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In military leadership, I think it’s very difficult to compare people across periods.
I became interested in the subject when…
I became interested in history quite early, maybe age 7 or 8. I would walk to the local library in Edgware, London, and in the children’s section they had some serious books. The first military history I remember reading was R R Sellman (1915-1999) on medieval battles. His book included battle plans, and I was fascinated by those.
Growing up I was fascinated by…
I was an enthusiastic pupil at school and found history a real interest. In fact, there was a bizarre occasion when I was about 9 years old when the teacher said, ‘Well, you know more about the Crusades than me, why don’t you take the class?’ – and indeed I did! I read history extensively… I think it’s fair to say, at a level above what would be expected for most pupils. For example, when I was a sixth former, I read Fernand Braudel’s The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, which was not the kind of 1,500-page thing normal people of my age were reading!
My favourite period or conflict…
My favourite period is the 18th century, partly because that is what I’ve done most work on, so I feel I can, perhaps, best get inside the heads of the people involved. In terms of favourite conflict… I don’t especially wish to have been shot at in any particular one. But I am very interested in the American War of Independence, and in fact have just brought out a second book on the subject.
The figure I most admire…
In generalship, and indeed military leadership as a whole, there are very different levels of tactical, operational, and strategic insight and applicability, and very different types of environments – most obviously land, sea, and air, although those themselves have been redefined through the ages – so I think it’s very difficult to compare people across periods. I have always felt that strategy is underrated, so I would say that I’m personally impressed by those you might call strategists, but they are not necessarily figures in the military.
My dream dinner party…
It would, I think, be 18th century. In particular, I would like to sit down with the writers Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, and Tobias Smollett.
A novel I’d recommend…
I’m a great believer in novels that are light-hearted, so if I was stuck on a desert island I think I would like a witty novel – maybe Aldous Huxley’s Antic Hay, or the complete Jeeves and Wooster novels from P G Wodehouse.
My favourite war film…
I’m somebody for the classics, so I’ve always liked Zulu (1964). I saw it again recently and I still think it’s a superb film about men under pressure, the nature of comradeship, and the nature of conflict.
A museum to get lost in…
The National WWII Museum in New Orleans is amazing. I’ve been there several times and there’s more than enough in it for an entire day. There are other great museums: the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, Poland, is also very good, but you wouldn’t get lost in it because it’s nowhere near as big.
Something I learned recently…
Each time I write a book, I learn things – by looking at documents, by reading the works of others, and by thinking through things myself. I’m currently working on a book for the British Library on the history of road mapping, so I’m finding it fascinating to look at original maps going a long way back, and trying to decide what is a road versus a route, and looking into these kinds of issues for various societies.
My next project…
At present, I’m trying to rethink a lot of the ways we’ve looked at military history, by putting much more emphasis on integrating geopolitics and strategy as complex fields that need to be contextualised in very specific historical environments, rather than treating them as free-floating ideas that can be easily applied – so I would say that method is what I am using most. The next physical thing that I’m working on is a collection of essays that I’m editing and contributing to on fortification and siegecraft through the ages. In particular, I’m writing a big essay on long-term trends in British fortification.
Jeremy Black is a historian, lecturer, and writer. He is the author of more than 100 books, many of which explore 18th-century British, European, and American political, diplomatic, and military history. He has also published on the history of the press, cartography, warfare, and culture, as well as on the nature and uses of history itself. You can find out more about his work at https://jeremyblackhistorian.wordpress.com.
Images: courtesy Barnet Libraries; National WWII Museum
