This is the third in a series of posts to come out of the Regional Security Research Centre (RSRC) organised Round Table titled ‘Decoding IS [DAISH] – Retrospect and Prospect’, which took place on 8 February 2016. The Round Table covered issues concerned with the evolution, regional linkages, strategy and tactics, as well as the future… Read More Iraq: Shi’a Militias – Partners or Contestants of Iraqi Stability
This is the third of three posts covering German planning for Operation Gericht, their offensive at Verdun. This month marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of this battle, which would last, including French counter-offensives, until the end of 1916. Although it is not as well remembered in Britain today, the ‘hell of Verdun’ left… Read More The Battle of Verdun and German Offensive Tactics in 1916
DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN The Defence Studies Department’s article writing month initiative is now in its third week. Judging by our shared googledocs page, my colleagues appear to be making impressive progress towards their writing goals. Personally, I am working to finish a book manuscript; a process which involves as much deleting as it does new… Read More Article Writing Month: On Community and Progress
DR ELLEN HALLAMS During the first week of February I was asked to deliver a talk at the annual Norwegian Air Power Conference at the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy in Trondheim. The theme this year was ‘NATO: Threats and Challenges’ and I was asked to reflect on whether NATO today has common threats and… Read More Walking a Tightrope: NATO, Russia, Islamic State and the new brinkmanship
This is the second of three posts covering German planning for Operation Gericht, their offensive at Verdun. This month marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of this battle, which would last, including French counter-offensives, until the end of 1916. Although it is not as well remembered in Britain today, the ‘hell of Verdun’ left… Read More The Battle of Verdun and German Operational Art in 1916
DR KATE UTTING In the past information, influence or non-kinetic psychological aspects of conflict had a supporting function to the physical, kinetic aspects; today it is seen as central. Militaries have done ‘influence’ for years, but there is a dominant view that in the current information environment all actions, deeds and words are scrutinised in… Read More Palestine 1945-48: the Information Campaign and the Limits of Influence
DR MIKE FINCH Two weeks of the Defence Studies Department Article Writing Month have now passed and progress has been good. If a word count stands as the ultimate guide, then I should be content. At the close of week one I was pushing two thousand words. By the end of last week the figure… Read More Article Writing Month Update: Confessions Of An Instinctive Writer
This is the first of three posts covering German planning for Operation Gericht, their offensive at Verdun. This month marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of this battle, which would last, including French counter-offensives, until the end of 1916. Although it is not as well remembered in Britain today, the ‘hell of Verdun’ left… Read More The Battle of Verdun and German Strategy in 1916
by Dr Huw J. Davies Today is the penultimate day of my research trip to Sydney (with Canberra and Wellington thrown in). The trip has been what I now call a harvest. I’ve photographed literally thousands of documents, unsure whether they are useful. I’m deferring the actual process of research until a later date. Still,… Read More Research Dispatch from Sydney: New Directions in War and History
This is the first in a series of posts to come out of the Regional Security Research Centre (RSRC) organised Round Table titled ‘Decoding IS [DAISH] – Retrospect and Prospect’, which took place on 8 February 2016. The Round Table covered issues concerned with the evolution, regional linkages, strategy and tactics, as well as the… Read More IRAN AND DAISH: A CAUSE TO AGREE ON?
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