by Dr Tim Benbow With much attention being devoted to multinational coalition operations, the Korean War (1950-1953) provides an interesting case study.  Ian Bower has just published an edited volume devoted to this subject, to which I contributed a chapter on the Royal Navy. When North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, the principal… Read More The Royal Navy and Coalition Operations in the Korean War ..read more

Dr Chris Tuck A recurring question in the war in Ukraine has been ‘who is winning?’ At the moment, it is clear that, despite the large-scale failure of his initial invasion, Putin still hopes that that a clear-cut military victory can be obtained. But the question of whether further gains or losses on the ground might… Read More ‘Losing as Winning:’ Putin’s Developing Narrative of Victory ..read more

Dr Geraint Hughes Fifty-two years ago the Arabian Gulf was experiencing its own End of Empire. Britain was withdrawing its garrisons from the region, and was preparing Bahrain, Qatar, and the Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates) for independence by December 1971. Behind this backdrop Headquarters British Forces Gulf (BFG) planned and executed what… Read More The Forgotten Intervention: Operation Intrados, the Musandam Peninsula, and the End of the British Empire in the Gulf ..read more

Amir Magdy Kamel, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), Defence Studies Department and Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, King’s College London On the first Friday in July 2022, a group of Libyan protestors marched on the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) in a demand for fresh elections. These protests were precipitated by a deterioration of economic and political conditions… Read More Political Impasse in Libya: A Game Theory explanation ..read more

Professor Greg Kennedy, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Some time ago I wrote in this blog (https://defenceindepth.co/2022/03/22/world-war-three/) about some things that were fairly obvious in terms of how the economic warfare elements of this conflict would affect UK and global security. I want to take a moment to continue some of those thoughts and… Read More Things I think about economic warfare and the Ukraine-Russia War and maybe others might want to think about too ..read more

Kevin Blachford, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Are great powers guided by a distinct grand strategy or by their world view and understanding of the international sphere? Just as modern scholars debate the nature and extent of American grand strategy, historians debate the relevance of grand strategy to the Roman empire. As the following… Read More Grand Strategy or Ecumene and why it matters ..read more

Dr Rod Thornton, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London and Dr Marina Miron, Associate Fellow, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Once confined to bad memories of the Cold War, it seems that with the conflict in Ukraine the spectre of nuclear war is back on the geopolitical agenda.  The rhetoric now being used in… Read More Going nuclear over Ukraine? What is the likelihood of nuclear weapons being used by Russia ..read more

Dr Giuseppe Paparella, University of Exeter (formerly Graduate Teaching Assistant, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London) Which factors have prevented American policymakers’ from establishing a more collaborative relationship with China since the end of the Cold War? With China growing more assertive abroad, U.S. analysts, observers and policymakershave once again rehashed the debate over a “lost chance”… Read More Losing China (again)? A socio-psychological explanation of the Sino-American rivalry  ..read more

Geraint Hughes, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Over a month has passed since Vladimir Putin launched his ‘special military operation’ to subjugate Ukraine. Russia’s blatant and unprovoked invasion of its neighbour has caused a major international crisis, with Britain and other NATO powers being presented with the hard task of helping the Ukrainians to defend… Read More The Russo-Ukraine war: Implications for UK Defence ..read more

Chris Tuck, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Ukrainian and Russian officials are, at the time of writing, meeting in Turkey to seek a breakthrough that would lead to an end to the fighting in Ukraine. This is the latest in a succession of negotiations that so far has failed to lead to any decisive… Read More The Ukraine conflict and the problems of conflict termination ..read more