Lord Ashdown Obituary (Britain at War issue 142)

The passing of former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown was an affecting one for me. He was one of the few voices urging intervention in the tangle break-up of Yugoslavia when the political mainstream was content to watch from afar. His role is not without criticism, but as one of highest profile British politicians to visit the country and look the people in the eye he was acutely aware of their suffering, and as High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina his enforcement of the uneasy settlement of the Dayton Peace Accords was so much a tribute to his incredibly forceful character and sense of justify that Bosnian politics atrophied without him.

As Britain at War is a specialist military history title, I tried to emphasise the aspects of Lord Ashdown’s career that were relevant to its readers, namely his service in the Royal Marines and Special Boat Squadron in the Borneo Confrontation, his works of World War II military history, and his role in the Bosnian War and its aftermath.

Lord Ashdown’s obituary appeared in Britain at War issue 142, priced £9.99. Find out more at britainatwar.keypublishing.com.