Go to the publisher The book describes and analyses the Kalmar War of 1611-1613 between Sweden and Denmark-Norway. Since Denmark controlled the Straits between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, Sweden sought an alternative trade route through the sparsely populated Arctic Lapland – an option enabled by the 1595 Treaty of Teusina (Tyavzino) with […]
Go to the publisher This study describes and analyses the Swedish campaign in Muscovy of 1609–1610 and the Ingrian War of 1610–1617 between Sweden and Muscovy; both wars took place during Russia’s ‘Time of Troubles’. Faced with a serious threat from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Moscow entered into an alliance with Sweden and ultimately offered the […]
Go to the publisher This book describes and analyses the Manchu, or Qing, army in all its aspects. The emphasis lays on the Qing army in the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, because this is the time when the Manchu military system developed its own characteristics and reached maturity. Furthermore, having achieved this and in […]
Go to the publisher The Battle of Narva, in which Charles XII of Sweden defeated Peter the Great of Russia, occurred during the Great Northern War. Peter the Great’s Disastrous Defeat describes the campaign, presents new research on the battle, details the opposing Swedish and Russian armies, and explains the continued development of the Swedish […]
Go to the publisher. Volume 3, finally, will describe the Danish wars of 1657-1660 and the conclusion of the wars in the east. The book describes and analyses the two devastating wars fought between Sweden and Denmark-Norway during the reign of Swedish King Charles X Gustavus, an experienced former general from the Thirty Years’ War. […]
Volume 2 will describe the wars in the east, during the period 1655-1657. This book describes and analyses the ‘Swedish Deluge’ (potop szwedski), the devastating 1655–1660 series of wars fought between Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Brandenburg-Prussia, Muscovite Russia, Transylvania, Cossack Ukraine, the Tatar Khanate of Crimea, and the Holy Roman Empire during the reign of […]
This three-volume series will describe and analyses the ‘Swedish Deluge’ (potop szwedski), the devastating 1655–1660 series of wars fought between Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Brandenburg-Prussia, Muscovite Russia, Transylvania, Cossack Ukraine, the Tatar Khanate of Crimea, and the Holy Roman Empire during the reign of Swedish King Charles X Gustavus, an experienced former general from the […]
Volume 2 studies the social aspects of the Edo period and how the army, especially the Samurai, were involved in important duties such as the firewatch, policing and justice, and ultimately the carrying out of criminal sentences. The book finally seeks to understand the decline of Japanese martial prowess and that of the Samurai as […]
Tokugawa Ieyasu’s decisive victory at Sekigahara in 1600 concluded the civil wars, confirmed his position of military supremacy as shōgun (generalissimo) of Japan, and inaugurated the Edo period (1600–1868), so named because Ieyasu after the battle established his capital in Edo (modern-day Tokyo). By then, Japan was an advanced, outward-looking country. Previously preoccupied by internal […]
In 1975, Lieutenant Commander Valeriy Sablin led his crew in a mutiny on the Soviet warship Storozhevoy. The ship was then located in Riga, Soviet Latvia. Sablin’s avowed intention was to foment a new communist revolution by taking the warship to Leningrad, where he expected to receive the support of the navy and the masses. […]
After my presentation on the history of the early Goths at the Society Virtual Conference in May, I received some questions on those aspects of the Adrianople campaign of AD 376-378 in which I reject the traditional interpretation of events by Roman historians such as Ammianus Marcellinus. Get Full text in PDF
An examination of the only complete Soviet KGB active measures campaign plan that has surfaced. Based on it, a number of conclusions can be drawn on what characterized Soviet active measures during the Cold War, and for this reason might still characterize contemporary Russian active measures. Get Full text in PDF
The 9/11 terrorist attacks shaped American politics for decades. In 2021, the Biden Administration’s timetable for withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan was for domestic political reasons firmly tied to the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The problem was, nobody thought to remind President Joe Biden that the Taliban government also had a 20th anniversary to […]
In Part 2 Michael Fredholm von Essen looks at the circumstances that led Temuchin to change Nomad strategy and create the greatest land empire in history. He then examines the causes of the downfall of nomad military superiority, of which gunpowder was the chieftest. Get Full text VERSION 1 in PDF Get Full text VERSION […]
Asiatic nomad armies created some of the greatest empires the world has ever seen. Michael Fredholm von Essen analyses the nomad strategy that eventually transformed them from tribal federations content with opportunistic raiding into empire builders. Get full text in PDF.
