The dissertation looks at the transformation of civil-military relations in Poland and Hungary, Russia and Ukraine between the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in July 1991 and the enlargement of NATO in March 1999. It presents new qualitative data based on approximately 120 elite interviews conducted by the author of politicians, military officers, defence analysts, and journalists in the countries in the study. In general, the focus is on the civilian side of the civil-military equation. Specifically, the work assesses the state of civil-military relations on the basis of three interconnected indicators: the making of security policy and defence reform as a test of civilian control, the role of civilians in the ministry of defence, and the strength of agencies of civilian oversight. It is argued that the differences observed in the state of civil-military relations among the states in the study can be explained by the interaction of three main factors. In Poland and Hungary, the external incentives to establish democratic control of the armed forces reform were positive, while in Russia and Ukraine the impact of external actors - of which NATO was by far the most significant - was negative or ambiguous. The attitude of the political and military elite in Poland and Hungary was more open to the adoption of new norms of civil-military relations than was that of the elite in Russia and Ukraine. And in Poland and Hungary the state of the polity and economy presented a less significant internal constraint on reform. The central finding of the dissertation is that in Poland and Hungary reformers tried - with mixed success - to adopt the forms of democratic civil-military relations as part of their drive to integrate with Western politico-military structures without seeking to understand the logic behind them. The result was a "politics of mimicry", a process of imperfect copying of liberal-democratic norms of civil-military relations which, nonetheless, culminated in these countries being admitted to NATO in 1999. In Ukraine and Russia, by contrast, in a time of profound budgetary exigency, the armed forces were left to solve their own problems absent much civilian control except that exercised infrequently and arbitrarily by the head of state.

In recent years, Millimetre-Wave (MMW) frequencies (30-300 GHz) have been exploited for a variety of attractive applications such as astronomical observation, medical imaging, aircraft aided-control landing, security and concealed weapons detection. All this was also possible thanks to the advances in high frequency circuits where Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) represent a key factor. Systems working at MMW often use metal waveguides as interconnect elements and transitions are em- ployed to transfer the signals from these elements to the Radio Frequency (RF) circuits. The objective of this thesis is to design, fabricate and characterise electromagnetic transitions between rectangular waveguide (WR) and planar transmission lines at G-band frequencies (140-220 GHz). The first part of this work presents an overview of the electromagnetic properties of the atmosphere at MMW frequencies and their use for passive MMW imaging applications. Fundamental design concepts and prototypes of real-time imagers are also represented, based on the pioneering work carried out at QinetiQ Ltd. An extensive review of the scientific literature on waveguide transitions presents previous designs and architectures. The work proceeds through design, simulation, fabrication and measurements of G-band transitions highlighting advantages and disadvantages of different structures. The novel design of Elevated E-plane probes, used as waveguide to microstrip transitions in this work, extends the fabrication technique of MMIC air-bridges to build suspended metal structures and provides an additional optimising parameter to improve the reflection performance of the transition by decomposing the substrate influence on the metal probe. The innovative Elevated E-plane probe is fabricated on Semi-Insulated Gallium Arsenide (SI-GaAs) and it is MMIC-integrated, reducing system complexity and optimizing fabrication and assembly costs. The core of the thesis details the fabrication processes and procedures and a separate section describes the manufacture of G-band rectangular waveguide blocks that host the transitions. The overall fabrication is carried out using in-house facilities at the University of Glasgow without the aid of external facilities. Measured results are presented and discussed, validating design and simulations. This work has led to a successful design and fabrication of GaAs-integrated rectangular waveg- uide to microstrip line transition at G-band.

The Vietnam War was one of the most traumatic events ever to afflict the US Military. From the ashes of this defeat, the US Military sought to renew itself. As part of this process of renewal, the US Army in particular engaged in serious soul searching as to how, and under what circumstances, the United States ought to commit itself to war. The answers that were derived from this soul searching are known collectively as the Powell Doctrine, named after General Colin L. Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-1993). The elements of the Doctrine are as follows: the need for “overwhelming” force; the need for public and Congressional support; the need for clear objectives; the need for a clear “exit strategy”; and force should only be used in the “vital national interest.” This thesis will advance four principal arguments: first, that the evolution of the Powell Doctrine cannot be understood without reference to the US experience in Vietnam; second, that the various elements of the Powell Doctrine have a logical relationship to one another which means that the Doctrine as a whole should be considered as a single, integrated body of thought; and, third, that Colin Powell, in his Foreign Affairs article, is simply giving public articulation to an intellectual climate that had already become influential before his ascent to the Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And that, whilst the Powell Doctrine does deserve to be called a doctrine in the military sense of the word, this is not a full explanation of the conditions Powell has laid down as they encroach upon profoundly political issues. And thus, whilst the Powell Doctrine does deserve the title “doctrine,” it is also an attempt to formulate a coherent set of principles to inform US “National Security” policy in areas that go beyond those traditionally seen as being of military concern.

