The War & Diplomacy Podcast: From the Centre for War and Diplomacy at Lancaster University

This special episode of the War & Diplomacy Podcast Series is a recording of an event that was hosted on 16 June 2021. This discussion, led by the Deputy-Director Dr Thomas Mills, highlights aspects of Alistair Burt's career as an MP and a minister in the Foreign Office.  The conversation details several notable diplomatic events that took place during his tenure in office.

About Alistair Burt:

Recently appointed Pro-Chancellor of Lancaster University, Alistair Burt was a member of parliament for over 30 years, representing the constituencies of Bury North and North East Bedfordshire. He served in the government of Margaret Thatcher as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Kenneth Baker and in John Major’s government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security. Having returned to parliament in 2001, he served in various opposition roles, including Assistant Chief Whip and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Following the 2010 election, Alistair Burt was appointed by David Cameron to serve as a minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with responsibility for the Middle East and North Africa. After a period as a minister in the Department of Health, he was appointed by Theresa May in 2017 as a Minister in both the FCO and Department for International Development, again with responsibility for the Middle East and North Africa region.

Alistair Burt stood down from parliament at the 2019 election, having had the Conservative whip withdrawn in September of that year for his opposition to Brexit policy, only for it to be restored the following month. Alongside his current role at Lancaster, Alistair is a Council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a Distinguished Fellow at the Royal Institute for Strategic Studies.

In 1939, South Africa entered World War II on the side of the Allied powers, although not without internal opposition. The German government capitalised on these domestic rifts and secretly engaged the leaders of the pro-fascist Ossewabrandwag in order to encourage sedition across South Africa and intercept naval intelligence- ultimately to undermine the strategic importance of the Cape of Good Hope for Allied efforts. To this end, a complex network of spies was dispatched to collect intelligence to send back to the Reich by way of coded messages to Axis diplomatic agents stationed in Mozambique. These spies and their tactics are the focus of Dr Evert Kleynhans' new book, Hitler’s South African Spies (Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2021). In this podcast, Dr Kleynhans and Dr Marco Wyss, Director of the Centre for War and Diplomacy, discuss the role of intelligence in South Africa during the Second World War, the impact these spies had on the outcome of the war, and how research into this field continues to develop.

Dr Evert Kleynhans is a senior lecturer in the Department of Military History at the Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University. He lectures undergraduate and postgraduate modules on the evolution of warfare, African military history, and low-intensity conflict in Africa since 1945. His research interests include South African participation in both World Wars, insurgency and counterinsurgency in Africa, and the broad historical impact of climate and terrain on warfare. Dr Kleynhans formerly served as an officer in the South African National Defence Force, whereafter he was appointed as the archivist, and later director, of the Records, Archives and Museums Division of North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa. His book, Hitler's South African Spies: Secret Agents and the Intelligence War in South Africa, was published by Jonathan Ball Publishers this year and is available through reputable booksellers.

Papal calls to crusade were some of the most influential texts in the medieval West: key messages, crafted at the papal court, that were disseminated and preached across Christendom to mobilise men and women of every level of society to take up the crusading cause. These calls were a dynamic element of a crusading society, in which all Christians were responsible for the fate of the Holy Land and could support the crusading movement by bearing arms or offering prayers. How were these calls crafted? How were they interpreted, reshaped and shared by the people of Christendom? In this episode, Dr Sophie Ambler, Deputy Director of the Centre for War and Diplomacy, talks to Dr Thomas Smith about his work investigating papal calls to crusade – both their production and their later life, once they were released ‘into the wild’.

