Early Life
Howard born on 29 November 1922 in the village of Ashmore, near Salisbury. He was the youngest son of Geoffrey Howard and Edith (née Edinger). He was educated at Wellington College and Christ Church, University of Oxford (with service in World War II in between). He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1946, which was later promoted to Master of Arts (MA) in 1948.
He was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards on 4 December 1942 as a second lieutenant. He was given the service number 253901. He fought in the Italian Campaign of World War II. On 27 January 1944, he was awarded the Military Cross (MC) "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Italy".
After Oxford, Howard began his teaching career at King's College London, where he created the department of war studies. From his position at King's he was one of the Britons most influential in developing strategic studies as a discipline that brought together government, military, and academia to think about defence and national security more broadly and deeply than had been done before. He was one of the founders of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. From his family, education, and service in the Guards he had extensive connections at the higher levels of British society, and he worked them astutely to further his intellectual goals. He had close connections in the Labour Party but was also consulted as an advisor by Margaret Thatcher.
Read more about this topic: Michael Howard (historian)
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