "1777 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "April 27", "text": "April 27 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Ridgefield: The British Army defeats Patriot militias, galvanizing resistance in the Connecticut Colony.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1349829024#April–June", "title": "1777", "revid": 1349829024, "section": "Events › April–June"}}, {"year": 1794, "year_label": "1794 CE", "section": "Culture & Society", "date": null, "text": "The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry, a British Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment, is formed by the Earl of Cassillis at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1362801189#Date_unknown", "title": "1794", "revid": 1362801189, "section": "Events › Date unknown"}}, {"year": 1795, "year_label": "1795 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "April", "text": "April – the British Army is evacuated from Bremen, having been unsuccessful in the Flanders Campaign under Prince Frederick, Duke of York.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1360242725#Events", "title": "1795 in Great Britain", "revid": 1360242725, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1798, "year_label": "1798 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry, a British Army Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment, formed by The Earl of Cassillis at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire in 1794, is adopted onto the British Army List.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1366050846#Date_unknown", "title": "1798", "revid": 1366050846, "section": "Events › Date unknown"}}, {"year": 1815, "year_label": "1815 CE", "section": "Births", "date": "March 9", "text": "9 March – Richard Kelly, 82, British Army officer", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340406382#Births", "title": "1815 in Sri Lanka", "revid": 1340406382, "section": "Births"}}, {"year": 1834, "year_label": "1834 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "December 18", "text": "18 December – Tithe War: \"Rathcormac massacre\": At Gortroe, near Rathcormac, County Cork, armed Constabulary reinforced by the regular British Army kill at least nine and wound thirty protesters.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1328405380#Events", "title": "1834 in Ireland", "revid": 1328405380, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1834, "year_label": "1834 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "December 18", "text": "18 December – Tithe War in Ireland: \"Rathcormac massacre\": At Gortroe, near Rathcormac, County Cork, armed Constabulary reinforced by the regular British Army kill at least nine and wound thirty protesters against tithes.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1351257264#Events", "title": "1834 in the United Kingdom", "revid": 1351257264, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1838, "year_label": "1838 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "December", "text": "December – First Anglo-Afghan War: British and Presidency armies set out from Punjab in support of Shah Shujah Durrani's claim to the throne of Afghanistan.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1360381946#October–December", "title": "1838", "revid": 1360381946, "section": "Events › October–December"}}, {"year": 1842, "year_label": "1842 CE", "section": "Science & Discovery", "date": null, "text": "New pattern musket with percussion cap produced to replace the flintlock in the British Army.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1342718689#Undated", "title": "1842 in the United Kingdom", "revid": 1342718689, "section": "Events › Undated"}}, {"year": 1842, "year_label": "1842 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "June 4", "text": "4 June – In South Africa, hunter Dick King rides into the British military base in Grahamstown to warn that Boers have besieged Durban. He had set out eleven days earlier. The British Army dispatches a relief force.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1342718689#Events", "title": "1842 in the United Kingdom", "revid": 1342718689, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1847, "year_label": "1847 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "April 16", "text": "April 16 – New Zealand Wars: A minor Māori chief is accidentally shot by a junior British Army officer in Whanganui on New Zealand's North Island, triggering the Wanganui Campaign (which continues until July 23).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1362575777#April–June", "title": "1847", "revid": 1362575777, "section": "Events › April–June"}}, {"year": 1852, "year_label": "1852 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "January 5", "text": "5 January – the troopship HMS Birkenhead boards British Army recruits at Queenstown. It has insufficient lifeboats.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1363475327#Events", "title": "1852 in Ireland", "revid": 1363475327, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1854, "year_label": "1854 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Florence Nightingale and her team of 38 trained volunteer nurses, having set out on October 21 from England, arrive at Selimiye Barracks in Scutari in the Ottoman Empire, to care for British Army troops wounded in the Crimean War.