Brian Farrell

I have been teaching military history, European history, and the history of empires and imperialism here at NUS since 1993. During that time I have published extensively in my main area of research interest, the military history of the British Empire. That interest has led me to a broader engagement with the study of imperialism and its influence on Asian and global history, as well as with wider problems of military history in Asia in the 20th century. I have pursued questions in these areas in libraries, archives, research institutes, and especially in the field, in Canada, the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan. My wider responsibilities include acting as Principal Investigator on the major research project Empire in Asia: A New Global History, and serving as Asia-Pacific Regional Coordinator for the Society for Military History, the largest such professional organization in the world.

TEACHING AREAS:
  • Modern Military History
  • History of Modern Imperialism and Empires, especially British
CURRENT RESEARCH:

I am working on a history of Far East Command from 1962 through 1971. I am also working on imperial defence and the Jellicoe Tour of 1919.

PUBLICATIONS:
  • The Basis and Making of British Grand Strategy 1940-1943: Was There a Plan?
  • Between Two Oceans: A Military History of Singapore From First Settlement to Final British Withdrawal (co-authored)
  • Sixty Years On: The Fall of Singapore Revisited (co-edited)
  • Leadership and Responsibility in the Second World War (edited)
  • The Defence and Fall of Singapore 1940-1942