Transformation and Innovation in the British Military from 1642 to 1945

Here are details on an event that I have been in the process of organising for the past couple of months that may be of interest to the membership...

Centres for First and Second World War Studies

Transformation and Innovation in the British Military from 1642 to 1945

A Symposium for Postgraduate and Early Career Historians



This symposium, organised by the Centres for First and Second World War Studies at the University of Birmingham, intends to give postgraduate and early career historians the opportunity to examine the process of transformation and innovation in the British military as recent literature on the subject has highlighted a need to evaluate the process from 1642 to 1945. The symposium will be held at the Edgbaston campus of the University of Birmingham.


The symposium will also give delegates the opportunity to present aspects of their research to a wider audience and engage with the academic community in military history. The symposium programme is attached, and includes eighteen papers on aspects of transformation and innovation in the British military from the early modern period to the modern and from a range of perspectives. Professor John Buckley, Chair of Military History at the University of Wolverhampton Military History, will deliver the keynote lecture. Professor Gary Sheffield, Chair of War Studies at the University of Birmingham, will deliver the symposium’s closing address.


The symposium fee, which includes tea & coffee and lunch on the day, is £10 for postgraduate students and Friends/Members of the Centres for First and Second World War Studies and £20 for other interested parties.


If you wish to attend the conference please print out and return this Symposium Booking Form and send it by Monday 4 April to:


Ross Mahoney
C/O School of History and Cultures
College of Arts and Law
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT


For informal enquiries please email us at birminghamwarstudies@gmail.com


Symposium webpage – Transformation and Innovation Symposium « Birmingham "On War"

Symposium Timetable

8:45 – Registration


9:15 – Introduction and Welcome – Ross Mahoney, Stuart Mitchell and Michael LoCicero


9:30 – Panel 1: Transformation and Innovation in the Early Modern Era, 1642-1815


Chair: Victoria Henshaw (University of Birmingham)


Sara Regnier-Mckeller (University of Essex) – Honour and Manhood in the Armies of the British Civil Wars


Britt Zerbe (University of Exeter) – Amphibious Brotherhood: 1664 or 1755? What Foundation and Establishment mean to Marine Identity

11:00 – Tea


11:15 – Panel 2A: Transformation and Innovation in the 19th Century


Chair: Aimée Fox (University of Birmingham)


Peter Randall (University of Reading) – The Influence of the Napoleonic Wars upon the British Military, 1815-1854


Andrew Duncan (University of Birmingham) – British Army Medicine, 1854-1914: Resistance and Reform


Edward Gosling (University of Plymouth) – The Cardwell-Childers Reforms, 1868-1881

11:15 – Panel 2B: Transformation and Innovation at the Fin de Siècle


Chair: Michael LoCicero (University of Birmingham)


Dr Spencer Jones (University of Wolverhampton) – Countdown to the ‘Mad Minute’: The Reform of British Musketry, 1899-1914


Dr Peter Grant (Cass Business School, City University) – Learning to Manage the Army: The Army Administration Course at the London School of Economics


Martin Gibson (University of Glasgow) – The Royal Navy’s Conversion from Coal to Oil, 1900-1914

12:45 – Lunch


13:30 – Keynote Address by Professor John Buckley, Chair of Military History, University of Wolverhampton


14:30 – Panel 3A: Transformation and Innovation in the First World War


Chair: Stuart Mitchell (University of Birmingham)


Paul Harris (King’s College London) – Soldier Banker: Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Lawrence as the BEF’s Chief of Staff in 1918


Simon Justice (University of Birmingham) – Vanishing Battalions: The Reorganisation of British Infantry prior to, and as a result of, the German Spring Offensives of 1918


Dr Jonathan Boff (King’s College London) – Innovation and Victory: The British Army during the Hundred Days Campaign, 1918


14:30 – Panel 3B: Transformation and Innovation in the Second World War


Chair: James Pugh (University of Birmingham)


Neal Dando (University of Plymouth) – From ‘Jock Column’ to Armoured Column: Transformation and Change in British and Commonwealth Unit Tactics in the Western Desert, January 1941 to November 1942


Sarah McCook (University of Durham) – Wartime Communications: British Dispatch Riders and the need for reliable communications during the Second World War


Dr Matthew Ford (University of Hull) – Learning the Lessons of Battle: Organisational Learning, Small Unit Tactics and the Problems with the Force Transformation Literature


16.00 – Coffee


16:15 – Panel 4: Transformation and Innovation in the Third Dimension


Chair: Ross Mahoney (University of Birmingham)


James Pugh (University of Birmingham) – Oil and Water: Military and Naval approaches to Air Power Doctrine and Technological Innovation, 1911-1914


John Alexander (University of Birmingham) – Transformation and Innovation in British Air Defence, 1922-1936


Richard Hammond (University of Exeter) – British Aero-Naval Co-Operation in the Mediterranean and the Formation of RAF No. 201 (Naval Co-Operation) Group


17:45 Closing Address by Professor Gary Sheffield, Chair of War Studies, University of Birmingham

Ross

 

Just a reminader about this event. It would be good to see some WW2Talk members there. Here is the symposium poster:



Any questions then just ask. More details here.

Ross