Military History Research Articles

War in the Bible and in Qur'an: A Comparative Study

The “founding texts” of each civilization shape the meaning of important issues for the lives of individuals and entire human communities. Such texts include the “holy books” of the Old and New Testaments and the Qur’an, called the “threelaws” or “rules of life”. Each of these “rules of life” outlines a certain idea of war, which is one of the basic human experiences. A short comparative study shows the different emphases. The Old Testament shows Israel’s historical wars in which God becomes involved. The New Testament does not deal with the issue of war at all in the military sense, but shifts the emphasis to spiritual warfare. The Quran devotes a lot of space to war, especially religious war, without referring to the specific history of the nation, but points to the rules that a devout Muslim should follow during a conflict, including armed conflict.

Cold War conduct: knowledge transfer, psychological defence, and media preparedness in Denmark between Sweden, Norway, and NATO, 1954–1967

ABSTRACT Employing the Foucauldian term ‘conduct’, this article explores how social resilience and morale became a target of state intervention in Denmark during the Cold War. ‘Psychological defence’ was a Cold War phenomenon designed to bring an imagined future war into a space of control as well as a tool for the authorities’ exercise of power in case another world war became a reality. Advocating a methodological internationalism, the article analyses how the concept of psychological defence travelled from Sweden to Denmark via Norway and NATO, and in a complex process of translation, mixing and hybridization was adapted and appropriated to Danish security policy conditions, preparedness culture, and historical experiences. Ultimately, psychological defence was replaced with a more practical or even cynical approach to public information and media preparedness, even if the objectives remained the same. The article employs source material from Danish, Swedish, and NATO archives and combines Scandinavian Cold War history with media history and the history of knowledge.

Hərbi münaqişələrə dair nəzəri baxışların təkamülü

The article deals with the origin, historical development features, and scientific approaches to military conflicts. The place and role of armed conflicts and wars in human history, their dualistic nature, and the explanation of the understanding apparatus play a key role in the study of the problem. Noticeable radical changes in socio-economic formations had a serious impact on the nature, methods, and means of military conflicts and created a basis for the emergence and development of scientific research in this direction. The "revolution in military affairs" has resulted in the transformation of armed struggle and the emergence of the "generations of war" division. The explanation of military conflicts in the context of various schools and approaches indicates that this social phenomenon has a multifaceted and complex nature and is closely related to other scientific fields.

Medical Voluntarism and Orthopaedic Advancements: Lancashire and the Disabled Ex-Servicemen of the First World War.

This article explores the fundamental role of Lancashire's medical voluntarism in providing restorative orthopaedic treatments to the region's First World War, disabled ex-servicemen and assisting in their return to society. It offers a case study of orthopaedic treatments and schemes of rehabilitation provided at Grangethorpe Hospital, Rusholme, between 1914 and 1918. Forming a regional comparison to existing histories of First World War disabled ex-servicemen, which focus primarily on the interwar period, this article traces continuities in pioneering medicine and examples of Lancashire-based medical individuals and institutions. In doing so, this article demonstrates how the region's response to disablement during the Industrial Revolution underpinned the construction of charities and the advancement of orthopaedic treatments required to provide rehabilitative care during the First World War. Moreover, this paper situates Lancashire and its commitment to medical voluntarism and the reconstruction of disabled ex-servicemen as a key site in the UK's history of voluntarism.

Afterword

AbstractThis afterword brings the four articles in the cluster on “Gender in Russian and Soviet Military History” into conversation and suggests new ways to frame the theme.

Colonel Jan Breytenbach – Military Historian or Storyteller? An Analysis of Breytenbach’s Work using a Military History Conceptual Framework

Books on the South African Border War have flooded the popular market in the last two decades. Historians, journalists, and particularly ex-soldiers – often amateur writers – have tapped into the market. The genres of books include, but are not limited to, personal accounts, autobiographies, regimental histories, journalist accounts, and academic books. Jan Breytenbach was one of the first South African Defence Force officers to write about the Border War. He published seven books, and paved the way for many writers to follow in his footsteps. Most of his books focus on the history of 32 Battalion. Against this background, the study on which this article is based, aimed to analyse Breytenbach’s writing using a conceptual framework put forward by military historians.

