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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