This is the second of two books which describe the Goths, their arms and armour, dress and equipment, army organisation, campaigns, battle tactics, and strategy. The focus of this second volume is the Goths after their entry into the Roman Empire. The emphasis lies on the Goths themselves, the kingdoms they established, and their military […]
This is the first of two books which describe the Goths, their arms and armour, dress and equipment, army organisation, campaigns, battle tactics, and strategy. The focus of this first volume is the early Goths, before they became integral to the history of the Roman Empire. The emphasis lies on the Goths themselves, outside and […]
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Under det kalla kriget hade Sverige ett av världens största flygvapen. Det bestod nästan enbart av svenska stridsflygplan. Bara stormakterna gjorde liknande ansträngningar. Satsningenberörde hela samhället. Överallt i landet fanns flygflottiljer, hemliga vägbaser och förråd, liksom den svenska flygindustrin med mer än tusen underleverantörer – om kriget skulle komma. Men hur såg egentligen den svenska […]
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See more – Adlibris Alla de svenska hemligheterna från det kalla kriget. Boken bygger på tidigare hemligstämplade dokument och mycket berättas för första gången. Vad var det egentligen som hände under det kalla kriget och åren därefter? Vad gjorde landets politiska ledning, öppet och i hemlighet? – Hur gick det egentligen till när spionen Stig Wennerström avslöjades, […]
This book describes and analyses the early modern Swedish army during the Thirty Years War after the death in 1632 of King Gustavus Adolphus. At this time, military operations were handled by field marshals under the overall command of the Swedish Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna. The book expands our understanding of the Swedish army during the […]
See more – Helion & Co. The book describes and analyses the early modern Swedish army, with a particular emphasis on the reforms introduced by King Gustavus Adolphus before and during the Thirty Years War. Furthermore, the book expands our understanding of the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War by also focusing on its […]
Until 1945, police intelligence remained a key source of national intelligence. Of particular importance for counterespionage and counterterrorism, police networks also provided strategic intelligence on countries with which police cooperation took place and, in times of war, facilitated operations on enemy territory. From 1929, for instance, the Cairo Police coordinated a global intelligence network ranging […]
Policy makers tend to pick and choose among conclusions presented to them. This can result in politicization, which ultimately might result in intelligence being blamed for policy failures. This has a negative impact on intelligence analysis, transforming it in an ever more cautious direction which negates its utility in the policy process. Swedish intelligence learnt […]
In 1946, Sweden had not yet chosen sides in the emerging Cold War. Leading members of the Swedish Social Democrat government, primarily the powerful Foreign Minister Östen Undén, distrusted the Western democracies and regarded the Soviet Union as a viable protector. Swedish intelligence had cooperated with its Western counterparts during the Second World War. After […]
The book describes and analyses the Scanian War, which was fought from 1675 to 1679 between, on one side, primarily Brandenburg and Denmark–Norway and, on the other, Sweden. The war was mainly fought in Scania, the former Danish lands along the border with Sweden, and in northern Germany. The Danish objective was to retrieve Scania […]
This is the first book to scrutinize the root causes of problems today with Afghan reconstruction. It begins in 1880 with the coming to power of Emir Abdur Rahman and departure of an occupying British army. On the northern border, Russian forces were also poised. Determined to preserve Afghan independence, Abdur Rahman devised a nation-building […]
The book describes and analyses the emergence of the early modern Russian army, before the military reforms introduced by Tsar Peter the Great brought it in line with developments in Western Europe. It will be shown that Tsar Peter’s reforms, although decisive, rested on a legacy of previous reforms. Yet, the origin of the early […]
This chapter will describe the implications for security forces of the convergence between nanotechnology and materials science and engineering. It will aim to investigate what can be expected in the medium term, until 2025, by examining U.S. and Russian efforts in nanomaterials, with a focus on security forces applications. It will also suggest a few […]
