Professor Chris Bellamy

Professor Chris Bellamy began adult life as a professional soldier and read Modern History at Oxford under Army sponsorship. After completing an MA with Distinction in War Studies at King’s College, London, he spent nine years as a civil servant for the MoD, including three postings with the Royal Navy. During this time he completed a part-time degree in Russian at the Polytechnic of Central London, now the University of Westminster. After completing his PhD at Edinburgh under John Erickson, he joined the Independent newspaper in 1990 as Defence Correspondent and reported from the 1991 Gulf War, Bosnia from 1992–96 and Chechnya in 1995. He was shortlisted for Foreign Reporter of the Year in 1996 for reporting from Chechnya. In 1997 he joined Cranfield University at the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, as a Reader and was promoted to a chair and Director of the Security Studies Institute in 2000. In 2008 he won the RUSI Westminster Medal for Military Literature for Absolute War. He became Director of GMI in September 2010.

Research/scholarly interests

• Currently writing a book on maritime piracy – then and now
• Peace support operations
• All aspects of maritime security, energy and environmental security.

Selected publications

Bellamy, C.D. (2011) The Gurkhas: Special Force. London: John Murray.

Bellamy, C.D. (2007) Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. London: Pan Macmillan, New York: Knopf, London: Pan Military Classics, 2009, Turin: Einaudi, 2010. Also being translated into Spanish, Polish, Czech and Estonian.

Bellamy, C.D. (assoc. ed.) (2001) The Oxford Companion to Military History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bellamy, C.D. (1998) Spiral Through Time: Beyond Conflict Intensity. London:HMSO.

Bellamy, C.D. (1996) Knights in White Armour: the New Art of War and Peace. London: Hutchinson, London: Pimlico, 1997.

Bellamy, C.D. (1993) Expert Witness: a Defence Correspondent’s Gulf War. London: Brassey’s.

Bellamy, C.D. (1990) The Evolution of Modern Land Warfare: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.

Bellamy, C.D. (1987) Red God of War: Soviet Artillery and Rocket Forces. Oxford: Brassey’s.

Bellamy, C.D. (1986) The Future of Land Warfare. New York: Croom Helm, Beckenham and St Martin’s Press.