hosted by Professor Michael Leigh


Sir Lawrence Freedman is Professor Emeritus of War Studies, King's College London. He was Professor of War Studies from 1982 to 2014 and Vice-Principal from 2003 to 2013.

Freedman was educated at Whitley Bay Grammar School and the Universities of Manchester, York and Oxford. Before joining King's College he held research appointments at Nuffield College Oxford, the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1995 and awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1996, he was appointed Official Historian of the Falklands Campaign in 1997. In 2003 he was awarded the KCMG (Knight Commander of St Michael and St George). In June 2009 he was appointed to serve as a member of the official inquiry into Britain and the 2003 Iraq War.

Freedman has written on international history, strategic theory and nuclear weapons issues, as well as commenting on current security issues.

Among his recent books are Strategy: A History (2013), the Future of War: A History (2017), Ukraine and the Art of Strategy (2019) and, with Jeff Michaels, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (4th ed, 2019). He is currently working on a book regarding the politics of command.