Dr Graeme Callister is a leading military historian and Senior Lecturer in History and War Studies at York St John University. His accolades include being a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and he is a current member of The British Commission for Military History; The Society for Army Historical Research; The Waterloo Association; The Napoleonic and Revolutionary War Graves Charity; The Western Front Association; and The Battlefields Trust. He also won the British Commission for Military History’s Sir Michael Howard Prize, 2021!
With his credentials laid out on the table, the most important thing you need to know for the purposes of this show is that he is a friend of recent guest Dr Rachael Whitbread and co-authored the recently published Battle: Understanding Conflict from Hastings to Helmand with her, a book which I’d like to think this show had a part in enabling it to hit Pen & Sword’s best-sellers list on release!
We delve into Graeme’s journey into academia and his other interests, but the bulk of the show is spent discussing those parts of the book for which he was primarily responsible, which is to say the post-medieval chapters. Graeme has a broad knowledge of post-medieval military history, but has a real passion for the Napoleonic era, as you will hear, and especially the Battle of Waterloo.
So, if you have listened to the interview with Rachael, I hope you will find that the two shows jigsaw together nicely, jointly creating an in-depth tour of the contents of the book and why I believe it to be one of the most important volumes in the military history genre for quite some time, giving a comprehensive overview of the whys and wherefores of battle.
Henry
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