News, Articles and Comment

Ed. In the Sixteenth century, Portgual was a thalassocracy actively pursuing a strategy of maritime influence and control through the acquisition of strategic oceanic chokepoints – the kind Admiral Sir John Fisher would later describe as “the keys that lock up the world.” A 10 minute read.

Ed. The author provides an overview of the Russo-Japanese War as a watershed for the naval history of the 20^th century. A 10 minute read.

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a book providing an account of the US conquest and occupation of the Philippines at the end of the 19th century, which ‘changed the geopolitics of Asia’.

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a book examining the history of colonialism, with particular reference to the British Empire.

Ed. An important retrospective on the RN’s role in the Pacific, revealing patterns in the history of the last 150 years. Delivered originally as a Royal Navy Club speech onboard HMS Belfast, 6 June 2025. A 20 minute read.

Ed. The author, seeking explanatory narrative frameworks in the tradition of Hobsbawm’s ‘Short Twentieth Century’, applies the geopolitical lens of Halford Mackinder to draw parallels between the world at the turn of the 20^th century and our world today. Originally published in The Article. A 10 minute read.