This book describes and analyzes the convergence of transnational organized crime and jihadist terrorism that has taken place within Russian-speaking social networks in Western Europe. Studies have shown that while under certain circumstances links between criminal organizations and terrorist groups appear, these are usually opportunistic and temporary in nature. Only rarely do they develop into […]
Rightly or wrongly, many observers who discuss present national security threats emanating from Russia will refer to the so-called Gerasimov Doctrine as essential reading. The Gerasimov Doctrine, as it is explained in most media reports, purports to be a new Russian military doctrine that combines military, technological, information, diplomatic, economic, cultural, and other tactics, which […]
In 2015, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) announced the establishment of its Khorasan Province, said to encompass “Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other nearby lands.” Soon after, ISIL proclaimed its Caucasus Province. However, the war in Syria and Iraq is going badly for ISIL. Losing ground in its heartland, ISIL fighters will have […]
Doku Umarov (1964-2013), also known as Dokka Umarov and later Abu Usman, was the founder and leader of the Caucasus Emirate. An ethnic Chechen, he, like many North Caucasian jihadis, experienced an ideological slide from secularism and separatism to jihadism. Umarov personally described how he took up jihad, with the help of a relative, from […]
The concept of hybrid power projection or of hybrid threats is not addressed much in Sweden, one of the reasons being the military planning process. Since hybrid warfare covers effectively everything from conventional warfare to terrorism to organised crime and cyber threats, it is difficult for the armed forces to plan their strength and size […]
This volume examines the lone actor terrorist phenomenon, including the larger societal trends which may or may not have led to their acts of terrorism. With lone actor terrorism becoming an increasingly common threat, the contributors to this volume aim to answer the following questions: What drives the actions of individuals who become lone actor […]
When the Afghan Taliban leaders withdrew into Pakistan in late 2001, they had no intention of surrendering the struggle against the U.S.-led international coalition which had forced them out of Afghanistan. Yet, with a substantial international military presence firmly entrenched in Afghanistan, there was no way that the Taliban could regain power by conventional military […]
By late 2005, Sweden suddenly faced what it perceived as a hard security threat, in the unexpected form of a Russian pipeline project across the Baltic Sea which, it was suspected, could be used as a sensor platform for Russian military intelligence. The pipeline would be ideally located for use as a tripwire sensor chain […]
For much of the twentieth century, Sweden has adhered to a policy of neutrality. It declined to participate in either of the world wars and avoided being a target of any of the belligerent powers. Its intelligence and security services played a major role supporting Sweden’s foreign policy in both the First and particularly the […]
During the 1992-1997 civil war in Tajikistan, foreign volunteers from primarily Uzbekistan played a prominent role in the fighting on the side of the UTO. Subsequently forming the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), these volunteer jihadists continued fighting and formed a destabilizing factor in Tajikistan’s relationship with neighbouring countries. The IMU in time migrated into […]
Der Dschihadist unserer Zeit lebt häufig im Westen, etwa als Immigrant der zweiten Generation oder in einer anderen, ziemlich säkularen Umgebung, wie z.B. das post-sowjetische Zentralasien. Er verfügt wahrscheinlich nur wenig oder gar nicht über die arabische Sprache und ist kein islamischer Student. Religion und Ideologie werden in erster Linie als nachträgliche Rechtfertigung und Legitimation […]
What role did religious beliefs play in early modern warfare? Or, to rephrase the question, what was the role of religious beliefs in early modern society? That religiosity played a role seems clear, but exactly how important was religion among other motivational factors, such as the desire for survival, personal gain, or even love – […]
During the Great Northern War (1700-1721), the most renowned officer in the Danish navy was a Norwegian, Peter Tordenskiold – a living legend. Get Full text in PDF
During the Great Northern War (1700-1721), the most renowned officer in the Danish navy was a Norwegian, Peter Tordenskiold – a living legend. Get Full text in PDF
Michael Fredholm (Stockholm University) analyzes the activities of Uzbek Islamic extremists and finds that, although their Islamic rhetoric has little theological content and is outweighed by their belief in the righteousness of their cause and that salvation can be assured by armed violence in the name of the religious duty of holy war (jihad), they […]
