How a “Hunt for Homosexuals” in 1987 Ultimately Contributed to a Real Change in Emancipation for Gay Men Serving in the Armed Forces of the Netherlands

In 1974, the Netherlands became the first country in the world that no longer forbade gay men from joining the military. It took other Western countries much longer to do the same. From the outside, therefore, it looked as though the liberal country of the Netherlands took a leading position in 1974 regarding the inclusion of people with different sexual orientations in the military. That does not mean, however, that gay service members had an easy time after 1974. The situation hardly changed for the better. This article argues that the dominant view of the Netherlands as a liberal country that was the first to allow gay people into the army in 1974 is in need of revision.

The Deep Battle, the CIA, and the Sorrows of General Rogers

The Cold War versions – ‘AirLand Battle’, ‘AirLand Battle 2000’, and ‘Follow-On Forces Attack’ – of the ‘Deep Battle’ concepts developed by Germany and the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s, caused the flare-up of rare criticism within the community of defence experts and, in particular, friction between the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army and, on a broader spectrum, between the USA and its European allies. Thanks to recently declassified documents, we can now also add the CIA to the chorus of critical voices; the CIA’s scepticism provoked serious disagreements with General Rogers, the then Supreme Allied Commander for Europe. The likely inadequacies of the various forms of Deep Battle for fighting the Soviet threat, along with the total or partial absence of external factors that normally drive the changing of military doctrines, suggest the existence of more prosaic, parochial reasons for their ideation and adoption.

Executions of Jewish Partisans in the Lithuanian Forests: The Case of Natan Ring

Jews joined the Soviet partisan movement spontaneously, after escaping from various ghettos in Lithuania and Belarus. Most of them had no military background, but they were eager to take part in fighting and revenge. They had to adjust to harsh living conditions in the forests and suffered hostility and antisemitism on the part of locals and non-Jewish fellow partisans. Internal relations amongst different political and ideological groups were often problematic as well. This article focuses on specific violent events which occurred in the Rudniki forests near Vilnius, Lithuania, and specifically on one controversial case study: the execution of the partisan commander Natan Ring in early November 1943, by his brothers in arms. Ring was suspected of collaboration with the Germans while he served as a Jewish policeman in the Vilnius ghetto. Based on the testimonies and memories of former partisans, recorded at different times between the end of the war until the present, the article rethinks morals and behaviour in that unique space and time and how the event has been perceived over the years which followed.

Strategy on the Wintry Sea: The Russo-British Submarine Flotilla in the Baltic, 1914–1918

From 1914 to 1917, in severe weather conditions on the icy Baltic Sea, Russian and British submariners contested control of the sea lanes with the German Imperial Navy. Their accomplishments were largely forgotten after the war’s end. However, the Russo-British Baltic Submarine Flotilla played an important role in the war at sea in the First World War. Most significantly, in 1915 the Flotilla wreaked havoc on German naval planning and nearly cut Germany’s critical iron ore imports from Sweden. The results would lead to a strategic crisis in the German Imperial Admiralty Staff and delay Germany’s attempt to break the British blockade until 1916. Here, the significance of the Russo-British Baltic Submarine Flotilla to the broader strategy of the First World War – and its later impact on strategy in the Second World War – is re-examined.

The Appropriation and Weaponisation of the Crusades in the Modern Era

The introductory article proposes the hypothesis, which informed the decision making and editorial work in the present volume, that appropriations and weaponisations of the crusades in the modern era rely on culturally embedded master narratives of the past that are often thought to encompass public or cultural memories. Crucially, medievalism, communicated through metonyms, metaphors, symbols and motifs frequently acts as a placeholder instead of the master narratives themselves. The article addresses differences between medievalists’ and modernists’ conceptions of crusades, especially highlighting how the very meaning of words – such as crusade – differ in the respective fields. But the matter at hand goes beyond semantics, for the notion that the act of crusading is a live and potent issue is hard to ignore. There exists a complex and multifaceted crusading present. That people can appeal to master narratives of the crusades via mutable medievalism, which embodies zero-sum, Manichaean-type “clash of civilisations” scenarios, helps explain the continued appeal of the crusades to those who seek to weaponise them. It is hoped that the contributions to the special issue, introduced towards the end of the article, further a better understanding of the ways this has happened in the modern era.

From War to Global Peace Strategist

The present article sets out to more thoroughly examine George Marshall’s geo-political reasoning on strategic peace-building and the fundamentals of a more viable and sustainable peace structure. In so doing, it shows that although Marshall had been mainly preoccupied with the military side of the United States’ engagement in world affairs, he all the same developed a keen understanding of the strategic imperatives needed to fashion a more stable international order – particularly as concerned the methodical integration of America’s various foreign policies on a global scale.