The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach

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 relationships. ...

of all time periods and places. It includes naval history,

air power history Air power history is the branch of military history that analyses and chronicles the activities of air forces as well as the other organisations, including the air branches of armies and navies, that undertake military aviation. It is essential k ...

, and studies of technology, ideas, and homefronts. It publishes the quarterly refereed ''

The Journal of Military History ''The Journal of Military History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the military history of all times and places. It is the official journal of the Society for Military History. The journal was established in 1937 and the ed ...

''.

Activities

The society was established in 1933 as the American Military History Foundation, renamed in 1939 to the American Military Institute, and renamed again in 1990 to the Society for Military History. It has over 2,300 members, including many prominent scholars, soldiers, and citizens interested in military history. Membership is open to anyone and includes a subscription to the journal. The Society also sponsors sessions on military topics at the annual

Northern Great Plains History Conference The Northern Great Plains History Conference is an annual conference of history professors, graduate students, historical society experts, and other scholars interested in the history of the Great Plains states of the American Midwest. The Conferenc ...

Annual meetings

The Society typically holds a meeting in the first half of every year. Recent meetings have been held in the following locations:

Current and past presidents

*Gregory J. W. Urwin (President as of 2004) * Dennis Showalter *

Carol Reardon Carol Reardon is an American military historian with a concentration in Civil War and Vietnam eras. She was a George Winfree Professor of American History at Pennsylvania State University. She now currently teaches at Gettysburg College. Academi ...

* Theodore Ropp * Brian McAllister Linn *

Jeffrey Grey Jeffrey Guy Grey (19 March 1959 – 26 July 2016) was an Australian military historian. He wrote two volumes of ''The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975'', and several other high-profile works ...

* Roy K. Flint

Prizes

Samuel Eliot Morison Prize

The Samuel Eliot Morison Prize recognizes not any one specific achievement, but a body of contributions in the field of military history, stretching over time and showing a range of scholarly work contributing significantly to the field. Recent winners include: *

Robert M. Citino Robert M. Citino (born June 19, 1958) is an American military historian and the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the National WWII Museum. He is a leading authority on modern German military history, with an emphasis upon World War I ...

, National WWII Museum, 2021 * Jon Tetsuro Sumida, University of Maryland, 2020. * Brian Holden-Reid, King's College London, 2019 *

Hew Strachan Sir Hew Francis Anthony Strachan ( ), (born 1 September 1949) is a British military historian, well known for his leadership in scholarly studies of the British Army and the history of the First World War. He is currently professor of internatio ...

, University of St Andrews, 2018 *

John A. Lynn John Albert Lynn (born March 18, 1943) is a military historian who has written on a wide variety of topics in his field, with an emphasis on early modern Europe. Early life and education Born in Glenview, Illinois, in 1943, he received his Bac ...

II, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017 * Conrad C. Crane, Army Heritage and Education Center,

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military officer ...

, 2016 * Joseph T. Glatthaar, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2015 *

Rick Atkinson Lawrence Rush "Rick" Atkinson IV (born November 15, 1952) is an American author, most recently of ''The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777'', the first volume in the Revolution Trilogy. He has won Pulit ...

, Washington, DC, 2014 * Ira D. Gruber, Rice University, 2013 * Ronald H. Spector, The George Washington University, 2012 *

Gerhard Weinberg Gerhard Ludwig Weinberg (born 1 January 1928) is a German-born American diplomatic and military historian noted for his studies in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. Weinberg is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History ...

, University of North Carolina, 2011 * Peter Maslowski, 2010 * Richard Kohn, 2009 * Jeremy Black, 2008 *

James M. McPherson James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for '' Battle Cry ...

, 2007 * Robert A. Doughty, 2006 * Dennis Showalter, 2005 * Allan R. Millett, 2004 *

Edward J. Drea Edward John Drea (born 24 February 1944) is an American military historian. He deals especially with the Imperial Japanese Army and the Pacific War. Early life and education Edward John Drea was born in Buffalo, New York, on 24 February 1944. ...

, 2003 * John Shy, 2002 *

Richard Overy Richard James Overy (born 23 December 1947) is a British historian who has published on the history of World War II and Nazi Germany. In 2007, as ''The Times'' editor of ''Complete History of the World'', he chose the 50 key dates of world his ...