Few topics are more susceptible to heated public debate than the risks associated with the energy sector and energy security. Public debate on energy issues is often made yet more convoluted by the fact that political scientists from government and think-tanks not only have a different outlook and employ different analytical methods than industry analysts, […]
Among the world’s great powers, China is one of those which arguably are most difficult to assess with regard to ultimate political intentions. The difficulties were voiced by the United States Ambassador to China, Gary Locke, who noted “that there is a concern, a question mark, by people all around the world and governments all […]
Few topics are more susceptible to heated public debate than the risks associated with the energy sector and energy security. Public debate on energy issues is often made yet more convoluted by the fact that political scientists from government and think-tanks not only have a different outlook and employ different analytical methods than industry analysts, […]
Afghanistan plays a pivotal role in Central Asia’s regional instability due to its weak central government, poor economy, and ethnically diverse population. Although Afghanistan contains important natural resources, the country still faces a number of problems, each of which has the potential to destroy the Afghan government after the pull-out of international military forces. Central […]
In seventeenth-century Siam (now Thailand), although most wars were fought against neighbouring Burma, one of the most prominent sources of military inspiration was Japan. In fact, japanese influence remained for centuries in the Siamese army. Even a perfunctory walk through the weapons gallery in the excellent Bangkok National Museum reveals that, among swords, the majority resemble […]
Could early modern warfare ever be called heroic? Did heroic warfare exist in at least non-Western societies? During the second half of the twentieth century, some historians and anthropologists attempted to recreate what early warfare really was like through the use of oral history, in those few societies where such traditions still remained… Get […]
As a follow-up to Neil Rennoldson’s articles in Arquebusier XXXII/III on early sixteenth-century landsknechts in their German core territories, the following four illustrations depict landsknechts from the same period but in service in Sweden and Finland. Landsknechts first arrived in Sweden as mercenary contingents in Danish invasion armies, but within a few years, they were […]
As a follow-up to Neil Rennoldson’s articles in Arquebusier XXXII/III on the flamboyant and colourful dress of early sixteenth-century landsknechts in Germany, and my own short article on the not quite as flamboyant, but still colourful landsknecht dress from the same period but in Sweden and Finland, I can now take this opportunity to add […]
Современный джихадист часто живет на Западе, возможно вторым поколением эмигрантов или как обращенный, или в другой светской общине где-нибудь в постсоветской Средней Азии. Чаще всего он не знаком с арабским и не является мусульманином. Для него религия и идеология – скорее оправдание задним числом легитимности агрессивных действий и эффект джихадизма, а не его причина. Для […]
The contemporary jihadist often lives in the West, perhaps as a second-generation immigrant or convert, or in another fairly secular environment such as post-Soviet Central Asia. He likely knows little or no Arabic, and is not an Islamic scholar. For him, religion and ideology are primarily used as an after-the-fact justification and legitimization for violent […]
First study to properly treat a key regional grouping in Asia. Explores both security and energy issues across the region. Considers geopolitical obstacles to the SCO’s long-term viability. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has developed into a key regional security group in Asia, its member states representing no less than “half of humanity”. Alarmists believe […]
The two-decade-long reign of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan has witnessed remarkable achievements. Where there at first was no real country, only a vast expanse inhabited by a majority of Slavic settlers, a minority of native Kazakhs (no more than 20% according to the 1959 census) and a large population of disparate nationalities exiled there […]
Globalization has brought new vulnerabilities and opportunities in Eurasia’s energy sector. The effects of globalization particularly concern Russia’s energy relationships with Europe, Central Asia, and China. In the transition from the command economy of the Soviet period to the market economy of the present, the Russian energy industry gradually changed its strategy. Central Asia is […]
