B.J.C. McKercher

B.J.C. McKercher

Office:

M308

Telephone:

(613) 541-6000 ext 6007

Fax:

(613) 541-6056

E-mail:

brian.mckercher@rmc-cmr.ca

Department of History

College Address

Royal Military College of Canada
PO Box 17000, Station Forces
Kingston, Ontario, CANADA
K7K 7B4

Professor McKercher's areas of specialisation encompass modern international relations history, 19th and 20th Century British and American foreign policy, and modern British and modern European history. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics, where he studied under Professor D. Cameron Watt. From 1997 to 2006, he served as Chair of War Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada. He is now editor of Diplomacy & Statecraft. With K.E. Neilson, he is the general editor of The Praeger Series on Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period. He is also general editor of The Praeger Series on Diplomacy and Strategic Thought.

University Degrees

Ph.D. (London School of Economics)
M.A. (University of Alberta)
B.A. (Honours) (University of Alberta)

Research Interests

Modern international relations history
19th and 20th Century British and American foreign policy
Modern British and modern European history

Courses Taught

HIE 369A - The Diplomacy of Europes Global Ascendancy: International History, 1815-1870
HIE 372B - The Diplomacy of Great Power Rivalry: International History, 1870-1914
HIE 374A - From World War to World War: international history, 1900-1945
HIE 379B - Cold War, Limited War and Diplomacy: international history since 1945
HIE 449 - The History of Intelligence since 1870
HIE 454 - The Foreign Policies of the Great Powers since 1815
WS 506 - Civil-Military Relations and the Development of National Strategies, 1815-1975
WS 560 - International Relations Since 1919

Publications

Monographs

The Britain, America, and the Special Relationship since 1941 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017), 205 pp. 207
Transition of Power: Britains Loss of Global Preeminence to the United States, 1930-1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 402.
Esme Howard: A Diplomatic Biography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 482.
The Second Baldwin Government and the United States, 1924-1929: attitudes and diplomacy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), pp. 271.

In Preparation

Crown of Thorns: British Foreign Policy and Its Makers, 1919-1939
With R. Prete, co-editor, Strategic Planning and the Origins of the First World War: New Perspectives on the Centenary of the July Crisis (Kingston, Montreal: Queens-McGill University Press).

Edited Works

editor, The Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft (London: Routledge, 2011), 489 pp.
with D.J. Moss, co-editor, Shadow and Substance in British Foreign Policy, 1895-1939. Essays in honour of the late Professor C.J. Lowe (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1984), pp. 280.
with E.J. Errington, co-editor, The Vietnam War as History (New York: Praeger, 1990), pp. 196.
editor, Anglo-American Relations in the 1920s: the struggle for supremacy (London and Edmonton: Macmillans and the University of Alberta Press, 1991), pp. 242.
with K.E. Neilson, co-editor, Go Spy the Land: Military Intelligence in History (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992), pp. 205.
editor, Arms Limitation and Disarmament, 1899-1939: restraints on war (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992), pp. 248
with A.H. Ion, co-editor, Military Heretics: studies in the unorthodox in military leadership (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993), pp. 246.
with L. Aronsen, co-editor, The North Atlantic Powers in a Changing World: Anglo-American-Canadian Relations, 1903-1956 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996), pp. 298.
with Michael Dockrill, co-editor, Diplomacy and World Power: Studies in British Foreign Policy, 1890-1951 [a festschrift for Zara Steiner on her retirement] (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 271.
with M.A. Hennessey, co-editor, The Operational Art: Developments in the Theory of War (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997), pp. 220.
with R. Legault, co-editor, Military Planning and the Origins of the Second World War in Europe (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000), pp.208.
E. Goldstein and B.J.C. McKercher, eds., Power and Stability. British Foreign Policy, 1865-1965) (London: Frank Cass, 2003), pp.348.
M.A. Hennessy and B.J.C. McKercher, eds., War in the Twentieth Century. Reflections at Century's End (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003), 245 pp.

