Failing at Echelon: Napoleon in the 1812 Russia Campaign
Introduction In June of 1812, the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, led a massive European coalition against the Russian Empire to compel adherence to French economic...
Tag : lessons
AI on the Battlefield: Lessons from Ukraine
In the first phase of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the focus was on hardware – the natural reflex being to counter mass with more mass. Ukraine...
Tactical Lessons: The Battle at Orikhiv
Has the Ukrainian counter-offensive started? We don’t know at the time of writing. Contradictory statements are being made. The Kremlin, keen to point to the...
Forgetting Afghanistan? An Enquiry into an Inquiry
A report published by the House of Commons Defence Committee in February 2023 titled, ‘Withdrawal from Afghanistan’ reminds us of the significant, costly, and lengthy...
From aspiration to reality: updating UK defence policy for 2023
The momentous geopolitical and economic events of 2022 posed fundamental challenges to UK defence policy. The Government set out its defence priorities in the Integrated...
It’s Time to Democratise Doctrine
General Erwin Rommel famously said ‘the British write some of the best doctrine in the world; it is fortunate that their officers do not read...
Lessons from History: How Not to Start another War?
Abstract: This article examines significant similarities between the Sino-US rivalry today and the British-German rivalry that led to the First World War. In both cases...
From Trafalgar to Jutland: The Atrophy of a Great Naval Power
The embarrassing failure of the Royal Navy to destroy the smaller and less-experienced Imperial German Navy at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 was caused...
#WavellReviews “Blood, Metal and Dust: How victory turned to defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq” by Brigadier (retd) Ben Barry
Rather than cutting off when large scale US /UK deployments ended, the author catches the reader up to the current situation as at publication. The...