In these days of recurring cutbacks in government military spending, outsourcing, and the privatization of warfare with private-sector military firms involved in naval affairs, it may be worthwhile to remember that it was not always a foregone conclusion that, from an organizational point of view, a modern navy would have to be responsible for its […]
A number of counterproductive policies have been attempted in Afghanistan. New policies are needed, and this paper describes proven methods of state-building in Afghanistan. Get Full text in PDF
The Archivio Segreto Vaticano, the Secret Archives, or to use its full and official name, Archivum secretum apostolicum Vaticanum, has handled official Church business for centuries. The modern Archives were established around 1610 but its collections include a very large number of documents that go back much further in time. Exactly how far is unknown; […]
Pakistan has been called the epicentre of terrorism. Since leaders from almost every Sunni Islamic extremist group worldwide, from the internationalist Al-Qaeda to the Afghanistan-centred Taliban, have been found on the Pakistani soil, there seems little reason to argue with the conclusion that Pakistan is indeed central to political violence and terrorism in the name of Sunni Islam. […]
Current advances in localization and tracking technology have the potential to develop into much-needed tools for the saving of lives in emergency response and rescue missions, and for the safe-keeping of lives in military operations. However, civilian and military users face different environments and consequently have different user requirements. Even within the two broad fields […]
The war effort in Afghanistan has focused on kinetic targeting. Since insurgent operations involve few fighters, the intelligence task became to identify and locate perpetrators. Modern network analysis was applied in support of targeting, but intelligence collection and analysis in support of day-to-day relations with Afghan communities have been insufficient to allow intelligence-driven operations to […]
The dramatic events that caused probably the last genuine Ming Dynasty loyalist, the half-Japanese pirate warlord Coxinga (1624-1662), to take control over the island of Formosa (present Taiwan) two decades after the fall of the dynasty that he served have been described in many books, plays, and even television dramas. This article will accordingly focus […]
The twenty-year reign of President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan has seen his country develop through independence and transition into a haven of social and political stability. At the same time, Nazarbayev has presided over constitutional and political changes that have emasculated most of the political opposition and brought in restrictive media legislation. With Kazakhstan currently holding […]
Uzbek proponents of Islamic extremism have played an important role as foreign participants in the civil wars of Tajikistan and Afghanistan and the present conflict between Pakistani Taliban and security forces in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Their close links to international jihadist networks such as the Al-Qaida and, at times, considerable income from sources […]
In 1995, Sunni Islamic extremism – of the type usually referred to as Wahhabism – emerged as a disruptive political force in Chechnya. The dynamics of this are well understood. So is the fact that spillover from this conflict has touched the Gulf region, in the form of terrorism as well as unasked-for problems in […]
Something odd seems to have happened when the modern Danish and Swedish navies emerged in the sixteenth century. Not only did they grow in size and strength very rapidly, they also experimented with unexpected types of armaments such as pyrotechnics. Most curious might have been the experiments with naval rockets… Get Full text in […]
The geopolitical significance of Turkey is analyzed in the perspective of the last decades of the history of Turkey and the region. The paper is in Swedish. Get Full text in PDF
1. China, India, and Thailand all need Burma’s energy reserves, in particular natural gas but also oil and hydroelectric power. 2. China also needs to transit Middle Eastern oil and natural gas through Burma. 3. Thailand already depends on Burmese energy for 20 per cent of its electric power demand. 4. Since Burma needs revenues, […]
1. Since independence, Ukraine’s dependence on cheap natural gas, either from Russia or at least transited through Russia, in combination with Russia’s need to export natural gas to western Europe, has consistently caused disturbances in the relations between the two countries. 2. Russia depends on Ukraine, for the transiting of natural gas primarily aimed for […]
