This article examines how shifts in political culture affect the formation of strategy. It does so by focusing upon the role that ‘public opinion’ played in debates over strategy in Britain from 1870 to 1914. The article makes three contributions. First, it challenges the notion that linkages between democracy and strategy were creations of the twentieth century or the result of developments in air power. Second, it deepens our understanding of civil-military relations in this period by examining how the armed forces responded to the age of mass politics. Finally, it contributes to recent work on the concept of ‘public opinion’.

中文翻译：

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1870-1914 年英国的战略、理性和舆论观念

本文考察了政治文化的转变如何影响战略的形成。它通过关注“公众舆论”在 1870 年至 1914 年英国战略辩论中所扮演的角色来做到这一点。本文做出了三个贡献。首先，它挑战了民主与战略之间的联系是 20 世纪的产物或空中力量发展的结果的观念。其次，通过考察军队如何应对大众政治时代，加深了我们对这一时期军民关系的理解。最后，它有助于最近关于“舆论”概念的工作。