Scottish Centre for War Studies and Conflict Archaeology

Daniel Larsen is Director of the Scottish Centre for War Studies and Conflict Archaeology. He is a historian of American and British foreign policy and intelligence in the first half of the twentieth century, and he has interests in its political, economic, and legal dimensions, most especially in wartime.

He has focussed especially on Anglo-American relations and British war policy in the First World War era, with an emphasis on the role of British intelligence. His first book, Plotting for Peace (Cambridge University Press, 2021), re-examines American peace diplomacy and the British diplomatic and political response to it during 1914 to 1917, alongside an exploration of the Anglo-American economic relationship.  He is especially interested in the role of codebreaking and economics in shaping foreign policy, cultures of secrecy in government, the history of ideas concerning the conduct of foreign policy, and the processes associated with the ends of wars.

He previously held fixed-term University Assistant Professorships at the Cambridge Department of Politics and International Studies, as well as a fixed-term College Lectureship and a Junior Research Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge. His MPhil and PhD degrees are from Christ's College, Cambridge, under the supervision of Professor Christopher Andrew, and he completed his BA at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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First published: 17 November 2025