Dr Steven Morewood

Department of History
Associate Professor in International History

Contact details

Email: s.morewood@bham.ac.uk

Address: Room 236, J G Smith
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

My research interests focus on the origins of the Second World War from a British perspective and the early years of that conflict when Britain stood virtually alone. I have a particular interest in North Africa and the Balkans (1939-1941).

Qualifications

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
PhD in History, University of Bristol
BA (Hons.) Humanities, First Class, UWE

Biography

My formative education at a higher level was achieved in Bristol. After teaching stints elsewhere (Leicester and Manchester) I came to Birmingham, where I have been with the History Department since 2014.

Teaching

First Year: Making of the Contemporary World
Second Year: In the Eye of the Storm: Europe 1918-1960 (team taught), The Desert War in North Africa, 1940-43 (Topics in History)
Third Year: Britain at Bay in the Age of the Dictators, 1931-1942 (Special Subject), Conflict in the Modern Middle East (advanced option), Britain and her Soldiers (advanced option)

Postgraduate supervision

Topics concerning the origins of the Second World War, the early part of that conflict in the Mediterranean and Middle East, and the Suez Crisis are of particular interest.

In 2025 a PhD on British Leyland was completed (co-supervised with Drs. Dick and Francis). Past supervisions have included the role of the Greek press during the Greek-Turkish War (1920-22), subsequently published as a monograph, and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus (1974).

Find out more - our PhD History page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Research

I am currently working on three related books: one on the prelude to Operation Compass, another on Operation Compass, and a third on Defending Greece against Nazi Germany. The first two are well developed and should appear in 2026 and 2027. The third needs substantive further research to bring it to fruition.

Other activities

I am a committee member of the British International History Group, a member of the Royal United Services Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Currently I am external examiner for the History department at the University of Hull. Contributor to History Today.

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Morewood, S 2013, Defending Greece Against Nazi Germany: Diplomacy, Strategy and the Eden Dill Mission in World War Two. I.B. Tauris.

Article

Morewood, S & Mallett, R 2015, 'The Political and Strategic Dynamics of the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis, 1932-1936: Part I: Origins and Perspectives', Global War Studies.

Morewood, S & Stephens, E 2009, ''The Cultural Turn in the US - Israeli Relationship'', Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication - 06.03, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 13-32.

Morewood, S 2008, ''Eden's Balkan Odyssey'', History Today, vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 34-51.

Morewood, S 2006, 'Mikhael Gorbachev and the Collapse of the Soviet Union', History Teaching Yearbook, vol. 20, pp. 61-68.

Morewood, S 2006, 'Suez: The Canal before the Crisis', History Today, vol. 56, no. 11, pp. 38-50.

Chapter

Morewood, S 2013, This Silly African Business: An Anatomy of the Baldwin Government's Muted response towards Italian Aggression. in WB Strang (ed.), International Dimensions of the Italo-Abyssinian Crisis. Ashgate.

Morewood, S & Smith, SC (ed.) 2008, Prelude to the Suez Crisis: The Rise and Fall of British Dominance over the Suez Canal 1869-1956. in Reassessing Suez 1956: New Perspectives on the Crisis and Its Aftermath. Ashgate, pp. 13-34.

Morewood, S & Smith, SC 2008, Reassessing Suez 1956. in 'Prelude to the Suez Crisis: The Rise and Fall of British Dominance over the Suez Canal 1869-1956'.

Morewood, S, Atkin, N & Biddis, M 2008, Themes in Modern European History 1890-1945. in 'The origins of World War Two in Europe'.

Morewood, S, Atkin, N (ed.) & Biddiss, MI (ed.) 2008, The Origins of the Second World War in Europe. in Themes in Modern European History 1890-1945. Routledge, pp. 273-312.

Morewood, S, Oliver, MJ & Oldcroft, DH 2007, The Demise of the Command Economies in the Soviet Union and its Outer Empire. in Economic Disasters of the 20th Century.

Book/Film/Article review

Morewood, S 2010, 'The United States & the Making of Modern Greece. History & Power, 1950-1974', Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 116-116.

Morewood, S 2008, 'Stirring the Greek Nation: Political Culture, Irredentism and Anti-Americanism in Post-War Greece, 1945-1967', Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 243-245.

Morewood, S 2008, 'US Policy towards Israel: The Role of Political Culture in Defining the "Special Relationship"', Journal of American Studies, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 609-610. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021875808005811

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