Christopher Miller, Yale University
School: Humanities (History)
Destination: Yale University
Dates of travel: January- May 2012
Scholarship Award: £2,800
About me
I am a second year PhD student in the Department of History at the University of Glasgow, supervised from
within the Scottish Centre for War Studies and the Centre for Business History in Scotland (CBH). Prior to
returning to Glasgow for my PhD, I held the Snell scholarship for my masters degree at Balliol College,
Oxford University, where I contributed to their Leverhulme centre for the Changing Character of War
(CCW). My research explores the interaction between business elites and the British State in planning for
future defences between the First and Second World War. I was awarded a Mac Robertson Scholarship to
spend four months at Yale University, exploring the transatlantic business networks and inquiries into the
nature of making profits for war, and fostering links between Yale’s department of International Security
Studies and our own new Global Security Roundtable at Glasgow.
My Research
My work seeks to understand the nature of the British State, through the prism of the naval arms industries,
procurement, and politics between the two world wars. The period is unlike any other in the modern era, with the
industrial stagnation of the 1920s giving way to an economic crisis only rivalled by the one we are currently in the
midst of, followed by a rearmament boom on a scale never before or since witnessed. I am interested in how
decisions were reached to spend money on naval vessels (and also weapons in general) in Britain (to include
influence from within the government, Admiralty or industrial experts), and the ways in which the industrial experts
exerted pressure on the government and vice versa in pursuit of their own interests. Warship construction was big
business, and required a great deal of forward planning. It was worth some 45% of total order value for all ships
(itself a large component of British construction exports between 1890 and 1945), and had one main customer: the
British government. The unusual fact is that during the interwar years, the government was caught between two
poles: popular sentiment and will to disarm and never experience a traumatic world war again, and the need to keep
Britain militarily and economically competitive- with the research, skills and equipment of naval yards a vital
insurance policy in the event of future conflict or as a response to geopolitical pressures. This brought the nexus of
industry and the state to the fore, as a small and well connected group of senior politicians, serving officers and
industrialists were responsible for planning war (with the enormous financial and human cost involved) while
simultaneously pursuing peace. My research thus examines this nexus at this critical juncture in world history, by
undertaking a thorough analysis of the defence industry coupled with the complex webs and networks of influence
between the business, military and political elite.
Details of Research Visit
While at Yale, I took Professor Partick Cohrs’ ‘New and Classic Approaches to International History’, a
graduate-level class aimed at those undertaking further study in the field of international relations. Prof
Cohrs’ own work deals with peacemaking after the First World War, which is indirectly related to my own
area. The fact that this was an IR, rather than explicitly history, meant much of the content concerned
concepts of international security and international law, which I found a refreshing and intellectually
stimulating way to tackle a concept I have been thinking about through a different lens for some time. In
addition, I attended their international history workshop, convened by Professor Adam Tooze, whose work
on the Nazi economy has been influential on how I’ve approached Britain in the same period. Closely related
to this was their weekly seminar series in the department international security studies, which had some
fascinating papers (and amongst the best buffets ever laid on in a university). Their two-day symposium on
technology and strategy was the single most useful event thus far in my PhD, as it brought together scholars
and defence professionals whose ideas have helped me shape my work in ways I hadn’t even thought about
before. The ISS department was where I spent most of my time (photo attached below). While the dept is
directed by Prof John Gaddis and Prof Paul Kennedy, by far and away the most helpful staff member was Dr
Ryan Irwin, who organised access to materials for me and pointed me in the direction of assistance every
time I needed it. I am grateful to him for all of his help.
In terms of research materials, part of my question examines the inquiries that took place into the private
manufacture of arms. In Britain, this was the Royal Commission of 1936. In the United States, it was known
as the Nye Committee of 1935. Nye turned up more evidence of wrongdoing than his British counterpart,
and this may be in part due to the terms of reference and way evidence was gathered. My plan was to go
through Yale’s collection of committee papers and try to set myself similar sorts of questions to use that as a
launch pad to investigate the British industry. This was, in part, a success. Yale also has British Cabinet
papers digitised, meaning I could use the two sources simultaneously rather than rely on trips and notes taken
between Glasgow and London. Leading on from this, I planned to investigate an archive of a metal firm
whose distribution rights in Europe were owned by a Glasgow businessman. It was three hours from New
Haven, but unfortunately it was a fruitless visit, as material relating to my question was scarce. Finally, I
took the opportunity to visit the Intrepid Museum in New York on board the USS Intrepid, a WWII Aircraft
Carrier. Some of the exhibits there (especially financing the war effort) were of direct relevance to my work
and unavailable anywhere else in the world.
Advantages of the Scholarship
The time I spent at Yale has provided me with new perspectives on my research that I would have been
unable to get in the UK. The different student environment and department (Security Studies instead of
history) exposed me to different methods of researching and different methods ways of approaching
problems. The concentration of resources and the research I undertook abroad helped me confirm some
theories while ruling out others in a much more time-efficient manner than I would have been able to achieve
in Scotland. The classes I took and people I interacted with made the experience unique; I would strongly
encourage anyone else in a similar position to apply for the scholarship. While Yale generously covered my
tuition fees, living in New Haven for four months would not have been possible without the support of the
Mac Robertson award. Since returning to Glasgow I have presented a paper of my findings at Stirling
University and agreed to give a seminar at Kings’ College London. In addition, two of the other pre-doctoral
fellows that I worked with are coming to the UK to give research presentations, and we hope to have at least
one of them at Glasgow in the Autumn. Finally, there has been some preliminary discussions of our own
about how to have a similar seminar series to Yale’s for our fledgling Global Security group, and with some
good fortune that might proceed in the coming year. On a more personal level, my depth of knowledge and
experience of New England’s micro-breweries have increased enormously. My trip would have been worth it
for that alone, but thankfully it proved to be so much more than that!
Old Campus, Yale University
Department of International Security Studies, Yale University