{"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":" ","pages":""},"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}
{"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":"158 1","pages":"0"},"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}
{"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":"20 1","pages":"0"},"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}
{"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":"135 1","pages":"0"},"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}
{"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":" ","pages":""},"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}
{"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":" ","pages":""},"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}
{"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":" ","pages":""},"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}
{"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":" ","pages":""},"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}
{"title":"“The Patriots Proved Most Successful” or “They had Been Useless Whenever Fighting had to be Done”","authors":"Jacob Stoil","doi":"10.1163/24683302-bja10039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-bja10039","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Thousands of Ethiopians served with the irregular forces which fought alongside the British Empire in East Africa. According to some sources, they were more of a hindrance than a help. To others they were the critical factor that led to the liberation of the country. Understanding what the Ethiopian irregular forces did and whether they were effective is critical for the historiography of the East Africa campaign. If they were as widespread and effective as some sources suggest, then any study of the campaign which neglects them is not only incomplete, but also inaccurate. This article explores the activities of the Ethiopian irregulars and evaluates their effectiveness. By doing so, it not only provides an important historiographic intervention for other studies, but through its use of interviews conducted with Ethiopian veterans it helps to restore the lost voices and experiences of the Ethiopians themselves to the historical narrative.","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41676926","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}
{"title":"No Man is an Island: Reflections on the Battlefield Landscapes of the Falklands-Malvinas War","authors":"T. Pollard","doi":"10.1163/24683302-bja10044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-bja10044","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000There were two sets of Falkland Islands fought over in 1982. To the British, including the islanders, they were of course the Falklands, but to the Argentines they were the Malvinas. Some in the British military thought the islands were off the coast of Scotland when they first heard of them, in most cases just before deployment. By way of contrast, Argentine troops had grown up believing they were part of their birth right stolen from them by British ‘pirates’. But how did troops on the ground view the islands when they were up close and personal with them, when the islands formed the battlefields over which they fought? During the Falklands-Malvinas War the surface of the land was bombed, it was shelled, it was picked apart and dug into to create fortifications, minefields and graves, and in places it still carries those scars. Drawing on the experience of four visits since 2012, eyewitness accounts and memoirs, military records and archaeological remains, this article explores the islands as both imaginary spaces and as an environment in which men strove to fight the elements and one another, and in doing so presents a fresh perspective on the relationship between people and places in time of war.","PeriodicalId":40173,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Military History and Historiography","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48465729","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}