The Union's Culture Industry

Abstract: The cultural history of the Civil War North has flourished since the turn of the twenty-first century. Scholars have impeccably analyzed wartime texts and images to clarify Northern citizens' and soldiers' shared ideological and emotional commitments. Yet, these historians have not fully reckoned with the interconnected nature of culture production in genres such as blackface minstrelsy, lithography, illustrated newspapers, photography, and theater through which Northerners made, circulated, used, and experienced culture commodities. This economic system of culture production often created or illuminated social conflict and ambiguous cultural meaning. The culture industry, a concept that has animated debate among historians of popular culture for decades, holds great potential for Civil War historians to open new perspectives on the experiences of Union soldiers and citizens and the ways they did cultural work to make the meanings of class and self-making, race and emancipation, gender and the household, and the war itself.

Problems of formation of the Kostroma militia during the Patriotic War of 1812

The purpose of the work is to clarify and detail the data of historiographical research on the problems of recruitment and material support of the Kostroma militia as one of the militias of the III district. Among the sources, documents from the collections of the Russian State Military Historical Archive, the Russian State Historical Archive and the State Archive of the Kostroma Region are considered. The documentary data are compared with the texts of the works of K.A. Voensky, V.R. Apukhtin, N.N. Vinogradov and others. An important component of the information sources, which has not been updated to date in historiography, are the mechanisms of recruitment, staffing, calculation of financing and provision of fodder, as well as instructions on accepting money and military property, accepting donations, resolutions on uniforms and equipment of warriors, issues of armament and training of recruits, as well as supply of the Kostroma militia. The documents allow us to establish the course of the discussion about the figures of giving warriors from noble estates and mechanisms for overcoming contradictions. In addition, the archives contain information about the social and everyday problems of the inhabitants of the province in connection with the events of 1812-1814 and ways to solve them. Special attention is paid to the problem of the coincidence of the time of recruitment and recruitment into the militia in 1812-1813 among the burghers of the Kostroma province. The results obtained make it possible to clarify the chronology of the formation of the Kostroma province militia, to detail economic and financial indicators, such as: the size of donations, the burden on various estates when donating money and in kind, the size of salaries and one-time allowances for militia members.

Local History of Liberation War: Context Mohammadpur

Local History of Liberation War: Context Mohammadpur

War heritage impact on museum dynamics in Budapest: a multidimensional analysis of visitor satisfaction through cultural, statistical, and netnographic modalities

ABSTRACT This study examines the museums in Budapest, Hungary, particularly those themed around World War and Cold War history. Recent years have witnessed these institutions attracting substantial domestic and international attendance, accompanied by elevated visitor satisfaction rates. Notably, numerous war memorials in Budapest are integral components of the conventional sightseeing circuit, while a burgeoning interest in alternative tourism, focusing on ‘hidden treasures’ such as bunkers, has emerged. Beyond presenting the current state and potentialities of Budapest's tourism heritage supply, specifically within the war-themed subcategory associated with dark tourism, this paper adopts a critical lens to assess both the supply and the motivations and expectations driving demand. Additionally, the study scrutinizes the interpretative challenges inherent in addressing this complex and sensitive historical subject. The findings of this research offer valuable insights that can contribute to repositioning Budapest within the context of post-COVID tourism. Anticipating evolving trends, the study underscores the growing significance of prioritizing safe, local attractions and the preferences of more informed and responsible travellers. Importantly, it argues that capitalizing on the city's war heritage could become a pivotal strategy for enhancing both domestic and international tourism.

Colonial Business in Postcolonial Germany: The Imperial Afterlives of C. Woermann, 1919–1945

Situating itself at the intersection of colonial history, global history and business history, this article highlights the overlooked history of German colonial companies post-First World War. It argues for an ‘imperial afterlife’ through continued German corporate interests in African markets, emphasising the economic dimension of imperialism. Using C. Woermann as an example, it shows how the company adapted to the post-First World War global order, underwent organisational changes, and merged with National Socialist policies in Eastern Europe after 1939, revealing the adaptability of imperial enterprises.

