One of the great contentions during the conflict, and something that surfaced in the recent Channel 4 documentary, was the chain of command established by Martime HQ in Northwood. This second article will assess this question against established practice and thought. (find the first article here). Molyneux, Callwell and Corbett...

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Since well before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the British defense community has been struggling to reach a consensus about the direction the United Kingdom’s army needs to take. All agree that the British Army is in a mess. It is too small and the Army suffers from botched...

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Underpinning military planning for at least three decades has been Clausewitz’s idea of schwerpunkt.  It is taken to mean centre of gravity and has long been a concept in Western military operations analysis and design.  Centre of gravity analysis remains a helpful lens through which to analyse our own and...

The post Is Clausewitz dead? The problem with Centre of Gravity. appeared first on Wavell Room.

It is forty years since British forces liberated the Falkland Islands and their dependencies from Argentine occupation. What is difficult to comprehend is that today we are further from the conflict than it was to 1945. In 1982, both the Chief of Defence Staff (Admiral Lewin) and First Sea Lord...

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The illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 left the world aghast at the realization that decades of security stability in Europe have ended. The Westphalian system and a long-held faith in the decline of inter-state war have both been shattered. The real shock from Russia’s invasion, however, was...

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Is Russian soft power dead? Almost, but not quite. Why the West should still pay attention.  The consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine have been severe, both militarily and economically.  Aside from the material consequences, has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine weakened its ability to attract and persuade others to get...

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If the British Army is as serious about cognitive diversity as it claims to be, it almost certainly needs to delve much deeper into what it understands by diversity and diversity of thought.

The post #WavellReviews “Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking” by Matthew Syed appeared first on Wavell Room.

In August-September 2021 15,000 eligible Afghans and British nationals were evacuated from Afghanistan under Operation PITTING.  With the one-year anniversary of Operation PITTING approaching, and the UK Government continuing to resist an Afghanistan Inquiry, the success of this operation may be doing more harm than good.  This article is inspired...

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In War Transformed, Australian Major General Mick Ryan asks how militaries should adapt to the themes and trends likely to transform warfare.  The book is extensive and covers a lot of ground.

The post #WavellReviews ‘War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First Century Great Power Competition and Conflict’ by Mick Ryan appeared first on Wavell Room.

The war in Ukraine has brought the use of commercial satellite imagery to the fore with near real-time images being viewed by millions of people on news and social media channels.  Those same images have been processed, exploited, and disseminated by intelligence agencies.  Robert Muggah, co-founder of the SecDev Group...

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