Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms refer to a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal Prime Minister William E . Gladstone . Gladstone paid little attention to military affairs but he was keen on efficiency . In 1870 he pushed through Parliament major changes in Army organization . Germany ' s stunning triumph over France proved that the Prussian system of professional soldiers with up - to - date weapons was far superior to the traditional system of gentlemen - soldiers that Britain used . The reforms were not radical – they had been brewing for years and Gladstone seized the moment to enact them . The goal was to centralize the power of the War Office , abolish purchase of officers ' commissions , and to create reserve forces stationed in Britain by establishing short terms of service for enlisted men . Background . The starting point was a Royal Commission in 1858 , established in the aftermath of the Crimean War , under Jonathan Peel , then Secretary of State for War . In addition to the obvious instances of incompetence and maladministration which had been revealed , it was evident that the provision of an army of only 25 , 000 in the Crimea had stripped Britain of almost every trained soldier . The lesson was reinforced by the Indian Mutiny , which once again required almost the entire usable British Army to suppress . The Commission reported in 1862 , but few of its lessons were immediately implemented . The main obstacle had been objections by the defunct British East India Company and its executors , who wished to maintain their own military establishment , and by the " die - hards " , senior officers who opposed almost any reform on principle . The arch - conservatives among the Army ' s officers were led by the Commander - in - Chief of the Forces , Prince George , Duke of Cambridge , who was Queen Victoria ' s cousin , and : " . . . almost the last of the typically Hanoverian characters thrown up by the English ruling dynasty , and derived his ideas on drill and discipline from Butcher Cumberland and the Prussian school of Frederick the Great . " On August 2 , 1870 Parliament voted for 20 , 000 additional men for the army and two million pounds on a vote of credit . This was followed by one of the most successful military pamphlets to appear in all Victorian England , " The Battle of Dorking " , written by Colonel ( later General ) Sir George Chesney , head of the Indian Civil Engineering College . This work raised the idea that , despite the acts of Parliament during the previous year in regard to the military , Britain faced the possibility of a German invasion . Edward Cardwell , protégé of William Ewart Gladstone and Secretary of State for War since 1868 , was determined not merely to update the British military but to reform it as well . Both were to be an uphill battle , but the need was great . Even the hard lessons of the Crimea had , by this time , been dismissed , ignored , or forgotten , leaving critical needs unmet . As British historican R . C . K . Ensor wrote about that era : " If . . . [ no ] criticism had made headway , it was that England had no notion of the art of war . British officers were expected to be gentlemen and sportsmen ; but outside the barrack - yard they were . . . ' entirely wanting in military knowledge ' . The lack of it was deemed no drawback , since Marlborough ' s and Wellington ' s officers got along without it . Only the rise of the Prussian military . . . availed to shake this complacency . " First reforms . Cardwell set about with three initial reforms : Army Enlistment Act . As his first major legislative step towards military reform , Cardwell introduced the Army Enlistment ( Short Service ) Act 1870 , which reached the floor of the House of Commons in late spring , 1870 . From the end of the Napoleonic Wars until 1847 , men were enlisted for twenty - one years , practically for life ( the 7 year short service option available during the wars ended when the wars did ) . Together with the continued existence of flogging , it had given the army its character of a near prison . A shortfall in Army numbers had resulted in the Time of Service in the Army Act 1847 , under which enlistment was for ten years , later increased to twelve ; but this was still too long . On completion of their enlistment , soldiers had the choice between accepting discharge without pension or signing on for a further ten - or twelve - year term . If they chose the latter they would be rewarded with two months furlough , another enlistment bounty , and a pension on completion of their term . After many years with no trade other than that of soldiering , more than half of all discharged soldiers chose to re - enlist immediately . Of those who took a voluntary discharge , fully one in five signed on again within six months . The Army ' s existing system of enlistment therefore produced an army of experienced or even veteran soldiers , but no class of reserves which could be recalled to serve in case of a national emergency . The lesson of the Franco - Prussian war was the absolute necessity of a trustworthy army reserve of well trained men in good health and vigour . Almost every British soldier served more than half his enlistment abroad , most often in tropical climates such as India . After returning to Britain their physique was seldom good . Cardwell therefore brought before Parliament the idea of " short service " . The Act of 1870 allowed a soldier to choose to spend time in the reserves rather than the regulars and be paid fourpence a day , in return for a short period of training each year and an obligation to serve when called up . Men now enlisted for a maximum term of twelve years , but usually for six . The minimum length of service varied , but on discharge a soldier would now remain with the reserves for the remainder of the twelve - year term . There was opposition to short - term enlistment both in Parliament and among the Army ' s senior officers . The Queen is said to have signed the Act into Law " most reluctantly " , but the system worked , producing an immediate increase in the army ' s strength . Localisation scheme . Cardwell then passed the comprehensive Regulation of the Forces Act 1871 . Previously , soldiers had enlisted for General Service , and were liable to be drafted into any regiment regardless of their own preferences , another factor which had made service harsh and unpopular . It had been recognised as early as 1829 by Lord Palmerston that : " . . . there is a great disinclination on the part of the lower orders to enlist for general service ; they like to know that they are to be in a certain regiment , connected , perhaps , with their own county , and their own friends , and with officers who have established a connection with that district . There is a preference frequently on the part of the people for one regiment as opposed to another , and I should think there would be found a great disinclination in men to enlist for general service , and to be liable to be drafted and sent to any corps or station . " Nevertheless , the Army had insisted for years that it could be administered only on the basis of General Service . Under Cardwell ' s localisation scheme , the country was divided into 66 Brigade Districts ( later renamed Regimental Districts ) , based on county boundaries and population density . All line infantry regiment s would now consist of two battalion s , sharing a depot and associated recruiting area . One battalion would serve overseas , while the other was stationed at home for training . The militia of that area then ( usually ) became the third battalion . The senior twenty - five regiments of the line already consisted of two battalions , but almost all the higher - numbered regiments had only one battalion . Many regiments were amalgamated to produce two - battalion regiments , a complicated internal process involving much debate over regimental traditions and seniority which was not finally completed until the ensuing Childers Reforms . Nevertheless , Cardwell ' s measures quickly produced far more cohesive and homogenous units . Other reforms . In addition to his two major pieces of legislation , Cardwell also introduced a number of reforms through Orders in Council or other Statutory Instrument s . Cardwell also reformed the administration of the War Office , preventing infighting and bickering between the various departments and abolishing the separate administration of the Reserves and Volunteers . The defence policy of Canada , Australia and New Zealand was devolved to those dominions , and several small garrisons were replaced by locally - raised units . These reforms started to turn British forces into an effective Imperial force . A change of government put Cardwell out of office in 1874 , but his reforms stayed in place despite attempts from the Regular Army to abolish them and return to the comfortable and familiar old post - 1815 situation .