1. Central Asia is beginning to see a genuine move away from barter deals towards commercial deals in accordance with market forces. 2. Contrary to much perceived wisdom, in Central Asia it is Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas export monopoly, that is leading the way in the movement towards market forces. 3. Central Asian natural gas […]
What Makes Central Asian Islam Central Asian? In March 2005, an Afghan deputy minister of the interior (who out of mercy will remain unnamed) was touring Europe. At one stop, he suddenly found himself faced with a question that obviously took him by surprise. How long, an innocent but assuredly well-meaning European asked, had Afghanistan […]
Tibet had since at least the eighth century been known for its heavily armoured cavalry. However, the era of the armoured cavalryman ended in Tibet in the mid-seventeenth century following the introduction of firearms from in particular Bhutan. The Tibetan military then underwent a transitional phase from the mid-/late seventeenth to the end of the […]
Russia remains the key guarantor of security in Central Asia, but the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), of which Russia and China are the leading members, may have the potential eventually to assume this role. However, a number of serious issues will hamper continued cooperation. First, there is a lack of common values among the SCO member states. In […]
I dessa dagar, då EU ständigt förefaller ställa nya krav på Turkiet för att landet till sist ska beviljas medlemskap i unionen, kan det vara på sin plats att påminna om den tid då Turkiet, i form av Osmanska riket, var den superstat till vilken förföljda européer kunde fly när det ryska hotet blev alltför påträngande […]
The People of the North Caucasus at War The steep mountains of the Caucasus range always served as a barrier between the steppes of the north and the more fertile, agricultural areas to the south. Although jagged and bare, and with few real passes from north to south, many narrow and forested, fertile valleys cut through […]
Putin and Energy Policy Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has never made a secret of his views on energy security, and the policy documents issued by the Kremlin for obvious reasons correspond to his views. Most important among these documents is the Russian energy strategy, approved on 23 May 2003 and confirmed by the Russian government […]
Islam in Central Asia does not constitute a uniform religious, social, or political force. While all titular Central Asian ethnic groups, i.e., the nations that states were named after, eventually embraced Islam, the religion did not penetrate the traditional cultures and social systems of these groups to an equal extent. While the sedentary groups generally […]
The forceful suppression of revolt in Andijan shocked but also alarmed most international observers and seasoned politicians: the loss of hundreds of innocent lives was appalling but the involvement of Islamist networks was worrisome indeed. Moscow, in contrast, expressed unambiguous support to the ‘friendly Uzbek government’ and added more criticism to Western NGOs that were […]
Russia remains the key guarantor of security in Central Asia, despite often heard claims that the United States has assumed this position. However, Russia regards Central Asia as of far less priority than her relations with the United States, Europe, and China. By the end of the Soviet era, Central Asia was considered an economic […]
Most academics working on the military revolution have focused their attention on Western Europe. This Eurocentric view is perhaps understandable, since many indeed seem to be more interested in the Rise of the West than in purely military affairs elsewhere. However, while the European strategists of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, being chiefly concerned with […]
Most history was always written from the perspective of great empires such as Rome, Persia, and China. For them, and their historians, the nomads of the Eurasian steppes were little more than savage troublemakers. Nomads of different tribes and lineages were also hard to distinguish from one another. Few imperial commentators went farther than merely […]
The energy needs of the world are growing fast, and competition for energy is on the rise. Not only hydrocarbon (crude oil and natural gas) resources are at stake, but also the means of electricity production and indeed most other sources of energy. China and India may both need to double their oil requirements in […]
Around 1800, three great powers faced each other in Inner Asia: Britain, Russia, and the Manchu empire. The West referred to the latter as China, given that China since the seventeenth century formed the economically most important part of the Manchu empire. The Manchus were in decline, but they remained sufficiently strong to control the […]