Перелом в войне за испанское наследство 1701-1714 гг.: Дунайская военная кампания 1704 года

The purpose of this article is to identify the peculiarities of Western European military affairs as illustrated by a particular campaign of the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714). The article is of interest in light of comparing military affairs of Western Europe and Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, military art during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) and the Great Northern War (1700-1721). Scientific novelty: the study presents an episode of Western European military history not yet reflected in domestic historiography, combat operations between Franco-Bavarian troops and the allied army under the command of John Marlborough on the Danube theater of war in the summer of 1704. The study is carried out with wide use of memoir, epistolary and documentary sources. During the 1704 campaign on the Danube and in Bavaria, such typical features of the military art of the 18th century were manifested as excessive dependence on supplies and logistics, positional expectant nature of hostilities, their indecision and false methodism. As a result of the study, the author came to the conclusion that the Franco-Bavarian coalition was more inclined towards the canons of the military strategy that had developed by the beginning of the 18th century. It operated within the framework of positional maneuver tactics, enthusiasm for fighting on communications, demonstrating wait-and-see and passivity. French marshals were distinguished by their adherence to the template and therefore were predictable and expected. Unlike the enemy, John Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy managed to break out of the generally accepted tactical canons. During the 1704 campaign, they showed swiftness and offensive character, imposed a decisive aggressive struggle on the enemy, the culmination of which was a resounding victory at Blenheim on August 13, 1704.

Studying War in a Time of War: Russian Imperialism in the Seventeenth and Twenty-First Centuries

Abstract In the first two weeks of August, 535 Russian soldiers were seriously wounded in Eastern Ukraine. The year was 1678. 1678 saw some of the heaviest fighting in the Russo-Turkish of 1676–81, as the Ottoman and Russian Empires, alongside their local allies, struggled to gain control of the strategic location of Chyhyryn. In summer 2023, that town on the Dnipro was only around 300km from the front in the Russo-Ukraine war. To read about soldiers being injured and killed in service of imperial expansion three centuries ago as we watch the same empire engage in the same activities in the same location today brings home how history and the present are inescapably connected. Indeed, historians of violence have faced this problem before, as with a group at the University of Pittsburgh working on Gun Violence and Its Histories, who explicitly seek to use histories of violence to think about gun violence in the modern USA. Military histories have long been an established part of the study of Russian history, highlighting the technological, imperial, bureaucratic, and diplomatic aspects of organized state violence. The present moment demands a re-evaluation of histories of Russia at war, one that considers such issues as histories of disability and pain, and also engages with recent calls to decolonize Russian studies. Putting into dialogue these different perspectives on war and violence we can consider if, why, and how we can study the history of war during a time of war.

Alexander's Eastern Campaigns for Religious Change in the Mediterranean Region

Alexander's Eastern Expedition was one of the most brilliant expeditions in the world's military history. Although Alexander's Eastern Expedition brought profound disasters to the people of Eurasia and Africa, the process of accompanying the Eastern invasion objectively made the spread of Greek culture to the East and the process of infiltration of Oriental culture into Greek culture. At that time, religion and culture were inseparable under the system of the unity of church and state. As a result of the dispersal and fusion of primitive religions during this period, the mainstream religions that determined the values of the majority of the world's people in later times were formed, thus influencing the course of human civilization.

Space Technology and Its Military Application: Options for Pakistan

Space technology has aided military operations and has established its place in national defense. There is a dire need for Pakistan to exploit this military tool for the balance of power in the region. Space technology is changing the face of military warfare and the contest for dominance in space has increased its pace. The same has been a neglected part of the national policy of Pakistan and has not received its prioritization yet despite having an early start on this front. This article focuses mainly on the current performance comparison of Pakistani-leased satellites with Indian indigenous developed satellites. If Pakistan does not plan to keep pace with India’s fast-growing space technology, it may result in disastrous results in the future, keeping in mind the history of wars between the two countries. The authors suggest that an inclusive, steady, and strong national space policy on the part of Pakistan should be articulated and executed.

Portrayal of immigrants and refugees in textbooks worldwide, 1963–2011

Sociologists have long studied the educational incorporation of immigrants and refugees, but most scholarship focuses on questions of access, achievement, attainment, and acculturation. We extend this literature by examining the incorporation of immigrants and refugees in the cultural content of schooling, drawing on a unique dataset spanning 509 textbooks from 80 countries, representing all regions of the world from 1963 to 2011. Our descriptive and multilevel regression analyses reveal a mixed picture. On one hand, textbook discussions of immigrants and refugees have expanded over time and are especially pervasive in textbooks that invoke post-national conceptions of citizenship and in countries that host large foreign-born populations. But we also document stagnating discussions of immigrants and refugees in recent decades, a casting of these groups as part of the historical past more than contemporary civics and society, and a tendency toward their curricular omission in countries with a recent history of war.

