Tuesday 19 May, 16.00
Seminar Room G, Manor Road Building
Please note room change
Julian Corbett and the British Way of War: Exploring the Principles for a European Naval Strategy
Dr Friso Stevens, SST:CCW
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has fundamentally altered European security, exposing the vulnerability of NATO’s eastern flank. The accession of Finland and Sweden may have strengthened the Alliance, but it also expands the maritime battlespace deep into the Baltic Sea. Meanwhile, U.S. defense planning is increasingly dominated by the Indo-Pacific and competition with China.
How can Europe collectively defend the Nordic-Baltic region—even in a scenario of constrained U.S. support? To answer this question, the paper turns to strategic theory and maritime history. It revisits British thinker Julian Corbett and demonstrates why his limited war framework—emphasizing sea control for advantage in positioning and maneuver, allowing economic pressure through blockade, and coalition power—offers a more suitable foundation for European defense than the continental Mahanian (US) or Castexian (French) paradigms.
The historical precedent is compelling. During the Crimean War, victory over Russia hinged not on a decisive land battle, but on the long-term, systemic effects of the Allied Baltic blockade.
Dr Friso M.S. Stevens is a Visiting Fellow at CCW and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. Prior to joining SST-CCW, he was a Fulbright-Schuman NATO Security Studies Scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. In March 2023, Friso earned a Ph.D. Degree in International Relations from Leiden University. In May 2025, this was published as a monograph with the Routledge Asian Security Studies Series under the title Chinese Assertiveness, Ideational Mobilization, and the Rise of Xi Jinping: Achieving Something. From 2021 to 2023, he was a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute in Florence, and a Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian Studies at the Department of Cultures, University of Helsinki, in 2023-2024. From 2017 to 2020, Friso was a Lecturer in Political Science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, where he taught qualitative research courses, diplomacy in East Asia, and supervised Bachelor’s and Master’s theses. Friso holds Master's Degrees in International Law (Vrije Universiteit and Northwestern University), International Security Studies (Vrije Universiteit), and International Relations (Peking University), a Bachelor’s Degree in Dutch and European Law (Vrije Universiteit), and a Postgraduate Certificate in War Studies (King’s College London).
All are welcome, no need to book.
