Christopher Duffy (1936 – 16 November 2022) was a British

military historian Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians ...

. Duffy read

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, where he graduated in 1961 with the

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

. Afterwards, he taught

military history Military history is the study of War, armed conflict in the Human history, history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to Politics, local and international relationship ...

at the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

and the college of the British General Staff. He was secretary-general of the British Commission for Military History and vice-president of the Military History Society of Ireland. From 1996 to 2001, he was research professor at the

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. He then worked as a freelance author. Duffy's special interest was the military history of the European

modern age The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

, in particular the history of the German, Prussian, and Austrian armed forces. He wrote two books on the Jacobite Rising in Scotland in 1745. He was most famous for his writings about

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

and the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. Duffy was fluent in six languages and published some twenty books about military history topics, several of which have been translated into German. Duffy died on 16 November 2022, at the age of 86.

Works

* ''The Wild Goose and the Eagle: A Life of Marshal von Browne, 1705-1757'', Chatto & Windus, 1964. * ''Borodino and the War of 1812'', Sphere, 1972. Scribner, 1973.
''The Army of Frederick the Great''

David & Charles David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing. David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and cont ...

, 1974, . (Superseded by an illustrate
second edition
in 1996, .) * ''Fire and Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare, 1660-1860'', David & Charles, 1975, . * ''The Army of Maria Theresa: The Armed Forces of Imperial Austria, 1740-1780'', Vancouver 1977, . (Superseded by the two volume ''The Austrian Army in the Seven Years War'' in 2000 () and 2008.) * ''Austerlitz 1805'', Shoe String Press, 1977. *
Siege Warfare: The Fortress in the Early Modern World, 1494-1660
', Routledge, 1979. (vol. 1) * ''Siege Warfare: The Fortress in the Age of Vauban and Frederick the Great, 1660-1789'', Routledge, 1985. (vol. 2) *
Frederick the Great: A Military Life
', London 1985. * ''Russia's Military Way to the West: Origins and Nature of Russian Military Power, 1700-1800'', Routledge, 1985. *
The Military Experience in the Age of Reason
', London 1987. *
Red Storm on the Reich: The Soviet March on Germany, 1945
', London 1991. * ''Army of Frederick the Great'', 1974, , Second Edition, Emperor's Press, 1996. * ''Eagles over the Alps: Suvorov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799'', Emperor's Press, 1999. * ''Instrument of War: The Austrian Army in the Seven Years War'', Emperor's Press, 2000. * ''Prussia's Glory: Rossbach and Leuthen'', Emperor's Press, 2003. * ''Fire And Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare 1660-1860'', Booksales, 2006, . * ''Through German Eyes: The British and the Somme, 1916'', London 2006. * ''The '45: Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Untold Story of the Jacobite Rising'', Phoenix Press, 2007. * ''By Force of Arms: The Austrian Army in the Seven Years War, Volume 2'', Emperor's Press, 2008. * ''The Best of Enemies: Germans against Jacobites, 1746'', Bitter Books/Emperor's Press, 2013. * ''Fight for a Throne: The Jacobite '45 Reconsidered'', Helion and Company, 2015.

References

External links

Christopher Duffy on Orion Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Christopher 1936 births 2022 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Academics of De Montfort University British military historians Historians of the Napoleonic Wars Academics of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst