War Studies

This blogpost explores the archaeology and history of the Ottoman WWI desert hospital at Hafir (modern Nitzana) on the border with Egypt. Using modern and contemporary photographs and first-hand accounts, the hospital complex has been reconstructed and analysed. To read more, please visit the post at Stambouline below.

Integrity is generally considered to be an important military virtue. The first part of this article tries to make sense of integrity’s many, often contradicting, meanings. Both in the military and elsewhere, its most common understanding seems to be that integrity requires us to live according to one’s personal principal values and principles
we have a moral obligation to do so, and it is a prerequisite to be able to ‘look oursel ves in the mirror.’ This notion of integrity as upholding personal values and principles is a v ery problematic one in itself, especially to those working in the military. For se veral reasons, perhaps the role that thevirtue of integrity has in a military organization could in fact be better played by other virtues.

An analysis of the factors which prolonged and intensified the 1975-1991 phase of the Angolan Civil War, focusing on international intervention, mentioning guerrilla tactics and diplomacy.  It is concluded that the involvement of the Republic of South Africa was decisive in ensuring a negotiated settlement.

"Drone technology is not only a game changer, it also triggers obligations. If we
recast our perception of drones as solitary planes to one of a comprehensive
technology with extensive surveillance and control capabilities, we encounter
new and crucial legal implications of the use of drones in armed conflict. To
make its argument, this article first places the surveillance and control capabilities
of drone technology within the context of the European Convention of Human
Rights. The European Court of Human Rights has found that the Convention
applies in a number of cases where a member state exercised control and authority
over persons or territories outside Europe. The article argues that this may
affect the legal basis for European states that employ drones for attacks. The
second part of the article examines the implications of the surveillance capabilities
of drone technology for the principle of precaution in international humanitarian
law (IHL). The argument is that drone technology offers an effective
precautionary measure, which may trigger precautionary obligation across all
weapons systems. If a state possesses drone technology, and if the deployment
of this technology may potentially reduce unnecessary harm from armed attacks,
including shelling, the state is obliged under IHL to employ this technology for
precaution. In addition to identifying so far overlooked legal implications arising
from the employment or availability of drone technology for attack in armed
conflict, the article raises the more general question of how the laws of armed
conflict should be applied in an era of total surveillance."

Clausewitz's aphorism that "war is merely the continuation of policy by other means" is widely quoted but often misconceived. The author of a new book, War, Clausewitz and the Trinity, Thomas Waldman will clarify the Prussian theorist's insights into the fundamental relationship between war and politics, highlight pitfalls in interpretation, and underline its critical importance for understanding contemporary war.

"This short paper is an examination of British and Japanese domestic politics, and the international chain of events, in the years preceding the outbreak of hostilities between Japan and the U.K. until the fall of Singapore in February 1942. After examining these events, and the actions and motives of the main parties involved, this paper attempts to determine the most likely explanation for the relatively rapid fall of Singapore to the Japanese Army in World War II. Particular attention is paid to the role of Prime Minister Winston Churchill in these events as his role has been relatively underresearched and is therefore not so well known, especially to British citizens. In conclusion this paper shows that Churchill and his military/strategic deci- sions had a huge impact on weakening Singapore, and that this was the single biggest factor in its quick fall in 1942."