World Leaders in Wartime: King Henry II

King Henry II of England (reigned 1154-1189) was the most powerful European monarch of his day, husband to Eleanor of Aquitaine, and father to two successors: Richard the Lionheart and King John. Over the course of 35 years, he successfully warred against neighbors in the Isles and on the Continent, expanding his domains to create the so-called “Angevin Empire.” This talk will outline Henry’s military career and examine the breadth, depth, consequences, and legacy of his conquests.

John D. Hosler (Ph.D. University of Delaware) is a Professor of Military History at the Command and General Staff College. An expert in the history of the Middle Ages, he studies conflict in medieval Europe and the Near East. Among his various books are Henry II: a Medieval Soldier at War, 1147-1189 (Brill, 2007), Jerusalem Falls: Seven Centuries of War and Peace (Yale UP, 2022), and The Siege of Acre, 1189-1191 (Yale UP, 2018), which was named a Financial Times and Time Literary Supplement Book of the Year.

The Ft. Leavenworth Series
The Ft. Leavenworth Series is an annual roster of lectures focusing on significant historical events, usually with an emphasis on military history. Each lecture is presented by faculty from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Established by General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1881, the CGSC is the graduate college for U.S. Army and sister service officers. The esteemed faculty and guests of the CGSC provide unique and captivating insights into the history of military conflict from the ancient to the modern ages at the Dole Institute of Politics.