DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN This summer finds me thinking about how to approach a new book project. I have a sense of what I want to write about, and have been thinking about and researching the topic – or at least around it – for close to a decade. Yet how to break ground on it,… Read More Reading & Research this summer
During the four year centenary of the First World War, Defence-in-Depth has run a series of posts exploring various aspects of the conflict and the centenary itself. We’ll summarise the posts relating to commemoration and the centenary separately, but for now we’ve written a survey of some of our most popular entries on the conduct… Read More The First World War on Defence in Depth, 2014-18
DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN The role of history in the education of modern militaries is a topic which has been under debate almost continuously for centuries. Whilst it is common knowledge that many of the military leaders and thinkers who continue to be venerated in the halls of service academies the world over prioritised the study… Read More Conference Report: McMullen Naval History Symposium 2017
DR JONATHAN FENNELL & DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN —You can access a full list of audio and video recordings of the event via soundcloud or youtube — On 5 June, the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War and the School of Security Studies King’s College London hosted a conference on War in Historical… Read More War in Historical and Contemporary Perspective Conference Report
The material in this post is drawn from the author’s forthcoming book – The Fear of Invasion: Strategy, Politics, and British War Planning, 1880-1914 – which is published by Oxford University Press in July 2017. This post originally appeared in The European Financial Review. DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN Strategy, it seems, matters. No forward thinking business, organisation, or government… Read More Strategy: Creating Power or Justifying Reality?
DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN This post originally appeared on The Wavell Room – a new blog to encourage the discussion of thinking within the British armed forces. Follow the Wavell room on Twitter @wavellroom The long-await report of Sir John Chilcot’s commission on the Iraq War is feeding a dangerous illusion in the British Armed Forces: that… Read More The British Army & the Chilcot Report: Strategy isn’t the answer
DR AIMÉE FOX-GODDEN & DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN This post reflects upon an event held on January 12th in the River Room at King’s College London. The symposium featured contributions from Prof Jay Winter, Dr Helen McCartney, Prof Annika Mombauer, Hanna Smyth, Dr Jenny Macleod, Dr Heather Jones, and Dr Catriona Pennell. Recordings of all of… Read More Conference Report: Commemorating the Centenary of the First World War
DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN The Battle of Trafalgar holds a special place in British history. The victory of 21st October 1805 is wound into the fabric of the nation: visitors to central London cannot help but awe at Nelson’s column and the surrounding square built in honour of his greatest achievement. The importance of the Battle… Read More Trafalgar Day, History Rhymes, and Russians in the Channel
This short-series of posts coincides with the Command, Leadership and Management phase of the ACSC. In it, members of the Department reflect upon aspects of the leadership, broadly defined. DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN Rarely has an individual whose most famous achievements came in the realm of military administration captured the historical imagination in the manner of Admiral… Read More Command, Leadership & Management: the Power of Perception
This post follows on from an entry by Dr. Matthew Ford, Dr James Kitchen and Dr Stuart Mitchell on Chilcot and the Politics of Britain’s Military History. DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN The notion of an academy remote from public discourse and disinterested in government policy is an attractive stereotype. Aspects of the academic discipline of history… Read More In Defence of Military History
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