Pub Date : 2023-04-07DOI: 10.1163/24683302-bja10050
Dennis Werberg
The article summarizes the current state of the historical research on the Combat Leagues and Veterans’ Associations in the Weimar Republic. It gives an overview about the ongoing trends and recapitulates key insights of the recent publications concerning the independence of the leagues and associations as political players, their role as protagonists of political violence, their relations to the German military (Reichswehr) as well as their international relations and the role of women within the organizations. Thereby the report illustrates new possible ways for further research for an international audience.
{"title":"Combat Leagues and Veterans’ Associations in the Weimar Republic: A Literature Review","authors":"Dennis Werberg","doi":"10.1163/24683302-bja10050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-bja10050","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The article summarizes the current state of the historical research on the Combat Leagues and Veterans’ Associations in the Weimar Republic. It gives an overview about the ongoing trends and recapitulates key insights of the recent publications concerning the independence of the leagues and associations as political players, their role as protagonists of political violence, their relations to the German military (Reichswehr) as well as their international relations and the role of women within the organizations. Thereby the report illustrates new possible ways for further research for an international audience.","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43614135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-30DOI: 10.1163/24683302-bja10048
Oleg Rusakovskiy
The article explores the role of military treatises and manuals as objects and factors in cultural and technology transfer from Western Europe to Russia in the 17th century in a comparative perspective. Listing the treatises on military tactics, organization and technology, translated for the needs of the Russian monarchs before the radical Westernizing reforms under Tsar Peter I started in 1700, the article analyses how these texts were perceived by their Russian readers and how they might have contributed to the military change in Eastern Europe. It defines the Russian military culture of the age as an elite culture, centred around the ruler’s person. The article also contextualizes the history of translated military books within knowledge transfer, in particular the transfer of Early Modern scientific ideas in Russia, as these books provided an attractive insight into European science and technology, not available for the Russian elite from other sources.
{"title":"Russian Translations of Foreign Military Books in the 17th Century","authors":"Oleg Rusakovskiy","doi":"10.1163/24683302-bja10048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-bja10048","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The article explores the role of military treatises and manuals as objects and factors in cultural and technology transfer from Western Europe to Russia in the 17th century in a comparative perspective. Listing the treatises on military tactics, organization and technology, translated for the needs of the Russian monarchs before the radical Westernizing reforms under Tsar Peter I started in 1700, the article analyses how these texts were perceived by their Russian readers and how they might have contributed to the military change in Eastern Europe. It defines the Russian military culture of the age as an elite culture, centred around the ruler’s person. The article also contextualizes the history of translated military books within knowledge transfer, in particular the transfer of Early Modern scientific ideas in Russia, as these books provided an attractive insight into European science and technology, not available for the Russian elite from other sources.","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45145799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-13DOI: 10.1163/24683302-bja10049
Andrew Stewart
In November 1940 British Commonwealth troops launched an attack against a mud and stone fort at Gallabat on the frontier between the Sudan and Ethiopia. This was a strategically important position for military planners in the Middle East Command working to make best use of limited forces scattered around a vast area of operations. Poor organisation, inadequate training, ineffective subordinate command, an unanticipated level of response from the Italian air force and a collapse in morale amongst some of the British troops who fled the battlefield all contributed to the resulting defeat. The impact of uncertainty on decision-making was another significant factor and for William Slim, the brigadier in charge of the failed attack, this experience proved an important but often overlooked stage in the professional development of one of the Second World War’s leading military commanders.
{"title":"Defeat at Gallabat: Brigadier Bill Slim’s Formative Learning Experience","authors":"Andrew Stewart","doi":"10.1163/24683302-bja10049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-bja10049","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In November 1940 British Commonwealth troops launched an attack against a mud and stone fort at Gallabat on the frontier between the Sudan and Ethiopia. This was a strategically important position for military planners in the Middle East Command working to make best use of limited forces scattered around a vast area of operations. Poor organisation, inadequate training, ineffective subordinate command, an unanticipated level of response from the Italian air force and a collapse in morale amongst some of the British troops who fled the battlefield all contributed to the resulting defeat. The impact of uncertainty on decision-making was another significant factor and for William Slim, the brigadier in charge of the failed attack, this experience proved an important but often overlooked stage in the professional development of one of the Second World War’s leading military commanders.","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41767010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-16DOI: 10.1163/24683302-43010000
{"title":"Front matter","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/24683302-43010000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-43010000","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135539263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-16DOI: 10.1163/24683302-43010001
{"title":"Notes on Contributors","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/24683302-43010001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-43010001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135539262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-16DOI: 10.1163/24683302-43010004
{"title":"Bibliographical Records","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/24683302-43010004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-43010004","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135539264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-26DOI: 10.1163/24683302-43010002
S. Ambler, T. Mills
Marking the fortieth anniversary of the Falklands War, this special issue brings together new research, and opens avenues for further investigation, on the armed conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina over sovereignty of the Falkland Islands that stretched between April and June 1982. Across four articles, it explores the broad themes of combatant experience, conflict memory, international relations and policy, from an interdisciplinary investigation of the conflict landscape to an examination of cinematic portrayals of Falklands veterans, and from the application of the lens of the global Cold War to an appraisal of the impact of the conflict on UK defence policy. The special issue also includes a previously unpublished naval memoir of the war, highlighting the continued emergence of new sources that makes the Falklands War a potentially highly productive area of study.
