Colonel W H Sykes, Statistician - Statistically costing the British and French armies of 1864

摘要

Government has perennially sought to justify the value for money in respect of the military expenditure that it incurs. Since the earliest days of recorded history until the very recent past, war has been the motor of financial change and, as Cicero observed, it is a universal truth that the 'sinews of war [are] unlimited money' (Ferguson, 2001, p 25). The British Defence Review of 2003/4 was heralded as a sweeping restructuring of the British defence forces to meet the threats of the 21st Century.