Dr Mark Lawrence

Dr Mark Lawrence joined the School of History in 2015 and is known for his work on European, especially Spanish history, as well as Mexican history. He has won funding from the Royal Historical Society and a Santander Mobility Grant, and directed Global Challenges Research funding into Mexican history. He started his career at the University of Liverpool, and has since held positions at Sheffield, Newcastle, and a visiting position at the Universidad de Zacatecas. 

Mark is the author of several articles and books, including the award-winning Spanish Civil Wars, published by Bloomsbury in 2017 (published in Spanish as Las guerras civiles españolas by Alianza in 2019). He is also author of Spain’s First Carlist War, 1833-1840 (New York: Palgrave, 2014), of Nineteenth-century Spain: a New History (London: Routledge, 2019), and of Fighting Cristeros (London: Bloomsbury, 2020). He has edited a global history of guerrilla warfare and published monographs on the French and Napoleonic Wars (2021) as well as western European small wars since the time of Napoleon (2024). His most recent books deal with transnational Anglo-Spanish and Anglo-Mexican relations since the early modern era.  

Mark's research focuses on small wars, civil wars, and religious conflict, in early modern and modern history. He is a CHOICE 'Outstanding Academic Title' award-winner (2017) and creative director of a documentary on Mexico's ' Cristero War' (1926-29) La Cristiada - A Civil War: Think Kent Discovers Film and Panel. He is a regular contributor to academic conferences as well as such prominent publications as History Today.

Mark teaches courses on modern military history and European history. In 2025-26 these include:

• HIST5000: The Modern World: Revolution and Crisis
• HIST4011: War and Society in Europe, c.1789-1945
• HIST4500: Understanding Military History
• HIST6225: The Nature of Command

Mark has first-supervises three PhD projects to successful completion and co-supervised three others.

CHASE Management Board member, 2024-25

School of History Internationalisation lead