ON THE HISTORY OF THE SECRET POLITICAL POLICE OF RUSSIA IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The article is a publication of and extended commentary on Mikhail Kirillovich Gribovsky’s text. He was in charge of the Guards Corps’ secret military police service organized in the early 1820s, after the “Semenovsky history”. In 1822, he compiled a note which is kept in the Russian State Military History Archive. The commentary describes the prehistory of the creation of the secret police: Gribovsky’s activities, his brochure On the State of Landlords’ Peasants in Russia and its perception by contemporaries. The article provides general information about the service created by Gribovsky and peculiarities of its financing. It refers to Gribovsky’s note on the Decembrist Union of Prosperity (thanks to it Alexander I had information about this society) and his three more notes, published in the last decades. The author concludes that Gribovsky writes in his note about the attempts to find the Brief Instructions to Russian Knights by M.A. Dmitriev-Mamonov, which were published in 1816 in limited edition and have not been preserved. He gives a brief history of the organization, the Order of Russian Knights, for which this brochure was compiled, and implies that this Order did not exist. Celebrities involved in the project of the Order of Russian Knights are listed. Despite the fact that the note is not signed, the author attributes it to Gribovsky on the basis of handwriting analysis and identifies the likely person behind the abbreviation. The note shows how political police worked in Russia at the end of Alexander I’s reign. For example, the Gribovsky’s interest in the Order of Russian Knights was caused by the assumption that M.A. Dmitriev-Mamonov’s Brief Instructions to Russian Knights were, in fact, a charter of the Union of Prosperity.

Review Essay: The American Civil Rights Movement as a Military Campaign

Thomas E. Ricks, Waging a Good War. A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954–1968. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2022. Ricks’s book has been labelled a “tour de force” by “interpreting one of America’s most consequential social movements as a classic military operation” (Nightingale). Ricks “examines the struggle for racial equality through the analytical framework of military history” (Grenier), focusing on the Movement, the people who shaped it, its long-term goals, its strategies, its actions, and its consequences.

To the question of the constitutional and legal regulation of ensuring the right to education in the conditions of modern crisis situations

In the context of an increasing number of crisis events, such as natural disasters, epidemics, terrorist attacks, armed conflicts and states of war, ensuring access to quality education becomes extremely important for maintaining the stability of society and developing civil capacity. Within the scope of this scientific work, international and national legal norms that guarantee educational rights in crisis situations are analyzed, as well as practical aspects of their implementation are considered. Special attention is paid to measures aimed at ensuring access to education for all sections of society, including vulnerable population groups. Issues of managing the educational process in crisis conditions are also studied, including the impact of crisis situations on the organization of teaching methods and educational institutions in general. It was established that, in order to ensure proper access to education in Ukraine, we consider it expedient to implement and observe the following aspects: providing comprehensive access to education, which involves not only the creation of conditions for distance learning, but also the supply of high-quality Internet services, the necessary devices and infrastructure for the implementation of the educational process in conditions of war. For full-time education, the priority is the reconstruction of schools and the construction of shelters with the possibility of continuing the educational process in conflict conditions; provision of psychological and social support to children and adults who survived war or conflict, within the framework of educational programs; development and implementation of innovations in the field of education, in particular, the introduction of cloud-based learning environments, electronic journals, as well as an emphasis on the development of skills in the field of digital technologies for preparation for future professional activities; ensuring cyber security of data to protect personal information and prevent unauthorized access; involvement of parents and relatives of children in a certain part of pedagogical duties; development of special educational programs for Ukrainian children abroad; cooperation with international organizations and partners to ensure the necessary resources and financing of educational projects; improvement of pedagogical approaches aimed at raising a tolerant and peaceful society. the implementation of «peace education», which involves the inclusion of the study of the history of conflicts and wars in the curricula, the development of conflict resolution skills and cooperation between countries and cultures, as well as the involvement of students in discussions and projects aimed at supporting peace.

The failures of Russian Aerospace Forces in the Russia–Ukraine war and the future of air power

ABSTRACT In the prelude to the 2022 Russia–Ukraine War, American intelligence had concluded the invasion ‘might take a few days longer’ than Russians expected, but not much longer. The Russian Aerospace Forces was expected to eliminate Ukraine’s air defense and pave the way for Russian troops. What explains the failures of the Russian Aerospace Forces to acquire air superiority? I explore three causal factors to understand these failures – Russian military history and its impact on Russia’s air doctrine, Russian intelligence failures, and Ukrainian resolve and innovativeness. I also highlight the causal role played by the United States in sharing critical intelligence.