Dr Smith is an expert in ecclesiastical and crusading history in the central Middle Ages. After completing his doctorate at Royal Holloway, he was Scouloudi Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research and then Leverhulme Study Abroad Fellow at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. After two years at Trinity College, Dublin, he was Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Leeds, before joining the History Department at Rugby School in 2019. His early work explored papal policy and financing in relation to the crusading movement, in a number of articles and his first book: Curia and Crusade: Pope Honorius III and the Recovery of the Holy Land, 1216-1227, published with Breopls in 2017. He has since undertaken important work in the forensic investigation of various documents related to the crusades, from papal bulls, to letters and chronicles, published across a host of articles in journals such as Historical Research, Viator, Crusades, and the Journal of Ecclesiastical History. He is currently completing his second monograph, on the Letters of the First Crusade, forthcoming with Boydell and Brewer, as well as working with Dr Susan Edgington on a new edition of a neglected chronicle of the First Crusade, traditionally attributed to Bartolf of Nangis.

Select works by Thomas Smith:

Music credit: Kai Engel, 'Flames of Rome', Calls and Echoes (Southern's City Lab, 2014).

The series of conflicts known as the Wars of the Roses tore through fifteenth-century England: the houses of Lancaster and York and their supporters fought over notions of good governance and the right to wear the crown, while vast swathes of the population took up arms in rebellion or on the battlefield, or lived in fear of rampaging armies. What can historians deduce about popular involvement in the Wars, including in key events such as the Battle of Towton (1461)? How can the treatment of prisoners and the battlefield dead at the battles of Wakefield (1460) and Tewkesbury (1471) reveal concepts of chivalry and military ethics? And how did those in power – from Edward IV, to Margaret of Anjou and Richard III – seek to manage popular fears? In this podcast, Dr Gordon McKelvie discusses his research on these topics with Dr Sophie Ambler, Deputy Director of the Centre for War and Diplomacy.

Dr Gordon McKelvie is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Winchester, where he is also a convenor for the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Research. He has worked extensively on political society and warfare in England in the long fifteenth century. Following various journal articles and chapters, his first book was published with Boydell and Brewer in 2020: Bastard Feudalism, English Society and the Law: The Statutes of Livery, 1390 to 1520. This examines the effectiveness of new laws on social relations and how ‘bastard feudal’ ties facilitated many of the rebellions and acts of noble violence in the long fifteenth century. Dr McKelvie’s new research considers both the role of chivalry and martial ethics in the Wars, and the importance of managing popular emotions – principally fear and hatred – for use as weapons of military strategy.

Dr McKelvie’s book Bastard Feudalism, English Society and the Law: The Statutes of Livery, 1390 to 1520 is available from Boydell and Brewer. You can learn more about this research in his blog for the Boydell and Brewer website.

In a recent article for The Conversation, marking the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Tewkesbury, Dr McKelvie discusses: ‘Wars of the Roses: How the French meddled in this very English conflict’.

Music credit: Kai Engel, 'Flames of Rome', Calls and Echoes (Southern's City Lab, 2014).

Dr Matthew Bennett, leading expert in medieval military history, discusses the technology, economy, and ideology of warfare in the medieval age with Dr Sophie Ambler, Deputy Director of the Centre for War and Diplomacy at Lancaster University.

Dr Bennett describes the connections between warfare, trade and finance in the medieval West, as well as military technology – from bows to armour, artillery and fortifications – and explores the concept of chivalry, the treatment of prisoners of war, and how knights and common soldiers fared differently on the battlefield. He also explains the role of mercenaries and sets out some of the eternal truths of warfare that can be identified in the medieval period.

Dr Bennett is a leading expert on the history of warfare and military culture in the medieval West. He spent three decades teaching at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (retiring in 2015) and has since been lecturing part-time at the University of Winchester, where he was recently made a Visiting Research Fellow. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Society of Antiquaries (London). He has also been a Trustee of The Battlefields Trust, for whom he led the Magna Carta Wars project, supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant. He has been an editor of the ‘Boydell and Brewer Warfare in History Series’ since its foundation in 1995.

His own extensive publications include the Cambridge Atlas of Medieval Warfare, books on the Norman Conquest of England and the Battle of Agincourt for Osprey Books, and a host of articles, on topics ranging from the experience of civilian populations in the Hundred Years War, to masculinity, medieval hostageship, chivalry and the conduct of war, and most recently the Battle of Hastings as well as Norman battle tactics across the Mediterranean.

