what was the British Army?

The British Army is the land armed forces of the United Kingdom.

The British Army did not exist as a separate entity before the Act of Union of 1707 which united England and Scotland, but its origins date back to the aftermath of the English Civil War. Before the Civil War, the army was raised as required by the King, who would warrant gentlemen to raise companies, this being a direct throwback to the feudal concept of fief where a lord had to raise a certain quota of knights, men at arms and yeomanry. The only difference up to this point in time being that raising companies without a warrant could be considered treasonable (whereas feudal lords could raise their fief to fight each other).

After the Civil War, parliament assumed control of the Army, and standing companies based on Cromwell's New Model Army formed the concept of the first regiments. Cromwell's companies did not yet assume the unique names that came later to be associated with British Army Regiments, instead they would name their companies after psalms or biblical phrases, or were often identified with the gentleman (typically with the rank of Colonel) who had raised the company, eg Monck's Regiment of Foot. (This particular unit is notable because after the end of the Civil War it was barracked in London, and was involved in defending parliament when it voted for the restoration; this unit is now known as the Coldstream Guards.)

With the Restoration of Charles II the concept of standing regiments found favour with the King. As well as retaining some existing loyal standing units, he raised his own, one of the first being the First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards, today shortened to the Grenadier Guards. On January 26th, 1661 Charles II issued the warrant that officially founded the British Army.

The oldest surviving regiment in the British Army is the Honourable Artillery Company (given a royal charter in 1537), now a Territorial Army unit. It is not considered the most senior, however, because it fought on the side of Parliament in the Civil War and so doesn't have unbroken service to the crown. This honour instead goes to the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers, also now a Territorial Army unit, which was founded in 1539. The oldest surviving regular unit is the Royal Scots, founded in 1633.

The Monarch is head of the Armed Forces and is the only person who can declare war and peace, though these powers are exercised today only on the advice of responsible Ministers. The Bill of Rights of 1689 purports to prevent a standing army in peacetime.

Website of the British Army below.

http://www.army.mod.uk/

Your headline question is asked in the past tense your sub question in the present tense?

British Army a very small but potent force that can be deployed for the defence of UK, usually by the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force.

It is expanded and contracted as needs be, hence being small, at the outbreak of WW1 it was 100,000 soldiers outside of India, which had a similar sized force to run the whole of the Sub Continent, that included Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma, and Sri Lanka, this was backed up by 1 million fully armed local Sepoys, so the locals outnumbered the British 10 to 1 at any time, but then we knew how to run Empire.

The 100,000 outside India were called by the Germans who had around 3,500,000 soldiers as 'That Contemtible little Army', they still lost lol.

It was influenced by the Roman Legions, and split into Regiments, and practised endlessly, hence when the fighting started the British could shoot, run, march, and deploy faster than the enemy, and kill more efficiently, because we practised before hand.

Ask a 'Tommy' if he is in the army, and he will answer with what Regiment he is with, that brings dedication to the job, and to his fellow Soldiers, they don't want to let the Regiment down.

The British Army is controlled by the government of the UK.

What do you mean "was" we still have an army,its under the control of the british government,as is the navy and the british air force. we have them for our defence.its how we have won 2 world wars, and many other conflicts around the world

Strange Question it is the Army of the United Kingdom

an elite fighting force sadly now inadequate for it's purpose government cuts have devastated our armed forces they are just a token and should a serious threat arise we wouldn't cope it's no secret everyone must know it they are as this now capitalist state is a shadow of it's former self foreign owned foreign run

It is still here,always at the ready to help the USA,UNO

"Was'? It still is. It's still around.

Awesome - and still is.