This completely revised edition of a classic Men-At-Arms title covers the history of British Infantry Equipment from the landing of Wellesley's army in Spain in 1808 to the introduction of the first equipment set of wholly cotton webbing in 1908. The intervening century had seen a dramatic improvement in the lot of the ordinary infantryman. Although the fifty year dominance of the Duke of Wellington had kept the army in a state of near stagnation, the years that followed the Crimean War saw a steady and consistent process of reform which gradually brought the British Army up to a par with those of the great European Powers.

The conflict in South Africa from 1899 to 1902 gave the British military establishment reason to effect swift reforms in the period which followed the end of the hostilities. The humiliating defeats suffered at the hands of a comparatively small number of Boer citizen-soldiers in the opening months of the war showed up deficiencies in leadership, training and equipment. In a companion volume to Men-at-Arms 107: British Infantry Equipments 1808-1908, Mike Chappel examines the period from 1908-2000 in a text complemented by numerous illustrations including eight full page colour plates by the author himself.