Society for Military History

The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technology, ideas, and homefronts. It publishes the quarterly refereed The Journal of Military History.

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.See home page 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.

Annual meetings

The Society typically holds a meeting in the first half of every year.

Recent meetings have been held in the following locations:

Year Date Location Theme 2023 March 23- San Diego, California 2022 April 28-May 1 Fort Worth, TX 2021 May 20-23 Norfolk, VA “Turning the Tide: Revolutionary Moments in Military History” 2020 April 30–May 3Meeting cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic Army Historical Foundation, Arlington, VA “Policy by Other Means” 2019 April 30–May 3 Columbus, OH "Soldiers and Civilians in the Cauldron of War" 2018 April 5–8 Louisville, KY "Landscapes of War and Peace" 2017 March 30–April 2 Jacksonville, FL "Global War: Historical Perspectives" 2016 April 14–17 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada "Crossing Borders, Crossing Boundaries" 2015 April 9–12 Montgomery, Alabama "Conflict and Commemoration: The Influence of War on Society" 2014 April 3–6 Kansas City, MO "Transformational Conflicts: War and its Legacy Through History" 2013 March 14–17 New Orleans, LA "War, Society and Remembrance" 2012 May 10–13 Army Historical Foundation, Arlington, VA "The Politics of War" 2011 June 9–12 Lisle, IL "Ways of War" 2010 May 20–23 Lexington, Virginia "Causes Lost and Won" 2009 April 2–5 Murfreesboro, Tennessee "Warfare and Culture" 2008 April 17–19 Ogden, Utah "The Military and Frontiers" 2007 April 19–22 Frederick, Maryland "Crossroads of War"

Current and past presidents Gregory J. W. Urwin (President as of 2004) Dennis Showalter Carol Reardon Theodore Ropp Brian McAllister Linn Jeffrey Grey 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: Brian McAllister Linn, Texas A&M University, 2023 Beth Bailey, University of Kansas, 2022 Robert M. Citino, National WWII Museum, 2021 Jon Tetsuro Sumida, University of Maryland, 2020. Brian Holden-Reid, King's College London, 2019 Hew Strachan, University of St Andrews, 2018 John A. Lynn II, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017 Conrad C. Crane, Army Heritage and Education Center, United States Army War College, 2016 Joseph T. Glatthaar, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2015 Rick Atkinson, Washington, DC, 2014 Ira D. Gruber, Rice University, 2013 Ronald H. Spector, The George Washington University, 2012 Gerhard Weinberg, University of North Carolina, 2011 Peter Maslowski, 2010 Richard Kohn, 2009 Jeremy Black, 2008 James M. McPherson, 2007 Robert A. Doughty, 2006 Dennis Showalter, 2005 Allan R. Millett, 2004 Edward J. Drea, 2003 John Shy, 2002 Richard Overy, 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, 1992 I. B. Holley, Jr., and Theodore Ropp, 1991 Edward M. Coffman, 1990 Russell F. Weigley, 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, 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, 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, The Interrogation Rooms of the Korean War: The Untold History, Princeton University Press, 2019. Geoffrey Robinson, UCLA, 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, 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, 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, The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History Laila Parsons, The Commander: Fawzi al-Qawuqji and the Fight for Arab Independence, 1914–1948 Michael Livingston and Kelly DeVries, editors. The Battle of Crécy: A Casebook

2016 David L. Preston, Braddock's Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution Pierre Razoux, The Iran-Iraq War Paul Robinson, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich: Supreme Commander of the Russian Army David T. Zabecki, editor. Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History

2015 Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy, 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, 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 Robert M. Citino, The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943 Geoffrey Roberts, 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, Edward Drea, and Hans van de Ven (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, The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy John MacFarlane, Triquet’s Cross: A Study of Military Heroism Clifford J. Rogers, 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 Spencer C. Tucker, 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, 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 Robert M. Citino, 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, 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 Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942–1943 Hew Strachan, 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