Mike Bechthold

Dr Mike Bechthold is an historian of the First and Second World Wars and an air power specialist. He holds a PhD in History from the University of New South Wales, Canberra, and an MA & Honours BA from Wilfrid Laurier University. For 22 years Mike worked as the Communications Director of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies and the Managing Editor of Canadian Military History, an academic quarterly journal. In these roles he was responsible for running ran the day-to-day operations of Canada’s premier military history journal as well as the Centre’s publications program, annual military history conference (100-160 participants), monthly speakers’ series and various other programs.

Since 1999 Mike has led dozens of groups of undergrad and grad students, high school teachers and military officers on European battlefield excursions. These study tours explore the First and Second World Wars from different perspectives including operational history, the impact on civilians, and the memory and memorization of war. Mike is a skilled graphic designer and an accomplished cartographer. His maps have been published in hundreds of books, articles, museum displays, and websites for Canadian and international clients such as Ballantine Books, Penguin, University of Toronto Press, Stackpole Books, the Canadian War Museum, Parks Canada, the Laurier Military Centre, and the Juno Beach Centre (France). Many of his maps are found in Gregg Centre publications.

Mike is the author or editor of eight books and has published numerous articles. His areas of specialization include military air power (especially tactical air operations in the First and Second World Wars), the Canadian army in Normandy and Northwest Europe, and the Canadian Corps in the Great War. Mike currently teaches history part time at Wilfrid Laurier University and works full time at WLU Press as their production coordinator where he is responsible for overseeing the publication of 40+ academic monographs and four journals a year.

Mike can be reached at mbechthold@wlu.ca