Dr Alan James
Reader in International History
Research interests
- Conflict
- History
- Security
Biography
Dr Alan James is an historian of early modern warfare and naval power, especially with respect to pre-Revolutionary France. His research interests are in the changing strategic context of the early modern period and the origins of modern warfare, states, and empires.
Dr James is a trustee of the ‘British Commission for Maritime History’ and an active member of the ‘Society for Nautical Research’, and the ‘Société Française d’Histoire Maritime’, and he is a former fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study in Paris. He organises and convenes the 'King’s Maritime History Seminar' in the Department of War Studies on behalf of the BCMH and the Corbett Seapower Centre and the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War at King's.
Research Interests
- Early modern naval warfare
- Imperialism
- Confessional conflict and state-building
- Pre-revolutionary France
Teaching
Dr James teaches across a range of historical periods and subjects and is particularly interested in supervising PhD research on any aspect of the following:
- Western imperialism from the fifteenth century onward
- Naval warfare
- The relation between military change and early state formation.
- Pre-Revolutionary France, specifically the political, social, and military history of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.
- Early modern maritime empires
- Early modern warfare
PhD Supervision
Dr James is eager to supervise PhD work on any aspect of the following:
- Western imperialism from the fifteenth century onward; the theory or the practice
- Naval warfare
- The relation between military change and early state formation.
- Pre-Revolutionary France, specifically the political, social, and military history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
- Early modern maritime empires
- Early modern warfare
Publications
Books
- Irene Polinskaya, Alan James, and Ioannis Papadogiannakis, eds, Religion and War: from Antiquity to Early Modernity (Bloomsbury, 2023)
- J D Davies, Alan James and Gijs Rommelse, eds, Ideologies of Western Naval Power, c.1500-1815 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2020), pp.vii+337. ISBN: 978-0-367-32128-4
- Alan James, Carlos Alfaro Zaforteza, and Malcolm Murfett, European Navies and the Conduct of War (Abingdon: Routledge, 2019), pp.ix+302. ISBN: 978-0-415-67891-9
- Alan James, The Origins of French Absolutism, 1598-1661 (Pearson: Harlow, 2006), pp.xvi+139. ISBN: 978-0-582-36900-9. Seminar Studies in History Series.
- Alan James, Navy and Government in Early Modern France, 1572-1661 (Boydell Press: Woodbridge, 2004), pp.ix +198. ISBN: 0-86193-270-6
Book chapters
- ‘Commanding the World Itself: Sir Walter Ralegh, La Popelinière, and the Huguenot Influence on Early English Sea Power’, in Richard Blakemore and James Davey, eds, The Maritime World of Early Modern Britain (University of Amsterdam Press, 2020).
- ‘French Sea Power in the Utrecht Era: “Balance of Power” and the Strategic Context of Louis XIV’s Navy’, in Paul Kennedy and Evan Wilson, eds, Navies in Multi-Polar Worlds: from the Age of Sail to the Present (Naval Institute Press, 2020).
- ‘La Bataille du Cap Béveziers, 1690: une glorieuse victoire pour le roi stratège’, pp. 205-218, in La Bataille. Du fait d’armes au combat idéologique (XIe – XIXe siècles), Ariane Boltanski, Yann Lagadec, Franck Mercier, eds (Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2015).
- ‘Rethinking the Peace of Westphalia: Towards a Theory of Early Modern Warfare’, pp. 107-126, in Jonathan Davies, ed, Aspects of Violence in Renaissance Europe (Ashgate, 2013).
Research articles
- ‘French Sea Power in the Utrecht Era: “Balance of Power” and the Strategic Context of Louis XIV’s Navy’, in Paul Kennedy and Evan Wilson, eds, Navies in Multipolar Worlds: from the Age of Sail to the Present (Routledge, 2021). ISBN 9780367427221
- ‘Une époque sans amiral: les grands-maîtres de la navigation, 1626-1669’, Revue d’histoire maritime vol. 19 (Presses universitaires de la Sorbonne, 2014), pp. 109-118.
- ‘A French Armada? The Azores Expeditions, 1580-83’, The Historical Journal 55, 1 (2012), pp. 1-20.
- ‘Les arsenaux de marine en France avant Colbert’, Dix-Septième Siècle 253, 4 (2011), pp. 658-671.
- ‘Raising the Profile of Naval History: An International Perspective on Early Modern Navies’, The Mariner’s Mirror 97,1 (Feb. 2011), pp. 193-206.