, 2001 * David M. Glantz, 2000 * Geoffrey N. Parker, 1999 * Stephen E. Ambrose, 1998 * Robert M. Utley, 1997 * John Keegan, 1996 * Martin Blumenson, 1995 * Harold C. Deutsch, 1994 * Peter Paret, 1993 *

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posit ...

, 1992 * I. B. Holley, Jr., and Theodore Ropp, 1991 * Edward M. Coffman, 1990 *

Russell F. Weigley Russell Frank Weigley ''(WY-glee)'' (July 2, 1930 – March 3, 2004) was the Distinguished University Professor of History at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a noted military historian. His research and teaching interests ...

, 1989 * No Award, 1988 * Forrest C. Pogue, 1987 * Alvin D. Coox, 1986 * Robin Higham, 1985

Distinguished Book Awards

The Society's Distinguished Book Awards recognize the best books written in English on military history, broadly conceived.

2022

* Thomas A. Guglielmo, ''Divisions: A New History of Racism and Resistance in America's World War II Military'', Oxford University Press * Wendy Goldman and Donald Filtzer, ''Fortress Dark and Stern: The Soviet Home Front during World War II'', Oxford University Press * Ian Ona Johnson, ''Faustian Bargain: The Soviet-German Partnership and the Origins of the Second World War'', Oxford University Press * Michael S. Nieberg, ''When France Fell: The Vichy Crisis and the Fate of the Anglo-American Alliance'', Harvard University Press *

Ruth Scurr Ruth Scurr, Lady Stothard FRSL is a British writer, historian and literary critic. She is a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. She was educated at St Bernard's Convent, Slough; Oxford University, Cambridge University and the Eco ...

, ''Napoleon, A Life Told in Gardens and Shadows'', Penguin Random House * Karen Hagemann, Stefan Dudink and Sonya O. Rose, editors, ''Oxford Handbook of Gender, War and the Western World Since 1600'', Oxford University Press.

2021

* Donald F. Johnson, ''Occupied America: British Military Rule and the Experience of Revolution,''University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021. *

Alexander Mikaberidze Alexander Mikaberidze ( ka, ალექსანდრე მიქაბერიძე; born 27 January 1978) is a Georgian lawyer, author and historian who specializes in Napoleonic studies. He is a full professor of history and social scie ...

, ''The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History,'' Oxford University Press, 2020. * Daniel Whittingham, ''Charles E. Callwell and the British Way in Warfare'', Cambridge University Press, 2019. * Aaron Sheehan-Dean, ed., ''The Cambridge History of the American Civil War'', Cambridge University Press, 2019. * Meighen McCrae, ''Coalition Strategy and the End of the First World War'', Cambridge University Press, 2019. * Alexander Watson, ''The Fortress: The Siege of Przemysl and the Making of Europe’s Bloodlands'', Basic Books, 2020

2020

* Monica Kim,

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, ''The Interrogation Rooms of the Korean War: The Untold History,'' Princeton University Press, 2019. * Geoffrey Robinson,

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, ''The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66,'' Princeton University Press, 2018. * Stephen Brumwell, ''Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty'', Yale University Press, 2018. * Kelly DeVries, Loyola University, and Michael Livingston, The Citadel, eds., ''Medieval Warfare: A Reader'', University of Toronto Press, 2019. * Thomas Dodman,

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, ''What Nostalgia Was: War, Empire, and the Time of a Deadly Emotion'', University of Chicago Press, 2019.

2019

* A. Wilson Greene, ''A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg'' Volume 1: From the Crossing of the James to the Crater (Civil War America), University of North Carolina Press, 2018 *Peter Guardino, ''The Dead March: A History of the Mexican-American War'', Harvard University Press, 2018. *Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia, ''Bernardo de Gálvez: Spanish Hero of the American Revolution'', University of North Carolina Press, 2018. *Richard P. Tucker, Tait Keller,

J. R. McNeill John Robert McNeill (born 1954) is an American environmental historian, author, and professor at Georgetown University. He is best known for "pioneering the study of environmental history". In 2000 he published ''Something New Under the Sun: A ...

