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Jonathan Boff

@jfb1066.bsky.social
2.8K followers 295 following 4.8K posts

Military Historian. Author, ‘The Age of Mammon and Mars: Money and War in the Twentieth Century’ (OUP, March 2027). Economic Statecraft; Strategy; Money. Author of 2 award-winning books on the First World War. Professor at University of Birmingham.

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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 21h
Including also my review of ‘Napoleon and his Marshals’ by Andrew Roberts
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Alan Allport @alanallport.bsky.social · 22h
“For twenty years, these men marched and fought, plundered and shagged their way across Europe.” The ever droll @jfb1066.bsky.social on Andrew Roberts on Napoleon’s marshals in October’s Literary Review.
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Richard Dunley @redunley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
My new book now has a cover - and I love it!
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Great piece. Has me fundamentally rethinking the value of all those ‘we need to have a conversation about defence to make people realise the risks and costs’ conversations
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
‘We want you to give us $1 trn to make something that could kill us all’ is one of the silliest pitches ever. Best case: frame it as ‘someone is going to make this stuff and you want it to be us not the other guys’. Then it goes from investment pitch to blackmail. Either way: shut them down
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I would say ‘fly-tipping’ but they can’t have been because in that case the police could not have caught them
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Me to IT: ‘I can’t turn my PC on.’ IT: ‘please give us the computer’s ID number. You can find it by clicking on ‘About this PC’ in the Start menu.’ Some days, you’re the lamppost. Today is one of those days
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Origins of the First World War lecture to 2nd year undergrads today. Every year I wonder if my joke about the heir to the Habsburg throne and a Glasgow rock band will meet mass incomprehension from students who were not born when ‘Take me Out’ was released. So far, so good, but: is this the year?
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Don’t Start Wars You Can’t Win
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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The Bournville Lantern Lectures - Disrupted. Immersive history coming to south Birmingham. Saturday 17 October. sellymanormuseum.org.uk/events/2026-...
sellymanormuseum.org.uk
Bournville Lantern Lectures... Disrupted!
An immersive, family friendly production of an original Bournville Lecture, brought to life by The Rep.
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I’m delighted - but rather embarrassed - to hear that this is Sold Out. If you are trying to get tickets but can’t, please let me know: we may explore moving to a larger venue. If you have been kind enough to buy a ticket already: thank you. I look forward to seeing you.
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Saw the headline about Trump and Xi going to the National Archives and briefly imagined them sittting with their knees around their ears on the bus down Fentanyl Avenue out to College Park
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Vanda Wilcox @vandawilcox.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
please share with anyone who might be interested!
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First World War Studies @fwwsjournal.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
We are now recruiting two Book Review Editors! Together they will oversee the publication of circa 90 reviews each year, covering multiple languages, to ensure that First World War Studies keeps its readers up to date on all the important international scholarship
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Every minute spent arguing about where exactly the boundaries of concepts like Britishness and Englishness is time not spent defending the principle that everyone should feel free to define their own identity as they choose - no-one else - and so doing the haters’ work for them
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
In Space Command, nobody can hear you scream
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Long and frustrating day trying to get AI to summarise some of the hundreds of photos of archival documents I have. Tried a few different models but tbh none of them are where I need them to be yet. I’ll be interested to see if our Research Data Support Team have good ideas.
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Getting officers to think tactically is easy. Platoon or company command is their mother’s milk comfort zone, what they were trained for, where the problems are, if not easy, at least straightforward. The real challenge is to help leaders think strategically. That’s the hard part
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I should say thank you to Earl Spencer. He is one of the reasons I decided to become a military historian. I read his book on the battle of Blenheim and thought ‘even I could do better than that.’
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Rebecca Wynter @rebeccawynter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
These plans impact everyone, not only Dutch folks. #Skystorians, spare a minute, take a read and sign if you might ever use the Dutch National Archives.
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
