Staff profile

Matthew Johnson works primarily on modern British political history. He is interested in the impact of war on politics and society, and in militarism as a political and ideological phenomenon in Britain during the twentieth century. Recent published work has explored problems in civil-military relations, the politics of national defence, and the relationship between militarism and left-wing politics.

Matthew's current research project, funded in its early stages by an AHRC Research Fellowship and a Research Grant from the British Academy, challenges traditional assumptions about the ‘civilian’ nature of modern British political culture through a study of military involvement in parliamentary and popular politics during the twentieth century. This project focuses in particular on the activities of ex-servicemen as MPs and parliamentary candidates, and on the ways in which the experience of war influenced debates about citizenship, political representation, and parliamentary authority in modern Britain.

• Britain and Continental Europe
• Gender and Sexuality
• Modern
• Political Cultures

• Ex-servicemen, the legacy of militarization, and Liberal politics in Britain after the Great War

• 2017: Excellence in Learning and Teaching Award:

Authored book

• Johnson, Matthew (2013). Militarism and the British Left, 1902-1914. Palgrave Macmillan.

Chapter in book

• Johnson, Matthew (2020). ‘A Fighting Man to Fight for You’ The Armed Forces, Ex-Servicemen, and British Electoral Politics in the Aftermath of Two World Wars. In Electoral Pledges in Britain since 1918: The Politics of Promises. Thackeray, David & Toye, Richard Palgrave Macmillan. 71-93.
• Johnson, M (2019). Civilian and Military Power (Great Britain and Ireland). In 1914-1918-online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Daniel, U, Gatrell, P, Janz, O, Jones, H, Keene, J, Kramer, A & Nasson, B Freie Universität Berlin.
• Johnson, M. (2017). Peace and Retrenchment? The Edwardian Liberal Party, the Limits of Pacifism, and the Politics of National Defence. In Bid for World Power?: New Research on the Outbreak of the First World War. Gestrich, A. & Pogge von Strandmann, H. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 201-220.
• Johnson, M. (2014). Militarism in Britain? The Boy Scouts and the War Office before the First World War. In Books for Boys. Literacy, Nation and the First World War. James, Simon J. Institute of Advanced Study.
• Johnson, M (2014). Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Great Britain and Ireland). In 1914-1918-online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Daniel, U, Gatrell, P, Janz, O, Jones, H, Keene, J, Kramer, A & Nasson, B Freie Universität Berlin.

Journal Article

• Johnson, M. (2023). "Send a Soldier to Parliament": Ex-servicemen, Masculinity, and the Legacies of the Great War in Liberal Electoral and Parliamentary Politics. Journal of British Studies
• Johnson, Matthew (2023). Lloyd George, the Liberal Crisis, and the Unionist Party during the First World War. Journal of Liberal History
• Johnson, Matthew (2015). Leading from the Front: The ‘Service Members’ in Parliament, the Armed Forces, and British Politics during the Great War. The English Historical Review 130(544): 613-645.
• Johnson, M (2014). ‘The Great War and the collapse of the Liberal Party’. British Politics Review vol. 9, no. 1.
• Johnson, Matthew (2011). The Liberal Party and the Navy League in Britain before the Great War. Twentieth Century British History 22(2): 137-163.
• Johnson, Matthew (2008). The Liberal War Committee and the Liberal Advocacy of Conscription in Britain, 1914-1916. The Historical Journal 51(02): 399-420.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Johnson, M (2014). More than spectators? Britain’s Liberal government and the decision to go to war in 1914. The Conversation 4 August 2014.

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Johnson, M (2017). Asquith, Lloyd George, and the struggle for the premiership in December 1916. History of Government blog.
• Johnson, M (2014). Media Coverage of the Centenary of the Great War. Royal Historical Society, 'History in the News' blog.