Commentary

The United States first deployed nuclear weapons in Europe in September 1954. Over time, thousands were sent to a series of bases to offset the vast conventional advantage of Red Army and Warsaw Pact forces, and deter their use against NATO…

French Navy Adm. Raoul Castex (1878–1968) is the greatest naval strategist you probably never heard of. He is easily at the level of French army luminaries Marshal Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929) and Gen. André Beaufre (1902–75), as well as the…

The United States faces two serious challenges: China and climate change. Ships can help solve both of them. China is run by an authoritarian and increasingly militarily capable government determined to reshape the international order.…

In January 2024, British Chief of the General Staff Gen. Sir Patrick Sanders warned that British youth were now part of a “pre-war” generation. Pointing to the threat from Russia, he drew a direct comparison to 1914 when Britain’s…

The Middle East has long been defined by complex conflicts, yet pride of place is likely Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. U.S. forces, operating there since 2014, officially against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant…

Of all the symbols of American power abroad, the U.S. special operations soldier occupies a unique place in the public’s imagination. The public appetite for tales of derring-do and gutsy ventures is limitless, and U.S. special operations…

The British Army began World War I with only two machine guns per infantry battalion. One gun was a spare, meaning the effective ratio was one per 1,000 soldiers. Historian John Ellis summarized, “For the British commanders, on the eve of…

Headlines would lead one to conclude that the age of killer robots has arrived. In Ukraine, autonomous drone swarmssupposedly hunt for enemies and independently decide what to attack. Because Ukraine and Russia are employing many different…

“It is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union,” George Kennan wrote in 1947, “must be that of long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.” When Kennan…

Chinese leader Xi Jinping closed his annual New Year’s address with a pledge to build a “community with a shared future for mankind” and “make the world a better place for all.” A great deal hinges on whether countries in the Global South…