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1362496011#October–December", "title": "1854", "revid": 1362496011, "section": "Events › October–December"}}, {"year": 1871, "year_label": "1871 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "November 11", "text": "November 11 – The last of the British Army leaves Canada", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1349957855#July_to_December", "title": "1871 in Canada", "revid": 1349957855, "section": "Events › July to December"}}, {"year": 1877, "year_label": "1877 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "February 17", "text": "February 17 – Major General Charles George Gordon of the British Army is appointed Governor-General of the Sudan.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370239819#February", "title": "1877", "revid": 1370239819, "section": "Events › February"}}, {"year": 1881, "year_label": "1881 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "July 1", "text": "July 1 – General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell–Childers reforms of the British Army's organization, comes into effect.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369747876#July", "title": "1881", "revid": 1369747876, "section": "Events › July"}}, {"year": 1881, "year_label": "1881 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "July 1", "text": "1 July – formation, under the Childers Reforms of the British Army, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), Gordon Highlanders, Highland Light Infantry and Seaforth Highlanders.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1362254765#Events", "title": "1881 in Scotland", "revid": 1362254765, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1896, "year_label": "1896 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "January", "text": "January – Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War: British redcoats enter the Ashanti capital, Kumasi, and Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I is deposed.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1298461778#Events", "title": "1896 in the United Kingdom", "revid": 1298461778, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1896, "year_label": "1896 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "January 17", "text": "January 17 – Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War: British redcoats enter the Ashanti capital, Kumasi, and Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I is deposed.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364785538#January", "title": "1896", "revid": 1364785538, "section": "Events › January"}}, {"year": 1899, "year_label": "1899 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "April 14", "text": "April 14 – British Army troops in Hong Kong attack the Walled City of Kowloon, based on intelligence that Chinese Imperial Army troops have been stationed behind the walls to subvert Britain's 1898 lease.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371393177#April", "title": "1899", "revid": 1371393177, "section": "Events › April"}}, {"year": 1899, "year_label": "1899 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "October 20", "text": "October 20 – In the first major clash of the Second Boer War, the Battle of Talana Hill, the British Army drives the Boers from a hilltop position, but with heavy casualties, including their commanding general Sir Penn Symons.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371393177#October", "title": "1899", "revid": 1371393177, "section": "Events › October"}}, {"year": 1900, "year_label": "1900 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "January 24", "text": "January 24 – Second Boer War: Battle of Spion Kop – Boer troops defeat the British Army.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373317536#January", "title": "1900", "revid": 1373317536, "section": "Events › January"}}, {"year": 1902, "year_label": "1902 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "March 7", "text": "March 7 – Second Boer War: Battle of Tweebosch – South African Boers win their last battle over the British Army, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373318639#March", "title": "1902", "revid": 1373318639, "section": "Events › March"}}, {"year": 1914, "year_label": "1914 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "July 26", "text": "July 26 – Howth gun-running: former British civil servant and novelist Erskine Childers and his wife Molly sail into Howth in Ireland and land 2,500 guns for the nationalist Irish Volunteers from a German dealer. British Army troops of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, returning to Dublin having been called out to assist police in attempting to prevent the Volunteers from moving the arms to the city, perpetrate the Bachelor's Walk massacre, firing on a crowd of protestors at Bachelors Walk, killing three; a fourth man dies later from bayonet wounds and more than 37 others are injured.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373518346#July", "title": "1914", "revid": 1373518346, "section": "Events › July"}}, {"year": 1915, "year_label": "1915 CE", "section": "Technology & Infrastructure", "date": "September 6", "text": "September 6 – The prototype military tank is first tested by the British Army.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373518749#September", "title": "1915", "revid": 1373518749, "section": "Events › September"}}, {"year": 1916, "year_label": "1916 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "April 24", "text": "April 24–30 – The Easter Rising occurs in Ireland. Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood proclaim an Irish Republic, and the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army occupy the General Post Office and other buildings in Dublin, before surrendering to the British Army. A total of 485 Irish Volunteers, British soldiers and Irish civilians were killed as well as 2,200 wounded and 16 rebel leaders would be executed.