Paperback and Paperback Editions

Transition of Power: Britains Loss of Global Preeminence to the United States, 1930-1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 402. Paperback.
Esme Howard: A Diplomatic Biography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 482. Paperback.
The Second Baldwin Government and the United States, 1924-1929: attitudes and diplomacy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 271. Paperback
with Michael Dockrill, co-editor, Diplomacy and World Power: Studies in British Foreign Policy, 1890-1951 [a festschrift for Zara Steiner on her retirement] (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 271. Paperback.
with L. Aronsen, co-editor, The North Atlantic Powers in a Changing World: Anglo-American-Canadian Relations, 1903-1956 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996), pp. 298. Paperback.
with D.J. Moss, co-editor, Shadow and Substance in British Foreign Policy, 1895-1939. Essays in honour of the late Professor C.J. Lowe (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1984), pp. 280. Paperback.

Articles

Deterrence and the European Balance of Power: The Field Force and British Grand Strategy, 1934-1938, English Historical Review, 123(2008).
with Sonia Enjamio, 'Brighter Futures, Better Times: Britain, the Empire, and Anglo-American Economic Competition in Cuba, 1898-1920', Diplomacy and Statecraft, 18(2007), 663-687.
A Certain Irritation: The White House, the State Department, and the Desire for a Naval Settlement with Great Britain, 1927B1930', Diplomatic History, 31(2007), 829-63.
The Foreign Office, 1930-1939: Strategy, Permanent Interests, and National Security, Contemporary British History, 18(2004), 87-109.
Austen Chamberlain and the Continental Balance of Power: Strategy, Stability, and the League of Nations, 1924-29', Diplomacy and Statecraft, 14(2003), 207-36.
with Erik Goldstein, 'Power and Stability in British Foreign Policy, 1865-1965', Diplomacy and Statecraft, 14(2003), 1-22.
with Catherine Krull, 'The Press, Public Opinion, Arms Limitation, and Government Policy in Britain, 1932-1934: Some Preliminary Observation,' Diplomacy and Statecraft, 13(2002), 103-36.
with M.L. Roi, "Ideals and Punch-Bags: Conflicting Views of the Balance of Power and Their Influence on Interwar British Foreign Policy, Diplomacy and Statecraft, 12(2001), 47-78.
From Disarmament to Rearmament: British Civil-Military Relations and Policy-Making, 1933-1936', Defence Studies, 1(2001), 21-48.
Reckoning with the Myth of the American Expeditionary Force: The United States and the Allied War Coalition, 1917-1918', Reviews in American History, 23(1995), 284-89.
The Last Old Diplomat: Sir Robert Vansittart and the Verities of British Foreign Policy, 1903-1930', Diplomacy and Statecraft, 6(1995), 1-38.
The Politics of Naval Disarmament in Britain in the 1920s, Diplomacy and Statecraft, Vol..4, No.3(1993), 35-59.
"No Eternal Friends or Enemies": British Defence Policy and the Problem of the United States, 1919-1939', Canadian Journal of History, 28(1993), 257-93.
The Paths of Reason and Peace: Esme Howards Unpublished Manuscript on "Paderewski. Musician B Patriot B Statesman" Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, 41(1993), 81-100.
The Richness and Diversity of International History: the new "Guides to Research and Research Materials", Canadian Journal of History, 27(1992), 521-31.
From Enmity to Cooperation: the second Baldwin government and the improvement of Anglo-American relations, November 1928-June 1929', Albion, 24(1992), 64-87.
"Our Most Dangerous Enemy": Great Britain Pre-eminent in the 1930s, International History Review, 13(1991), 751-83.
Reaching for the Brass Ring: recent historiography of American foreign relations in the interwar period, Diplomatic History, 15(1991), 565-98.
Diplomatic Equipoise: The Lansdowne Foreign Office, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, and the global balance of power, Canadian Journal of History, 24(1989), 299-340.
Wealth, Power, and the New International Order: Britain and the American Challenge in the 1920s, Diplomatic History, 12(1988), 411-41.
"A dose of fascismo": Esme Howard in Spain, 1919-1924', International History Review, 9(1987), 555-85.
Belligerent Rights in 1927-1929: Foreign Policy Versus Naval Policy in the Second Baldwin Government, Historical Journal, 29(1986), 963-74.
A Sane and Sensible Diplomacy: Austen Chamberlain, Japan, and the Naval Balance of Power in the Pacific Ocean, 1924-1929', Canadian Journal of History, 21(1986), 187-213.
Austen Chamberlain's Control of British Foreign Policy, 1924-1929', International History Review, 6(1984), 570-91.
with K.E. Neilson, "The Triumph of Unarmed Forces": Sweden and the Allied Blockade of Germany, 1914-1917', Journal of Strategic Studies, 7(1984), 178-99.
A British View of American Foreign Policy: The Settlement of Blockade Claims, 1924-1927', International History Review, 3(1981), 358-84.

