The War in Ukraine: Causes, Character and Consequences: Supper Talk with Major General (Retd.) Mungo Melvin CB OBE
You are invited to an Army Benevolent Fund Oxfordshire Talk and Supper on Thursday 21 March, 6pm for 6.15pm talk and Q&A, supper at 7pm; tickets £45.
Major General Mungo Melvin, a military historian who knows Ukraine well, will give us an expert view on the war’s origins and dynamics, explaining why its outcome will shape Europe’s security landscape for decades to come.
Please book directly with ABF: Click here to download a booking form, which should be sent to Max Heron, at Treasurer.ABFOxon@gmail.com by 7 March 2024.
If you have any difficulty downloading the form, please email Max Heron on the address above.
Since Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 we have all been reminded of the stark realities of total war – last seen in Europe during the Second World War. The present conflict seems set to continue into its third year as doubts surface as to the duration and efficacy of Western support.
Not only are the armed forces of Ukraine bravely defending their homeland, but also the Ukrainian civilian population is suffering great deprivation and suffering under a Russian blitz of aerial bombing, missile attacks and artillery strikes. This war is not a ‘quarrel in a faraway country, between people of whom we know nothing’ (Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, 1938); it concerns the very survival of a friendly, independent state in the face of wanton aggression.
Ukraine deserves both our respect and support for its struggle has become as much our war in the defence of democracy and the associated values we hold dear.
Mungo Melvin retired from the British Army in 2011, following a career of 37 years in the Royal Engineers and General Staff, much of it spent in Germany. He attended the German Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Hamburg, 1986-88, served as the chief planner in 1st (UK) Armoured Division during the First Gulf War and commanded an engineer regiment in the Balkans. Later highlights included Chief Engineer of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps and General Officer Commanding of the British Army’s Support Command in Germany. He also taught strategy at the Royal College of Defence Studies.
Following his retirement from active service, he served as a reservist 2011-2018, employed mainly as a military historian and senior mentor. He was a specialist military adviser to the UK’s House of Commons Defence Committee from 2012 until 2017. During this period, he was also President of the British Commission for Military History. Since 2012 he has been a Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute, London.
His biography, Manstein: Hitler’s Greatest General (2010) was awarded as the best military biography of the year by the US Society for Military History in 2012. His next major work, Sevastopol’s Wars: Crimea from Potemkin to Putin, was published in April 2017. he has also embarked on a major new study into the role of decisive battle in warfare. Mungo Melvin continues to advise on military matters to NATO and UK forces.
TICKETS
Tickets are £45 per person to include the Talk and a two-course supper afterwards with a choice of main and dessert courses, which you can choose on the booking form via the link below. There will be a separate cash bar.
BOOKINGS
Click here to download a booking form, which should be sent to Max Heron at Treasurer.ABFOxon@gmail.com by 7 March 2024.
