The case of Robert Gordon-Canning highlights the crucial role of culture, both national and institutional, on the development of doctrine by the British Union of Fascists in the interwar period. This article aims to explore in depth the career of Gordon-Canning and present the cultural factors that pushed him to adopt apocalyptic visions of war. These visions of war became the mainstay of foreign and

The coup attempt of July 1936 that began the Spanish Civil War differed from its predecessors in that the rebel officers sought to remake both the Spanish state and society. The roots of this new brand of military interventionism have been traced to Spain’s colonial wars in Morocco, but this article argues that they extended further back to the rebel officers’ training at Spain’s Infantry Academy,

Most of the literature on the Nigerian Civil War is overwhelmingly on the cause or causes, effects and outcome of the war. There are few accounts of battle operations at important theatres of war. The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) has taken a lead in historicising and documenting this missing operational aspect of the war. Academic research elsewhere in Nigeria has concentrated on other aspects of

Early modern states faced numerous challenges in supporting their prisoners of war, not least the problems of remitting them money for their subsistence, which had to pass across hostile borders. Examining how the British state achieved this in the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–13) shows the limits of modern scholarship on state formation and its focus on administrative reform and domestic resource

After the Armistice of September 1943, a large proportion of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) in Italy were released from captivity. This article considers the relatively small number of those men who made their way into the Italian resistance as partisans, drawing in particular on examples of Australian POWs who were in work camps in Piedmont at the time of the Armistice. In doing so it considers not

This article examines the rationale behind, or motivation, for the Biafran head of government, General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s sustained objection both to proposed mercy corridor and daylight relief flights into Biafra by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) despite the prevalent starvation in Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War. Ojukwu’s public justification for his objection to

The Gulf War (1990–1991) had a transformative effect on Saudi Arabia and its society. The war brought major ideological changes and allowed its citizens for the first time to voice critique and concern about economic and social problems. Many studies have highlighted the diverse reactions and dilemmas of Saudi people from the crumbling notion of Arab unity to the emergence of the United States to stop

Historians of colonial conquest have explored the emergence of various manifestations of racialised discourse about Africans during the numerous colonial wars in Southern Africa. To a slightly lesser extent they have also examined the impact of colonial conquest on the environment. The interconnectedness of the two has been less fully examined. One of the consequences of colonial expansion in what

The introduction of sport in captivity during the Second World War helped to transform the prisoner-of-war camp and the wider prison community into something more familiar. A significant aspect of this transformation was the physical recreation of playing fields in many camps. These fields had elements of familiarity which lessened the foreignness of the camp space. This article analyses how participation

Between 1973 and 1977, about 100 Provisional republican prisoners staged a series of violent prison protests and hunger strikes in the Republic of Ireland’s high-security prison, Portlaoise. Research on political imprisonment during the Northern Ireland conflict overwhelmingly focuses on the H-Blocks struggle. The Portlaoise Prison protests, thus, remain an under-researched area, largely ignored by

This article is a historiographic essay that examines some of the scholarly studies that have been published since the opening of the Russian archives and libraries to military historians of the Romanov period (1613–1917) of Russian history. While the basic narrative of Russian military history has not been significantly altered or transformed, gaining access to an enormous amount of new sources resulted

The subject of this special issue is the relationship between the material demands of warfare and the political and administrative development of the Spanish imperial system during the long eighteenth century. Its purpose is to provide a transnational and comparative perspective on the methods employed by the Spanish monarchy to mobilise resources for war, emphasising the international, imperial and

The mobilisation of resources for warfare has traditionally been analysed as an economic and logistic problem. There are, however, other factors like politics or ideology that might also determine the contractor state’s level of efficiency. Drawing on an investigation of how Spain solved its eighteenth-century shipbuilding timber supply needs, we look at how a given mercantilist-leaning political outlook

Since the 16th century, the maritime empires of Spain and England faced a major logistical problem to supply their merchant and military fleets with materials made of hemp. This difficulty increased as both empires were incorporating the new American territories into their possessions, because of the impact that this expansion had on the increase in the number of vessels needed to keep the parts of