Articles in Reference Books

Esme William Howard, first Baron of Penrith, in C. Matthews, ed., The Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
Sir Ronald Charles Lindsay, in C. Matthews, ed., The Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

Book Chapters

‘Economic Warfare’, in Hew Strachan, ed., Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War, New Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 119-133.
‘The Democratization of Central and Eastern Europevas a British Strategic Objective, 1918–1925/Die Demokratisierung der Mittel-und Osteuropa als britischer Ideal nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg’, in H. Rumpler, and U. Harmat, eds., Die Habsburgermonarchie 1848-1918, Bd. XII: Bewältigte Vergangenheit? Die nationale und internationale Historiografie zum Untergang der Habsburgermonarchie als ideelle Grundlage für die Neuordnung Europas (Wien: Kommission für die Geschichte der Habsburgermonarchie, 2018), 331-58.
‘Economic Warfare’, in Hew Strachan, ed., Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War, New Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 119-133.
‘Strategy and Foreign Policy in Great Britain, 1930-1938: From the Pursuit of the Balance of Power to Appeasement’, in Christopher Baxter, M.L. Dockrill, and Keith Hamilton, ed., Britain in Global Politics, Volume I: From Gladstone to Churchill, 1900-1945 (London: Palgrave, 2013), 153-74.
‘The War Office and the British Army Field Force: Building for the Continental Commitment, 1933-1939’, in Harold Raugh, editor, Past Through Present: Thoughts on Military History at the Strategic, Operational, and Tactical Levels of War (Vienna: Heeresgeschichtlichen Museums, 2013), 121-36.
‘Prologue: The International Order and the New Century’, in B.J.C. McKercher, ed., The Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft (London: Routledge, 2011), ix-xxviii
Post-War Security, the League of Nations Question, and British Foreign Policy, 1917-1922, in M. apolvi, M. Stanová, and A, Rakoto, eds., Exiting War. Post-Conflict Military Operations. 6th International Conference, Military History Working Group, Bratislava, Slovakia (Bratislav, Château de Vicennes: Vojenský historický ústav, 2007), 259-68.
From Isolation to Intervention: Anglo-Canadian Defense Relations from the Canadian Perspective, 1935-1939, in R.S. Rush and W.W. Epley, eds., Multinational Operations: Alliances and International Military Cooperation. Past and Future. Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop of the Partnership for Peace's Consortium's Military History Working Group, Vienna, Austria (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2006), 85-91.
The Foreign Office, 1930-1939: Strategy, Permanent Interests, and National Security, in G. Johnson, ed., The Foreign Office and British Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century (London: Routledge, 2005), 87-109.
The Limitations of the Politician-Strategist: Winston Churchill and the German Threat, 1933-1939', in John Maurer, ed., Churchill and Strategic Dilemmas Before the World Wars. Essays in Honor of Michael I. Handel (London: Frank Cass, 2003), 88-120.
with M.A. Hennessy, Introduction, in M.A. Hennessy and B.J.C. McKercher, eds., War in the Twentieth Century. Reflections at Centurys End (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003), 1-18.
Austen Chamberlain and the Continental Balance of Power: Strategy, Stability, and the League of Nations, 1924-29', in E. Goldstein and B.J.C. McKercher, eds., Power and Stability. British Foreign Policy, 1865-1965 (London: Frank Cass, 2003), 207-36.
with Erik Goldstein, Power and Stability in British Foreign Policy, 1865-1965', in E. Goldstein and B.J.C. McKercher, eds., Power and Stability. British Foreign Policy, 1865-1965 (London: Frank Cass, 2003), 1-22.
Cold War North Atlantic Triangle: Canada, Great Britain, and the United States, 1945-1990', in A. Capet, ed., The ASpecial Relationship:. La " relation spéciale " entre le Royaume-Uni et les États-Unis (Rouen: University of Rouen Press, 2003), 137-67.
The Canadian Way of Warfare, 1939-1945', in B. Horn, ed., Forging a Nation: Perpectives on the Canadian Military Experience (St Catherines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing, 2002), 123-34.
