Authority on World War I to present Indiana University O'Meara Lecture
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Sir Hew Strachan, a distinguished military historian and an authority on World War I, will present the 2015 Indiana University Patrick O’Meara International Lecture as part of the university’s yearlong series of events marking the 100-year anniversary of the war.
The lecture, “The Centenary of the First World War: Commemoration or Celebration?” will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, in Alumni Hall of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St. in Bloomington. The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the IMU Solarium.
Strachan is professor of international relations at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Formerly the Chichele Professor of the History of War and a fellow of All Souls College at the University of Oxford, he directed the Oxford Program on the Changing Character of War from 2003 to 2012.
“The World War I anniversary has made us realize that the effects of the Great War are more profound and more long-lasting than commonly believed,” IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret said. “We still have much to learn from it. Sir Hew has devoted much of his scholarly career to discovering and portraying the war and its impact. I am excited that this pre-eminent British scholar will be in Bloomington to share his work with us.”
The O’Meara Lecture was established in 2011 to honor Patrick O’Meara, IU vice president emeritus of international affairs. It brings to the IU Bloomington campus distinguished speakers who address critical topics in international affairs.
Strachan’s lecture is also part of World War I: 100 Years, a series that spans the 2014-15 academic year and marks the 100-year anniversary of the war’s beginning. The commemoration has included talks, seminars, panel discussions, exhibitions, a film series and musical performances.
IU President Michael A. McRobbie will conclude the series April 24 with a lecture titled “Australian Intervention in the Great War: The Definition of a Nation.”
Strachan serves on the Strategic Advisory Panel of the Chief of Defence Staff of the United Kingdom and on the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom Advisory Board. He is a trustee of the Imperial War Museum and a member of the National Committee for the Centenary of the First World War and the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
He is a life fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2010, he chaired a task force on the implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant of the prime minister. He is a brigadier in the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers. He was knighted in 2013 and was appointed lord lieutenant of Tweeddale in 2014.
He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books on military history, including “The Politics of the British Army,” “The Direction of War: Contemporary Strategy in Historical Perspective” and “Military Lives” and several volumes on World War I.