This Engineering Doctorate concerns the enhancement and detection of slow-moving targets in SAR images. Moving targets are incorrectly located or not captured at all in SAR images. Slow-moving targets within the clutter-Doppler-band appear at incorrect locations within the SAR image. Detecting these slow targets would have broad applications in defence surveillance, traffic monitoring and perimeter protection. As an industrially motivated project, partnered with Selex ES, this work goes beyond the explanation and confirmation of theories and looks at the practicality of implementing techniques. The goal of the research is to develop algorithms with general applicability that can also be specifically exploited on current Selex ES SAR systems. Additionally, the benefit of larger numbers of channels should be evaluated to help guide future product development. After finding the capabilities of single channel SAR to be limited to the detection of very bright targets, the main focus of the research is the use of multiple spatial channels to improve moving target capabilities. A multichannel SAR simulator has been developed that, along with multiple flight trials with the PicoSAR radar system, provides data sets that are used to develop and test the algorithms presented in this work. A theoretical background is given that includes analysis of deramp-on-receive processing, multichannel SAR image formation and the Selex ES PicoSAR system. Also included is a novel derivation of the effects of moving targets in spotlight SAR imagery that confirms previous results without the previous approximations. The derivation uses an entirely new approach that considers the closing velocity of moving targets rather than explicit analysis of the signal phases. The main thrust of the research looks at image-domain exploitation of dual channel SAR to suppress stationary clutter and enhance the returns from moving targets. Adaptive channel alignment is used to calibrate and align multiple channels such that the magnitude and phase differences between the channels can be used to cancel stationary clutter contributions. After this clutter suppression, the velocity of bright targets can be then estimated so that they can be correctly focused and positioned within the SAR image. In the more common case where moving targets remain dim after clutter suppression, a third channel is needed to estimate target velocity. Simulated data is used to demonstrate clutter suppression interferometry as a technique to achieve this. The use of real data throughout all of these considerations leads to the conclusion that current dual-channel radar systems such as PicoSAR can be used to detect dim, slow-moving targets. To correct the motion-induced degradation of these targets, it will be necessary to have a third spatial channel but significant gains can be made with only two.

This study examines the evolution of offensive and defensive maritime economic warfare and the Royal Navy’s use of commercial and naval blockades and mercantile convoys during successive wars, particularly its successful use by Britain in the Anglo-American war of 1812-15. Its legality, tactical and strategic development and contemporary government policy, including impressments are studied. Comparison is made of the nature and development of the British and American economies, their vulnerability to economic warfare and the expediency of its use by Britain against the United States discussed. Legal and practical constraints upon British convoys and blockades are studied and practical solutions reviewed. Economic aspects of the causes, conduct and effects of the war are surveyed, including the impact of Britain’s commercial blockade on American commercial, fiscal, financial, economic and political infrastructures, and therefore the United States’ ability and preparedness to continue fighting. The effectiveness of the naval blockade supplementing Britain’s commercial blockade of the United States is also assessed. The long-standing problem of the relative effects of British commercial blockade, and the at times contemporaneous American legislative ‘restricting system’ is resolved by comparison of current New England commodity prices at specific times. Prices before the repeal of Madison’s second Embargo are compared with subsequent prices, and with those after the British blockades are later extended to neutral trade with New England. The effectiveness of British economic warfare on the American economy under two successive commanders is evaluated. An objective assessment of the strategy’s eventual impact on the war’s outcome and later policies is made, and of how far each belligerent’s war aims were met by the negotiated peace. The effectiveness of Britain’s use of economic warfare against the United States has long been seriously under-estimated.

