From 1948 to 1963 (which is when the very last left the forces) Britain had National Service. Two years in the forces and damn near everyone was in the Army. It’s the only period of peacetime conscription we’ve ever had. It was also the only period of near universal conscription we’ve ever had. Public schoolboys generally became officers, a portion of grammar school lads too. Everyone else got to be a private.
The big social revolution started in the mid-1960s and had really taken root by 1980. I don’t mean drugs and shagging around I mean a proper social revolution. The British working classes no longer took what they were being told by the poshoes as being true. Questions, as we might put it, were being asked.
My theory, backed up by reality and all the obvious facts of the case, is that as all young men had spent two years being run by the poshoes up front and directly therefore no one believed the poshoes any more. Actual experience, see?
National Service led to the downfall of the posh classes. Simply because direct exposure to said posh was always going to do that.
This is not just a jeu d’esprit. I really do insist that Britain’s social revolution was driven by conscription. Being told to jump by some chinless 6 months out of Eton is going to do that.
Tim Worstall, “National Service Led To The Uppity Proles Of the 1960s”, It’s all obvious or trivial except …, 2025-10-14.
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[…] MAYBE BUT IT’S STILL A TERRIBLE WAY TO BUILD AN ARMY: Another unintended consequence of conscription. […]
Pingback by Instapundit » Blog Archive » MAYBE BUT IT’S STILL A TERRIBLE WAY TO BUILD AN ARMY: Another unintended consequence of conscript — January 17, 2026 @ 04:00
It appears that Starmer is floating the idea of raising the max age of recall to active duty for the Army to 65, as he threatens to more directly involve Britain in the Ukrainian corruption military action, and keeps beating the “let’s you and him fight” drum trying to get the US more directly involved there.
Comment by John in Indy — January 17, 2026 @ 19:44