, and Martin Schmid, editors, ''Environmental Histories of the First World War'', Cambridge University Press, 2018.

2018

*Christopher Phillips, ''The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border'' *Ilya Berkovich, ''Motivation in War: The Experience of Common Soldiers in Old-Regime Europe'' *Steven L. Ossad, ''Omar Nelson Bradley: America’s GI General'' *Paul R. Bartrop and Michael Dickerman, ''The Holocaust: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection'', (4 vols.)

2017

*Mark Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone, ''Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle'' *

Tonio Andrade Tonio Adam Andrade (born 1968) is an historian of East Asian history and the history of East Asian trading networks. Bibliography * ''Commerce, Culture, and Conflict: Taiwan Under European Rule, 1624–1662''. Yale University Press, 2000. * ''H ...

, ''The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History'' *Laila Parsons, ''The Commander:

Fawzi al-Qawuqji Fawzi al-Qawuqji ( ar, فوزي القاوقجي; 19 January 1890 – 5 June 1977) was a leading Arab nationalist military figure in the interwar period.The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives, by Gilbert Achcar, (NY: Hen ...

and the Fight for Arab Independence, 1914-1948'' *

Michael Livingston Michael Livingston is a historian, a professor of medieval literature, and a historical fantasy novelist. His 2015 debut novel, '' The Shards of Heaven'', was followed by two sequels. Early life, education and career Originally from Colorado, ...

and Kelly DeVries, editors. '' The Battle of Crécy: A Casebook''

2016

David L. Preston David L. Preston is an American historian, writer, and professor. He is the author of two books on conflict between English colonists in North America and their French and Native American neighbors, which have won multiple awards. He currently s ...

, '' Braddock's Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution'' *

Pierre Razoux Pierre Razoux (born in 1966) is a writer and historian, a French Senior Civil Servant and a Doctor of Military History. He is in charge of the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. He studied law, history and internation ...

, ''The Iran-Iraq War'' *Paul Robinson, ''Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich: Supreme Commander of the Russian Army'' *

David T. Zabecki David T. Zabecki (born 1947) is an American military historian, author and editor. Zabecki served in the U.S. Army both in the Vietnam War and in United States Army Europe in Germany attaining the rank of major general. Zabecki holds PhDs in eng ...

, editor. ''Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History''

2015

Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy FRHS (born 1959) is an academic historian, Vice President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello in Virginia, the Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Mont ...

, ''The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire'' * Alexander Watson, '' Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918'' * Michael V. Leggiere, ''Blucher: Scourge of Napoleon''

2014

* Samuel J. Watson, ''Jackson's Sword: The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1810-1821'' and ''Peacekeepers and Conquerors: The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1821-1846'' * Geoffrey Parker, ''War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century'' * George W. Gawrych, ''The Young Ataturk: From Ottoman Soldier to Statesman of Turkey'' *

Spencer C. Tucker Spencer C. Tucker is a Fulbright scholar, retired university professor, and author of works on military history. He taught history at Texas Christian University for 30 years and held the John Biggs Chair of Military History at the Virginia Milita ...

, editor, ''American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection''

2013

* Richard S. Faulkner, ''School of Hard Knocks: Combat Leadership in the American Expeditionary Forces'' *

, ''The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943'' *

Geoffrey Roberts Geoffrey Roberts (born 1952) is a British historian of World War II working at University College Cork. He specializes in Soviet diplomatic and military history of World War II. He was professor of modern history at University College Cork (UC ...

, ''Stalin’s General: The Life of Georgy Zhukov'' * Clayton R. Newell and Charles R. Shrader, ''Of Duty Well and Faithfully Done: A History of the Regular Army in the Civil War''

2012

* John Sloan Brown, ''Kevlar Legions: The Transformation of the U.S. Army, 1989-2005'' *

Mark Peattie Mark R. Peattie (May 3, 1930 in Nice, France – January 22, 2014 in San Rafael, California) was an American academic and Japanologist. Peattie was a specialist in modern Japanese military, naval, and imperial history.Hoover Institution, Stanfo ...