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373519106#April", "title": "1916", "revid": 1373519106, "section": "Events › April"}}, {"year": 1918, "year_label": "1918 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "September 19", "text": "September 19 – The British Army's Egyptian Expeditionary Force launches the Battle of Megiddo, incorporating the Battle of Sharon, and the Battle of Nablus, an attack in the Judaean Mountains. This day are fought the Battle of Tulkarm, and the Battle of Arara, which break the Ottoman front line stretching from the Mediterranean coast to the Judaean Mountains, while the Battle of Tabsor extends into September 20.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373520023#September", "title": "1918", "revid": 1373520023, "section": "Events › September"}}, {"year": 1919, "year_label": "1919 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "May 27", "text": "May 27 – Siege of Spin Boldak (Third Anglo-Afghan War). This is the last time the British Army uses an escalade.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373508849#May", "title": "1919", "revid": 1373508849, "section": "Events › May"}}, {"year": 1920, "year_label": "1920 CE", "section": "Culture & Society", "date": "March 29", "text": "March 29 – Sir William Robertson is promoted to Field Marshal, the first man to rise from private (enlisted 1877) to the highest rank in the British Army.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369258210#March", "title": "1920", "revid": 1369258210, "section": "Events › March"}}, {"year": 1921, "year_label": "1921 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "May 25", "text": "May 25 – Irish War of Independence: The Irish Republican Army occupies and burns The Custom House in Dublin, the centre of local government in Ireland. Five IRA men are killed, and over 80 are captured by the British Army which surrounds the building.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371086035#May", "title": "1921", "revid": 1371086035, "section": "Events › May"}}, {"year": 1921, "year_label": "1921 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "July 11", "text": "July 11 – The Irish War of Independence ends under the terms of the truce (signed on 9 July) which becomes effective at noon between the British Army and the Irish Republican Army.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371086035#July", "title": "1921", "revid": 1371086035, "section": "Events › July"}}, {"year": 1922, "year_label": "1922 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "June 4", "text": "4 June - The British Army recaptures Belleek, County Fermanagh, from the Irish Republican Army.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1260182104#Events", "title": "1922 in Northern Ireland", "revid": 1260182104, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1956, "year_label": "1956 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "December 12", "text": "12 December – The Irish Republican Army launches its Border Campaign with the bombing of a BBC relay transmitter in County Londonderry, burning of a courthouse in Magherafelt by a unit led by 18-year-old Seamus Costello and of an Ulster Special Constabulary post near Newry and blowing up of a half-built British Army barracks at Enniskillen. A raid on Gough Barracks in Armagh is beaten off after a brief exchange of fire.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1297300903#Events", "title": "1956 in Northern Ireland", "revid": 1297300903, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1978, "year_label": "1978 CE", "section": "Health & Medicine", "date": "June 21", "text": "21 June – An outbreak of shooting between Provisional IRA members and the British Army leaves one civilian and three IRA men dead.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364589374#Events", "title": "1978 in Northern Ireland", "revid": 1364589374, "section": "Events"}}, {"year": 1987, "year_label": "1987 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "May 8", "text": "May 8 – Loughgall ambush: A 24-man unit of the British Army Special Air Service (SAS) ambushed eight members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) as they mounted an attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) barracks. All IRA members were killed as well as one civilian.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372769014#May", "title": "1987", "revid": 1372769014, "section": "Events › May"}}, {"year": 1988, "year_label": "1988 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "March 6", "text": "March 6 – Operation Flavius: A Special Air Service team of the British Army shoots dead 3 unarmed members of a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) Active service unit in Gibraltar.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373532411#March", "title": "1988", "revid": 1373532411, "section": "Events › March"}}, {"year": 1990, "year_label": "1990 CE", "section": "Technology & Infrastructure", "date": "June 1", "text": "June 1 – Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army shoot and kill Major Michael Dillon-Lee and Private William Robert Davies of the British Army. Dillon-Lee is killed outside his home in Dortmund, Germany and Davies is killed at a railway station in Lichfield, England.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1366571855#June", "title": "1990", "revid": 1366571855, "section": "Events › June"}}, {"year": 2013, "year_label": "2013 CE", "section": "Deaths", "date": "May 22", "text": "May 22 – Off-duty British Army soldier Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers is murdered in Woolwich, southeast London, by Islamic terrorists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373160550#May", "title": "2013", "revid": 1373160550, "section": "Events › May"}}]}