Decorated Military Historian Barry Strauss Receives U.S. Naval War College 2026 Hattendorf Prize

Decorated military historian and bestselling author Prof. Barry Strauss was awarded the U.S. Naval War College’s 2026 Hattendorf Prize during a ceremony at the institution’s Newport, Rhode Island, campus on Sept. 9.

The prestigious honor is awarded every two years after a rigorous review of a number of select nominees’ lifetime of work researching and writing about military history.

The prize is named for Dr. John Hattendorf, a former U.S. Navy surface warfare officer and professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College (NWC) who served for nearly 40 years on the war college faculty, including stints as the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History and chairman of the school’s Advanced Research Department, among other leadership roles.

After officially accepting the Hattendorf Prize from NWC Provost and retired U.S. Navy Capt. Michael O’Hara, Ph.D., Strauss delivered a lecture titled “Sea Power Today: Lessons from Greece and Rome.” 

Joining O’Hara, Dr. Hattendorf and Strauss on stage for the presentation ceremony was retired Maj. Gen. Stephen Seiter, former commanding general of the New York Army National Guard, representing the U.S. Naval War College Foundation.

“While technology evolves over the centuries, history teaches us that the human element and the roots of sea control and power projection remain constant,” said Dr. J. Ross Dancy, NWC Associate Provost for Research. “The great case studies in military history continue to make up a core element of our curriculum at the war college, because of what they can teach us about strategy and winning wars in a contemporary environment.”

Strauss is the Corliss Page Dean Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, author of 10 books on ancient history and regular guest on national and international television networks discussing military history. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

With his writings and public appearances, Strauss has earned a reputation as an authority on leadership and how to apply the experiences of military commanders such as Julius Caesar, Hannibal and Alexander the Great to modern challenges.

“For the military leaders enrolled here as students today, cases like the Battle of Salamis or the Battle of Aegospotami can illustrate very relatable lessons on concentration of forces or strategic surprise, for instance,” Dancy said. “Prof. Strauss has over his distinguished career made military history accessible to millions, and we’re incredibly fortunate to have had this chance to honor his work and hear his perspective on sea power, informed by decades of research into the wars that have shaped our world.”

The 2026 Hattendorf Prize was the seventh iteration of the award, last given in 2024 to Prof. Andrew Lambert of King’s College London.

The purpose of the award is to honor and to express appreciation for distinguished academic research, insight and writing that contribute to a deeper historical understanding of the broad context and interrelationships involved in the roles, contributions, limitations, and uses of the sea services in maritime history. Nominees are selected among distinguished academics for the quality and depth of their original scholarship over a long career.

Given at two-year intervals, the event includes the presentation of a bronze medal, a citation, and a monetary gift of $10,000 made possible by the support of Seiter and the Naval War College Foundation.

Established in 1884, NWC informs today’s decision-makers and educates tomorrow’s leaders by providing educational experiences and learning opportunities that develop their ability to hedge aggressively, innovate continuously, fight distributively, delegate confidently, and command with clarity within complex battlespaces.