The unrepentant historian: Sir Michael Howard and the birth of War Studies

Sir Michael Howard is widely recognised as the founder of ‘War Studies’, a Department which embodied a new intellectual agenda for the study of war at King’s and in the UK more broadly. Yet whilst his influence as a founder was significant, it has been overstated. In this article we contextualize the emergence of War Studies as part of a longer series of attempts to establish war-oriented study at the University of London, and situate Howard’s endeavours alongside those of more senior colleagues. In so doing, we also emphasize the limited and pragmatic approach to war studies that Howard developed during this period.