| Christopher Pugsley | |
| Birth Name: | Christopher John Pugsley |
| Alma Mater: | University of Waikato (PhD) |
| Main Interests: | Military history Imperial and Commonwealth history New Zealand |
| Workplaces: | Royal Military Academy Sandhurst University of New England Victoria University of Wellington |
Christopher John Pugsley (born 1947) is a New Zealand military historian. He is published as Chris Pugsley and Christopher Pugsley.
Pugsley became interested in writing in 1984 when, as a career officer in the New Zealand Army, he worked on a television documentary about New Zealand's involvement in the Gallipoli campaign and authored Gallipoli: The New Zealand Story, which was shortlisted for the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Award the same year.[1]
In 1988, he retired from the New Zealand Army[1] to dedicate himself to a new career as an historian.
He received his PhD from the University of Waikato in 1992, and in 1994 he became writing fellow at the Victoria University of Wellington.[2] He then taught at University of New England, Australia from 1996 to 1999. Until 2014 he was senior lecturer in war studies[3] at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and adjunct senior fellow[4] at New Zealand's University of Canterbury.
During the 1990s he wrote a series of detailed articles called "Walking the Waikato Wars", in the now defunct New Zealand Defence Quarterly, in which he visited each Waikato Battle site and reviewed each battle through the eyes of a modern professional military officer using photographs and maps to illustrate events.
His primary area of interest is 20th-century New Zealand, Australian, Canadian and British Commonwealth military history, with particular focus on Gallipoli, and the Western Front.
In the 2015 New Year Honours, Pugsley was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as a military historian.[5] In 2011 the University of Waikato recognised him with a distinguished alumni award.