ROD THORNTON In sharp contrast to the emphasis apparent within the defence establishments of some of its closest allies and partners, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) seems to be ignoring the value of professional military education (PME). There is no mention at all of the role of PME in the two most recent… Read More Professional Military Education in the United Kingdom: An Asset Ignored
Dr ROBERT T. FOLEY Over the past year, there have been some very insightful and provocative contributions to the debate about professional military education, with War on the Rocks providing an important platform for this debate. Driven by perceived changes to the functioning of the international system and by notional challenges posed by emerging technologies, armed… Read More Conference Observations: Reimagining the Future of Professional Military Education
THE EDITORS Military learning is a hot topic. It comes in many different guises: ‘conceptual development’, ‘the intellectual edge’, ‘strategic adaptability’, or ‘innovative by design.’ Yet behind the buzzwords and the dogma, what do we really mean when talk about learning in a military context? And how can we do it more effectively, without sacrificing… Read More Military Learning in the 21st Century
DR DAVID MORGAN-OWEN The role of history in the education of modern militaries is a topic which has been under debate almost continuously for centuries. Whilst it is common knowledge that many of the military leaders and thinkers who continue to be venerated in the halls of service academies the world over prioritised the study… Read More Conference Report: McMullen Naval History Symposium 2017
This post is part of a week of cross-posting between Defence-in-Depth and Imperial Entanglements, the blog of an AHRC funded funded project in the Hispanic Studies Department of Warwick University. DR HUW J DAVIES The experience of warfare in different geographies and climates, and against and alongside different cultures and societies profoundly affected its practice. Britain’s… Read More RECONSTRUCTING EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MILITARY KNOWLEDGE NETWORKS: THE USE AND ABUSE OF ARCHIVAL SOURCES
DR JONATHAN BOFF Jonathan is a Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Birmingham. His first book, Winning and Losing on the Western Front: The British Third Army and the Defeat of Germany in 1918 was published by Cambridge University Press in 2012. An audio recording of a paper detailing some of his new research on… Read More When Learning Goes Bad
This is one in a series of occasional posts from scholars outside of the Defence Studies Department. If you would be interested to contribute to this series please contact the editors: Dr Amir Kamel and Dr David Morgan-Owen. DR MATTHEW FORD Dr Matthew Ford is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sussex. His book Weapon of… Read More Beyond Effectiveness on the Battlefield: reframing Military Innovation in terms of time, networks and power
DR JEFF MICHAELS In the vast majority of cases, scenarios of future war have rarely come to pass as originally envisioned. At least two inter-related reasons can account for this. First, due to the incredibly large number of variables to consider – geopolitical, technical, human, etc. – it is simply impossible to calculate how they… Read More General Sir John Hackett’s The Third World War: Or, How to Think about a Future War with Russia Today
This is the second in a series of posts by members of the First World War Research Group and select guest contributors to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. DR AIMÉE FOX-GODDEN With the hundredth anniversary of the Somme campaign now upon us, it is both appropriate and understandable that attention is focused on the forces… Read More Somme learning: Interpreting and adapting the lessons of the Somme campaign in the ‘sideshow’ theatres
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?”
