Secret official histories as lessons for the next war

Corbett's two-volume Maritime Operations in the Russo-Japanese War began as a secret Admiralty study and informed planning for the First World War. Its much later publication made an internal study of naval lessons available to general readers. Similar restricted histories are expected after modern conflicts, with Ukraine offered as a prospective example. Such work may remain classified for decades, separating internal institutional learning from the public history available at the time.