My (+ve) review of @mark4harrison.bsky.social latest co-edited book ‘Economic Warfare and Sanctions since 1688’ is here. Free eprints: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/JZV4S...
tandfonline.com
Economic warfare and sanctions since 1688
Published in Journal of Strategic Studies (Ahead of Print, 2026)
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Never hiring a car from Hertz again. RIP-off merchants
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Two hours spent doing self-checkout at the supermarket*. An experienced cashier could have knocked it off in ten minutes. *I wasn’t at the supermarket and I don’t mean cashier. #productivitygains #butwhoseproductivity
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Imagine you were worried about stress in your workforce. Might you: a) try to improve working conditions? b) open cut-price yoga classes and hang wind chimes around campus? OR c) introduce _mandatory_ stress management training online? Yes, you guessed it….😂
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Lunchtime air show over Boff Towers
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
With thudding predictability, HR are chasing me for the yearly review paperwork from last year for a colleague who left in April.
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Voice notes on WhatsApp are the spawn of Satan
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Hear hear
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Millennium Bug? Anyone?
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Irish chums: im looking forward to speaking to the Centre for War Studies at UCD on 24 September. Do come along www.ucd.ie/warstudies/s...
ucd.ie
Our Next Seminar - UCD Centre for War Studies
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I have the great honour of delivering this. Please do come. www.bcmh.org.uk/richard-holm...
bcmh.org.uk
Richard Holmes Lecture 2026 | British Commission for Military History
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Excellent article mickryan.substack.com/p/ukraine-bu...
mickryan.substack.com
Ukraine Builds New Forms of Offensive Manoeuvre
What Ukraine’s recent counteroffensives in the south and east tell us about the status of the war on the ground, and what they might mean for the trajectory of the conflict in 2026 and 2027.
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Sanity amongst the hype
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Almost always over 80%, and mostly over 90%, of students declare themselves ‘satisfied with teaching’ year in, year out, in the NSS. So why do politicians and the media keep criticising universities? If it ain’t broke…. Name me another industry with consistently 90+% consumer satisfaction…
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Yeah. No thanks www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-...
bbc.co.uk
Six Nations: World Rugby offers to help switch fixture to USA
World Rugby would help any nation which wants to switch a Six Nations match to the United States as it continues its drive to spread the game stateside.
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Has there ever been a less useful industry body than Universities UK?
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I have spent over 20 years avoiding Deleuze and Guattari - and intend to carry on doing so - but now find myself wondering whether I need to read De Landa. Any views?
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
If you are going to try and scam me, at least put some effort into it. Don’t just send me a recorded message offering a part-time job opportunity and asking me to add you on WhatsApp. That is just lazy as well as stupid
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
An unnecessarily complex solution to a non-problem.
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
King Henry VIII’s wine cellar from the old Whitehall Palace, now underneath the Ministry of Defence
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International Society for First World War Studies @fwwsoc.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New bibliography entry: The Age of Mammon and Mars: Money and War in the 20th Century ift.tt/pgXKlDO #FWWstudies
ift.tt
Zotero | Your personal research assistant
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Reviewing the copy-edits for my new book (out in March 2027) global.oup.com/academic/pro...
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
3 months of complaining about the heat and wishing for water for the garden. It started raining at 0500. By lunchtime, we will be fed up with ‘all this rain’ ☔️
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Re-upping for my American friends
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
global.oup.com
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Exciting news. Out March 2027 global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Which is the greater danger to our Democracy; Reform with Farage? Or without
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I want to read this book on the Japanese army by Michelin but I worry it might be tyring lnkd.in/p/eifUvfux
lnkd.in
Acheté à l'instant. A voir ce que ça vaut à la lecture, mais cela semble très prometteur. Une armée qui mérite très clairement d'être étudiée plus avant : ses victoires de 1895, de 1904-1905,...
Acheté à l'instant. A voir ce que ça vaut à la lecture, mais cela semble très prometteur. Une armée qui mérite très clairement d'être étudiée plus avant : ses victoires de 1895, de 1904-1905, ses suc...
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