[3][4][5] In 2000, Watson received his Bachelor of Arts (hons) degree in Modern history from Exeter College, Oxford.
[5][6] Watson's first book, Enduring the Great War; Combat, Morale and Collapse in the German armies (1914–1918), began as his doctoral thesis in October 2001.
The book focuses on the psyche of German and British soldiers in World War I and attempts to understand how they were able to fight for all those years.
[12] This is the story of the First World War's longest siege, and of the opening of the brutal tragedy which befell East-Central Europe during the twentieth century.
It follows a Habsburg garrison of old soldiers defending the city from Russian attack, and recounts the fighting, starvation and anti-Semitic ethnic cleansing which began in the region already in 1914.
He has been interviewed for BBC Radio programmes, "World War One" and "Good Morning, Scotland", and appeared on the German Channel's documentary, "The Search for the Lost Sons.