A.G. HOPKINS Tony Hopkins is Emeritus Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History in the University of Cambridge, Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College, and Emeritus Walter Prescott Webb Chair in History in the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of London, Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Stirling and Birmingham, and… Read More AMERICAN EMPIRE: REALITIES AND UNCERTAINTIES
DR MATTHEW FORD This post builds upon an earlier debate on the politics of Britain’s military history and the state of modern military history. It re-frames that discussion in relation to a powerful recent critique of aspects of ‘military history’ in the History Workshop Journal, which will be expanded upon in a forthcoming article for… Read More Towards De-Militarising Military History
DR MIKE FINCH One of the most salient features of warfare during the present decade appears to be breakdown of the barrier between the state of war and the state of peace. As Chief of the General Staff Sir Nick Carter noted in his foreword to Army Doctrine Publication: Operations: ‘No longer is there a… Read More French Revolutionary War Theory: Conflict Between War and Peace
PROF ASHLEY JACKSON An overview of Persian Gulf Command: A History of the Second World War in Iran and Iraq, published by Yale University Press in May 2018. Early in the Second World War, men who had fought in the 1914-18 Mesopotamia campaign found themselves, once again, sailing up the Persian Gulf towards Basra and… Read More Iran and Iraq during the Second World War
DR CHRIS TRIPODI When it comes to the subjects of war, conflict and strategy there are historians (Max Hastings, Anthony Beevor, and that tall posh bloke off the BBC) and then there are historians’ historians; a plethora of otherwise invisible but powerful intellects quietly going about their business, helping construct our understanding of the past,… Read More Liberal Interventions and the Relevance of Imperial History
This is the third in a series of posts drawn from an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the Suez Crisis which the Defence Studies Department Strategy and Defence Policy Research Centre hosted on November 7th, 2016. Recordings of the papers will be posted shortly to the Department soundcloud. DR KATE UTTING From a British… Read More The Significance of Suez 1956: A Reference Point and Turning Point?
This is the first in a series of posts drawn from an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the Suez Crisis which the Defence Studies Department Strategy and Defence Policy Research Centre hosted on November 7th, 2016. Recordings of the papers will be posted shortly to the Department soundcloud. DR GERAINT HUGHES An analysis… Read More SUEZ SIXTY YEARS ON: THE LAND WAR
This is the fourth 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. DR KEVIN MATTHEWS Sifting through the voluminous histories of Britain’s 1940 stand against Nazi Germany, it is remarkable that, with a few notable exceptions, one… Read More 1940-1942: THE FULCRUM OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY? Missing in History: Britain’s offer of Irish unity in 1940
DR RICHARD HAMMOND On 1 June, the Second World War Research Group held a highly successful day-long event hosted by the Defence Studies Department at the JSCSC. It was inspired in a broad sense by the desire to examine the largest war the world has ever seen and to place it within its broader context.… Read More Conference Report: 1940-1942: The Fulcrum of the Twentieth Century?
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