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Academia

Qualifications

  • History MA: University of Edinburgh (1985-9)
  • History PhD: University of Glasgow (1997-2000)

Posts

  • Visiting Professor of Military History at the University of Hull (2007-8), teaching undergraduate modules on ‘Massacres and Maharajas: India in the 1850s’ and ‘Generals and Generalship: 1642-1945′.
  • Professor of War Studies at the University of Buckingham and Course Director of Buckingham’s new London-based MA in Military History (see below)

Teaching

MA in Military History by Research: The Art of War from Napoleon to Iraq, 1793-2003

With military history one of the fastest-growing areas of academic study, the University of Buckingham introduced a one-year MA in Military History, by research, in 2009. This is a groundbreaking programme: the first one-year Research MA in Military History, and the first with an integral course of seminars by visiting lecturers of international repute.  The programme was enthusiastically reviewed by The Financial Times, which noted that ‘Intellectually curious professionals are signing up for a new course that gives them the opportunity to exchange thoughts on security, diplomacy and the armed forces over dinner with stellar historians and military top brass’.

The programme is London-based and directed by one of the country’s finest military historians, Professor Saul David. The lectures offered by the Course Director will be supplemented by a series of ten guest seminars by some of the most eminent scholars and authors in the field, including Professors N.A.M. Rodger, Hew Strachan, Richard Overy and Gary Sheffield, Antony Beevor, Sir Max Hastings, Simon Sebag Montefiore and General Sir Mike Jackson.

The programme runs from September 2011 to August 2012, with thirteen research seminars – three on research techniques and ten by guest lecturers.

Teaching method

The MA does not offer systematic instruction in the facts of history; instead, the emphasis is on independent research.

At the heart of the Buckingham MA is the close working relationship between student and supervisor. While the final thesis must be an independent work, it is the supervisor who offers advice on refining the topic (if necessary), on primary sources, on secondary reading, on research techniques and on writing the final text (which should be not less than 20,000 words). Supervisors and students will meet frequently throughout the year, and not less than twice a term; and the supervisor shall always be the student’s primary contact for academic advice and support.

This is a London-based course. The seminars will be held at the Cavalry and Guards Club, in Central London (127 Piccadilly). The nearest London Underground Stations are Hyde Park (Piccadilly Line) or Green Park (Victoria, Jubilee and Piccadilly Lines).

Each seminar (approximately 90 minutes, 18:45-20:15) is followed by a post-seminar dinner, also at the Cavalry and Guards Club, for those who wish to attend, where there will be an opportunity to continue the seminar discussion in an informal environment. Attendance at these dinners is entirely at the choice of the student, and their cost is not covered by the tuition fee.

Tutorials and meetings with supervisors will take place at the University of Buckingham’s London offices, situated in the European School of Economics, 8/9 Grosvenor Place, London SW1X 7SH, near Buckingham Palace.

Introductory classes

  • Professor Saul David (Humanities Research Institute, University of Buckingham, and Course Director), Military History: Research Techniques 1, Tuesday 20 September 2011
  • Professor Saul David, Military History: Research Techniques 2, Monday 26 September 2011
  • Professor Gary Sheffield (University of Birmingham), Military History: Research Techniques 3, Monday 3 October 2011

Guest seminars

  • Professor Saul David, Wellington: The Iron Duke, Tuesday 18 October 2011
  • Professor Hew Strachan (All Souls’ College, Oxford), The Great War in Africa, Monday 31 October 2011
  • Professor NAM Rodger (All Souls’ College, Oxford), The Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, Wednesday 16 November 2011.
  • Professor Gary Sheffield (University of Birmingham), The British Soldier in World War II, Wednesday 30 November 2011.
  • Professor Richard Overy (University of Exeter), The Bombing War, 1939-1945, Tuesday 13 December 2011.
  • General Sir Mike Jackson, Kosovo, 1999, Tuesday 24 January 2012
  • Sir Max Hastings, The Falklands War, 1982: A War Correspondent’s Perspective, Tuesday 7 February 2012.
  • Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem at War, Tuesday 21 February 2012.
  • Professor Lloyd Clark (RMA Sandhurst), Anzio, 1943, Thursday 8 March 2012.
  • Mr Antony Beevor, World War II, Tuesday 20 March 2012.

Associate students

For those who wishing to attend the evening research seminar programme, but unable to devote the time to the course-work or to register for the MA degree, there is the option of becoming an Associate Student. This status will enable the student to attend the ten research seminars and to meet the guest lecturers, in the first six months of the programme, but does not require the submission of written work. Associate Students are not registered for, and do not receive, the MA degree.

For more information and to apply for the 2011-12 programme, contact Linda Waterman

Tel. 01280 820120 / email: Linda.waterman@buckingham.ac.uk or visit the website: www.buckingham.ac.uk/humanities/ma/militaryhistory