THIS TALK HAS BEEN REARRANGED TO THE OCTOBER MEETING DATE
This lecture examines the development of a classic 'British Way of war' strategy for World War One. Long term planning by Admiral Lord Fisher had focused on using control of, or the threat to enter the Baltic to leverage German strategy and complete the economic blockade. Fisher's plans were written up by Julian Corbett, the pre-eminent British strategist of the era, but Asquith and Churchill refused to put them before the War Cabinet. This prompted Fisher to resign... and bring down the Government. This lecture will explain the Baltic Strategy and demonstrate how it was written into the Official History of the War.
Professor Andrew Lambert is Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies at King's College. After completing research in the Department he taught at Bristol Polytechnic,(now the University of West of England), the Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich, and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and also Director of the Laughton Naval Unit housed in the Department. In 2020 he was made a Fellow of Kings College London (FKC).
His work focuses on the naval and strategic history of the British Empire between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War, and the early development of naval historical writing. His work has addressed a range of issues, including technology, policy-making, regional security, deterrence, historiography, crisis-management and conflict. He received the 2014 Anderson Medal for The Challenge: Britain against America in the Naval War of 1812.
Professor Lambert has lectured on aspects of his work around the world, from Australia and Canada to Finland, Denmark and Russia