Category Archives: War

Two West Point* Speeches and American Foreign Policy

Posted on October 1, 2020 by

The USA is the self-selected ‘policeman’ of the world. This has led to it being involved in conflicts every year since 2000. Consequently a significant part of the annual budget is devoted to military spending. Symbolic of this are two … Continue reading →

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Hitler, Chamberlain and Clausewitz

Posted on September 17, 2020 by

Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement failed in 1939 and was replaced with something worse. He decided Britain was a lion. Chamberlain threatened Hitler with war if Germany attacked Poland. The German High Command knew Britain couldn’t defend Poland and Hitler believed … Continue reading →

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Heinrich Himmler’s analysis of a perfect SS man and sub-humans

Posted on August 20, 2020 by

For the SS Man, one principle must apply absolutely: we must be honest, decent, loyal, and comradely to members of our own blood, and to no one else. What happens to the Russians, the Czechs, is totally indifferent to me. … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Philip Kerr ~ Hitler’s Peace (2005)(2020)*

Posted on August 3, 2020 by

Sometimes an author strikes lucky and invents a character which is utterly compelling and becomes the motif of their entire career. Lee Child’s Reacher, Ian Rankin’s Rebus are excellent examples. The reader looks forward to the next Reacher novel almost … Continue reading →

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The Importance of the Incheon Landings: Korea 15th September- 15th October, 1950

Posted on July 16, 2020 by

“I predict,” said general of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley, “that large scale amphibious operations will never occur again.”* Background Amphibious landings were critical in the Second World War. In the Pacific war, they were the strategically brilliant ‘Leapfrogging’ technique … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Short Notices

Posted on June 15, 2020 by

Robert Dallek ~ Franklin D Roosevelt: a political life (2016) The title says everything you need to know about Roosevelt. Everything that he did was filtered through a meticulous political calculation. Sometimes the outcome was gruesome and unconscionable such as … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Norman Mailer ~ The Naked and the Dead (1949)

Posted on June 8, 2020 by

How do you review a masterpiece? This is a work of staggering genius and, if possible, was better for a 50 year gap between readings. Obviously I bookmarked sections in preparation for this review, which is very easy in Kindle … Continue reading →

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Karl Marx as a journalist

Posted on June 1, 2020 by

The ethos of the [Russian Crimean] army was dominated by the eighteenth-century parade-ground culture of the tsarist court, in which promotion, to quote Karl Marx, was limited to ‘martinets, whose principal merit consists of stolid obedience and ready servility added … Continue reading →

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A J P Taylor on the Nuremberg Trials

Posted on May 25, 2020 by

Twenty years ago [1963] I published a book about the origins of the Second World War. At the time it was dismissed as wrong-headed and controversial. Now it has become the accepted version for most people. But there still lurks … Continue reading →

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Book Review: P J O’Rourke ~ Holidays in Hell (1988)

Posted on May 25, 2020 by

Satire notoriously ages badly. So much of it depends on the readers knowledge of the setting and personality of what is being satirised. Once the moment is gone so has the point of the humour. Consider the cartoon below. It … Continue reading →

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