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Matthias Strohn at @RMASandhurst offers an interesting perspective on "Military History and its use to The Army" in @CHACR_Camberley& #39;s latest blogpost.
It is a good & worthwhile read.
1/ https://chacr.org.uk/2020/09/17/military-history-and-its-use-to-the-army/">https://chacr.org.uk/2020/09/1...
It is a good & worthwhile read.
1/ https://chacr.org.uk/2020/09/17/military-history-and-its-use-to-the-army/">https://chacr.org.uk/2020/09/1...
The essential dilemma Strohn points towards is the speed at which the military need historical insights and the slowness at which deep history is written.
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Strohn writes,
"Writing a long analysis of a subject and then being asked what the half-page summary is, is, from the historian’s point of view, depressing, but it is the character of Army business"
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"Writing a long analysis of a subject and then being asked what the half-page summary is, is, from the historian’s point of view, depressing, but it is the character of Army business"
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& continues,
"But, likewise, the Army needs to understand that valid (deep) analysis cannot be produced to the usual headquarters time-lines. Otherwise, the Army will end up with a “Wikipediasation of history”
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"But, likewise, the Army needs to understand that valid (deep) analysis cannot be produced to the usual headquarters time-lines. Otherwise, the Army will end up with a “Wikipediasation of history”
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This appears to be a timeless problem that all historians face.
Is this a complete analysis?
I& #39;ve just finished writing about this and I am not sure it is.
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Is this a complete analysis?
I& #39;ve just finished writing about this and I am not sure it is.
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This past 20yrs, Govt has gone through a series of cycles of digitisation. This has created all sorts of knotty challenges. These range from refreshing hardware. Keeping OS updated & secure. Retaining data before hard disks are reused. Indexing data for future use. 6/
But it doesn& #39;t stop there. Different systems make use of different data formats. Does anyone have a drive to access a 3.5" floppy disk anymore? There are loads of different storage disk systems, external drives, flash drives and other devices that must be secured & archived. 7/
& so the military& #39;s IT Estate has expanded, must deal with security considerations & like most things to do with organisations will at times be centralised & standardised so that the CIO can gain some controls and then decentralised and relaxed to allow users to actually work. 8/
It is a long time since I worked at PwC/IBM on IT Strategy but my point isn& #39;t technical.
My point is that data lands on different military desks at different rates.
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My point is that data lands on different military desks at different rates.
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This is a function of the IT estate & the supporting structures that are involved in managing, storing and accessing data.
& the different information needs of different parts of the military organisation.
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& the different information needs of different parts of the military organisation.
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Govt data also moves more slowly than data in the public domain.
The whole world is now a giant sensor. By this I mean everyone is recording and publishing things to the web all the time.
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The whole world is now a giant sensor. By this I mean everyone is recording and publishing things to the web all the time.
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If someone has a smartphone then a story has the potential to break more quickly than a Govt can keep up with it.
In these situations the military aren& #39;t leading they reacting.
Simply put, speedy media publication on the fly disrupts military effects.
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In these situations the military aren& #39;t leading they reacting.
Simply put, speedy media publication on the fly disrupts military effects.
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The military response?
To accelerate warfighting to the speed of data.
That way the armed forces are quicker than the enemy but also quicker than the speed at which a news story can break.
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To accelerate warfighting to the speed of data.
That way the armed forces are quicker than the enemy but also quicker than the speed at which a news story can break.
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There are many dangers in taking this approach. I won& #39;t go into them here (you& #39;ll have to buy the book...).
But there are also challenges for historians working on war.
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But there are also challenges for historians working on war.
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1st thing to say is that this has disrupted the military& #39;s capacity to draw lessons.
Lt-Gen Sir Alistair Irwin (Adjutant General 2003-05) told the Chilcot enquiry
"the only lessons that are learned and put into effect are the ones that are put into effect immediately..."
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Lt-Gen Sir Alistair Irwin (Adjutant General 2003-05) told the Chilcot enquiry
"the only lessons that are learned and put into effect are the ones that are put into effect immediately..."
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He continued,
"...unless the lesson is applied immediately, it will never be remembered."
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"...unless the lesson is applied immediately, it will never be remembered."
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2nd, the quantity of data being recorded is immense. That forces the historian to learn new skills in data-mining/analysis etc.
3rd, not all the data is going to be properly captured/archived.
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3rd, not all the data is going to be properly captured/archived.
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4th, public & & #39;on the fly archives& #39; may be more efficient at capturing the ebb & flow of events than official sources but then how can we be sure they are robust, secure, haven& #39;t been compromised by info operations & maintain high archiving standards.
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5th, if the historian can& #39;t keep up with the moment & the deep analytical history is harder given the quantity/accessibility/completeness of data then how will the historian contribute?
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