Hew Strachan

Sir Hew Francis Anthony Strachan,CVO,DL,FRSE,FRHistS,FBA(/strɔːn/STRAWN;born 1 September 1949) is a Britishmilitary historian,well known for his leadership in scholarly studies of theBritish Armyand the history of theFirst World War.He is currently professor of international relations at theUniversity of St Andrews.Before that Strachan was theChichele Professor of the History of WaratAll Souls College, Oxford.

Sir Hew Strachan CVODLFRSEFRHistSFBA
Strachan in 2013
Born	(1949-09-01)1 September 1949 Edinburgh,Scotland
Occupation	Military historian,author
Spouse	Pamela Symes
Website
Official website

Early life

Strachan was born inEdinburgh,Scotland. He was educated atRugby School,then in 1968 was a merchant seaman for three months, working his passage around the world on ships ofBen Line Steamers Ltd.He then spent three years atCorpus Christi College, Cambridge,graduatingBAin 1971 and proceeding to M.A. in 1975.In 1973, he joined a survey of antiquities in theSudan.

Career

In 1975, Strachan was elected a research fellow of Corpus Christi College, and in 1977–1978 was a senior lecturer in war studies at theRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst.In 1978, he returned to his Cambridge college as a tutor.

He became admissions tutor and then senior tutor of Corpus Christi College, and in 1992 was elected a life fellow. He wasProfessor of Modern Historyat theUniversity of Glasgowfrom 1992 to 2000, then migrated toOxfordasChichele Professor of the History of WaratAll Souls.

He was director of the Oxford Programme on the Changing Character of War from 2004 to 2015, and published a series of important articles on strategy, as well as editing books which have arisen from the project.

He is a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburghand theRoyal Historical Society.He was appointed adeputy lieutenantofTweeddalein 2006. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Panel of theRoyal Air Force Centre for Air Power Studies.In addition, he is on the Chief of the Defence Staff's strategic advisory panel, the UK Defence Academy Advisory Board,and is an advisory fellow of theBarsanti Military History Centerat theUniversity of North Texas.He was on the council of theNational Army Museumand is currently a trustee of theImperial War Museum.In 2016, he became Patron ofWestern Front Association.He is a visiting professor of the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy in Trondheim and in 2009 was the Sir Howard Kippenberger Professor at Victoria University Wellington. He sits on the advisory board of the Centre for War and Diplomacy atLancaster University.

From 20 May 2014 to 28 August 2024, Strachan served asLord Lieutenant of Tweeddale,in succession toCaptain David Bingham Younger.

In 2015, he left Oxford to serve as professor of international relations at theUniversity of St Andrews.

Research

Strachan's early research and published work focussed on the history of the British Army, and he was awarded theTempler MedalforFrom Waterloo to Balaclavaand theWestminster MedalforThe Politics of the British Army.Commissioned by theOxford University Pressto write a history of theFirst World Warto replaceC. R. M. F. Cruttwell's one-volumeA History of the Great War, 1914-1918,Strachan completed the first of three volumes,The First World War: Volume 1: To Armsin 2001 to wide acclaim and is acknowledged as one of the world's authorities on the subject. Accompanying the print publication of his one volume surveyThe First World War(2004) was a multi-part documentary series for television entitledThe First World War,with some episodes being titled after the chapters in the written work. This set was also released on DVD by Image Entertainment.

According to Jonathan Boff, he became "the most influential British historian of the First World War of his generation." He broke through traditional intra-disciplinary boundaries and national borders. He tirelessly encouraged others, both inside academia and out. His impact produces histories of the Great War that are global and multi-dimensional, while rooted in the detail of military operations. The results exemplify the new military historiography.

Strachan is editor of theGreat Battlesseries published byOxford University Press.

