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Dr JRT Wood

Richard Wood is a Commonwealth Scholar, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and graduate of Rhodes and Edinburgh universitites. He is one of the world's leading historians on Rhodesian and Zimbabwean political and military history. He was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) and currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa, where he is engaged in full-time research and writing.

Books

Doctoral Thesis

  • The Public Career of John, Second Earl of Stair, to 1720, (Doctoral Thesis) selected and published in April 1981 by E.P. Microform of Yorkshire in a series entitled British Theses of British Studies 1688-1715, edited by Professor W. Reynolds Mcleod of West Virginia University.

Chapters in books

  • The Siting of the Capital of the Central African Federation, in J.A. Benyon, C.W. Cook, T.R.H. Davenport, K.S. Hunt, (eds), Studies in Local History : Essays in Honour of Professor Winifred Maxwell, Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1976.
  • The Rhodesian issue in the historical perspective, A.J. Venter (editor) Challenge : Southern Africa in the Revolutionary Context, Ashanti Publishing Ltd, Gibraltar, 1989.
  • J.R.T. Wood & G.J. Barker, John Crowe in Professor Donal P. McCracken (ed) The Irish in Southern Africa : 1765-1910, Southern African - Irish Studies, Durban, Vol. 2, 1992.
  • Fire Force, Chapter 12 of Al J. Venter, The Chopper Boys : Helicopter Warfare in Africa, Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House, 1994.

Articles

  • The reaction to Asian Migration on the Eve of Federation in British Central Africa : Gleanings from the Welensky Papers, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Pretoria, Vol. 1, No. 2, April 1982, pp. 329-348.
  • The roles of Diefenbaker, Macmillan and Verwoerd in the withdrawal of South Africa from the Commonwealth, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Pretoria, Vol. 6, Nos. 1/2, April/October, 1987, pp. 153-179. (published in January 1989).
  • Fire Force : Helicopter Operations, 1962-80, in Tim Newark (ed), Military Illustrated, London, Vol. 72, 1994, pp. 21-24.
  • Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Rhodesia : 1962-1980, Published in 1996 on the World Wide Web by the Army-Air Force Center for Low Intensity Conflict. Republished in 1997 by Richard Allport, Allport Books, Oudeschip, Netherlands.
  • Fire Force : Helicopter Warfare in Rhodesia Published in 1997 on the World Wide Web by Richard Allport, Allport Books, Oudeschip, Netherlands.
  • The "Pookie" Mine Detector, Marine Corps Gazette, Vol. 81, No. 1, January 1997, Marine Corps Association, Quantico, Virginia.
  • "Four Tall Guardsmen" Harold Wilson, UDI and the proposed mission of Lord Mountbatten to Rhodesia, November 1995, Published in 1998 on the World Wide Web by Richard Allport, Allport Books, Oudeschip, Netherlands.
  • Counter-Punching on the Mudzi: D Company, 1st Rhodesian African Rifles, on Operation 'Mardon', 1 November 1976.' Small Wars and Insurgencies, Frank Cass, London, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Autumn 1998), pp. 64-82.
  • J.R.T. Wood, Pookie: A History of the World's first successful Landmine Detector Carrier, in Jon Guttman (ed), Military History, Leesburg Virginia, 1998.
  • J.R.T. Wood, Cave Clearing in the Rhodesian Bush War 1961-1980, The Lion & Tusk: The Magazine of The Rhodesian Army Association, Vol. 9. No. 2, March 2003.

Editing

  • Edited: Ian Douglas Smith, The Great Betrayal : The Memoirs of Ian Douglas Smith, Blake Publishing, London, 1997, and wrote the foreword.

Conference and Seminar Papers Presented

  • The Double-Edged Sword : the South African-Rhodesian Alliance, 1967-1980, at the 60th Annual Meeting, Military History Society, Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, May 1993.
  • Fire Force : Vertical Envelopment by Helicopter to the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, United States of America, May 1993.
  • Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Rhodesia, 1962-1980, at the Counterinsurgency Conference, Army/Air Center for Low Intensity Conflict, Hampton, Virginia, June 1995.
  • "There never was enough intelligence..." : The role of intelligence in the Rhodesian Counter-Insurgency Campaign : 1962-1980 at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Military History Society, Key Bridge Marriott Hotel, Rosslyn, Virginia, USA, April 1996.
  • The Revolutionary Origins of Modern Zimbabwe, at the Revolutionary Warfare Course, United States Air Force Special Operations School, Hurlburt Field, Florida, May 1996.

Conferences & Workshops Attended

  • Conference on the History of Central Africa, Salisbury, 1971.
  • Conference on the History of the British Secret Service in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University, 1979.
  • Workshop on Natal in the Colonial Period, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, October 1984.
  • Conference on the Teaching of History, University of Durban-Westville, 1984.
  • Tenth Biennial Conference of the South African Historical Association, University of Cape Town, January 1985.
  • Conference on Indentured Indians, Durban-Westville, 1985.
  • Seminar on South Africa in 1986, South African Institute of International Affairs, Durban, March 1986.
  • Conference on International Security, Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, September 1986.
  • Twelfth Biennial Conference of the South African Historical Association, Pietermaritzburg, January 1989.
  • Ireland and Southern Africa Conference, University of Durban-Westville, Durban, July 1990. [I chaired a session].
  • 60th Annual Meeting of the Military History Society, Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, May 1993.
  • Workshop on Air/Ground Operations in Counter-insurgency Warfare, the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, United States of America, May 1993.
  • Counterinsurgency Conference, Army/Air Center for Low Intensity Conflict, Hampton, Virginia, June 1995.
  • 63rd Annual Meeting of the Military History Society, Key Bridge Marriott Hotel, Rosslyn, Virginia, USA, April 1996.
  • Revolutionary Warfare Course, United States Air Force Special Operations School, Hurlburt Field, Florida, May 1996.
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