Old ways of warfare still essential to modern conflicts

One of Britain’s top military experts has said that Russia’s offensive in Ukraine demonstrates how important the “old ways of warfare” are to the conduct of war and why large numbers of troops and artillery are still essential. 

General Sir James Everard, the former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, speaking at The Defence of Europe conference, co-hosted by Reaction and King’s College London, said: “While we’re drawn to new ways of warfare, you still need troops, huge quantities of artillery and rocket ammunition. He added that it’s criticial that the “old ways of warfare do not disappear.” 

Professor Will Jessett, a Visiting Professor at King’s, agrees, noting that cyber warfare hasn’t featured as widely in the current conflict as many expected. “Cyber is still developing as an art and it might still have an increasing role. But this has been largely a missile war.”

This is a challenge, according to Jesset, because “ammunition stockpiles are very low. We are scrambling now to make more.”

This war has similarly demonstrated that reducing combat power of NATO doesn’t make sense, says Everard. “In order to deter you have to unambiguously demonstrate the ability to defend. It’s a very simple concept but it needs combat power to make it work.” 

As events stands, Moscow is struggling. “Putin’s generals will still think they can win in the east and establish a new front line,” says Jessett. “But I look at evidence and don’t think they can achieve that without escalating considerably.”

Geography plays a key role in why Putin’s army is struggling, according to fellow speaker and Reaction columnist Tim Marshall. Crossing marshes has been difficult because the land is boggy – “it was only frozen for a short period.” The tank battles in the south have taken place on “flatter, harder ground.”
“The Russians are not losing because they don’t have a conscript army. Rather, they’ve used the army they do have incredibly badly. They are fighting a war with tyres that are 40 years old,” Marshall said, referring to a recent photo of a Russian army vehicle with a tyre printed with “USSR”.

At the same time as Moscow’s military weaknesses are being exposed, we are also seeing a shift in ambition from some of Ukraine’s allies. “The Americans have gone from containing the situation to making a serious decision to inflict a defeat on Russia,” Marshall said. And Liz Truss’ recent speech at Mansion House, “has put the UK on the same page.”