# John Keegan, 1934-2012, R.I.P.



## The Bread Guy (3 Aug 2012)

> Sir John Keegan, who has died aged 78, achieved an international reputation as a military historian, then discovered a talent for writing rapid analyses of international crises as the defence editor of The Daily Telegraph.
> 
> He had been on the teaching staff of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, for 25 years in 1986 when Max Hastings announced his recruitment to the paper the day he took over the editor’s chair. Keegan proved an unrivalled asset as the Soviet empire crumbled and collapsed, the government demanded a “peace dividend” in the form of cutbacks to the Armed Forces and a series of military actions flared up in the Middle East and the Balkans.
> 
> ...


_The Telegraph_, 2 Aug 12



> John Keegan, an Englishman widely considered to be the pre-eminent military historian of his era and the author of more than 20 books, including the masterwork “The Face of Battle,” died Thursday at his home in Kilmington, England. He was 78.
> 
> His death was announced in The Telegraph, where he had served as the military affairs editor. No cause of death was given, though Con Coughlin, the paper’s executive foreign editor, said in an e-mail that Mr. Keegan had died after a long illness.
> 
> ...


_New York Times_, 2 Aug 12


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## Rifleman62 (3 Aug 2012)

Currently reading "The Face of Battle" for the umpteenth time prior to reading Cornwell's  Azincourt.

Sir John will be missed.


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## exspy (3 Aug 2012)

I've really enjoyed his work.  A great writer with a unique insight on the subject of war.

*Sir John Keegan*


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## cupper (3 Aug 2012)




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## Edward Campbell (4 Aug 2012)

A sad loss to the history community. he was an insightful and original thinker, especially regarding the very nature and causes of war which he saw as more cultural than either biological or economic. 

RIP, Sir John.


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## Ignatius J. Reilly (4 Aug 2012)

While I have many reservations about some of his writing, he surely enabled much of modern military history, bringing such to a wider audience.
May his memory and his works live on.


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## daftandbarmy (4 Aug 2012)

I heard him lecture at Sandhurst. A first class academic with an even better ability to communicate his findings to an audience, especially when they were completely contradictory to that audiences' prevalent belief systems.

The world is a smaller place.


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