Military Historian - Brian Bond

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Résumé :
This book describes the author's role in pioneering a virtually new academic subject - military history/war studies.

Biographie:
Brian Bond has earned an international reputation as a military historian. He has lectured widely in Europe, The United States, Canada and Japan. His numerous books include: War and Society in Europe, 1870-1970 (1984)...

Sommaire:
This is the story of how a boy from a poor background benefited from the new opportunities available in the post-1945 era to attend a very good grammar school, gain entry to Oxford University and eventually became a professor at a top grade university, King's College, London.

Early chapters show how hard it was to get a foothold on the lowest rungs of the academic ladder, particularly in a subject, military history, where there were virtually no established positions. No matter how talented and industrious, good fortune played a crucial role, as in so many careers, in helping Brian Bond at a critical stage. By a remarkable coincidence, since Brian was reading some of his books at Oxford, Basil (later Sir Basil) Liddell Hart came to live in the village and promptly gave him tremendous encouragement and support. Liddell Hart, at that time probably the best known military writer in the world, provided wonderful references which, after numerous setbacks, led to junior academic appointment at Exeter and Liverpool universities. Equally important, Liddell Hart introduced Brian to Michael Howard (now Sir Michael Howard OM) who was just beginning to pioneer the study of military history-war studies at King's College, London. Michael had a difficult time in persuading the academic establishment that this was a respectable and very important new field of study, but in 1965 he succeeded in setting up a Department of War Studies and in the following year recruited Brian as a Lecturer in Military History. Promotion was necessarily slow in a tiny department, but Brian was eventually elevated to Reader and then Professor.

The central chapters in this personal memoir provide a frank account of what it was like to teach military history at all levels (but especially to MA and PhD candidates) in the late 20th century. From the outset the students were drawn from virtually every country in the free world and competition for entry was tough. Numbers of staff and students increased steadily through the 1970s and 1980s, but then there was a sudden dramatic expansion as the Department admitted undergraduates for the first time. The range of subjects taught also widened impressively with more emphasis placed on contemporary Strategic Studies. But the 'philosophy' inculcated by Michael Howard...