David French was born in Essex in 1954 and educated at the University of York and King's College London. After briefly holding teaching posts at North London Polytechnic, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and Herriot-Watt University, he spent twenty-seven years at University College London.

The author of nine previous books, he is a former Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC, a recipient of the Arthur Goodzeit Prize of the New York Military Affairs Symposium, and a three-times winner of the Templer Medal awarded by the Society for Army Historical Research. He is now Professor Emeritus at UCL, a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Historical Association, and a Vice-President of the Army Records Society.