'very thorough monograph on the politics of national conscription' Times Higher Educational Supplement
'Dr Scott thoroughly understands the political, strategic and economic difficulties involved in post-war conscription and how these difficulties were intertwined. Conscription and the Attlee Governments is a wholly admirable work, properly founded on original sources.' Times Literary Supplement
'This is the first detailed study of conscription under the immediate post-war Labour administration ... The story is a fascinating one.' Bob Wyatt, The Bulletin of the Military Historical Society, Volume 44, No. 176, May 1994
`...meticulous detail...Scott tells his story in an orderly way...the book gives an exact sense of politicians at work, in a world of high politics where voters and even back-benchers only matter if they intrude.' Parliamentary History
`any student of the postwar years will find much of interest and value in it.' Albion
`Although Scott offers few surprises, he shows unusual analytical balance: as a lecturer in international relations who once worked for Denis Healey he handles external and domestic influences with equal assurance.' English Historical Review
Product Description
In the years immediately following the Second World War, Britain peacetime conscription was practiced for the first time. L.V. Scott examines the military thinking regarding conscription, showing how the 1947 National Service Act came to be regarded by the military as deficient and expensive. The demands of conscription retarded the development of an efficient post-war regular army. Scott explores the policies of both Labour and Conservative parties, tracing the process by which Labour, previously bitterly opposed to conscription, came to pass the 1947 Act. His book is a valuable analysis of an important political question and of changing assumptions about British defense priorities in the pivotal post-war years.
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