The purpose of this article is to understand a specific variant of the Spanish shipbuilding policies in Asia during the early Modern period: the attempts to transfer the shipbuilding industry from the Philippines, where it was based since almost the beginning of the Spanish occupation of that Archipelago, to different foreign maritime regions in the Southern Pacific. Important studies on the Spanish

Great progress has been made over the last decade in knowledge of the various systems of military supply used by the different European states in the 18th century. There is thus a clear institutional differentiation between the model of relations with the private market established by the British parliamentary monarchy or the Dutch republic and the model characteristic of absolute monarchies, such

The purpose of this article is to understand a specific variant of the Spanish shipbuilding policies in Asia during the early Modern period: the attempts to transfer the shipbuilding industry from the Philippines, where it was based since almost the beginning of the Spanish occupation of that Archipelago, to different foreign maritime regions in the Southern Pacific. Important studies on the Spanish

(2021). Correction. War & Society: Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 169-169.

(2020). Editor’s Note. War & Society: Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 233-233.

Previous examinations of the relationship between British General Sir Alan Brooke and Canadian Lieutenant-General Andrew McNaughton have focussed on Brooke’s role in securing McNaughton’s dismissal as commander of First Canadian Army. This article examines their relationship from their time together on the artillery staff of Canadian Corps during the Great War until McNaughton resigned as commander

A key impetus behind establishing the New Zealand Labour Party during 1916 had been to present a more unified front against conscription. Yet in 1940, it was the First Labour Government – comprising several leaders of the 1916–1918 resistance – that decided men should again be compelled to serve. While recent studies have described this as a swift and reluctant change in attitudes occasioned by the

The history of the Royal Air Force has been chronicled and analysed extensively in recent decades. Popular writers, niche experts, and academic scholars have all made contributions of one kind or another. There remains, however, an overall tendency to concentrate on the Second World War and a strong inclination to focus on operational matters. Academics thinking about studying the RAF might consider

The regular army in colonial Brazil was simultaneously a tool of imperial policy (seen as a way to impose metropolitan will) and an institution that, like many others, integrated in its ranks, and in senior positions, settlers, sometimes disgruntled settlers. This article deals with this apparent ambiguity. It examines the prosopography of officers who served in late-eighteenth-century colonial Brazil

(2019). Editor’s Note. War & Society: Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 249-249.

(2019). The French Army on the Western Front. War & Society: Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 250-267.

As many French soldiers as ANZACs fought at Gallipoli. Their preconceptions had more to do with colonial campaigning than with the dominant French experience of the Great War — mass mobilisation to defend the nation on home territory. Moreover, a significant proportion of the troops at the Dardanelles were colonial. Yet the French soldiers discovered at Gallipoli a ‘front’ that was part of the mutual

This article explores the entangled history of civil and military engineering from 1837 to 1939. Typically characterised in the historiography as a relationship marked by neglect and intransigence, it reveals a longstanding kinship between the two professions, built on the firm foundations of mutual interest and respect. Charting the formal and informal links between civil and military engineering

When the Germans launched their Spring Offensives of 1918, they placed tremendous pressure on the alliance between Britain and France. While French and British soldiers had formed strong relations through mutual cooperation at the Somme in 1916, the French experiences at Verdun and during the mutinies of 1917 had changed the way they viewed the war and, most crucially, how they would view any allied

The United States, Britain, and France’s discussions on how to achieve victory over the enemy reveal how widespread was the notion that the war would have to be carried into 1919 in order to ensure a military victory over the German army. With the British, political pressure to maintain a sizable army combined with the over-estimation of the abilities of the enemy meant that many considered victory

In 1944, the British government was looking for ways to convince the public at home and abroad that the nation’s status as a world power was undiminished. To this end, the Ministry of Information developed a propaganda campaign for revealing the portable Mulberry Harbour that had been designed and built in Britain, and used in that June's invasion of Normandy. The official narrative was overshadowed

The Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967–1970, had significant international dimensions. On 7 May 1969, eleven employees of the Italian-run AGIP oil company were killed at Kwale while eighteen others were held prisoner by Biafran soldiers. The death penalty given to the surviving oil workers by the Biafran government had a damaging effect on Biafra’s international image and temporarily weakened European sympathy

