The Social Identity Foundations of Military Leadership Group affiliation and identity are key themes in Anthony King’s rich and extensive analysis of military cohesion and performance The Combat Soldier . [1] King argues that understanding operational performance depends crucially on understanding the nature of ‘collectives’. He shows how longstanding practices in military doctrine and training aim to enhance group cohesion by shaping affiliation and identity, so that the execution of orders by soldiers …

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Victory in the Pacific   by Trent Hone Naval Institute Press , 2022, 430 pp Hardcover ISBN: 9781682475959 Reviewed by: Jordan Beavis   In Mastering the Art of Command,  noted US naval historian Trent Hone investigates the leadership of Admiral Chester W Nimitz as Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) and Commander in Chief of the Pacific Ocean Areas (CINCPOA) during the Second World War. Both as a personality and as a fleet commander, Nimitz has already been the …

Business Decision-Making and Crisis Planning   by Garth Callender Wiley , 2023, xxiv+186 pp Paperback ISBN: 97813942033201 Reviewed by: Darren Cronshaw   Uncertainties and crises are a feature of contemporary global politics and business. In the face of conflict, extreme weather and natural disasters, cybercrime, pandemics, migration, and economic and supply chain instability, in what ways can leaders best lead through risk and chaos with agility and good decisions, while maintaining resilience for …

The Complete Story of the French Participation in the Dardanelles Expedition of 1915   by George H Cassar Helion , Warwick, 2019, 238 pp Hardback ISBN: 9781911628927 Reviewed by: Chris Roberts   Over a century after the last British troops were withdrawn from Gallipoli, volumes are still being written about a campaign that has been likened to a Greek tragedy. Within the historiography of the English-speaking peoples, the focus inevitably has been almost entirely on the British and Anzac contribution. Yet …

  by John D Hosler Hackett Publishing Company , 2022, 185 pp Paperback ISBN: 97813942033201 Reviewed by: John Nash   Military historians and theorists are often confronted by frustrating historical myths. Sometimes these are quite specific (e.g. a battle, historical figure, or piece of equipment), whereas sometimes they are historical constructs or historical arguments that have gained a life of their own and that come to bedevil the wider scholarship of war and military studies. The collection of chapters …

The Defence Strategic Review (DSR) was a call for action, which bluntly stated that we have seen ‘the return of major power strategic competition, the intensity of which should be seen as the defining feature of our region and time’. [1] Yet the DSR offers little insight into the nature of the competition that is being advanced by regimes such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and others. Terms such as ‘grey zone’, ‘irregular warfare’ and ‘proxy warfare’ simply do not appear in the DSR, even though …

An Interview with Lieutenant General (Retired) Francis Hickling …

The Landings in Normandy* WAR in the desert had been described as “The tactician’s paradise—and the quartermaster’s hell,” a saying that must tank crews would have been quite prepared to endorse without bothering unduly how “The Q” felt about it—always excepting, of course, the vexed question of “The Bigger Gun,” War in Normandy was about equally exasperating for everybody. Before studying the problems of armour in the planning, and the initial battles, it is worth while to summarize the enemy’s …

THE designs of dress for the Post War Army have been announced and, as is to be expected with something that is right next to a man’s skin, a great deal of interest and discussion have been aroused. The success of the new uniforms and the reaction of the soldier to them will depend not only on the garments themselves but also upon his understanding of the methods used in arriving at the final decisions. Those whose own views have been confirmed will, no doubt, be quietly satisfied, but those who had wanted …

Introduction A cursory perusal of the Principles of War listed in Army Training Memorandum No. 53 (February — March, 1948), may lead to the supposition that the Chiefs of Staff in the United Kingdom have altered some of the old principles and introduced some new ones. Reflection, however, will show that all they have done is to re-state the well known and generally accepted principles in more precise terms, and to underline certain factors which, under the conditions of modern war, require emphasis. It …