by DR NICK LLOYD 2015 is the hundredth anniversary of one of the most important, yet little remembered, years in the history of Britain and her armed forces. Often overshadowed by the rush to war in 1914 and the momentous offensive on the Somme in 1916, the battles that the British Expeditionary Force fought on… Read More THE FORGOTTEN YEAR: 1915
by DR DAVID WHETHAM I have noted elsewhere that while drones (or RPAS – Remotely Piloted Air Vehicles – as the military prefer to call them) receive a lot of bad press, a lot of this is actually to do with one specific role they are associated with – targeted killing. When used alongside other… Read More Remote Killing and Victory in War
by DR DAVID I. HALL On Monday 12 January 2015, the British Film Institute (BFI) hosted a special screening of the critically acclaimed Testament of Youth, by director James Kent and producer Rosie Alison, based on Vera Brittain’s poignant and powerful memoir of the same name, about the cataclysmic effect of the First World War… Read More Vera Brittain: Voice of a Depleted Generation
by DR KATHERINE E. BROWN Before Christmas, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told BBC radio four that he hoped to “open up combat roles to women” in 2016. Most of the commentary on women joining the Infantry and engaging in close quarter combat is framed in a negative manner. For example although Fall When Hit argues… Read More Because they’re worth it: Women in the Infantry
By DR ROBERT T. FOLEY For many years I envied the research sources available to my colleagues writing about contemporary defence and strategic issues. The ability to research a project from the comfort of their favorite desk, be this at home or in the office, seemed so much more appealing than exhausting and sometime fruitless… Read More Digital First World War Resources: Online Archival Sources
by Dr ELLEN HALLAMS, Dr TRACEY GERMAN, and Dr PAAL HILDE On October 24th 2014 the Defence Studies Department (DSD) marked the launch of its Regional Security Research Centre with a NATO roundtable held at the Defence Academy. The event also marked the start of a new partnership between DSD and the Norwegian Institute for… Read More NATO at Newport: Back to the Future II
by Dr ELLEN HALLAMS, Dr TRACEY GERMAN, and Dr PAAL HILDE On October 24th 2014 the Defence Studies Department (DSD) marked the launch of its Regional Security Research Centre with a NATO roundtable held at the Defence Academy. The event also marked the start of a new partnership between DSD and the Norwegian Institute for… Read More NATO at Newport: Back to the Future I
by DR ELLEN HALLAMS The recent wave of violence and protests across America following the deaths of two black men, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and the subsequent decisions of grand juries not to indict the white police officers has cast an ugly light onto the social ills that are afflicting an ageing hegemon. As… Read More ‘This is What Democracy Looks Like’: Obama’s America in 2015
by DR HUW J. DAVIES This month marks the conclusion of my first decade teaching at Staff College. In that time, I can think of two years that stand-out as containing fundamentally unexpected events, that have caused quite drastic adjustments to what I talk about when I teach. Those years were 2011 – the year… Read More Hot Potatoes for 2015
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