by DR HUW J. DAVIES 200 years ago, almost to the hour, the battle of Waterloo commenced. The dramatic final showdown of 22 years of war, Waterloo had all the makings of a swashbuckling drama. It was the only occasion when Wellington and Napoleon encountered each other. Having escaped from the tiny Mediterranean island of… Read More Why was Waterloo important?
DR TIM BENBOW The Battle of Waterloo is a military victory well worth commemorating, even celebrating. The brilliant generalship of the Duke of Wellington and the fighting skill of his coalition army (with its German, Belgian and Dutch as well as British troops) together with their Prussian allies achieved a famous victory. It deserves its… Read More The Battle of Waterloo and its strategic context
by DR NICK LLOYD 2015 is the hundredth anniversary of one of the most important, yet little remembered, years in the history of Britain and her armed forces. Often overshadowed by the rush to war in 1914 and the momentous offensive on the Somme in 1916, the battles that the British Expeditionary Force fought on… Read More THE FORGOTTEN YEAR: 1915
By DR ROBERT T. FOLEY For many years I envied the research sources available to my colleagues writing about contemporary defence and strategic issues. The ability to research a project from the comfort of their favorite desk, be this at home or in the office, seemed so much more appealing than exhausting and sometime fruitless… Read More Digital First World War Resources: Online Archival Sources
by DR ROBERT T. FOLEY This year, as every year, retailers are seeking to capitalize on a massive Christmas market. In Britain, this manifests itself in the form of ‘Christmas advertisements,’ which are closely watched by British society and generate considerable competition amongst retailers to produce the most striking, and hence most effective, television advertisement.… Read More The Significance of the Sainsbury’s Christmas Truce Advertisement
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 ANDREW STEWART Just before 9 a.m. on 3 September 1939 the British Ambassador in Berlin, Sir Neville Henderson, had arrived at the Foreign Ministry to deliver an ultimatum. This final opportunity for Germany to withdraw its military forces from neighbouring Poland, which had been attacked and invaded on 1 September, was delivered to… Read More The Twentieth Century’s Second European War
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