A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.This thesis challenges the orthodox view that the role of the infantry brigade command of the British Army during the First World War was unduly narrow. Instead, it is argued that the response of the brigadiers and their staff to the challenges of the Western Front secured their role as agents of organisational and tactical change. A series of case studies over the period 1916-1918 serve to demonstrate the significant contribution of brigade staff to the Army’s learning process. Much like that of the wider BEF however, this process was complex and uneven. As a consequence, the development and battlefield performance of the brigades varied in accordance with factors of an external and internal nature: of these, the influence of the corps or division under which a brigade served was fundamental
