Dr Thomas Robb

Lecturer in History

School of Education, Humanities and Languages

Thomas Robb

Role

Dr Robb is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a historian of international relations. His most recent research has centered upon the diplomatic and military history of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand which culminated in the recent publication of Divided Allies Strategic Cooperation against the Communist Threat in the Asia-Pacific during the Early Cold War, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2019 (with David James Gill). Dr Robb is the co-founder and currently the Director of the International History and Grand Strategy Research Group within the Department. His work has appeared in the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations journal, Diplomatic History as well as within the International History Review; Contemporary British History; Diplomacy and Statecraft; the Journal of Cold War Studies and Journal of Strategic Studies.

Currently Dr Robb is working upon a number of projects including a broad study on U.S. grand strategy from the end of the U.S. Civil War to the end of the First World War; a history of U.S. relations with China, and a study of U.S. clandestine activites in the second half of the Cold War. 

Teaching and supervision

Modules taught

Undergraduate

  • Superpowers: An International History of the Cold War (1st year) 
    • Modern international history that explores the rise and fall of the United States and Soviet Union within the context of an era-defining  global confrontation.
  • The Making of the American Giant, 1861 – 1945 (2nd year)
    • Examines America’s emergence as a leading international power within the context of the unique political and social order of the twentieth century.
  • American Grand Strategy in the Era of Civil War and Reconstruction (3rd year)
    • Focuses upon the military campaigns and explores why the Union emerged victorious.
  • American War, Strategy, and Statecraft (3rd year)
    • Explores the unique ways of American warfare and statecraft from the inception of the Republic to the War on Terror.
  • America and the Vietnam War (3rd year) [Advanced Study in the History of America] 
    • Examines America’s military role in Vietnam and its impact at home.

Postgraduate

  • America at War: From Revolution to the War on Terror
    • Focuses on American grand strategy and military history from the formation of the Republic to the War on Terror.
  • American Colossus: U.S. Domestic and Foreign Politics, 1945 - 2012 
    • Explores the rise of the American state as the major world power within the context of the Cold War.

Supervision

Dr Robb is happy to offer supervision to both undergraduates and postgraduates in subject areas that encompass American or British foreign policy, political history, military history or international history subjects more broadly.

Publications

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Professional information

Consultancy

  • Activities outside the University include appearing on radio broadcasts on BBC Radio 4.