{"title":"New Perspectives on the Falklands War","authors":"S. Ambler, T. Mills","doi":"10.1163/24683302-43010002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-43010002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Marking the fortieth anniversary of the Falklands War, this special issue brings together new research, and opens avenues for further investigation, on the armed conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina over sovereignty of the Falkland Islands that stretched between April and June 1982. Across four articles, it explores the broad themes of combatant experience, conflict memory, international relations and policy, from an interdisciplinary investigation of the conflict landscape to an examination of cinematic portrayals of Falklands veterans, and from the application of the lens of the global Cold War to an appraisal of the impact of the conflict on UK defence policy. The special issue also includes a previously unpublished naval memoir of the war, highlighting the continued emergence of new sources that makes the Falklands War a potentially highly productive area of study.","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42583700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-26DOI: 10.1163/24683302-bja10046
Rolf Hughes
This article examines the Royal Navy (rn) in the aftermath of the Falklands War of 1982, focussing on the long-standing disparity between commitments and resources in UK defence planning. Two central arguments are developed. First, it is argued that the 1981 defence review failed to address the disparity between UK commitments with resources. Second, despite victory in the Falklands War, the UK naval lobby failed to reverse the long-term decline in the size of the rn although, in the long-term, the 1982 war reinforced the case for enhancing rn maritime aviation capabilities. This article presents a case of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the rn seeking, and failing, to resolve an insoluble problem. This analysis of UK naval policy demonstrates that British defence planning remains torn between a maritime strategy and a continental commitment to the present day.
{"title":"“First Gain the Victory and then Make the Best Use of it you can”: the Royal Navy in the Aftermath of the Falklands War","authors":"Rolf Hughes","doi":"10.1163/24683302-bja10046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-bja10046","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article examines the Royal Navy (rn) in the aftermath of the Falklands War of 1982, focussing on the long-standing disparity between commitments and resources in UK defence planning. Two central arguments are developed. First, it is argued that the 1981 defence review failed to address the disparity between UK commitments with resources. Second, despite victory in the Falklands War, the UK naval lobby failed to reverse the long-term decline in the size of the rn although, in the long-term, the 1982 war reinforced the case for enhancing rn maritime aviation capabilities. This article presents a case of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the rn seeking, and failing, to resolve an insoluble problem. This analysis of UK naval policy demonstrates that British defence planning remains torn between a maritime strategy and a continental commitment to the present day.","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42273319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-21DOI: 10.1163/24683302-43010003
Helen Parr
Combatant memoirs are a valuable source for historians of conflict in general and of the Falklands War in particular, revealing experiences of war that would otherwise be beyond recovery. This chapter provides a previously unpublished memoir (written in 2006) of the Falklands War by Lieutenant Commander Michael Ambler (d. 2009), who served on the staff of Commodore Michael Clapp on hms Fearless. Included in the footnotes are entries from the diary kept by the author day by day during the course of the war. The memoir is introduced by Professor Helen Parr, who places the account in the broader context of autobiographical writings on the Falklands War and draws attention to its potential value as a primary source for historians of conflict.
{"title":"comaw Staff and hms Fearless 1982","authors":"Helen Parr","doi":"10.1163/24683302-43010003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-43010003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Combatant memoirs are a valuable source for historians of conflict in general and of the Falklands War in particular, revealing experiences of war that would otherwise be beyond recovery. This chapter provides a previously unpublished memoir (written in 2006) of the Falklands War by Lieutenant Commander Michael Ambler (d. 2009), who served on the staff of Commodore Michael Clapp on hms\u0000 Fearless. Included in the footnotes are entries from the diary kept by the author day by day during the course of the war. The memoir is introduced by Professor Helen Parr, who places the account in the broader context of autobiographical writings on the Falklands War and draws attention to its potential value as a primary source for historians of conflict.","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44971576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-13DOI: 10.1163/24683302-bja10047
J. Pessina
The article reconsiders the Lucchese Army during the Italian Wars (1494–1559) to demonstrate that it was not archaic and weak, as asserted by scholars, fitting well with the conflicts faced by the Republic of Lucca. Moreover, based on militiamen, the Lucchese Army represented an alternative to standing mercenary forces for a third-rank state. The European states adopted new firearms, the trace italienne, the pike-and-shot units, and reorganised their armies by hiring foreign professional soldiers in permanent service. The case study of Lucca is relevant for three reasons. First, despite its being a third-rank state, the Lucchese Army was updated according to 16th-century military innovations. Second, the Republic recruited soldiers mostly from among its subjects. Third, in the period of the Italian Wars, the Lucchese government created an army which would be unchanged up to the end of the oligarchic republic in 1799.
{"title":"Rethinking the Lucchese Army During the Italian Wars, 1494–1559","authors":"J. Pessina","doi":"10.1163/24683302-bja10047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-bja10047","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The article reconsiders the Lucchese Army during the Italian Wars (1494–1559) to demonstrate that it was not archaic and weak, as asserted by scholars, fitting well with the conflicts faced by the Republic of Lucca. Moreover, based on militiamen, the Lucchese Army represented an alternative to standing mercenary forces for a third-rank state. The European states adopted new firearms, the trace italienne, the pike-and-shot units, and reorganised their armies by hiring foreign professional soldiers in permanent service. The case study of Lucca is relevant for three reasons. First, despite its being a third-rank state, the Lucchese Army was updated according to 16th-century military innovations. Second, the Republic recruited soldiers mostly from among its subjects. Third, in the period of the Italian Wars, the Lucchese government created an army which would be unchanged up to the end of the oligarchic republic in 1799.","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47768108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}