Prof. Philip Dwyer

Biography

Philip Dwyer studied in Perth, Paris and Berlin before receiving his doctorate from the University of Western Australia. His first posting was as a Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Dundee. He has taught European History at the University of Newcastle since 1994. His primary research interest is eighteenth-century Europe with a particular emphasis on the Napoleonic Empire. Volume one of his study on Napoleon won the National Biography Award in 2008. The second volume is due out in 2013. He is currently working on the sequel as well as a number of related projects that include the war memoir, and the massacre in history. Philip is currently Director of the Centre for the History of Violence in the Humanities Research Institute.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Western Australia, 1993
• Diplome d'Etudes Approprondies, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
• Maitrise, Universite de la Sorbonne
• Licence (B.A. Honours equivalent), Universite de la Sorbonne
• Bachelor of Arts, Murdoch University

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Research

Research keywords

• Eighteenth-Century Europe
• International Relations
• The French Revolution and Napoleon
• The Massacre in History
• War Memoirs
• War and Society

Research expertise

My research focus is on late eighteenth and early nineteenth century French and European history, with a particular interest in the history of European state-relations, political history as well as biography, and iconography. My current research has taken me into cultural history, war, memory and identity during the Napoleonic Wars. I am attempting to develop new ways of thinking about Napoleon and the period in which he lived. I am currently completing the second volume of my Napoleonic biography as well as writing about war memoirs.

Collaboration

My research focus is on late eighteenth and early nineteenth century French and European history, with a particular interest in the history of European state-relations, political history as well as biography, and iconography. My current research has taken me into cultural history, war, memory and identity during the Napoleonic Wars. I am attempting to develop new ways of thinking about Napoleon and the period in which he lived.

More recently, and in collaboration with scholars in Australia, South Africa and North America, we have undertaken a study of massacre and colonization from 1780 to 1820. The project grapples with one of the most difficult issues in recent history- relations between the conquerors and the conquered. It is the first study to investigate the use of massacre as a military strategy of colonial expansion, and to place its incidence in the context of conquest across four continents in the same historical period. We are attempting to break new ground in how we think about the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, the language used by historians to describe the process of conquest and colonization, and the extent to which massacre was used as a colonizing tool.

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
210399	Historical Studies Not Elsewhere Classified	60
219999	History And Archaeology Not Elsewhere Classified	25
160699	Political Science Not Elsewhere Classified	15

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Humanities Research Institute

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Advisory Member - Council of the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution, Florida State University,

Awards

Distinction.

2007	National Biography Award State Library of NSW (Australia) National Biography Award

Recognition.

2003	Fellowship Grant Australian Academy of the Humanities (Australia) Fellowship Grant received from the Australian Academy of the Humanities

Research Award.

2009	Napoleon Australia Council (Australia) Writer's residency, Ledig House, New York.
1996	Studies in Prussian Foreign Policy Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (Germany)
1993	Fellowship Leverhulme Trust (United Kingdom)
1991	Prussian Foreign Policy German Historical Institute (United Kingdom)

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Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Biography
• Europe and the World
• Film and History
• Modern European History
• The European Union
• The French Revolution and Napoleon

Courses

• HIST1080 - Europe and the World
• HIST3670 - The French Revolution and Napoleon
• HIST3030 - History, War, and Film
• HIST3730 - The European Union