This week on the podcast, historians Robert Lyman and Phil Craig move between modern Britain and the interwar years to ask a disturbingly familiar question: why do we keep repeating the same mistakes when it comes to military preparedness?

Drawing on Robert Lyman’s recent book Victory to Defeat (written with General Lord Dannatt), the discussion explores how Britain’s formidable military machine of 1918 was allowed to waste away, even as other powers – most notably Germany – absorbed and applied the lessons of British success. The failure to prepare for war, or to apply credible deterrence in the 1930s, would have grave consequences.

Are we witnessing a similar pattern today? And should we rethink the balance between being ‘good global citizens’ and exercising hard national power?

Episode Links

⁠⁠Victory to Defeat: The British Army 1918-40⁠

Aspects of History Links

AoH ⁠⁠online⁠⁠

AoH on ⁠⁠⁠Twitter /X⁠⁠⁠

AoH on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠

Robert Lyman Links

Robert on ⁠⁠⁠Twitter /X⁠⁠⁠

Robert on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠

Phil Craig Links

Phil on ⁠⁠Twitter /X⁠⁠

Phil on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