The Corbett 100 Conference at King’s College London brings together international scholars, serving and retired military personnel and policy makers to mark the centenary of the death of Sir Julian Corbett.

The conference explores the life of Sir Julian and his scholarship on maritime strategy and naval history. The conference will discuss his enduring relevance to contemporary strategy, strategic studies and defence policy and why he remains one of the ‘great’ strategic theorists amongst contemporaries such as Carl Von Clausewitz.

The conference is central to the Corbett 100 project and starts a series of events around 2021-2023.

Programme

Day 1

0930 – Arrival Refreshments

1000 – Welcome to King’s College London, the Corbett 100 Project.

• Dr James W E Smith | Department of War Studies, King’s College London.

Sir Julian Corbett at Kings: setting an agenda?’

• Professor Andrew Lambert | Laughton Chair for Naval History

Theme: Sir Julian Corbett, his Scholarship, and Perspectives

Panel 1. Corbett and the Evolution of Naval history

Chair and Presenter: Rachel Blackman-Rogers | PhD Candidate, King’s College London

-Dr Alan James | King’s College London ‘Making Sense of Tudor Naval Power’.

-Professor Richard Harding | University of Westminster ‘Corbett’s Seven Years War’.

12.00-13.00 Lunch – Council Room & Old Committee Room

13.00- 15.00 Panel 2. ‘The British Way of War’.

Chair and Presenter: Dr Hilary Briffa| Department of War Studies, King’s College London

-Dr Dan Whittingham | University of Birmingham ‘The British Way of War’.

-Dr Rob Johnson | Director of the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre.

‘Soldiers and Maritime Strategy’

-Dr Louis Halewood | University of Plymouth ‘The International Navy of the World’? Britain, the United States, and the Naval Balance of Power, 1919-1922’

15.00-15.30 Break - Council Room & Old Committee Room

15.30- 17.00 Panel 3. The Legal Dimension and International impact.

Chair and Presenter: Dr  Gabriela A Frei | Jesus College, University of Oxford

-Dr Alan M Anderson ‘Corbett and International Law: The Immunity of Private Property at Sea.’

-Dr Jake J Widen ‘Impact and Influence: Corbett in Sweden’.

1700-1900 Reception – Council Room & Old Committee Room

Day 2.

0930 – Arrival Refreshments

Theme: Sir Julian’s Influence Beyond Britain

10.00 Welcome - Professor Andrew Lambert

10.10 – 12.00 Panel 4. The Sea Commonwealth & AUKUS Anticipated: Corbett in the Anglosphere.

1010: Chair: Dr James W E Smith | Department of War Studies, King’s College London | Corbett 100 Committee

-Dr David Kohnen, CDR USN (Ret) | U.S. Naval War College

‘Crossing the Atlantic: Corbett and the Development of American Maritime Strategy.’

-Lt Cmdr Mark Bailey PhD RAN | Australian Naval Institute.

‘Corbett, Empire and Commonwealth.’

12.00-13.00 Lunch – Council Room & Old Committee Room

Theme: British Maritime Strategy and The Royal Navy after 1945

13.00-15.00 Panel 5. Corbett’s Legacy and Maritime Strategy: Decline and Revival?

Chair: Lt Cmdr Mark Bailey PhD, RAN | Australian Naval Institute | Corbett 100 Committee

-Dr James W E Smith ‘The Abolition of Admiralty and the Continental Commitment.’

15.00-15.30 Break - Council Room & Old Committee Room

15.30- 17.00 Panel 6. Corbett and the Contemporary Royal Navy?

Chair: Dr David Kohnen, CDR USN (Ret) | U.S. Naval War College| Corbett 100 Committee

-Commander Andrew Livsey RN | Hudson Fellow, St Antony’s College, Oxford

‘The Royal Navy and Corbett 1990-2020.’

-Captain Kevin Rowlands RN | Head Royal Navy Strategic Studies

‘Some Principles of Maritime Strategy Making in the Royal Navy Today.’

1700: Closing Remarks and Keynote: Professor Andrew Lambert

17.30: End of Conference

 

Follow on events:

• 8 June Online – School of Security Studies Research Conference ‘Back to the Future’ (8-9th June)o Dr James W E Smith: Forgetting Corbett: The Decline of Historically-ledMethodology and Maritime Influences on Strategy in the Contemporary era?
  
  
• 2022 Online – Corbett 100 Seminar at King’s: Dr Kunika Kakuta, University College London, Sir Julian Corbett and 5^th Century Athens to Imperial Japan.

• 2022 Online – Corbett 100 Seminar. Professor Beatrice Heuser: Sir Julian Corbett and The Evolution of Strategy

Please visit the School events page for further details on King’s events related to Corbett 100.

• 21-22 September 2022 Goldrick Conference, Canberra Australia - Australian Naval Institute, University of NSW (Canberra), Australian Defence Force Academy, the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security and the Australian Seapower Centre - Corbett 100 and Indo-Pacific Maritime Strategy. 

• May 2023 – Corbett 100 in the United States, U.S. Naval War College. 

*Please note this is a draft programme as of 16 May 2022. Additional speakers and/or chairsare likely to be added.

Due to space constraint’s this conference is by invite only. Please contact corbett100@kcl.ac.uk for any queries.