The quote is of historian John Keegan OBE FRSL .In the 2000 New Year Honours, he was knighted "for services to Military History".[14]

In 1996 the Society for Military History awarded him the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize. It recognises not any one specific achievement, but a body of contributions in the field of military history, stretching over time and showing a range of scholarly work contributing significantly to the field.