The development of sea power thought in the early to mid Cold War
The sea is the great global commons and, as Colin Gray pointed out, “Great sea powers or maritime coalitions have either won, or occasionally drawn, every major war in modern history.” But ideas on how to use sea power have not been static. Mahan and Corbett are the names that trip off the tongue, but it was in the Cold War that the ideas we have today were largely formed. This seminar will give a case study of how a set of ideas developed, it will explain a hitherto largely ignored part of Cold War history, and it will suggest how to effectively develop sea power thought in the future.

Andrew Livsey is a retired Royal Navy warfare officer, currently completing a PhD at Kings College London while working for the Navy’s Strategic Studies Centre. In 2017 he won the Sir Michael Howard prize for coming top of the MA on Advanced Staff Course and in 2021-2 he held the Hudson Fellowship with CCW. He has been published in War in History, RUSI Journal, Mariner’s Mirror and The Naval Review.
Date: 11 February 2025, 13:30
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: Old Library
Speaker: Andrew Livsey (Kings College London)
Organising department: Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR)
Organiser: Changing Character of War Centre (CCW)
Organiser contact email address: info@ccw.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Changing Character of War (CCW) Seminar Series
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Elizabeth Robson