Learning from History – British Defence Policy in the Cold War
Tuesday 6th August 2024
Dr Kenton White spoke to the Society on Tuesday 6 August about British Defence Policy in the Cold War. A recording of the lecture is now available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hICrfqSQmgk
Synopsis
What can we learn from history? Defence is a high-profile subject once again with the rise of a European threat in Russia. The question has been asked whether NATO can defend its expanded membership. Britain is one of the largest spending nations on defence in Europe, but does this show in the capabilities of the Armed Forces?
In this talk I discuss the evidence from the Cold War about how British defence policy left the Armed Forces underfunded and undersupplied, and how we see reflections of that thinking in today’s policy.
Speaker biography
Dr Kenton White is a lecturer in Strategic Studies and International Relations at the University of Reading. He is co-director of the Ways of War Research Centre. His main areas of research are British defence policy over the last 200 years, the Peninsular War, NATO and the Cold War, and the study of strategy through history. He is also keen wargamer.