Doc Dr Mikael Weissmann – Page 3 – Land Warfare | Urban Warfare | Hybrid Threats and Foreign Interference| Intelligence Analysis | Russian Warfare & Influence | China

ISA 2023 Annual Convention

On 20 March 2023

March 15th – 18th I attended the International Studies Association’s Annual Convention in Montreal, Canada together with our research group. We organised a panel on “Future challenges for the intelligence and security services” which I co-chaired with Dr Cris Matei of the Naval Postgraduate School. The panel included four presentations:

Intelligence as Policy Impact – is it measurable?
by Per Thunholm (Centre for Total Defence, Swedish Defence University)

Hybrid Threats and the Intelligence Community
by Bjorn Palmertz (Research Institutes of Sweden, RISE)

Current operations intelligence and intelligence assessments: information flows and the tension between quality and speed
by Niklas Nilsson and Mikael Weissmann (Swedish Defence University)

Future threats: what is to be expected?
by Mikael Weissmann (Swedish Defence University)

Exploring Urban Warfare then, now and in the future

By mikaelweissmann

On 13 March 2023

In Professional Military Education (PME), Staff Ride, Staff Ride, Urban Warfare

During 1-4 March I conducted a staff ride in the Netherlands with a focus on urban combat and resistance under occupation together with Patrik Wiklund from the Military History Division of the Swedish Defence University. Special focus was put on the Battle of Nijmegen and the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944 and the experiences of German occupation in Amsterdam during the second world war.

We also visit Eben-Emael and Grebbeberg to discuss innovation and creativity in war, the importance of willingness to fight and the role of history and war games in PME.

Staff Ride reconnaissance in Belgium & France

By mikaelweissmann

On 11 March 2023

In Professional Military Education (PME), Staff Ride, Staff Ride, Teaching and Learning

On 27 Feb – 1 Mar a team from the Land Operations Divisions, with support from the Military History Division, conducted a reconnaissance and experience-sharing exercise in Belgium and France. During the trip, we studied examples from both world wars, studying the 1940 Spring Offensive, the Battle of Somme 1916 and the Battle of Amiens 1918. The aim was to draw lessons from previous executions within the Staff Course of the Swedish Defence University.

Visit to the Netherlands Defence Academy/Royal Military Academy

By mikaelweissmann

On 9 March 2023

In Visit

On 2 March I visited the Netherlands Defence Academy/Royal Military Academy in Breda together with Patrik Wiklund from the Military History Division of the Swedish Defence University. We had meetings with representatives from the academy, discussing staff rides and other areas of shared concerns including urban warfare and staff rides with representatives from the Military History & Strategy Division and the Military Operational Sciences Division.

En handbok om fältövningar

By mikaelweissmann

On 18 February 2023

In Professional Military Education (PME), Publication, Staff Ride, Teaching and Learning

I just published a handbook on planning and conducting staff rides in Swedish titled En handbok om fältövningar: Att planera och leda en fältövning.

The full text can be downloaded here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7655034 The Swedish text is a development of our peer-reviewed English article “Staff Rides as a Pedagogical Tool in Professional Military Education (PME): Planning and Conducting Historical Staff Rides” in the Journal on Baltic Security available here

Abstract:
Praktiska pedagogiska redskap är en central del i utbildningen av officerare. Detta är ett område där det finns en lång tradition, både på Försvarshögskolan och inom Försvarsmakten mer generellt. Detta är också ett område där Försvarshögskolan alltid har varit framträdande, där metoder som applikatoriska exempel (applex), krigsspel, fältövningar, stabstjänstövningar och taktiska problem under lång tid har använts. Denna handbok riktar in sig på ett av dessa pedagogiska redskap: fältövningar.

Handboken är disponerad som följer: först ges en historisk bakgrund till fältövningar och vi diskuterar vad en fältövning är och vilka typer som finns. Därefter flyttar fokus till tankar kring att planera och genomföra en fältövning. Här diskuterar vi planeringsfasen, lärdomar kring nyttan av att rekognosera inför genomförande och tankar kring fältövningens pedagogiska genomförande. Handboken avslutas med en diskussion kring hur man bör tänka när man planerar och genomför en fältövning, både praktiskt och pedagogiskt. Här presenteras även en schematisk modell kring fältövningens pedagogiska dynamik för olika målgrupper baserat på deras förförståelse och olika fältövningars komplexitet.

New Article on Staff Rides as a pedagogical tool

By mikaelweissmann

On 13 December 2022

In Professional Military Education (PME), Publication, Staff Ride, Staff Ride, Teaching and Learning

My new peer-reviewed article on “Staff Rides as a Pedagogical Tool in Professional Military Education (PME): Planning and Conducting Historical Staff Rides” has just been published in Journal on Baltic Security. It has been co-authored by Major Jonas Björkqvist and Patrik Wiklund at the Swedish Defence University.

Abstract:
The use of various practical pedagogical tools is an important part of officer training. This is also an area where there is a long tradition in the training of officer cadets and officers in staff colleges as well as in the Armed Forces more generally. This article focuses on staff rides aimed at teaching tactics and operational arts based on historical examples. This type of staff-rides aims to learn from history with a bearing on the present and the future.