In 1932, three Japanese soldiers died in the line of duty during the Shanghai Incident. Battlefield gossip blamed their deaths on incompetence. Sensational newspaper reports lauded them as suicide bombers who crippled the defences of an enemy stronghold with only a Bangalore torpedo and ‘pieces of torn flesh.’ Hero worship and commercialization followed shortly thereafter. Their alleged exploits inspired

The military is an important factor for the success or failure of democratisation processes. Portugal and Spain provide two paradigmatic cases. Despite their socio-economic, political and cultural similarities, these countries developed very different civil-military relations which significantly impacted their transitions. After having handed power over to a civilian dictator, Salazar, the Portuguese

(2019). Editor’s Note. War & Society: Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 1-1.

This article explores the link between political and military strategy and tactics in the work of Friedrich Engels. Though widely praised for his understanding of military affairs, Engels’ interlocutors have tended to be dismissive of his political works. By exploring his politics through the lens of his military writings this article challenges the view that Engels was a mechanical materialist and

This article is a conversation between five specialists of veterans’ history on the current direction of the field and its importance to the study of war and society. The discussants offer an an overview of current methodologies, definitions and historiographical approaches. Concentrating on the experiences of twentieth-century veterans (particularly after 1945) and using a diverse range of case studies

Based on primary research, this article examines more than 1000 cases of surrender in the British Army during the South African War, 1899–1902. It concludes that the majority of surrenders were caused by five conditions: faulty leadership, the removal of effective leadership through injury or death, lack of necessary supplies, decisive disadvantage in terms of numbers and the use of questionable tactics

This article explores the linguistic experiences of transnational soldiers, using the Spanish Civil War as a case study. It argues that communication difficulties provoked by linguistic diversity within the Republican war effort and particularly within the International Brigades, caused the high command to move from a utopian, internationalist policy to a more pragmatic approach. The article evaluates

In the Republic of Vietnam, the blending of the home and battle fronts shaped the relationship between citizens and their government. Civilians viewed the national government as the institution responsible for various forms of social welfare related to the war and the resulting militarisation of non-combatants’ lives. An examination of citizens’ letters to its ministries shifts the focus from questions

(2018). Editor’s Note. War & Society: Vol. 37, New research on the First World War, pp. 223-223.

After the Civil War the Spanish army functioned as a guardian of domestic order, but suffered from antiquated material and little financial means. These factors have been described as fundamental reasons for the army’s low potential wartime capability. This article draws on British and German sources to demonstrate how Spanish military culture prevented an augmented effectiveness and organisational

This article provides a multi-dimensional picture of West and East Timorese participation in war-time violence using Japanese, Portuguese and English sources. It argues that mobilization of the ‘natives’ by foreign forces in neutral Portuguese Timor brought about a reorganization of social relations on Timor Island. From a local perspective, the exploitation of the Timorese resulted in a great number

When the German forces were ousted from Cameroon in early 1916, they fled south to neutral Spanish Guinea. Tens of thousands of Cameroonians joined them. Over 20,000 African soldiers and hangers-on were eventually accommodated by the Spanish authorities on the island Fernando Po, off the Cameroonian coast. Despite mounting Allied pressure on Spain to disband and repatriate the troops, they remained

The First World War is known for its use of advanced weaponry, which caused massive injuries. Over 8,000 Portuguese soldiers who had fought in the African and European theatres of war returned home with a disability. Through a qualitative analysis of archival data, newspaper articles, and legislation, this article examines what was done for these disabled veterans in Portugal between 1917 and 1927

This article explores several propaganda campaigns aimed at British civilians during 1917. Through examples from campaigns for War Savings, Food Economy and National Service, it argues that propaganda in this crisis year was as much about identifying small, tangible, contributions that individuals could make to the war effort as about more sensational accounts of enemy wrongdoing. Propagandists targeted

This article presents an overview of the historiography of Greek mercenaries and the proliferation of the phenomenon during the fourth century BC. It evaluates theoretical approaches to the political, economic and military roles that mercenaries played in Classical Greece during that century. In doing so, it considers the ways that interstate relations between the poleis shaped the development and

