Although the narrative¹ of the War of the Spanish Succession has not infrequently been interrupted in order to give the reader an occasional glimpse of the progress and difficulties of the military administration at home, yet much has been of necessity omitted, lest the strand², enwoven of too many and too distinct threads, should snap with the burden of its own weight and unravel³ itself into an inextricable tangle⁴. I propose therefore at this point to summarise⁵ the orders, regulations, and enactments⁷ of the War Office and of the House of Commons during the reign⁸ of Queen Anne to the Peace of Utrecht, so as, if possible, to convey some notion of the legacies⁹, other than those of glory and prestige, that were bequeathed to the Army by this long and exhausting war.

The reader will, I think, have gathered at least that the extension of operations and the consequent increase of the British forces during the war was almost portentously¹⁰ rapid. A few figures will make this more apparent. In 1702 and 1703 Flanders was practically the only scene of active operations, the raid on Cadiz being of too short duration and too little account to be worthy¹¹ of serious mention. In both of these years the British troops with Marlborough were set down at eighteen thousand men. In 1704 to 1706 they rose to twenty-two thousand, and in 1708 to 1709 to twenty-five thousand men, reverting¹³ once again to twenty-two thousand from 1711 to 1712.

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