The article is organized as follows: first, the article gives a short overview of the history of staff rides, followed by a discussion on different types of staff rides. Then the focus shifts to ways to plan and carry out a staff ride. This includes the planning phase, reconnaissance, and the different pedagogical tools that can be used and their implementation. The article concludes with a discussion of how to think when planning and carrying out staff rides, both practically and pedagogically. The article here presented a schematic model of the pedagogical dynamics of the staff ride for different target groups based on their pre-understanding and the complexity of different field exercises.

Citation:
Weissmann, Mikael, Jonas Björkqvist, Patrik Wiklund, “Staff Rides as a Pedagogical Tool in Professional Military Education (PME): Planning and Conducting Historical Staff Rides”, Journal on Baltic Security 8(2022), no. 2, 61-82. FULL TEXT

Operation Mercury – The Battle of Crete

By mikaelweissmann

On 10 November 2022

In Professional Military Education (PME), Staff Ride, Teaching and Learning

On 2-6 November Major Jonas Björkqvist and I conducted a Staff Ride in Crete studying Operation Mercury, the German airborn invasion of Crete in May 1941. This trip is part of a development project to enhance our teaching for Officer Cadets at the Swedish Defence University.

The focus was on Constructive Alignment and the use of War Games as a pedagogical tool in Staff Rides and Case Studies.

To learn more about our approach to Staff Rides, please read our article “Staff Rides as a Pedagogical Tool in Professional Military Education (PME): Planning and Conducting Historical Staff Rides” in the Journal on Baltic Security, the peer-reviewed journal of the Baltic Defence College. [Full text]

International workshop on “Case Studies of Russian Warfare and Influence”

By mikaelweissmann

On 23 September 2022

In Conference

On 21-22 September, we organised an international workshop on “Case Studies of Russian Warfare and Influence” with participants from Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia, Latvia, the United States and Sweden. The aim of the workshop was to take a holistic approach to how Russia conducts warfare and influence against countries in its immediate surroundings, i.e. against states at the intersection between the East and West.

The workshop was funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Grant No: F20-0119) and organized by the Land Operations Division, the Department of Military Studies and Military History of the Swedish Defence University (SEDU).

The findings of the workshop will be part of a forthcoming book on “Russian Warfare and Influence: Small States in the intersection between the East and West” (Bloomsbury Academic). We here focus on the small states at the intersection between the East and West as actors and stakeholders and are interested in how they operate and react based on their specific conditions, rather than on the modus of major powers.

Previous activities

By mikaelweissmann

On 9 September 2022

In Uncategorised

Due to a problem with my previous domain host I have had to redo my webpage. You can find information about my previous activities here: https://web.archive.org/web/20221014233151/http://www.mikaelweissmann.com/

Doc. Dr. Mikael Weissmann is a Senior Lecturer in War Studies and the Deputy Director of the Land Operations Division at the Swedish Defence University’s Dep. of War Studies (IKV). He is the co-convenor of the Hybrid Threats Research Group (HTRG) and the Land Warfare Research Group (LWRG), as well as the Principal Investigator of the project “Building Resilience and Psychological Defence: Countering hybrid threats and foreign influence and interference.”

Weissmann’s research focuses on Security, Strategy, Intelligence and Influence. He focuses on four research themes: 1) Hybrid Threats and Foreign Interference, 2) Intelligence Analysis, 3) Land Operations and Tactics, and 4) China and East Asian Security and Strategy. He is also interested in Teaching & Learning with a special interest in practical and scenario-based exercises and examinations as well as Professional Military Education (PME).

His expertise includes:
- Intelligence Analysis
- Russian warfare and influence (particular interest in the Balkans and Eastern Europe)
- Hybrid threats- and warfare
- Urban Warfare
- Military operations and tactics
- China and East Asian security and strategy broadly defined.
- Practical and scenario-based exercises and examinations (including staff rides, wargames, case studies and simulations/roleplaying games)
- Professional Military Education (PME)

His research on China and East Asia focuses on
- China’s foreign policy and role in the world
- the South China Sea
- the North Korean nuclear conflict
- the Taiwan Issue
- Regional and Global Power Shift
- the Belt and Road initiative

ABOUT
Dr Mikael Weissmann is an Associate Professor in War Studies and Academic Head & Deputy Head of the Land Operations Division at the Swedish Defence University. He is co-convenor of the Land Warfare Research Group (LWRG) and the Hybrid Threats Research Group (HTRG). He is also a member of CSCAP-EU.

Weissmann’s research on security, strategy and warfare focuses on four research themes:
1) Hybrid Threats and Foreign Interference, 2) Intelligence Analysis, 3) Land Operations and Tactics, and 4) China and East Asian Security and Strategy.

He is also interested in Teaching & Learning with a special interest in practical and scenario-based exercises and examinations as well as Professional Military Education (PME).

His expertise includes:
- Hybrid threats- and warfare
- Land Warfare
- Urban Warfare
- Intelligence analysis
- Russian warfare and influence (particular interest in the Balkans and Eastern Europe)
- Military operations and tactics
- Military tactical thinking
- China and East Asian security and strategy broadly defined.
- Practical and scenario-based exercises and examinations (including staff rides, war games, case studies, scenario exercises, simulations and roleplaying games)
- Professional Military Education (PME)

His research on China and East Asia focuses on:
- China’s foreign policy and role in the world
- the South China Sea
- the North Korean nuclear conflict
- the Taiwan Issue
- Regional and Global Power Shift
- the Belt and Road initiative

Weissmann has also pursued research on track-two diplomacy, conflict management and peacebuilding as well as Sino-Russian and Europe’s relations with China and East Asia.