
The Story of the M1 Garand: The Iconic and Influential World War 2 Weapon
Reading time: 7 minutes
Called the “greatest battle implement ever devised”, the M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle served the USA well during WW2 and beyond.

Dag Hammarskjöld: a defiant pioneer of global diplomacy who died in a mystery plane crash
Reading time: 5 minutes
The idea of a global institution has captivated thinkers since Immanuel Kant in the 18th century. But a body set up to create and maintain world peace and security needs the right people to make it work. When the United Nations was created in 1945, old sentiments — seen in the disbanded League of Nations — threatened to prevail. Would the UN and its leadership simply comply with the great powers of the day?

Kazakhstan: A Story of Endurance
Reading time: 7 minutes
As protests erupt across the former Soviet republic, the world watches transfixed. How did Kazakhstan come to be the country it is today?

Domino Theory and U.S. Foreign Policy
Reading time: 4 minutes
When looking at the cold war and the way the United States went about its foreign policy, you can’t escape the influence of the so-called domino theory. This belief, a common one in American’s halls of power, stated that if one country fell to communism, the surrounding ones would, too. Was there any truth in this theory, though, or was it more scare mongering?

Cuba without Fidel: Five Years Later
Reading time: 6 minutes
For nearly 60 years, and for better or for worse, Fidel Castro was Cuba; at least he fancied himself as such, and the Communist Party which he largely governed with total control, never questioned this image. But what about the Cuban people? Did they really view Fidel as a “modern day Simon Bolivar”, and their one defender against American imperialism?

Gough’s remaking of Defence policy
Gough Whitlam was a physical giant with an intellect to match. His flaws were pretty sizeable, too, and the pygmies who beset him were often from his own party. His self-mocking […]

The Russian Revolution
For most people, the term “Russian Revolution” conjures up a popular set of images: demonstrations in Petrograd’s cold February of 1917, greatcoated men in the Petrograd Soviet, Vladimir Lenin addressing the crowds in […]

Pinochet’s Chile
General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, a career military officer, was appointed Commander in Chief of the Chilean army by President Salvador Allende on August 1973. Eighteen days later, with the connivance, […]

The Iranian Revolution
To understand what caused the Iranian Revolution, we must first consider the ongoing conflict between proponents of secular versus Islamic models of governance in Muslim societies. It all began with […]

51 years ago: Israel won an air battle, and lost the War of Attrition
The Israel Air Force drew the Soviet expeditionary force in Egypt into a perfect, successful ambush, but pride was the country’s downfall, in the long run. For Israelis, this weekend […]

The Antarctic Treaty is turning 60 years old. In a changed world, is it still fit for purpose?
The 1959 Antarctic Treaty celebrates its 60th anniversary this week. Negotiated during the middle of the Cold War by 12 countries with Antarctic interests, it remains the only example of a single […]

WERE SOVIET TANKS DEPLOYED IN EGYPT 50 YEARS AGO?
On February 3, 2018, Russian Air Force Maj. Roman Filipov’s jet was shot down while attacking rebel positions in Syria. Filipov bailed out and, after a shootout with “terrorists,” blew himself up […]

The Cold War Ignites: The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Once the centre of Nazi ideology and power, the German capital of Berlin was extremely important not only in the Allies quest to defeat Hitler, but in the rebuilding of […]

Hubris and Miscalculation: The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion
HUBRIS AND MISCALCULATION: THE FAILURE OF THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION By Michael Vecchio The threat of Nazi villainy had been defeated, however another authoritarian threat rapidly placed over half […]

Nike Missile Site, San Francisco
The Nike missile was one of the first successful anti-aircraft missiles, developed by Bell Labs and put into service by the US and her allies from 1953. As a last-line […]