Reaching for the Brass Ring: The Recent Historiography of Interwar American Foreign Relations, in Michael J. Hogan, ed., Paths to Power: The Historiography of American Foreign Relations to 1941 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp.176-223.
Lost Opportunities; The Diplomacy of "Isolationism" in the 1930s, in Jonathan M. Nielson, ed., Speculations on American Foreign Policy and Diplomatic History: Interests, Ideals, and Power (Westport, CT: Praeger,, 2000), 67-107
Toward the Post-War Settlement: Winston Churchill and the Second Quebec Conference, in D.L. Woolner, ed., The Second Quebec Conference Revisited; Waging War, Formulating Peace: Canada, Great Britain, and the United States, 1944-1945 (New York: St. Martin's Press and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, 1998), 17-48.
Economic Warfare, in Hew Strachan, ed., Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 119-133.
Old Diplomacy and New: The Foreign Office in the Interwar Period, in Dockrill and McKercher, Diplomacy and World Power, 79-114.
The League of Nations and the Problem of Collective Security, 1919-1936', in U.M. Rüser, ed., The League of Nations, 1920-1946. Organization and Accomplishments (Geneva: the United Nations Library/League of Nations Archives, 1996), 66-73.
with L. Aronsen, Introduction: The North Atlantic Powers in a Changing World: Anglo-American-Canadian Relations, 1903-1973', in McKercher and Aronsen, North Atlantic Powers, 3-11.
with M.L. Dockrill, Preface, in Dockrill and McKercher, Diplomacy and World Power, xiii-xix.
World Power and Isolationism: the North Atlantic Triangle and the crises of the 1930s, in McKercher and Aronsen, North Atlantic Powers, 110-46.
Churchill, the European balance of power, and the USA, in R.A.C. Parker, ed., Sir Winston Churchill. Studies in Statesmanship (London: Brasseys, 1995), 42-64.
The Politics of Naval Arms Limitation in Britain in the 1920s, in Erik Goldstein and John Maurer, eds., The Washington Conference, 1921-22. Naval Rivalry, East Asian Stability and the Road to Pearl Harbor (London: Frank Cass, 1994), 35-59.
"Shield of Memory": the memoirs of the British Foreign-Policy-Making Elite, 1919-1939', in G.W. Egerton, ed., Political Memoir: Essays on the Politics of Memory (London: Frank Cass, 1994), 188-206.
with A.H. Ion, Introduction: Military Heretics, in McKercher and Ion, Military Heretics, 1-10.
Of Horns and Teeth: the Preparatory Commission and the World Disarmament Conference, 1926-1934', in McKercher, Arms Limitation and Disarmament, 173-201.
Introduction: Arms Limitation, Disarmament, and restraints on war, 1899-39', in McKercher, Arms Limitation and Disarmament, vii-xvi.
"A greater and higher ideal": Esme Howard, Imperial unity, and Canadian autonomy in foreign policy, 1924-1930', in Michael Graham Fry, editor, Power, Personalities, and Policies. Essays Honouring D. Cameron Watt (London: Frank Cass, 1992), 107-43.
with E.J. Errington, Introduction: The Vietnam War as History, in Errington and McKercher, The Vietnam War as History, pp.xi-xiv.
"The deep and latent distrust": the British Official Mind and the United States, 1919-1929', in McKercher, Anglo-American Relations in the 1920s, pp. 208-37.
Between Two Giants: Canada, the Coolidge Naval Conference, and Anglo-American Relations in 1927', in McKercher, Anglo-American Relations in the 1920s, pp. 81-124.
Introduction: The Struggle for Supremacy in Anglo-American Relations in the 1920s, in McKercher, Anglo-American Relations in the 1920s, pp. 1-16.
Afterword: Foreign Policy and Military Planning -- The Cold War and National Defence, 1945-1960', in R.G. Haycock and K.E. Neilson, eds., The Cold War and National Defence (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990), pp.185-93.
The British Diplomatic Service in the United States and the Chamberlain Foreign Office's Perception of Domestic America: images, reality, and diplomacy, in McKercher and Moss, Shadow and Substance in British Foreign Policy, pp. 221-47.
with D.J. Moss, Introduction, Shadow and Substance in British Foreign Policy, pp. 1-18.

Language selection

Search and menus

Search

Search form

B.J.C. McKercher

College Address

University Degrees

Research Interests

Courses Taught

Publications

Monographs

In Preparation

Edited Works

Paperback and Paperback Editions

Articles

Articles in Reference Books

Book Chapters

Recent Papers