Matthew Hough

Profile

I am a second year doctoral researcher working on the role of Field Marshal Harold Alexander as Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean during the later stages of the Second World War.

I moved to Leeds as an undergraduate in 2016 and graduated with a BA (Hons) in History in 2019. In my final year I specialised in military history, focusing on the First and Second World Wars. My dissertation examined the career and reputation of Lieutenant General Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston, who served as a corps commander at Gallipoli and later on the Western Front during the First World War, and has come to be regarded as an archetypal ‘donkey general’.

I subsequently completed my MA in War and Strategy, also at the University of Leeds, graduating with a Distinction in 2020. During my studies my focus shifted towards the Second World War, and my dissertation examined the views of Italian prisoners of war on the collapse of Fascist Italy’s war effort between July and September 1943.

My PhD research, which I began in October 2023, is funded by a School of History Doctoral Scholarship.

Research interests

My doctoral thesis examines the nature of ‘Supreme Allied Command’ during the Second World War, focusing on Field Marshal Harold Alexander who held the title of Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean (SACMED) between December 1944 and October 1945. As one of only four Supreme Allied Commanders during the conflict, Alexander was charged with the command of Allied land, sea and air forces across a theatre encompassing Italy, Greece and the Balkans, and with safeguarding the political interests of the British and US governments in the region. Using Alexander as a case study, my project aims to analyse both the political and military aspects of the role in the context of Anglo-American Mediterranean strategy, and the challenges of serving two governments with differing strategic priorities, and which often disagreed on matters of policy.

My wider research interests include:

• Military History
• The Second World War
• The British Army, 1914-1945
• Anglo-American Relations
• Military Cultures and Identities
• Civil-Military Relations

Papers and Presentations:

‘“What a small calibre man he is!”: The Alanbrooke Diaries and the Reputation of Field Marshal Harold Alexander’, War Studies Work in Progress Workshop, University of Leeds, March 2024

‘“It will mean the end of Italy”: Captured Italian Officers on the Collapse of Fascist Italy’s War Effort, July-September 1943’, School of History PGR Seminar Series, University of Leeds, April 2024

Media:

‘244 – Harold Alexander and the Road to Supreme Command’, WW2 Podcast, Angus Wallace, November 2024

Research Group Affiliations:

• Politics, Diplomacy and International History
• War Studies

Qualifications

• MA War and Strategy (University of Leeds, 2020)
• BA (Hons) History (University of Leeds, 2019)