Books, websites and sources mentioned in the podcast:

Matthew Bennett and Katherine Weikert (eds.), Medieval Hostageship c.700-c.1500

Matthew Bennett and Nicholas Hooper, The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare: The Middle Ages, 768–1487, (Cambridge University Press, 1996)

‘The Soldier in Later Medieval England’ – a database containing the names of soldiers serving the English crown between 1369 and 1453, developed by Professors Anne Curry and Adrian Bell and their team, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council: https://www.medievalsoldier.org/

The Pipe Roll Society website provides an extensive introduction to these key records of the medieval English state. The Society is dedicated to publishing editions of the pipe rolls of the Exchequer and of other related medieval documents: https://piperollsociety.co.uk/

The History of William Marshal, trans. Nigel Bryant (Boydell and Brewer, 2016)

Music credit: Kai Engel, 'Flames of Rome', Calls and Echoes (Southern's City Lab, 2014).

Dr Hugo Meijer is a CNRS Research Fellow at Sciences Po Paris, Center for International Studies (CERI), and is the Founding Director of The European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS), a multidisciplinary network of scholars that share the goal of consolidating security studies in Europe. His research interests lie at the intersection of foreign policy analysis and security studies, with a particular interest in the triangle between the US and China, the US and Europe, and Europe and China.

Dr Meijer is currently working on two research projects: the reconfiguration of American hegemony through the prism of the US-led regional alliance systems in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific since the end of the Second World War; and on European foreign and security policies in the face of a rising China in the post-Cold War period. Previously, he was Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI, Florence), Lecturer in Defence Studies at King’s College London and a Researcher at the Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM, Paris). Dr Meijer was also a Senior Common Room Member at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University and a visiting scholar at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University. He received his Ph.D. in International Relations from Sciences Po (cum laude), completed his M.A. in International Relations at Johns Hopkins University/School of Advanced International Studies (Washington DC/Bologna) and his B.A. in political economy at the LUISS (Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali) Guido Carli in Rome.

In relation to this discussion, see his recent article in International Security, entitled “Illusions of Autonomy: Why Europe Cannot Provide for Its Own Security Even if the United States Pulls Back”, which he co-authored with Stephen Brooks from Dartmouth College. This article (and the impressive research on which it is based) provides the basis for this podcast.

In this episode, Dr Hugo Meijer and CWD Director, Dr Marco Wyss, discuss the diverging security interests across Europe and the possible repercussions if the United States were to withdraw. 

Hugo Meijer, who is a CNRS Research Fellow at Sciences Po Paris, Center for International Studies (CERI). He is also the Founding Director of The European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS), a multidisciplinary network of scholars that share the goal of consolidating security studies in Europe. His research interests lie at the intersection of foreign policy analysis and security studies, with a particular interest in the triangle between the US and China, the US and Europe, and Europe and China. In particular, he is currently working on two research projects: the reconfiguration of American hegemony through the prism of the US-led regional alliance systems in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific since the end of the Second World War; and on European foreign and security policies in the face of a rising China in the post-Cold War period. Previously, he was Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI, Florence), Lecturer in Defence Studies at King’s College London and a Researcher at the Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM, Paris). Dr Meijer was also a Senior Common Room Member at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University and a visiting scholar at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University. He received his Ph.D. in International Relations from Sciences Po (cum laude), completed his M.A. in International Relations at Johns Hopkins University/School of Advanced International Studies (Washington DC/Bologna) and his B.A. in political economy at the LUISS (Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali) Guido Carli in Rome. 

In addition to his other published word, Dr Meijer's recent article in the world-leading journal International Security, entitled “Illusions of Autonomy: Why Europe Cannot Provide for Its Own Security Even if the United States Pulls Back”, which he co-authored with Stephen Brooks from Dartmouth College. This very article, and the impressive research on which it is based, provides the basis for this podcast.