For a list of Dr Alan James' publications please see here.
Research
Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War
The centre promotes the scholarly history of war in all it's dimensions, trains research students and hosts research projects and conferences
Corbett Seapower Centre
The Corbett Centre develops and promotes the understanding and analysis of maritime policy and strategy
News
Security Studies hosts international conference on maritime strategist Sir Julian Corbett
The Corbett 100 Conference explored the life and times of the important historian and strategist
Events
Shipping on the Road to Net Zero: Lessons from Maritime History
The presentation emphasises five lessons from maritime history that are particularly relevant to reach net-zero.
Prize Money in Nelson’s Navy
How did an ‘ancient custom’ seemingly rooted in ‘plunder and pillage’ evolve to meet the needs of Nelson’s navy and of the nation in an era of total war, and...
The Naval War in the Baltic, 1914-1915
The lessons that emerge from the way in which a weaker fleet was able to overcome a larger one retain their relevance for naval warfare today.
More than Venice's Successor: Rethinking the Austrian Navy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
This paper argues that such a view captures only the transfer of ships, ports, and personnel.
The Improbable Austro-Japanese War
The paper will look at how Japan became active in two maritime theatres in World War One.
The war business: British shipping and the First World War
This paper develops an alternative account of the wartime relationship between ships, shipowners, and the state – and thus of Britain at war.
Please note: this event has passed.
A ‘proper object’ of charity?: British naval widows’ petitions, deservingness, and survival strategies, 1819-1847
This paper explores naval widows’ pension petitions to the British Admiralty in the nineteenth century.
Please note: this event has passed.
Before the Asiento: the English Atlantic slave trade from its origins through to 1713
This talk will explore the roots of the English trade: the earliest faltering efforts and false starts, the challenges, difficulties and legal background, and...
Please note: this event has passed.
The Prince Royal of Denmark's Yacht (1785): Maritime History Mysteries and an Art History Rediscovery
In this presentation, a captured American colonial privateer will be examined as the probable design origin of the royal yacht, and the rediscovery of a 1786...
Please note: this event has passed.
Maritime Security: A Global Challenge that Should Not be Ducked
This seminar will not stray into the naval geostrategic domain which often dominates the news items when it comes to problems like the South China Sea and the...
Please note: this event has passed.
Research
Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War
The centre promotes the scholarly history of war in all it's dimensions, trains research students and hosts research projects and conferences
Corbett Seapower Centre
The Corbett Centre develops and promotes the understanding and analysis of maritime policy and strategy
News
Security Studies hosts international conference on maritime strategist Sir Julian Corbett
The Corbett 100 Conference explored the life and times of the important historian and strategist
Events
Shipping on the Road to Net Zero: Lessons from Maritime History
The presentation emphasises five lessons from maritime history that are particularly relevant to reach net-zero.
Prize Money in Nelson’s Navy
How did an ‘ancient custom’ seemingly rooted in ‘plunder and pillage’ evolve to meet the needs of Nelson’s navy and of the nation in an era of total war, and...
The Naval War in the Baltic, 1914-1915
The lessons that emerge from the way in which a weaker fleet was able to overcome a larger one retain their relevance for naval warfare today.
More than Venice's Successor: Rethinking the Austrian Navy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
This paper argues that such a view captures only the transfer of ships, ports, and personnel.
The Improbable Austro-Japanese War
The paper will look at how Japan became active in two maritime theatres in World War One.
The war business: British shipping and the First World War
This paper develops an alternative account of the wartime relationship between ships, shipowners, and the state – and thus of Britain at war.
Please note: this event has passed.
A ‘proper object’ of charity?: British naval widows’ petitions, deservingness, and survival strategies, 1819-1847
This paper explores naval widows’ pension petitions to the British Admiralty in the nineteenth century.
Please note: this event has passed.
Before the Asiento: the English Atlantic slave trade from its origins through to 1713
This talk will explore the roots of the English trade: the earliest faltering efforts and false starts, the challenges, difficulties and legal background, and...
Please note: this event has passed.
The Prince Royal of Denmark's Yacht (1785): Maritime History Mysteries and an Art History Rediscovery
In this presentation, a captured American colonial privateer will be examined as the probable design origin of the royal yacht, and the rediscovery of a 1786...
Please note: this event has passed.
Maritime Security: A Global Challenge that Should Not be Ducked
This seminar will not stray into the naval geostrategic domain which often dominates the news items when it comes to problems like the South China Sea and the...
Please note: this event has passed.