Collections

Library Catalogue

The library contains approximately 16,000 volumes which form a unique repository of books relating to military science and history. It has a strong emphasis on eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century military affairs. Among the books dealing with military thought and science are those on strategy, tactics, weapons and weapons systems, special operations, peacekeeping, revolutionary and counter-insurgency warfare, terrorism, women in the armed forces and ethics in warfare. A large and growing collection of unit and service histories form an important source for the history of the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. Military serials and journals available in the library include the RUSI Journal, Cavalry Journal, United Service Magazine, and the Journal of the United Services Institution of India.

While military history is important, the library is also a source for new information on developments in British defence policy and international security issues, including defence economics. In this role it supports the ongoing work in these areas by the RUSI's team of research analysts.

Special historical collections cover: Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars; Crimean War; American Civil War; Franco-Prussian War; British nineteenth-century colonial wars; Russo-Japanese War; Spanish Civil War; First and Second World Wars; Korean War; Vietnam War; Falklands War; Gulf War.

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The RUSI Journal

The Library of Military History contains an invaluable collection of more than 150 years of RUSI publications. Central to this collection is the RUSI Journal and its earlier incarnations, which have provided insightful analysis of defence and security issues since the publication of its first volume in 1857. For a historical overview and links to seminal articles published in this journal click here>

Lionel S. Challis's ‘Peninsula Roll Call’

Captain Lionel Challis’s project to record the biographical and service details of every British Army officer who served in the Peninsula War between 1808 and 1814 is a valuable possession of the RUSI Library of Military History. His research on more than 9,600 officers was recorded on index cards and these have now been photographed and placed online by the Napoleon Series website. The original card indexes can be consulted at the library. To view the ‘Peninsula Roll Call’ online click here>

United Services Institution of India Journal

First published in 1872, the library contains all volumes of USI Journal up to the present day. Originally a sister publication of RUSI Journal, it is an invaluable source for Asiatic and global defence and security thinking during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Index of articles

1871-1921
1922-1970

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Collections

Library Catalogue

The RUSI Journal

Lionel S. Challis's ‘Peninsula Roll Call’

United Services Institution of India Journal