The Past Speaks

Military History in Canada

22 June 2010

A one day conference in collaboration with the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies and the Department of History, University of Calgary and the History of Warfare Research Group, King’s College London. The conference will take place at Senate House, London, which is near Russell Square Tube Station. When you come out of the station, look for this building. It’s hard to miss.

Senate House, otherwise known as the Ministry of Truth

The registration deadline is tomorrow.

I can’t make it because I have another committment on the day, but there are some interesting papers on the programme.  I also see that Professor Andrew Lambert will be presenting. Lambert is Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London, and Director of the Laughton Naval History unit housed in the Department. His work focuses on the naval and strategic history of the British Empire between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War. His work has addressed a range of issues, including technology, policy-making, regional security, deterrence, historiography, crisis-management and conflict. He has lectured on aspects of his work around the world, and made several television documentaries. He has presented papers at a number of conferences held by the University of Calgary and has examined a University of Calgary PhD thesis. His books include: The Crimean War: British Grand Strategy against Russia 1853-1856. Manchester 1990, The War Correspondents: The Crimean War. Gloucester 1994; The Foundations of Naval History: Sir John Laughton, the Royal Navy and the Historical Profession. London 1997; Nelson: Britannia’s God of War. London 2004; Admirals. London 2008; and Franklin: Tragic hero of Polar navigation. London 2009.

I am currently (i.e., this very day) using Lambert’s most recent book to revise my annual lecture on the history of polar exploration in Canada. This lecture focuses on the Franklin expedition, which fascinates my students, so I would be keen to meet the man in question.

Wolfson Room, IHR, Senate House

09.45-10.15:    Morning Coffee & Registration

10.15-10.30:    Welcome by Director of IHR and Seminar Convenors

10.30-11.50:    Panel 1: Military Intellectuals and British Strategy

Chair: Dr. William Philpott, King’s College, London

Andrew Lambert, Laughton Professor of Naval History, Department of War Studies, King’s College, London

A Meeting of Minds? Sir Julian Corbett and the Naval War Course, 1902-1914

Paul Ramsey, Doctoral Student, Department of History, University of Calgary, Canada

Analysing Defence and Thinking Strategically: The Works of Henry Spenser Wilkinson

Daniel Whittingham, Doctoral Student, Department of War Studies, King’s College, London

Charles Callwell and British Strategy

11.50-12.30:    Keynote: Professor David Bercuson, Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, University of Calgary, Canada

Canadian Military History

12.30-13.30:    Lunch

13.30-14.50:    Panel 2: First World War

Chair: Professor Brian Bond, King’s College, London

Nikolas Gardner, Associate Professor of Strategy, Department of Strategy and Leadership, Air War College, Alabama, USA

Charles Townshend’s Advance on Baghdad: The British Offensive in Mesopotamia, September-November 1915

Meighen McCrae, Doctoral Student, University of Oxford

The Supreme War Council’s Inter-allied War Planning for 1919

Peter Jackson, Reader in International History, Aberystwyth University

Contending Conceptions of Security in French Policy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919

14.50-15.50:    Panel 3: Economic Warfare

Chair: Professor David French, University College, London

John Ferris, Professor of History, University of Calgary, Canada

Reading the World’s Mail: British Blockade Intelligence and Economic Warfare, 1914-1918

Keith Neilson, Professor of History, Royal Military College, Canada

R.H. Brand, Imperial Unity and Munitions from Canada, 1914-1917

15.50-16.10:    Afternoon Tea

16.10-17.30:    Panel 4: Second World War

Chair: Professor David Bercuson, University of Calgary, Canada

Christine Leppard, Doctoral Student, Department of History, University of Calgary, Canada

Canada and Coalition Warfare: The Italian Campaign, 1943-44

Russ Benneweis, Doctoral Student, Department of History, University of Calgary, Canada

Well-Balanced and Hard-Hitting or Uneconomical and Hypertrophied: Manpower Allocation in the Canadian Army during the Second World War

Abraham Roof, Doctoral Student, Department of History, University of Calgary, Canada

Not What is Desirable But What is Possible: The Soviet Union and British Strategy, 1941-1942

17.30-18.00:    Summary Discussion

Common Room, IHR, Senate House

18.00-19.30:    Drinks Reception

For more details see here.