European Association of Military Historians

European Association of Military Historians
Name	European Association of Military Historians
Formation	1990s
Type	Scholarly association
Headquarters	Brussels
Region served	Europe
Language	English, French, German
Leader title	President

European Association of Military Historians is a pan-European scholarly association dedicated to the study of warfare, campaigns, strategy, and armed forces across European history. The association connects researchers, archivists, curators, and authors linked to institutions such as the Imperial War Museums, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Musée de l'Armée, and Istituto Storico Italiano. It promotes comparative studies that engage with archives in cities like London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Madrid while fostering ties with universities such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Sorbonne University, Humboldt University of Berlin, and University of Bologna.

History

The association emerged in the aftermath of Cold War changes that affected institutions such as the Red Army, NATO, Warsaw Pact, and national armed services of France, Germany, and Italy, drawing on scholarly networks that included historians of the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War, and both World War I and World War II. Early founders convened colleagues associated with the International Committee of Military History, the Society for Military History, and national bodies such as the Royal United Services Institute and the Bundeswehr Military History Museum. Initial conferences brought papers on campaigns like the Battle of Waterloo, the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855), and the Battle of Stalingrad, and the association subsequently formalized statutes that reflected models from the European University Institute and the Conseil de l'Europe.

Mission and Objectives

The association’s mission is to advance rigorous historical inquiry into armed conflict, comparative strategy, doctrinal changes, and the social dimensions of armed forces, aligning with methodological traditions associated with scholars who study the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the Peninsular War, and the Thirty Years' War. Objectives include facilitating access to collections held by institutions such as the National Archives (UK), the Bundesarchiv, the Archivo General de Indias, and the Vatican Apostolic Archive; promoting interdisciplinary dialogue with departments at King's College London, École des Chartes, and the University of Leiden; and encouraging publication in venues comparable to the Journal of Military History, the War in History journal, and the Military History Quarterly.

Membership and Structure

Membership comprises individual researchers, postgraduate students, curators from museums like the Australian War Memorial (via exchange), and representatives from national academies such as the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The governance model features an elected board with roles analogous to those at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, including a president, secretary, treasurer, and sectional chairs for eras spanning the Early Modern period, the Industrial Revolution, and the Contemporary era. Regional sections focus on topics tied to states such as Poland, Hungary, Greece, Portugal, and Sweden, and thematic committees handle archival liaison with repositories like the Tweedie Collection and museum partnerships with the Dutch Open Air Museum.

Conferences and Publications

Annual and biennial conferences rotate through cities with major historical archives and institutions such as Vienna, Brussels, Warsaw, Athens, and Lisbon, featuring keynote speakers with affiliations to the Prussian Military Academy, École Polytechnique, and the United States Military Academy. Proceedings are published in edited volumes that mirror series produced by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Manchester University Press, and the association issues a peer-reviewed journal indexed alongside titles like International History Review and European History Quarterly. Special issues have addressed engagements such as the Russian Civil War, the Balkans conflicts, the Irish War of Independence, and the Iberian campaigns.

Research and Projects

The association sponsors collaborative projects that assemble archival evidence from the National Archives (Norway), the Finnish National Archives, the Central State Archive of Romania, and the State Archives of Croatia. Major funded projects have mapped logistical systems compared with the Continental System and the Allied supply routes, digitized unit diaries akin to collections at the Imperial War Museum, and produced databases on personnel movements resembling initiatives by the International Tracing Service. Research themes include naval history referencing the Battle of Trafalgar and the Yom Kippur War's strategic lessons, air power studies in light of the Battle of Britain and the Korean War, and intelligence history tied to archives like those of MI5 and GRU.

Awards and Recognition

The association presents annual prizes named in the style of awards such as the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award, the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize, and the Fields Medal-style recognitions for career achievement, early-career scholarship, and best monograph on campaigns including the Somme offensive, the Gallipoli campaign, and the Battle of Kursk. Recipients have included authors who have published on figures like Duke of Wellington studies, analyses of Napoleon Bonaparte's logistics, and biographies connected to Adolf Hitler-era command decisions. Honorary memberships have been conferred on curators from the National Maritime Museum and historians associated with the Royal Historical Society.

Collaborations and Outreach

The association maintains formal collaborations with the International Committee of Military History, the European Commission cultural programs, the Council of Europe heritage initiatives, and university centers such as the Centre for War Studies (University of Southern Denmark), the Faculty of Military Science (Netherlands), and the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies. Outreach includes public lectures at venues like the Palace of Versailles, the Austrian National Library, and partnerships with documentary producers linked to broadcasters such as the BBC, ARD, and RAI. Educational programs for teachers draw on curricular models from the Council of Europe and museum education departments at the Royal Armouries.

Category:Historical societies Category:European organisations