Western Way of War

Do Values define a Western Way of Warfare? Does the military understand the media?  What motivates Western politicians to make decisions?  Lucy Fisher (Defence Editor of The Times) joins Peter Roberts to talk about the 2013 Syria vote in UK Parliament, the revered status of Western militaries, and ignoring social media.

Does a successful and respected professional military force make a conversation with society at large over security and insurmountable conversation? Do government narratives over military threats alienate audiences?  Elisabeth Braw and Peter Roberts take about preppers, supply chains, a Western concept of peace, and the lack of imagination in politics.

Peter Roberts talks to chem/bio warfare guru Dan Kaszeta about the journey from weevils to sarin, political biological poisonings since 2000BCE, food security as a catalyst for chemical weapon research, and a reappraisal of President Nixon.  Busting some preconceptions and becoming more optimistic for the future was not what we expected from this episode.

Peter Roberts talks to US scholar-practitioner Dr Pete Mansoor (author of 'Baghdad at Sunrise', 'Surge', and 'The Culture of Military Organisations') about the Western Way of Warfare from the Peloponnesian war to Iraq: competition, economics, technology, logistics, and escalatory concepts. Plus some advice to those starting PME courses.

States adopting a Western Way of War face challenges of opposing strategic culture that necessitate the blending of Eastern and Western theories of strategy. Chilean general John Griffiths talks to Peter Roberts about how success can be forged into a coherent strategy in such powers, accelerated by Great Power competition in the Indo-Pacific.

Peter Roberts talks to Francois Villiaumey, formerly Deputy Director of Ecole de Guerre in Paris, about the Western Way of War from Charlemange to Eisenhower, the fallacy of linear doctrines, and why the law of the victor is a clearer end state to achieve militarily. Plus, advice for those starting PME course next month.

After 'shock and awe', and the linear approach airforce planning, Stuart Atha talks to Peter Roberts about synchronisation, harmonisation, strategic integration, using hard power to burst A2AD bubbles, and air power as a political tool. Plus, the usual question about how adversaries play the game.

Peter Roberts talks drones, human control, and mowing the lawn with Dr Ulrike Franke. A great intro to the future of drone warfare, surveillance, aerial technology, remote warfare, and the offence/defence balance of air power in the future.

Peter Roberts talks to Dr Peter Layton from Australia on compromised air platform design, how you might conduct operations against a China-style adversary, and why the F35 was the perfect platform for the wars of the last two decades.

Tobias Ellwood (Chair UK Parliament's Defence Committee) talked to Peter Roberts about how political views on the military have changed (risk averse, reactive, lacklustre), the 'Special relationship', pandemic response, Trump, and moving from an operational design focused on punishment to one that denies. Russia, China, Iran, terrorism, and cyber threats, and why global institutions are obsolete. Plus, the lack of military leadership in the UK.

The Israeli model of warfare: what can the West learn? Wilf Owen and Peter Roberts discuss why Western Power have sleep walked into a way of fighting suitable for "The Second XI", but just won't work against peer adversaries, and what needs to happen to change that. Covering the realities of live training and combat experience, logistics, threat driven force-development, Operation Tethered Goat, and the death of superiority.

Military relationships (industrial and international), partnerships, martial habits, and why interoperability with the US alone won't solve the problem with the lack of a Western War of Warfare. Peter Roberts and Philip Osborn go at it.

A wide ranging discussion in which Peter Roberts talks to Frank Hoffman about decisive battles, concepts of victory, strategic culture, divergence, societal risks, militaries as ubiquitous political tools, the 7th industrial revolution (augmentation), an offence/defence division of labour, and a glimpse at Hoffman's new 4 faces of future warfare.

Peter Roberts and Philip Jones talk about why it is people that represent the competitive edge in the Western Way of Warfare - and have done for centuries, and how technology is supporting but not necessarily dominant. 

Peter Roberts and David Richards discuss the ten commandments of the manoeuvrist approach to warfare, thinking of weapons as servants not principles, the enduring nature of challenge, and the British Way of Warfare as ‘The absence of mass’.

Peter Roberts and Nina Kollars talk futurology, exceptionalism, decisive engagements, pathology, winnable fights, and vapourware, all in the pursuit of a more pragmatic view on the Western Way of Warfare.

Peter Roberts and Graeme Lamb talk about the Western Way of Warfare from the Elizabethan Era to today’s Great Power Competition. Failing to adapt, superiority, advantage, and moving from ‘Force on Force’ to ‘Force on Will’.