Scottish military units were strongly represented among the outpouring of unit histories that followed the Great War. A neglected genre, these works stand as cultural as well as military landmarks, expressing the private grief, but also striving to convey the importance and validity of the recent experience of war. The discussion that follows begins by explaining the aims and motivations behind Scottish

When, on 6 April 1917, the United States entered into the First World War, a wave of anti-German sentiment captured the nation. The Army was not immune from accusations of subversion. In 1917 Senator Miles Poindexter accused a high ranking officer named Carl Reichmann of being in league with Germany. Despite the support from officers such as Hugh Lennox Scott and John J. Pershing, Reichmann was not

(2021). Erratum. War & Society: Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 170-170.

Mobilisation on the Australian ‘home front’ during the Second World War enabled some women to move temporarily into employment usually reserved for men, and to earn significantly higher wages than they were accustomed to, but the benefits of this have been often overstated. Focusing on South Australian women in the city and rural areas who took up the new working opportunities — in munitions factories

Physical education has been compulsory in France since 1880. Between 1936 and 1950, expansion intensified and extensive changes were made to course content. This article assesses the ramifications of these choices through an in-depth study of four variables that defined its instruction. Even if priority was given to generalisation and equal access to knowledge, research revealed an upsurge in the fight

During the Easter Offensive hundreds of Republic of Vietnam soldiers and civilians were killed while fleeing Quảng Trị city along Highway One, earning this stretch of the road the name ‘the Highway of Horrors’ [Đại Lộ Kinh Hoàng]. This article examines this understudied event and the efforts of ordinary people, particularly the staff of the daily newspaper Sóng Thần, to collect and bury the corpses

During the First World War, the German and British Governments supplied culturally appropriate rations and secured special facilities for food preparation and consumption for South Asian prisoners of war whose loyalty both governments sought. The food provided in POW camps to South Asians serves as an index of the political status of colonial subjects at a moment when the future of European empires

The findings of psychiatrists working for the USAAF have long dominated scholarship on aerial combat stress during the Second World War, including explanations why the emotional casualty rate aboard American heavy bombers varied by crew position. Critical examination suggests that the answers put forward are unsatisfactory, opening the way for an alternate analytic approach. Comprehending the different

This article examines the Royal Army Medical Corps’ (RAMC) recruitment problems throughout the Cold War (1945–1980s). It explores why the RAMC experienced difficulties in attracting new personnel, how the army tried to alleviate these shortages, and the impact of chronic understaffing on the quality of military health care for generations of soldiers and their families. It concludes by reflecting on

When Bolivian and Paraguayan leaders entered into war over the contested Chaco Boreal in 1932, they unleashed powerful, violent forces that would dramatically alter history. Understanding the Chaco War as the most pivotal event in Bolivia’s modern history, this article seeks to clarify the modernisation programme that had been underway in Bolivia during the 1920s. Reforms marked the decade and intersected

This article provides the first detailed analysis of the Gulf States of Kuwait and Bahrain during the First World War. It argues that the war had a disruptive effect on these states’ politics, societies, economies and trans-regional networks. As well as writing the wartime experiences of Kuwait and Bahrain into the conflict’s global history, it aids our understanding of the effects of world-wide conflict

Following Confederation in 1867, Canadians needed to move forward from their dependence on British imperial defence. Canadian militiaman Richard John Wicksteed was first to recommend adopting the model of the Swiss Army, a multi-ethnic, rifle-wielding citizen force powerful enough to ensure Swiss neutrality although surrounded by militaristic European powers. General Officer Commanding Edward Thomas

This paper refocuses attention on what has been seen as one of the most important limbs of the Nuremberg Charter – the crime against peace, or aggressive war. It looks at the legal and political dimensions that motivated such a characterisation by figures behind the debate, and the various, at times uncertain steps, in bringing forth the designation based on breaches of the Kellogg–Briand Pact within

We analysed the extent to which violent, organised crime has disrupted anthropological research in Mexico and Central America by conducting a survey of anthropologists who work in the region. We found that although anthropologists will continue research in regions they perceive to have the socio-economic characteristics of a failed state they are far less inclined to work in areas that they perceive