War and Military History

War has been integral to the human past, which cannot be explained fully without understanding its causes, conduct and consequences.

Research on past and recent conflicts is well represented within the History Faculty at Oxford, both directly and as an element in research on other questions and issues. Major current projects include studies on war and medicine, resource mobilisation, the globalisation of conflicts, and the culture of war and military institutions. Historians regularly collaborate with scholars from other disciplines, most notably through the Centre for the Changing Character of War (CCW).

The History of War has is own seminar series and strand on the taught masters programme, and there is a rich and active range of other events associated with specific projects.

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Studying the History of War at Oxford

The history of war is currently a major field of research. The narrow approaches of more traditionally defined military history have been replaced by a broader agenda which seeks to understand conflict as part of the wider human past.

English Chivalry and the French war c.1330-1400

This subject focuses on the history of the fourteenth–century phase of the Hundred Years War between England and France, and on the social, military, and political preoccupations of the knightly sector of English society that was so deeply involved in it.

War and Society in Europe, c.1650-1815

This century and a half was marked by almost constant European conflict, fought across the globe and drawing on, and affecting the lives of, an ever-increasing number of people. The era also saw significant developments in the ways war was practised, organised, financed, and justified. A key aim of the course is to suggest ways in which military history can be embedded within the wider framework of political, social, and cultural history, as well as within the context of the history of medicine and gender studies.

The Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, considered by many 20th century Germans to be a greater national disaster than the Second World War. The war was both a cause and a product of important underlying political, social, economic and cultural changes within early modern Europe that left a lasting impression on international relations.

A Global War, 1914-1920

The focus of the paper will be on the great battles. It will also examine the writings of the military and political decision makers, often written as conscious apologias for their actions and examine their contemporary critics.

Click here to see the full breakdown of a degree in history

This strand of our one-year MSt or two-year MPhil in History is the equivalent of a free-standing Master’s in the history of war.

The programme provides students with the structured intellectual environment and academic framework to study war across the sweep of human history. It can serve either to complete their university education in history, or as a foundation to further doctoral study.

As part of this programme, the Faculty offers a wide range of option papers, a selection can be found below:

Find out more about the Programme

War in the Modern World

This course is an introduction to the history of warfare since ca.1780, taking the emergence of revolutionary warfare and the military divergence between Europe and the rest of the world as its starting-point. The course is organised both thematically and chronologically.

People

War and Military History

War has been integral to the human past, which cannot be explained fully without understanding its causes, conduct and consequences.

The History of War has is own seminar series and strand on the taught masters programme, and there is a rich and active range of other events associated with specific projects.

Recent Publications

George Garnett - The Norman Conquest in English History Volume I: A Broken Chain? (OUP, 2021)

Alexander Morrison - The Russian Conquest of Central Asia A Study in Imperial Expansion, 1814-1914 (Cambridge University Press, 2020)

Robert Gildea & Ismee Tames - Fighters across frontiers: Transnational resistance in Europe, 1936–48 (Manchester University Press, 2020)

Paul Betts - Ruin and Renewal: Civilising Europe after the Second World War (Profile Books, 2020)

David Parrott - 1652: The Cardinal, the Prince, and the Crisis of the 'Fronde' (OUP, 2020)

E. Charters, M. Houllemare, P. Wilson (eds.) - A Global History of Early Modern Violence (Manchester University Press, 2020)

Aminat Chokobaeva, Cloé Drieu & Alexander Morrison (ed.) The Central Asian Revolt of 1916. A collapsing empire in the age of war and revolution (Manchester University Press, 2019)

Stephen Smith, Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928 (OUP, 2017)

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Studying the History of War at Oxford

Undergraduate

English Chivalry and the French war c.1330-1400

War and Society in Europe, c.1650-1815

The Thirty Years' War

A Global War, 1914-1920

Click here to see the full breakdown of a degree in history

MSt/MPhil in History - History of War Strand

War in the Modern World

DPhil Study

DPhil Students researching the History of War

Academics

Researchers

Research Centres

Research Projects