Roman military equipment has traditionally been studied from a typological perspective based on a linear concept of change. Whilst Roman alloys have been analysed scientifically and general studies on them have been published, analysis of military equipment has been scarce and mostly secluded as part of excavation reports of individual sites. Scientific analysis though, can provide independent ways of studying military equipment. It can answer questions about production and distribution of the raw materials and finished objects and is capable of informing on reasons for technological choices (the intention of obtaining determinate colours, for example), and identification of military units. A total of 216 copper-alloy military objects from the British sites of South Cadbury Castle, Ham Hill, Usk, Carlisle, Chester and Kingsholm, and the German site of Kalkriese were selected for obtaining metallurgical characterisation: chemical analysis at major, minor and trace element level and microstructural analysis to obtain fabrication history and identifying any plating. The analytical techniques employed were atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), optical microscopy and multivariate statistics methods such as principal component analysis (PCA), discriminant analysis (DA) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The aim of the project was to characterise the chemical and physical make-up of Roman military copper-alloy metalwork from the 1st century AD, with especial interest in the immediate post-conquest period. The results of the analysis show a difference between the Roman military equipment from British sites and the equipment from Kalkriese, based on trace element patterns. This difference can be explained by a large input of material into Britain that had been made in the years before AD43 in preparation for the conquest. Contrary to recent scholarship, and based on compositional and microstructural evidence, some lorica segmentata brass fittings seem to have been centrally produced. Primary brass and specific gunmetal compositions seem to be associated with the military and probably chosen primarily for their appearance and resemblance to gold, rather than for their mechanical properties. The possibility of mechanised production of brass is explored based on the brass ingot from Sheepen.

This thesis examines the British Commonwealth and Allied Naval forces operation on the west coast during the final two and a half years of the Korean War, particularly focused on their co-operation with the anti-Communist guerrillas. The purpose of this study is to present a more realistic picture of the United Nations (UN) naval forces operation in the west, which has been largely neglected, by analysing their activities in relation to the large number of irregular forces. This thesis shows that, even though it was often difficult and frustrating, working with the irregular groups was both strategically and operationally essential to the conduct of the war, and this naval-guerrilla relationship was of major importance during the latter part of the naval campaign. It concludes that, to the British Commonwealth Commanders and Allied Naval forces on the west coast, a large part of the relationship with the guerrillas during the Korean War could be explained as that involving a compelled co-operation with unreliable partners.

This thesis examines the development of RAF high command of the Metropolitan Air Force (MAF) during the Second World War (SWW). It sheds new light on the re-organisations of the Air Ministry in 1934, the RAF Command structure in 1936, and the tri-service debate in 1937 concerning the RAF proposal to establish a Supreme Air Commander (SAC). It reveals that while frontline expansion created an impetus for re-organisation, it was operational readiness that was the dominant factor in the re-structuring of the RAF. It examines the transition in RAF frontline organization from the mono-functional command system of 1936 to the multi-functional organisation that emerged after 1943 by looking at command structure and practice, personalities, and operational thinking. This study builds on the established historiography but challenges the accepted explanation of RAF reforms in the 1930s. It addresses a significant gap in the literature concerning the way the frontline was directed by the War Cabinet and the Air Ministry. In doing so it seeks to establish a new starting point for the analysis of RAF high command by providing an assessment of how effective were the RAF reforms of the 1930s to the higher command of MAF operations during the SWW.

Learning is critical to battlefield success. \(Ceteris\) \(paribus\), victory becomes more likely when militaries adapt faster and more effectively than their opponents. This thesis examines the effectiveness of the British army’s process for learning and adaptation across six different operational theatres during the First World War. Using a series of case studies, it considers how the army shared knowledge, responded to change, and integrated newcomers. It finds that the army’s attitudes towards learning were more thoroughgoing than hitherto thought. With its pre-war ethos and increased fluidity in wartime, the army displayed organisational and cultural flexibility across all theatres, encouraging a culture of innovation through the promotion of informal learning and tactical diversity. In a broader sense, the thesis does three things. First, it moves beyond the standard Western Front narrative of learning in the First World War, offering a more rounded examination of the army’s experience. Secondly, it highlights the complexity of military learning, considering that which occurs institutionally, between formations, and between theatres. Finally, it reflects on the importance of an organisation’s ethos when faced with uncertainty. This thesis, therefore, offers a point of departure for future studies of traditionally bureaucratic institutions and their ability to learn and innovate.

Conflict archaeology is a popular subject of academic research. Within the topic of British Second World War archaeology there are few studies examining anti-invasion defences, and none relating to the evidence or its use. This research was influenced by concepts in historical and conflict archaeology and the archaeologies of the recent and contemporary past. It was undertaken to determine the extent of survival of archaeological, documentary, aerial photographic and cartographic evidence for three cases in south and south-west Wales. Case study method was used to identify, select and analyse evidence. Grounded theory was used to induce meaning. The evidence was given equal primacy, assessed critically and analysed for its role, value and contribution. Official sources were used for their unique, informed and authoritative content. Knowledge of military organisational practices and formation/unit identities were required to use the evidence effectively. A rich but incomplete evidence base of a complex character was identified. Evidence was found to be complementary and inter-dependent, representing aspects of a common shared phenomenon. The diverse sources could be used to induce meaningful narratives. The research suggested that an archaeological approach was a valid and effective form of inquiry when applied to cross-disciplinary evidence from the recent past.