The technical transformation of the Royal Navy during the Victorian era posed a succession of bewildering design, tactical and operational problems for administrators from the 1830s onwards. These problems have attracted considerable scrutiny. Far less scrutiny, however, has been paid to an equally fundamental strategic quandary created by the switch from sail to steam. Sailing ships boasted impressive strategic reach, circumscribed only by coasts, shoals and nutritional requirements of crews. As steam supplanted sail, this reach vanished, with vessels whose bunkers required constant refilling from local depots and whose machinery needed frequent maintenance. The task of imperial defence - convoy, patrolling sea lanes between empire and home islands, and defending colonies from seaborne raiders - now required a far more comprehensive logistical infrastructure than had been the case during the 18th and 19th centuries. Donald Schurman's study reveals how British statesmen, military and naval professionals, and administrators evolved a suitable response to this situation based on the creation of a system of defended coaling stations. Schurman also places the creation of this steam-age imperial defence policy in the context of political ideology and partisanship, surveying the divide between Liberals and Conservatives, differences within parties, turf battles among government departments, and divergent views among politicians, soldiers and sailors wrestling with imperial policy.

A major new study of the theory and practice of warfare in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Using relevant examples from recent history, this book provides a complete introduction to the issues, ideas, concepts, context and vocabulary of modern warfare. The expert team of authors explore the conduct of war across land, sea, air and space in addition to addressing key issues relating to contemporary strategy, weapons of mass destruction and irregular warfare, including insurgency, terrorism and civil war. They provide an incisive and structured grounding in military theory and argue for the importance of understanding warfare within the joint (inter-service) context and as an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary phenomenon. By providing the tools required to truly understand contemporary military doctrine this accessible survey will be an invaluable resource for any student of military history or international relations as well as for military professionals.

This book brings together the often separated histories of diplomacy, defence, economics and empire in a provocative reinterpretation of British 'decline'. It also offers a broader reflection on the nature of international power and the mechanisms of policymaking. For this Second Edition, David Reynolds has added a new chapters and extends his lively and incisive analysis to the beginning of the new millennium.