Military history is a vast international field touching upon all aspects of society, yet guides to the immense literature it contains, essential for anyone writing in the field, have largely been conspicuous by their absence. Over fifteen years ago an international start was made by Robin Higham with Official Histories (1970), which for the first time enabled even official historians to check what other offices had produced. That work established a pattern of historical essays, some by the original authors, followed by a checklist of the works published. While this was in process, A Guide to the Sources of British Military History (1971) was commenced along slightly different lines. In this each author was asked to provide a bibliographic essay over a segment of the military, naval or air history of one country, with a numbered alphabetical list by authors of those cited following. A further feature of each chapter was a short concluding section suggesting what research remained to be undertaken as well as what could profitably be reviewed. So successful was this volume, published simultaneously in the United States and in Britain, that not only did it become a standard library reference work, but also the editor was asked to undertake a similar compilation for U.S. military history. This latter guide was completed in 1975 on a more far-seeing scheme in which quinquennial supplements were planned to keep the work up to date (the first of these was issued in 1981). It was on the basis of these three successful volumes that the editors were approached by Garland in May 1978 to undertake the present series.

By that time both editors were involved in the United States and in the International Commissions for Military History, Dr. Higham being on the Editorial Advisory Board and Dr. Kipp on the Bibliographical Committee. They agreed with Garland that they would undertake to produce an international series of some thirty-odd volumes to provide scholars access to the vast collections in all the countries of the world other than the United States and the United Kingdom. Those authors whose native language was not English should also produce a volume in their own tongue so that scholars of at least two major languages concerned with the military history of that country should benefit. No limits were set on length, though as with the two previous Guides it was not expected that these works would be either totally comprehensive or exhaustive, if for no other than the two very good reasons that in most cases there is a lot of repetitive material and that inevitably bibliographies are dated from the moment their sections are completed.

The very existence of the International Commission on Military History and the vigorous programs of the various national commissions that compose it confirm the vitality of the field of military history. Both editors believe that this bibliographic series can render a valuable service by facilitating the study of military history across national lines and in a comparative context. It is hoped that each volume will make explicit the general and particular historiographic approaches associated with an individual nation's military institutions. In such a manner researchers will be able to consult a single volume that will outline the historiographic developments for a particular nation's military experience or, in the case of major powers, of that of one of its principal armed services. Such a guide it is hoped will serve as a compass for further research, both enumerating what has been done and suggesting what still needs to be done.

Essentially the authors have been asked to provide readable essays that will guide the readers through the labyrinth of the most important sources as though walking through a library and archives, mentioning authors and titles, but leaving the details to be acquired by taking the works from the shelves, in this case the numbered lists at the back of each chapter. Both authors and Editors would be happy to have comments and suggestions from readers and users.

Robin Higham
Jacob Kipp
Department of History
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506, USA