Music credit: Kai Engel, 'Flames of Rome', Calls and Echoes (Southern's City Lab, 2014).

Dr Nathaniel Powell discusses France's Wars in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa with Dr Marco Wyss of the CWD.

Dr Powell completed his PhD in International History and Politics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva in 2013. His research focuses on the postcolonial relationship between France and its former African colonies, particularly on the question of military interventions. He has published on various facets of the history of French military interventions in Africa in the Journal of Cold War Studies, African Security, Les Temps Modernes, International History Review, as well as in media outlets such as Foreign Affairs, War on the Rocks, and The Conversation. His current research looks at the role of French intelligence and security assistance in the political trajectories of newly independent African states in the 1960s and 1970s. He is also working on a book project focusing on Western support for Mobutu's Zaire in the 1970s.

Nat’s most recent publication, France's Wars in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa, is published by Cambridge University Press. 

Music credit: Kai Engel, 'Flames of Rome', Calls and Echoes (Southern's City Lab, 2014).

The Albigensian Crusade of the early thirteenth century saw crusading used to combat heresy in southern France. Dr Gregory Lippiatt, in discussion with the CWD’s Dr Sophie Ambler, discusses how the crusade came about, its brutality and violence, and the role of Simon V of Montfort. Dr Lippiatt also discusses developments in governance introduced by the Statutes of Pamiers (1212), a crusader constitution for the Midi.

Dr Lippiatt is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Exeter and a historian of aristocratic government in the High Middle Ages and its intersection with Christian reform movements, particularly the crusades.

Dr Lippiatt's work considers the ways in which barons attempted to use their lordship to create an idealised Christian republic, at times through the imposition of military force. He is currently preparing a major monograph for Oxford University Press on the Statutes of Pamiers.

Dr Lippiatt’s publications include Simon V of Montfort and Baronial Government, 1195-1218, (Oxford University Press, 2017), ‘Reform and Custom: the Statutes of Pamiers in Early Thirteenth-Century Christendom’, in M. Aurell , G. Lippiatt and L. Macé (eds.), Simon de Montfort (c. 1170-1218): Le croisé, son lignage et son temps, (Turnhout: Brepols, 2020), and ‘Worse than all the Infidels: the Albigensian Crusade and the Continuing Call of the East’, in G. Lippiatt and J. Bird (eds.), Crusading Europe: Essays in Honour of Christopher Tyerman, (Turnhout: Brepols, 2019).

Dr Lippiatt's blog for the Exeter Centre for Medieval Studies, is free to access: https://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/medievalstudies/2020/04/a-new-charter-from-the-fourth-crusade/

Music credit: Kai Engel, 'Flames of Rome', Calls and Echoes (Southern's City Lab, 2014).

In this episode, Dr Anaïs Waag (University of Lincoln) talks to the CWD's Dr Sophie Ambler about some of the thirteenth century's most notable women, and how their letters illuminate their role in diplomacy, warfare, and the commemoration of battle. From civil wars to crusades, royal women like Berenguela and Blanche of Castile and Eleanor and Marguerite of Provence played a vital part in securing peace treaties – but also in raising and leading armies and celebrating the military feats of their families. Drawing from the evidence of their letters, Dr Waag asks whether these women worked within a gendered language of power, and explains how a comparative study of their careers invites us to revise our understanding of how royal rule operated in medieval Europe.

Dr Waag is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of History and Heritage at the University of Lincoln. She specialises in gender studies and women's history in medieval Europe, taking a comparative perspective to examine how female power was formally and publicly expressed in England, France and the Iberian Peninsula. Her publications include 'Gender and the language of politics in thirteenth-century queens' letters', published in Historical Research, 'Rethinking battle commemoration: female letters and the myth of the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa', in the Journal of Medieval History, and most recently 'The Letters of Eleanor and Marguerite of Provence in Thirteenth-Century Anglo-French Relations', in the series Thirteenth Century England.

Music credit: Kai Engel, 'Flames of Rome', Calls and Echoes (Southern's City Lab, 2014).