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Acad. Quest. (2008) 21:1836
DOI 10.1007/s12129-008-9044-z
ARTICLES
John A. Lynn II
Published online: 3 May 2008# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008
In Shakespeares Henry V, the gallant king challenges his comrades to press the siege of Harfleur: Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. The editor of this journal has similarly challenged me to consider again the fate of military history in American academe. It is not my first assault on the question, for I have been publishing my thoughts on the matter for nearly thirty years.1 As is perhaps inevitable for a military historian, I interpret the fate of my field as a struggle, a combat of ideas and values. Yes, indeed, once more unto the breach.
At the outset, let me offer my working definition of the field: military history is the study of military institutions and practices and of the conduct of war in the past. This definition frustrates those whose real interest is in the causes or the consequences of war. Certainly these are terribly important matters and involve military factors, but they are much broader than military history per se. Doubtless, some would disagree with my definition, but I will stick with it.
1My earlier forays on this question include: Military History in the Classroom: A Strategy for Enrollments, Military Affairs (December 1979); On Military History, Swords and Ploughshares (March 1987); The Embattled Future of Academic Military History, Journal of Military History 61 (October 1997); and Reflections on the History and Theory of Military Innovation and Diffusion, in Bridges and Boundaries: Historians, Political Scientists, and the Study of International Relations, ed. Colin Elman and Miriam Fendius Elman (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001). Most recently I presented a keynote address, Is There a Genre of Military History? at the 2006 meeting of the Australian Historical Association at Canberra. This article is a revised version of that talk.
John A. Lynn II is currently professor of history at the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801; [email protected]. In 2009 he will join the faculty of Northwestern University as Distinguished Professor of Military History Part-Time. He served as president of the United States Commission on Military History from 2003 to 2007 and as vice-president of the Society for Military History...