1940-42 The Fulcrum of the Twentieth Century: “THE BARTHOLOMEW COMMITTEE: AN OPPORTUNITY LOST?”

This is the second in a series of posts connected to the King’s College Second World War Research Group’s ‘1940-1942: Fulcrum of the Twentieth Century Conference’, held at the JSCSC on June 1st. PHIL McCARTY After the conclusion of Operation Dynamo on 3 June 1940, the War Office reacted quickly to form a committee to… Read More 1940-42 The Fulcrum of the Twentieth Century: “THE BARTHOLOMEW COMMITTEE: AN OPPORTUNITY LOST?”

June 17, 2016June 21, 2016 defenceresearchLeave a comment

TURKEY’S KURDISH PROBLEM(S), THE KURDS’ TURKISH PROBLEM(S), AND THE CRISES IN THE MIDDLE EAST (Part 2)

BY BILL PARK This is the second of a two-part series on the topic. The first of which was posted week on the Defence-in-Depth blog. Turkey’s transborder Kurdish problem There can be little doubt that both Ankara and Turkey’s Kurdish nationalists have been influenced by developments in Syria. Many of Turkey’s Kurds are inspired by… Read More TURKEY’S KURDISH PROBLEM(S), THE KURDS’ TURKISH PROBLEM(S), AND THE CRISES IN THE MIDDLE EAST (Part 2)

June 13, 2016June 6, 2016 defenceresearchLeave a comment

Uncertain COINage

DR GERAINT HUGHES Military manuals do not often attract readers from outside of the profession of arms, and the publication of the US Army/US Marine Corps’ manual on counter-insurgency (FM3/24) by the University of Chicago Press ten years ago was one of those rare occasions where military doctrine gained an audience beyond the armed forces. FM3/24… Read More Uncertain COINage

March 7, 2016May 4, 2018 defenceresearch4 Comments

Research Dispatch from Sydney: New Directions in War and History

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

February 11, 2016May 8, 2018 huwjdavies2 Comments

NSS/SDSR 2015: Rapid Strike Response to Rapid Strike Brigades – A Historian’s Initial Thoughts

by DR HUW J. DAVIES “Events, dear boy, events.” So said Harold MacMillan when asked what the single biggest impediment to the development of a coherent strategy. Unexpected events have derailed many defence reviews in recent years. The Nott Review was rendered almost immediately irrelevant by the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands. Options for… Read More NSS/SDSR 2015: Rapid Strike Response to Rapid Strike Brigades – A Historian’s Initial Thoughts

November 24, 2015May 8, 2018 huwjdavies2 Comments

COUNTER-INSURGENCY: A QUESTION OF VICTORY

DR CHRISTINA GOULTER As Dr Huw Davies suggested in this post, how successfully the British armed forces incorporate their recent experience of counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq into doctrine and planning is likely to shape future perceptions of those campaigns. The fight against the Taliban has not ended, even for the West, because some advisory work by… Read More COUNTER-INSURGENCY: A QUESTION OF VICTORY

November 18, 2015May 4, 2018 defenceresearch2 Comments

What Private Security Contracting can Teach Us About Recruitment and Retention in the Armed Forces

DR ALISON HAWKS —The data presented here was drawn from a large-scale study of armed private security contractors, of which this blog post is one aspect. The study set out to explore the perceptions and realities of being a private security contractor after military service. Of the men and women who completed the survey (n=1516),… Read More What Private Security Contracting can Teach Us About Recruitment and Retention in the Armed Forces

November 9, 2015May 4, 2018 defenceresearch2 Comments

Strategy and Combat Effectiveness

DR JONATHAN FENNELL In my last post, I explored the relationship between the performance of British Second Army in Northwest Europe, 1944 to 1945, and three variables – levels of morale, the weight of firepower used, and the operational level approach employed. The blog concluded that there was a weak correlation between these variables and… Read More Strategy and Combat Effectiveness

October 14, 2015October 14, 2015 defenceresearchLeave a comment

The Royal Flying Corps and Preparing for the Battle of Loos, 1915: Developing an Air Force

by Dr DAVID JORDAN In the introduction to his excellent book on the battle, my colleague Nick Lloyd observed that the battle of Loos remained forgotten, ‘lost in the myths of rumour, hearsay and myth’, even though it was the largest land battle that Britain had fought up until that point, and was marked by… Read More The Royal Flying Corps and Preparing for the Battle of Loos, 1915: Developing an Air Force

September 21, 2015September 16, 2015 defenceresearch2 Comments

Operational Art: Pinheads and Angels

The operational level of war and the operational art are key concepts of Western military doctrine and consequently form important areas of study in staff colleges around the world. To stimulate discussion and debate about these important ideas, authors from the Defence Studies Department are exploring the continued utility of these concepts. In this third post,… Read More Operational Art: Pinheads and Angels

September 17, 2015May 4, 2018 defenceresearch1 Comment

Defence-In-Depth

Research from the Defence Studies Department, King's College London

Tag: British Army