About us

The British Commission for Military History was founded in 1976 as the national branch of the International Commission for Military History. It serves as a forum for the discussion and promotion of military history in the broadest sense, that is naval and air as well as land aspects without any specific time limits.

The Commission is at the forefront of academic debate over many aspects of military history including the centenary of the First World War. Through the British Journal for Military History, a pioneering Open Access, peer-reviewed journal and regular conferences, the BCMH delivers high quality scholarship in military history to an audience beyond academia.

Details of our Forthcoming Events can be found on our Events page

The British Commission for Military History also maintains an active social media presence and can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Our Journal

The British Journal for Military History is a pioneering Open Access, peer-reviewed journal that brings high quality scholarship in military history to an audience beyond academia.

“The birth of the British Journal for Military History will be as welcome as it is long overdue.

The past few decades have seen the appearance of a new generation of military historians. Some have been serving or retired members of the Armed Forces; some academics or aspiring academics; and some – most welcome of all – amateurs who write for the sheer love of it. The continuing demand for their work is evidenced in every major bookshop, where ‘Military History’ shelves often take up as much space as does mere ‘History’. Even those whose primary interest is not military history as such now realise that a knowledge of the subject is necessary if they are to understand the past, to say nothing of the present. Military history is now too important to be left to the military historians.

For the past few years military historians have been able to communicate with each another at the annual meetings of the British Commission for Military History and through its publication Mars and Clio. Now the BJMH will make their work available to a far wider readership and should attract an increasing number of contributors. It will be not only British, and not only military historians who will wish it well.”

Professor Sir Michael Howard