Michael Jones is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of the British Commission for Military History, and has taught at the University of South West England, Glasgow University, and Winchester College. The author of Stalingrad: How the Red Army Survived the German Onslaught, Leningrad: State of Siege, and The Retreat: Hitler's First Defeat. Jones has conducted battlefield tours of the Eastern Front for several years.

Malcolm Vale is a Fellow and tutor of History at St John's College, Oxford. He specialises in English and European history in the later middle ages, especially Anglo-French and Anglo-Nederlandish relations. His many publications include The Princely Court: Medieval Courts and Culture in North-West Europe, 1270-1380.