Sir John Keegan, acclaimed military historian and a longtime contributing editor to MHQ, died Thursday, August 2, after a long illness. He was 78.
Tributes to Keegan are filling the Web and newspapers. The New York Times posted a lengthy obituary that covers his career and major works. The Daily Telegraph, where he was a defense editor, noted that “he demonstrated a deep awareness of the human aspects of warfare, which was cruel, confusing and frightening, if occasionally glorious.”
Keegan has written for MHQ since it was created in 1988. For the debut issue, he demonstrated how the submarine changed naval warfare. Over the years, he’s contributed stories spanning the centuries, from Napoleon to World War II. We’ve posted his story from our Autumn 2003 issue about Horatio Nelson’s 1798 clash with Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt. The cover story for MHQ’s Winter 2013 issue, hitting newsstands August 14, covers Bonaparte’s entire Middle East campaign.
We’ll post more in the coming days: We invite you to weigh in on Keegan yourself.
