Descriptive and Applied Military History – debating the utility of military history in Danish officer education

Abstract

In the 1970s Danish debates on military history revealed a bifurcated understanding of military history between descriptive and applied military history. Descriptive military history was the study of military history done by academic historians, and applied military history was done by and taught to officers. The divide between descriptive and applied was rooted in the professionalization of history and officer education; it was constructed in order to accommodate the criticism that military history used in officer education did not live up to academic standards. By taking the Danish debates in the 1970s as a point of departure, this article introduces some fundamental challenges regard- ing the use of military history in officer education. Inspired by the German historian Reinhart Koselleck, the article argues that developments within academic history since the 1970s might have alleviated the conflict between academic military history and the military history used in officer education. Certainly, these new developments have opened up new approaches to military history.