The use and abuse of military history

Abstract

In this lecture of 1961, Michael Howard assesses the uses and abuses of the study of military history from the perspectives of both the academic historian and the practising soldier. While acknowledging past tendencies to mythogise national achievements out of often misguided notions of patriotism, as well as difficulties involving evidence, he argues that the benefits to soldier and civilian alike of ‘finding out what really happened’ outweigh these doubts. Using the criteria of width, depth and context, he concludes that the study of military history enables an under’ standing of the nature of war and its impact on society and directly improves the soldier's ability to understand and fulfil his function.