The British Expeditionary Army was created after the Boer War, in case it was
necessary to take part in war overseas. With the Entente Cordialle Britain would
help France in case of a German attack, and the BEF was created to ensure that
British forces would be trained and ready to respond quickly. It consisted of
six infantry divisions and one
cavalry division.
At the outbreak of the First World War Lord Kitchener was appointed war minister
and immediately began a campaign for the recruitment of regular troops.
At this time Britain had 247,432 regular army troops, which consisted of about
120,000 British Expeditionary Army troops, while the rest were stationed abroad.
Soldiers were stationed all across the British Empire except for Australia,
New Zealand and Canada.
The recruitment campaign was initially very successful and created serious equipment
and training problems which continued until 1916, when over 2.6 million men
had volunteered. In January 1916 Military leaders insisted that more men were
needed and so the controversial Military Service Act was passed by Parliament.
The British Army had 1.6 million men wounded during the First World War. Approximately 662,000 were killed and another 140,000 were recorded as missing, presumed dead.