how tall did you have to be to join the army in ww1
Recruitment in the British Army
The decision to abolish National Service was taken in 1957 with the 1957 Defence White Paper , which led to an enormous reduction in the number of soldiers between 1958 -- 63 , from about 330,000 to 165,000 by the end of National Service . In the decades that followed , cuts in the Army were the constant theme , although they were never on a large scale until the end of the cold war . Between 1963 and 1992 , strength was reduced to 153,000 . In 1990 , the Government started another defence review , which concluded with the Defence White Paper of 1992 . In a post-Soviet world , the white paper would again further reduce the army by 50,000 , effectively ending the British Army of the Rhine . The current strength of the British army is approximately 102,000 regular personnel .
The decision to abolish National Service was taken in 1957 with the 1957 Defence White Paper , which led to an enormous reduction in the number of soldiers between 1958 -- 63 , from about 330,000 to 165,000 by the end of National Service . In the decades that followed , cuts in the Army were the constant theme , although they were never on a large scale until the end of the cold war . Between 1963 and 1992 , strength was reduced to 153,000 . In 1990 , the Government started another defence review , which concluded with the Defence White Paper of 1992 . In a post-Soviet world , the white paper would again further reduce the army by 50,000 , effectively ending the British Army of the Rhine . The current strength of the British army is approximately 102,000 regular personnel .