The 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War is a very significant moment in which to reflect on the extent to which the epithet The War to end all Wars can legitimately be attached to the year 1945, as the world began again to try to rebuild global peace out of devastating conflict.

No one is better placed than Hew Strachan, one of our most distinguished military historians, Emeritus Fellow of All Souls, Oxford, Professor of International Relations at St Andrew’s and, until 2024, Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire, to help us to understand the challenges we face to the post-war consensus around creating a rules-based international order.