A group of researchers from the Finnish National Defence University (FNDU) visited the Russian Military Studies Center back in 2019. During that brief visit, we got a sense that the archive and library have exceptional value for researchers of Soviet and Russian military thought. Yet, it took us many more years to arrange a new expedition to the archive. But luckily, we did.
In the picture: Rachel Daniels, Juha Kukkola, Rod Thorton (King’s College, UK Defence Academy), Jukka Viitaniemi
The current situation in Europe – Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine and permanent state of tension and conflict in European and Russian relations, demands thorough analysis of the current data, but also an eye on historical background and understanding of habits and norms guiding Russian thinking about the war. The previous scholarship on Russian strategy, Russian theory of war and Russian art of War, is a background on which new analyses and insights will be build. Therein lies the importance of the Russian Military Studies Center.
The centre has a collection of English and Russian language books, some dating back to the 19th Century about Russian and Soviet military theory, Russian (military) history, as well as collection of archive material from the Soviet military study Centres at the UK and US. See more information about the Center and its collection: About us – Russian Military Studies Centre – Cranfield Libraries at Cranfield University.
During our visit we were able to locate materials that will be immediately useful for our study of Russian military strategy and operational art, Arctic and Russian Northwestern direction, as well as Russian thinking about limited armed conflicts. The archive has also lots of material that allow to trace changes in Russian thinking about European security order and Russia’s place in it. Finally, the archive holds an unique corpus of the western analysis of the Soviet threat that would provide a good basis for analysis of that important topic.
We want to thank Rachel Daniels and her colleagues at the Barrington library for their dedication in preserving the invaluable collection and for their expertise and kind help with all practical matters during our stay at the Center.
Professor Katri Pynnöniemi
Mannerheim Chair of Russian Security Studies, University of Helsinki and the Finnish National Defence University
Russian Military and Security Research Group 