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 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 ROBERT T. FOLEY and DR HUW J. DAVIES As our teaching terms comes to a close on 19 December, Defence-in-Depth will be taking a hiatus over the holidays. We will resume posting on 5 January when our new term starts. We wanted to use this final post as an opportunity to look back… Read More Happy Holidays
by DR HUW J. DAVIES As Christmas approaches, I’ve been casting around for a suitable topic to help draw to a close Defence-in-Depth’s first four months – something light-hearted and suitably tongue-in-cheek. By the looks of the title of this post, I’ve found one. Last week, a young Lieutenant (that’s Loo-tenant, rather than Lef-tenant) posted a… Read More Was Clausewitz the first military blogger?
by DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN “Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing. It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different.” – A. Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes… Read More From the Archives: Building a Case: Overcoming the Often Fragmented Nature of Surviving Records
by MR ANDREW GAWTHORPE While the debate over American strategy in the Vietnam War has been long and bitter, it has also been strangely constricted. This stems in part from the fact it has largely been an anguished dialogue among Americans searching for the reasons which underlay their nation’s defeat. This means that a lot… Read More Nation-Building: A Forgotten Aspect of the Vietnam War
From the Archives is a new regular feature on Defence-in-Depth. Archives are the lifeblood of historians. Papers, correspondence, diaries and journals constitute the primary material on which historical analysis is based. This feature is designed to fulfill two objectives. Our authors have selected an archive that has yielded an important find and will explain how… Read More From the Archives: Locating NATO’s ‘Surreal’ Mission
by Dr DAVID P. HOUGHTON There have been numerous defence reviews in the United Kingdom since 1952, but all have failed to meet their objectives. No review has managed to match our commitments to our capabilities. In an ideal world, an altered set of challenges like that which accompanied the end of the Cold War… Read More Why British Defence Reviews Fail
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