Views

In January 2014, Strachan toldThe Daily Beastthat PresidentBarack Obama's failures inAfghanistanandSyriahave shown that he is "chronically incapable" of military strategy. He said, "Bushmay have had totally fanciful political objectives in terms of trying to fight a global War on Terror, which was inherently astrategic, but at least he had a clear sense of what he wanted to do in the world. Obama has no sense of what he wants to do in the world. "

Awards and honours

In 2005 Strachan was bestowed with theHonorary degreeofDoctor of the University(D.Univ) from theUniversity of Paisley.He wasknightedin the2013 New Years Honours Listfor services to theMinistry of Defence.In 2016, he won thePritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.He was appointed as theLord Lieutenant of Tweeddaleon 7 June 2014 byHM Queen Elizabeth II.

In July 2017, Strachan was elected aFellow of the British Academy(FBA), the United Kingdom'snational academyfor the humanities and social sciences.

In 2018, Strachan received the Morison Prize fromThe Society for Military History.

In 2023, he was named a Society for Army Historical Research Fellow.

Selected publications

• British Military Uniforms, 1768–1796(Arms and Armour, 1975)
• History of the Cambridge University Officers Training Corps(1976)ISBN0-85936-059-8OCLC2647367
• European Armies and the Conduct of War(London, 1983)ISBN0-415-07863-6
• Wellington's Legacy: The Reform of the British Army 1830–54(Manchester, 1984)ISBN0-7190-0994-4
• From Waterloo to Balaclava: Tactics, Technology and the British Army(Cambridge, 1985)ISBN0-521-30439-3
• The Politics of the British Army(Oxford, 1997)ISBN0-19-820670-4
• The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War(ed.) (Oxford, 1998)ISBN0-19-820614-3
• The First World War: Volume 1: To Arms(Oxford, 2001)ISBN0-19-926191-1(first of an expected three volume history)
• Military LivesOxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.ISBN0-19-860532-3
• The First World War: A New Illustrated History(Simon & Schuster, 2003)
• The First World War(Viking, 2004)ISBN0-670-03295-6(single volume survey of the war)
• The First World War in Africa(Oxford, 2004)ISBN0199257280
• German Strategy in the First World Warin Wolfgang Elz andSönke Neitzel:Internationale Beziehungen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert,pp. 127–144 (2003)ISBN3-506-70140-1
• Clausewitz's On War: a Biography(Atlantic Monthly Press 2007)ISBN0-87113-956-1.
• withHolger Afflerbach:How Fighting Ends. A History of Surrender.Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York 2012,ISBN978-0-19-969362-7.
• The Direction of War: Contemporary Strategy in Historical Perspective2013.ISBN1-107-04785-4OCLC852957790
• British Generals in Blair's Wars,eds. Jonathan Bailey, Richard Iron and Hew Strachan (Ashgate Publishing, 2013).

Prefaces:

• Flesh and Steel During the Great War: The Transformation of the French Army and the Invention of Modern Warfare,Michel Goya (Pen and Sword Military, 2018) -ISBN978-1473886964
• A Military History of Scotland,eds. Edward M. Spiers, Jeremy Crang, Matthew Strickland ( 2013).ISBN978-0748633357

Media

• Channel 4 DVD:The First World War – The Complete SeriesOCLC: 63265523 (region 1), 883640397 (region 4) ASIN: B0009S2K9C (based on his book)

See also

• The First World War (TV series)

Further reading

• Boff, Jonathan. "Sir Hew Strachan and the Study of the First World War."War in History27.4 (2020): 605–616.
• Herwig, Holger H. "Strachan and the Great War: A Lifelong Quest."War in History27.4 (2020): 590–604.
• King, Anthony. "Hew Strachan and the Sociology of War."War in History27.4 (2020): 575–589.
• Scheipers, Sibylle. "Strachan on Clausewitz: Setting Standards for Research and Study."War in History27.4 (2020): 560–574.
• Contemporary Authors Online,2007
• Debrett's People of Today,2007
• Who's who,2009

External links

• InterviewonThe First World Warat thePritzker Military Museum & Library
• Europe, Geopolitics and Strategy with Professor Sir Hew Strachan2015 lecture atBrussels School of International Studies
• AppearancesonC-SPAN