WW1 book ‘Ring of Steel’ wins major military history prize

Dr Alexander Watson from Goldsmiths, University of London has been awarded the $50,000 (£33,500) Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History for his book Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I

The Prize is awarded annually in recognition of the best book in the field of military history published in English during the previous calendar year.

The winning book was announced on Monday 23 March at a ceremony at the New-York Historical Society.

'An inestimable service' 

Published in the UK by Allen Lane in August 2014 and in the US by Basic Books in October 2014, Ring of Steel is a compelling history of the Great War, as seen from the perspectives of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Described by The Telegraph as “an inestimable service” to our understanding of the period, Ring of Steel was also named The Sunday Times History Book of the Year for 2014.

It won the US Society for Military History’s Distinguished Book Award for 2015, and has been shortlisted for the British Army Military Book of the Year.

Dr Alexander Watson said: “I am extremely happy and utterly thrilled to win the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History. To have my work recognised by such an eminent panel of judges and awarded such a prestigious prize is an immense honour.  I am very grateful.”

From almost 100 submissions, it was chosen by a panel of judges from both military and academia; including Charles F. Brower IV, Brigadier General and Professor of Military History, author Flora Fraser and Ralph Peters, Lieutenant Colonel, author and Fox News Strategic Analyst.

British historian Dr Andrew Roberts, chairman of the judging committee, said: "This extraordinary book analyses the First World War from the perspective of the Central Powers, something that is rarely, if ever, done.

"In his excavation of 20 archives in five countries, Alexander Watson forces us to re-examine the whole war from a startling angle."

The prize is funded by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and author Lewis E. Lehrman, co-founder of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Dr Alexander Watson is Lecturer in History in the Department of History at Goldsmiths. He received his BA (Hons) in Modern History from the University of Oxford in 2000 and completed a DPhil in History at Oxford in 2005. He joined Goldsmiths in 2013 after holding posts at the University of Cambridge and the University of Warsaw, Poland.