British Expeditionary Force (World War I)

Principal battles of the British Expeditionary Force

1914 Battle of Mons Battle of Le Cateau First Battle of the Marne First Battle of the Aisne Battle of La Bassée First Battle of Ypres 1915 Battle of Neuve Chapelle Second Battle of Ypres Battle of Festubert Battle of Loos 1916 Battle of the Somme Battle of Fromelles 1917 Battle of Arras Battle of Messines Battle of Passchendale First Battle of Cambrai 1918 Battle of the Somme Battle of the Lys Second Battle of the Aisne Second battle of the Marne Hundred Days' Offensive Battle of Amiens Second Battle of the Somme Battle of Ephey Second Battle of Cambrai Battle of Sambre

The British Expeditionary Force or BEF was the British Army sent to the Western Front during the First World War. Planning for a British Expeditionary Force began with the Haldane reforms of the British Army carried out by the Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane following the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

The term "British Expeditionary Force" is often used to refer only to the forces present in France prior to the end of the First Battle of Ypres on 22 November 1914. By the end of 1914—after the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres—the old Regular Army had been wiped out, although it managed to help stop the German advance. An alternative endpoint of the BEF was 26 December 1914, when it was divided into the First and Second Armies (a Third, Fourth and Fifth being created later in the war). B.E.F. remained the official name of the British armies in France and Flanders throughout the First World War.

Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, who was famously dismissive of the BEF, allegedly issued an order on 19 August 1914 to "exterminate ... the treacherous English and walk over General French's contemptible little army". Hence, in later years, the survivors of the regular army dubbed themselves "The Old Contemptibles". No evidence of any such order being issued by the Kaiser has ever been found.

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