Military historian, author, fan of NATO
Professor Sir Michael Howard, who died a day after his 97 th birthday, was an authority on the history and theory of warfare whose elegant style and gift for combining general views with illuminating detail made him one of the most widely respected historians of his time.
As someone who had experienced the real thing when he won a Military Cross with Britain’s Coldstream Guards in Italy, he was not an enthusiast for war. On the other hand, he had no pacifist illusions. He was regarded as a civilized voice, a proponent of deterrence based on a strong NATO.
Gracious, erudite and good-humoured, Howard believed that historians should participate in public debate, but with full awareness of their limitations.
Michael Eliot Howard was born on Nov. 29, 1922. He studied history at Oxford. When in the Coldstream Guards, Howard steeled himself by imagining he was David Niven. One night he led a bayonet charge down a slope and up a hill outside Salerno known as The Pimple.
A couple of months later he was informed of his medal.
More than 60 years later, in his autobiography, Captain Professor, Howard wrote that he felt it was undeserved compared with some who were never decorated.
When he returned to Oxford, he was asked to complete The Coldstream Guards, 1920-1946; he then moved to King’s College, London, where he was asked to revive the department of war studies; he rose to be become head.
His book War in European History examined how wars have often determined the character of society and how society determined the character of wars.
He eventually retired to his farm in England, relaxing by watching crime dramas on TV.
Howard was knighted in 1986. In 2006 he entered a civil partnership with Mark James, his companion of more than 50 years.