Concerns about Britain’s military readiness are intensifying amid warnings that the country’s armed forces are smaller than at any point in modern history.
As global instability increases, questions are resurfacing about whether voluntary service alone can meet future threats.

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According to The Express, senior defence figures say the size of the Army now risks becoming a strategic vulnerability.

Shrinking forces

Britain’s Army is currently the smallest it has been since the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, defence commentators have warned.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton recently described the global security environment as “more dangerous than I have known during my career”.

Although he stopped short of advocating conscription, his remarks that Britain’s “sons and daughters” must be ready to fight have reignited debate.
Critics argue that falling troop numbers leave ministers with limited long-term options.

Official figures show that between the end of National Service in 1960 and 2025, the number of regular troops fell by around 74%.

Conscription past

The UK has only introduced conscription twice in its history, during the First World War from 1916 to 1920 and again from 1939 until 1960.
Military historians note that national service was brought in only when the country faced an existential threat.

Britain currently has about 141,300 full-time troops, a figure dwarfed by Russia’s force of more than one million.

The UK spends an estimated 2.4% of national income on defence, compared with more than 7% allocated by Moscow.

Several European nations, including Germany and France, have recently reintroduced conscription to address manpower shortages.

Stark warnings

Retired Army major and historian Robert Lyman said Britain’s position is now worse than before the outbreak of the Second World War.
“Our armed forces have never been so denuded of power since the Napoleonic wars,” he said.

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Lyman rejected claims that technology could replace numbers on the battlefield.
“You can’t win wars using small armies,” he said, adding that Britain was “uniquely ill-defended”.

He said conscription would only be justified in the event of a “clear, present and existential danger”.

Caution urged

Former Army intelligence officer Philip Ingram described the Armed Forces as being in “one of the most shocking conditions” he had seen in 40 years.

However, he warned that conscription could undermine a professional military if introduced prematurely.

Defence Select Committee member Mike Martin said expanding regular forces should be the priority, but added: “If we get in a shooting war with Russia, then we’re going to have conscription.”