107 - British Combined Arms doctrine in the inter war period

The Principles of War - Lessons from Military History on Strategy, Tactics, Doctrine and Leadership.

This is the second in a three part interview with Dr Robert Lyman about 'Victory to Defeat: The British Army 1918-40', a book he co-wrote with Lord Dannatt, who served as the Chief of the General Staff from 2006 to 2009.

This episode looks at how the lessons learnt in the victories of 1918 with Combined Arms were forgotten in the interwar period. Robert discusses the impact of the desire to avoid another Second World War, the resistance to creating an Expeditionary Army for continental Europe, the economy for the Great Depression and the lack of a Grand Strategy and Endstate led to a British Army that struggled for the first two years of the Second World War.

He also examines the role of Nevile Chamberlain in developing a Strategy for Britain.

How does an Army know if its doctrine is capable of winning battles?

Check out the show notes for this Professional Military Education podcast for all of the information that we cover in this episode as well as the images and other details that didn't make it into the podcast. There is also a catalogue of episodes on Leadership, the Principles of War, military history and Mission Command.