I dessa dagar talar man ofta om hot och framförallt hotbilder. Det kan vara personliga hotbilder, till exempel riktade mot en viss minister. Eller det kan vara nationella hotbilder, riktade mot hela landet. Under det kalla kriget såg svenska myndigheter en tydlig hotbild i form av Sovjetunionen. Under tidigare århundraden upplevdes på samma sätt det […]
Can Islamic Extremists Overthrow The Karimov Government? That repression of the political opposition is a fact of daily life in Uzbekistan, together with a weak Soviet-style economy and falling living standards for substantial segments of the population has been shown in a number of surveys. Yet President Islam Karimov remains firmly in charge of the […]
Stalin’s Disneyland? The widely publicised attempt on Turkmenistani President Saparmurat Niyazov’s life on 25 November 2002, and the subsequent arrest in the capital Ashgabat of an exiled, leading opponent to the Niyazov regime, dispelled the notion that any rumours of attempted palace coups against the Turkmenistani government were exaggerated. Although the facts of the affair […]
Islam in Central Asia does not constitute a uniform religious, social, or political force. While all titular Central Asian ethnic groups, i.e., the nations that states were named after, eventually embraced Islam, the religion did not penetrate the traditional cultures and social systems of these groups to an equally encompassing extent. While sedentary groups generally […]
Female Chechen suicide bombers have recently developed into a new and increasingly serious threat to Russia. Previous Chechen acts of violence were primarily aimed at military targets and took place in the Northern Caucasus, and did not aim to kill large numbers of Russian civilians. The attacks by female suicide bombers have reversed these patterns. While […]
A Great Game with New Rules Central Asia is no longer the contested territory in a great geopolitical game fought among great powers. Few borders are seriously contested, unlike the situation in the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. Despite regional problems involving the exploitation of water resources, inter-ethnic distrust, economic reform, and the development […]
This is the first in a series of articles on the Goths. Later articles will describe the military organisation and battle tactics of the Romano-Gothic successor states, their weapons and armour, as well as the history of their wars from the emergence of the Goths as a people to the fall of the Gothic kingdoms […]
The Swedish Way of Warfare – with Privateers and Pirates In the 1700s, the Swedish way of warfare was regarded as highly effective. It was also, not infrequently, highly anachronistic. The Swedish army’s persisting – and convincing – use of pikes against enemies armed with muskets is well known. Less noted perhaps, is the fact […]
The Army of Muscovite Russia – From the Middle Ages to Imperial Russia Medieval Russia was divided into a number of independent princepalities and republics. In the fourteenth century Moscow, ruled by a Grand Duke or Prince (velikiy knyaz’), gained a leading rle among them, a feat achieved chiefly by accepting tributary status to the […]
The failure of the Chechen separatist movement has made it imperative to find a working policy for the volatile Russian North Caucasus. There is a risk of extremist retaliation against the West, which would mean that the present terrorist threat in Russia becomes a transnational threat. The paper describes the prospects for Russia in dealing […]
Since 1988, Burma has expanded its military from what was in effect a mere counter-insurgency force to what is likely to become the largest military force in South-East Asia. Moreover, a rapid and thorough modernisation process has armed the battle-hardened army with modern weaponry. The air force and navy too have increased their capabilities. For […]
På en konstgjord ö, Dejima, i nuvarande Nagasakis hamn, byggdes redan på 1500-talet bostäder för utländska köpman. Så småningom uppfördes här ett holländskt, ostindiskt faktori. Ön blev med århundradena fast land och bebyggt med allt fler och all högre kontorshus. Men nu ska Dejima med sitt gamla faktori återuppstå till fyrahundraårsjubileet av det första holländska […]
PART 1: Armies of the North PART 2: The Struggle for Ireland, 1772-1457 BC What do we know about the wars of the Nordic Bronze Age? Archaeology provides some answers, and if taken with a fair amount of scepticism and acceptance of uncertainty, old chronicles bring additional small nuggets of what might possibly have happened. […]
The Yayoi period is sometimes regarded as the Japanese Bronze Age. This is not strictly true, as iron was in widespread use and Japan accordingly never had a true bronze age. However, the Yayoi period succeeded the stone-age Jomon period, and was itself followed by the iron-dominated Kofun period, during which a new potent force […]
