Brendan Simms

Brendan Peter Simms is an Irish historian and Professor of the History of International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. Simms studied at Trinity College Dublin, where he was elected a scholar in history in 1986, before completing his doctoral dissertation, Anglo-Prussian relations, 1804-1806: The Napoleonic Threat, at Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Tim Blanning in 1993. A Fellow of Peterhouse, he lectures and leads seminars on international history since 1945.

Simms's research focuses on the history of European foreign policy. He has written a variety of books and articles on this subject, including Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia (2001) and Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714-1783 (2007). His overarching book, Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present, was favorably reviewed by The Telegraph and the New Statesman.

His latest book is Britain’s Europe: A Thousand Years of Conflict and Cooperation (2016).

In addition to his academic work, he also serves as the president of The Henry Jackson Society, which advocates the view that supporting and promoting liberal democracy and liberal interventionism should be an integral part of Western foreign policy.

He is President of the Project for Democratic Union, a Munich-based student-organised think tank.