Established 1962 Academic staff 100 Website kcl.ac.uk/warstudies Founded 1962 | Head of Department Michael Rainsborough Phone +44 20 7848 2178 Number of students 1,000 | |
 | ||
Hours Closed now Monday10AM–4PMTuesday10AM–4PMWednesday10AM–4PMThursday10AM–4PMFriday10AM–4PMSaturdayClosedSundayClosed Profiles | ||
The Department of War Studies (DWS) is an academic department in the School of Security Studies within the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy at King's College London in London, United Kingdom. It ranks amongst the top departments for international relations in the world. The department is devoted to the multi-disciplinary study of war and diplomacy within the broad remit of international relations.
Contents
- History
- Government and politics
- Military security and diplomacy
- Academia media and business
- Tolstoy Cup
- References
The department's alumni includes senior government officials, military personnel, diplomats, journalists, academics and businesspeople. Amongst them are former Prime Minister of Jordan Marouf al-Bakhit; Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq Nikolay Mladenov and former Commandant General Royal Marines Sir Robert Fry. The department is affiliated with numerous think-tanks and foreign policy institutions. It also houses numerous research institutes and centres, including the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.
Since 2016, the Head of Department has been Michael Rainsborough, who is also the Professor of Strategic Theory. The Department of War Studies is located on the 6th floor of the King's Building on the Strand Campus of King's College London.
History
A Department of Military Science existed at King's College London from 1848–1859. Military Science was subsequently approved as a subject for the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science general degrees from 1913, and was taught under the Faculty of Arts and also the Faculty of Engineering.
In 1926 the intervention of William Norton Medlicott prevented the Department of History from ridding itself of the lectureship in Military History. With War Office support the Military Studies Department was established in 1926 and formed part of the Faculty of Arts, with Major General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice holding the Chair. It became known as the War Studies Department in 1943 but was discontinued in 1948, although the subject continued to be taught under the Department of Medieval and Modern History.
Following the World War II, there was an initiative by senior members of University of London notably Lionel Robbins, Sir Charles Webster and Keith Hancock, to revive Military Studies at the University. In 1953, Sir Michael Howard was appointed to the Lectureship in Military Studies, and by 1962 Sir Michael was able to reinstate the Department of War Studies to offer postgraduate courses.
A Bachelor of Arts degree in War Studies was offered from 1992 onwards. The department became part of the School of Humanities in 1989 and the School of Social Science and Public Policy in 2001.
In 2012 the department celebrated its 50th anniversary, with a series of celebratory events to mark the occasion.
Government and politics
Military, security and diplomacy
Academia, media and business
Tolstoy Cup
The Tolstoy Cup is an annual football match played between the students of the Department of War Studies at King's and the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford since 1995. The rivalry between 'Peace Studies' and 'War Studies' was featured on the Financial Times list of "Great college sports rivalries". The competition is named after War and Peace, the 1869 novel written by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. The "trophy" is a framed copy of the book. It is kept by the department of the current winners.