Dr Adam Storring

Adam Storring’s research unites cultural and intellectual history with the history of military operations, taking the example of King Frederick II of Prussia (reigned 1740 – 1786).

Dr Storring’s doctoral dissertation, supervised by Professor Sir Christopher Clark at the University of Cambridge, was awarded the André Corvisier Prize 2019 for the best dissertation on military history defended at any university anywhere in the world. Between 2019 and 2021 he was Early Career Fellow at the Lichtenberg-Kolleg, University of Göttingen. His MPhil and doctorate were funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. He has also held fellowships from the Bühler-Bolstorff Foundation Berlin, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Leibniz Institute for European History, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation.

Dr Storring is a member of the Bibliographical Committee of the International Commission of Military History, responsible for book reviews for the International Journal of Military History and Historiography. He served from 2014 to 2019 on the Council of the Society for Army Historical Research.

Dr Storring has been a peer reviewer for the Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, War in History, War on the Rocks and the National Science Centre, Poland.

Before starting his PhD, Dr Storring worked in the British Civil Service and for a leprosy charity in India.

Qualifications:

BA History, St. John’s College, Cambridge, 2001

MPhil Historical Studies, St. John’s College, Cambridge, 2007

PhD History St. John’s College, Cambridge, 2018

Research interests

• History of the Long 18^th Century
• History of War and International Relations
• French and German History
• Russia in the Seven Years War
• Gender History
• History of Science
• History of Knowledge
• History of Time
• Classical Reception and History of Classical Scholarship

Examining not so much King Frederick II’s military actions or his military writings but rather the intellectual influences inspiring his military thinking, Dr Storring’s research fundamentally re-evaluates the much-studied Prussian king. Whereas Frederick has been depicted as a classic example of ‘German militarism’, Dr Storring’s research shows that his military ideas were primarily French, reflecting the towering influence of King Louis XIV of France (reigned 1643-1715).

Examining military history from the perspective of the history of science, Dr Storring’s research stresses the subjective nature of eighteenth-century military thought, challenging long-held claims that it sought to reduce warfare to mathematical calculation.

Dr Storring also examines how military ideas are created, showing that Prussian strategy and tactics during Frederick’s campaigns were produced collectively by several individuals within the Prussian military hierarchy.

Dr Storring’s research also considers understandings of temporality during the long eighteenth century, and particularly the reception of the classical past.

Dr Storring has made a particular study of Russia’s intervention in the Seven Years War (1756-63), and especially its campaign against Prussia in 1758.

Publications

• 'The Third Silesian War’, in Trevor Burnard, Emma Hart and Marie Houllemare (eds.), Oxford Handbook of the Seven Years War (Oxford University Press) (Contract Signed)
• ‘The Opportunistic Great Power: Hohenzollern Strategy under Frederick II, 1740-86’, in Isabelle Duyvesteyn and Beatrice Heuser (eds.), The Cambridge History of Strategy (Cambridge University Press) (Forthcoming, 2024)
• ‘“Our Age”: Frederick the Great, Classical Warfare, and the Uses and Abuses of Military History', International Journal of Military History and Historiography 42 (2022), pp. 323–355 (https://doi.org/10.1163/24683302-bja10023)
• ‘Subjective Practices of War: The Prussian Army and the Zorndorf Campaign, 1758’, History of Science 60 (2022), pp. 458 - 480 (https://doi.org/10.1177/0073275320958950)
• ‘Pastor Täge’s Account of the Siege of Cüstrin and the Battle of Zorndorf, 1758’, in Alexander S. Burns (ed.), The Changing Face of Old Regime Warfare: Essays in Honour of Christopher Duffy (Warwick, 2022), pp. 203-27
• ‘‘The Age of Louis XIV’: Frederick the Great and French Ways of War’, German History 38 (2020), pp. 24-46 (https://doi.org/10.1093/gerhis/ghz069)

Teaching

BA courses:

• 4SSW1005 History of Modern War
• 4SSW1007 History of the International System
• 5SSW2064 The Long View: Understanding International Relations Through History