This is the story of how a boy from a poor background benefited
from the new opportunities available in the post-1945 era to attend
a very good grammar school, gain entry to Oxford University and
eventually became a professor at a top grade university, King's
College, London. Early chapters show how hard it was to get a
foothold on the lowest rungs of the academic ladder, particularly
in a subject, military history, where there were virtually no
established positions. No matter how talented and industrious, good
fortune played a crucial role, as in so many careers, in helping
Brian Bond at a critical stage. By a remarkable coincidence, since
Brian was reading some of his books at Oxford, Basil (later Sir
Basil) Liddell Hart came to live in the village and promptly gave
him tremendous encouragements and support. Liddell Hart, at that
time probably the best known military writer in the world, provided
wonderful references which, after numerous setbacks, led to junior
academic appointment at Exeter and Liverpool universities. Equally
important Liddell Hart introduced Brian to Michael Howard (now Sir
Michael Howard OM) who was just beginning to pioneer the study of
military history-war studies at King's College, London. Michael had
a difficult time in persuading the academic establishment that this
was a respectable and very important new field of study, but in
1965 he succeeded in setting up a Department of War Studies, and in
the following year recruited Brian as a Lecturer in Military
History. Promotion was necessarily slow in a tiny department, but
Brian was eventually elevated to Reader and then Professor. The
central chapters in this personal memoir provide a frank account of
what it was like to teach military history at all levels (but
especially to MA and PhD candidates) in the late 20th century. From
the outset the students were drawn from virtually every country in
the free world and competition for entry was tough. Numbers of
staff and students increased steadily through the 1970s and 1980s,
but then there was a sudden dramatic expansion as the Department
admitted undergraduates for the first time. The range of subjects
taught also widened impressively with more emphasis placed on
contemporary Strategic Studies. But the `philosophy' inculcated by
Michael Howard; namely the disinterested study of warfare in a
broad social and political context continued to provide the
Departments teaching. On the personal level Brian Bond contrasts
successes and achievements with `bad days' in the office and the
lecture hall which will strike a chord with all fellow teachers. He
also pens a lively account of some of his overseas travels,
particularly in Canada, the United States, Pakistan and Japan as
well as attending numerous conferences in Europe. In the
penultimate chapter `Books do Furnish a Room' he describes how and
why his own books came to be written, and how they were received.
The extra theme or dimension which raises this account above the
personal is the remarkable development of military history during
Brian Bond's careers. Even in the late 1950s scarcely any military
history courses were offered in British universities, and there was
not a single department. By 2000 the picture had changed
drastically with several centres of excellence in the field and
with strong interest and support from students. Since then there
have been further positive developments which have been surveyed in
a concluding chapter entitles `The Legacy'. Since Brian retired in
2001 he has had only a marginal connection with these later trends
but has been given invaluable help in this survey from several
colleagues, especially Sir Hew Strachan and Professor Martin
Alexander. It is not for the author to assess his own contribution
to the development of military history-war studies, nor to claim
that the Department at King's College was the sole pioneer of the
new academic subject. But Brian can accurately, if immodestly,
point out that he spent thirty five years in the Department (and
participating in the wider ramifications of the subject),
contributed a substantial variety of books and other publications
and, perhaps most importantly, supervised fifty successive PhD
candidates, several of whom are now outstanding leaders in the
field.
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