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
Forgotten Battles is a feature on Defence-in-Depth designed to bring long-lost battles back from the depths of history. Our authors have chosen these engagements because they believe that their significance has been overlooked or overshadowed by better-remembered battles in history. The significance of the chosen battles may have been strategic and influenced greatly a particular… Read More Forgotten Battles: Operation Léa, Oct-Nov 1947: A wild gamble at finishing the Indochina War?
by DR HUW J. DAVIES Hidden away in a tiny archive in Connecticut, I found, to my surprise, a diary of a Grand Tour of Europe conducted in the 1770s. I might not have looked at it, had the catalogue not specified its author as a cavalry Captain in the British Army. With nothing left… Read More Learning and Innovation in the Eighteenth Century British Army
by DR BENJAMIN KIENZLE It’s a crowded field out there. During the last few decades, international institutions dealing with security and defence in one way or another have mushroomed all over the world. This ranges from highly technical associations of states known only to a small group of experts such as the Australia Group to… Read More Is There a Place for the EU in International Security?
by DR AMIR M. KAMEL Using economic sanctions to curb state behaviour is something which has conventionally been considered as an apt supporter or supported government tool alongside military and political levers of power. Indeed, whilst it is increasingly important to combine economic, military, and political methods to achieve influence, it is nevertheless important to… Read More FAILING US SANCTIONS AND IRAN’S BEHAVIOUR
by DR HELEN B. McCARTNEY The BBC World War One at Home project began with an ambitious aim – to produce over 1400 local stories that illustrated the diversity of experience on the British home front during the First World War. The BBC English Regions and Nations were tasked with each providing 100 stories that… Read More The BBC World War One at Home Project: Reflections
by DR ROBERT T. FOLEY Over the past year or so, I have been involved with the British army’s Operation REFLECT. This operation has been designed to mark the centenary of the First World War and the British army’s participation in this conflict. Much of this operation has focused around the traditional methods of remembrance… Read More Op REFLECT: What Can We Learn From the First World War?
by DR HUW J. DAVIES ‘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 fulfil two objectives. Our authors have selected an archive that has yielded an important… Read More From the Archives: The Causes of the First British Invasion of Afghanistan, 1839-42.
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