Presentation Title: Researching Military History in Germany – The journey so far…
Theme: Military History
Presenter: Mr Ian Mcculloch

For researchers in the field of Military History, the pursuit of a topic which requires widespread access to sources held by institutions in Germany presents a unique set of challenges beyond those posed by language and geography. 

From the irretrievable loss of large sections of the archival record during the Second World War to the interpretation of documents handwritten in long-defunct script, spending time in German archives and libraries can, at times, be frustrating and laborious. In my own experience though, such complications are very much the exception rather than the rule, and I have found working and travelling through Germany to be as personally rewarding as it has been productive from a scholarly perspective.

Making use of my own Doctoral research into German military motorisation during the interwar period to provide context, I will present an account of my experiences to date of conducting both primary and secondary research at institutions throughout Germany. In addition to describing the specifics of working in libraries and archives as a postgraduate researcher, I will also discuss a number of the general practicalities applicable to working and travelling in Germany.

Ian is a PhD candidate at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra researching the motorisation of the German Army in the period between the two World Wars. 

The completion (in 2015) of a Master of Arts (Military History) through UNSW Canberra, which included a research component, triggered a desire to pursue a project of greater scale and complexity and Ian’s current research is very much a product of this experience.

Ian also holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Western Australia.