, Edward Drea, and

Hans van de Ven Johan 'Hans' van de Ven (born 10 January 1958 in Velsen, Netherlands) is an authority on the history of 19th and 20th century China. He holds several positions at the University of Cambridge, where he is Professor of Modern Chinese History, Direc ...

(eds.), ''The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945'' * Mungo Melvin, ''Manstein: Hitler's Greatest General'' * Steven E. Clay, ''US Army Order of Battle 1919-1941'' (4 vols.)

2011

* Chad L. Williams, ''Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era'' *

Peter H. Wilson Peter Hamish Wilson (born 1963) is a British historian. Since 2015, he has held the Chichele Professor of the History of War chair at All Souls College, University of Oxford. Biography Wilson studied at the University of Liverpool (BA (Hons)) and ...

, ''The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy'' * John MacFarlane, ''Triquet’s Cross: A Study of Military Heroism'' *

Clifford J. Rogers Clifford J. Rogers is a professor of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He has also been a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Swansea University, an Olin Fellow in Military and Strategic History at Yale, and a Fulbright ...

, ed. ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology''

2010

* Daniel E. Sutherland, ''A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War'' * Edward J. Drea, ''Japan’s Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945'' * J.P. Harris, ''Douglas Haig and the First World War'' *

, ed. ''The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars''

2009

* Ingo Trauschweizer, ''The Cold War U.S. Army: Building Deterrence for Limited War.'' * Jamel Ostwald, ''Vauban Under Siege: Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession.'' * Andy Wiest, ''Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN.'' * Philip Sabin, Hans van Wees, and Michael Whitby, eds. ''The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare.''

2008

Jon Latimer Jonathan David Latimer (1964 – 4 January 2009) was an historian and writer based in Wales. His books include ''Operation Compass 1940'' (Osprey, 2000), ''Tobruk 1941'' (Osprey, 2001), ''Deception in War'' (John Murray, 2001), ''Alamein'' ( ...

, ''1812: War with America'' *John Lawrence Tone, ''War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895-1898'' * Martha Hannah, ''Your Death Would Be Mine: Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War.'' * Spencer C. Tucker, ed. ''The Encyclopedia of the Cold War: A Political, Social and Military History''

2007

* John Grenier, ''The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607-1814.'' * Robert A. Doughty, ''Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War. '' * Adrian Goldsworthy, ''Caesar: Life of a Colossus. '' * Peter Karsten, ed. ''Encyclopedia of War and American Society.'' 3 vols.

2006

* H. P. Willmott, ''The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action '' * George Satterfield, ''Princes, Posts and Partisans: The Army of Louis XIV and Partisan Warfare in the Netherlands (1673-1678)'' * Steven E. Woodworth and Kenneth J. Winkle, ''Atlas of the Civil War '' * Colin White, ed., ''Horatio Nelson, The New Letters''

2005

* Edward M. Coffman, ''The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941 '' *

, ''Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm: The Evolution of Operational Warfare '' * James T. Controvich, ''United States Army Unit and Organizational Histories: A Bibliography''

2004

George C. Rable George C. Rable is an American historian and author. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Alabama. He received the Lincoln Prize in 2003 for his 2002 book '' Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!'' Education He received a bachelor of arts degr ...

, ''Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! '' * Terry Copp, ''Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy '' * Joshua Brown, ed., ''A Good Idea of Hell: Letters from a Chasseur a Pied '' * Michael J. Crawford, ed., ''The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History: Volume III 1814-1815''

2003

, '' An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943'' *

, ''The First World War. Volume I: To Arms '' * Stuart Hills, ''By Tank Into Normandy: A Memoir of the Campaign in North-West Europe From D-Day to VE Day '' * David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds., ''Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political and Military History'' (3 vol)

2002

* Mark Stoler, ''Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliances, and U.S. Strategy in World War II '' * Ronald H. Spector, ''At War At Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century '' * Robert H. Ferrell, editor, for William S. Triplet, ''A Youth in the Meuse-Argonne, A Colonel in the Armored Divisions, and In the Philippines and Okinawa''

2001

* Geoffrey P. Megargee (2000): ''Inside Hitler's High Command'' (2000)Award listing
Society for Military History

References

External links

SMH website
{{authority control Historical societies of the United States Organizations established in 1933