Geoffrey Wawro

Geoffrey Wawro (born 1960) is a Professor of Military History at the University of North Texas, and Director of the UNT Military History Center. His primary area of emphasis is modern and contemporary military history, from the French Revolution to the present. His fourth book appeared in April 2010 from Penguin Press; it is titled: Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East.

Education and career

Wawro grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut and as a young boy delivered newspapers for the Hartford Courant. Wawro received his diploma from the Loomis-Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut in 1978, and his A-levels in English Literature and German from Cheltenham College, in England, the following year. After receiving his Bachelor's degree magna cum laude from Brown University (1983), he attended Yale University, where he received his Master of Arts in European History (1987), his M. Phil. in European History in 1989, and his Ph.D. in 1992. His dissertation, entitled, "The Austro-Prussian War: Politics, Strategy and War in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1859-1866" (1992), supervised by Paul Kennedy, argued that the battle of Königgrätz (1866) was not so much won by the brilliance of the Prussian commander Helmuth von Moltke the Elder as it was lost by the incompetence of the Austrian commander Ludwig von Benedek.

Wawro hosted the History Channel's book show: Hardcover History, and was host and anchor of the History Channel programs History's Business and History vs. Hollywood, as well as Hard Target,' Global View, and History in Focus. His guests have included Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, Jack Welch, Robert Rubin, Caspar Weinberger, Warren Christopher, Niall Ferguson, Richard Overy, Stephen Ambrose, Michael Howard, Robert Dallek, Paul Theroux and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.. Wawro, an expert on military innovation and international security in Europe, the U.S., and Canada, was also (before his move to Texas) Professor of Strategic Studies at the U.S. Naval War College as well as the Naval War College Review's "special correspondent," a designation that took him to "places or events of strategic or technological interest," including Iran, Brazil and the Paris Air Show. In his last book, A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, Basic Books, 2014. Wawro wandered into a field that is clearly not his expertise, the nationalities question of the Habsburg Empire. It is too bad because the book is well written and entertaining.

Wawro won the Austrian Cultural Institute Prize and the Society for Military History Moncado Prize for Excellence in the Writing of Military History. From 1989 to 1991, he was Fulbright Scholar, University of Vienna, Austria, and from 1991–92, an Andrew W. Mellon Doctoral Fellow, Yale University.

Publications

In addition to many peer reviewed articles and edited volumes, Wawro has written five well-received books.

• A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, Basic Books, 2014.
• Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East, Penguin Press in 2010.
• Franco-Prussian War (Cambridge, 2003) was the main selection of the History Book Club and Military Book Club and received a best non-fiction mention from Publisher's Weekly, Nov. 2003.
• Austro-Prussian War (Cambridge, 1996), based on his doctoral dissertation, was History Book Club and Military Book Club main selection.
• Warfare and Society in Europe, 1792-1914 (Routledge, 2000) is a standard university text.

In addition, he has also served on the editorial teams for over twenty volumes, including The Cambridge Military Histories, which he co-edits with Oxford's Hew Strachan.

Selected television appearances

• History in Focus: 300, Host and anchor. History Channel, New York and Los Angeles, March 2007.
• History in Focus: Bobby, Host and anchor. History Channel, New York and Los Angeles, December 2006.
• History in Focus: Flags of our fathers, Host and anchor. History Channel, New York and Fort Meade, October 2006.
• History vs. Hollywood: the Great Raid, Host and Anchor, History Channel,New York and Philippines, July 2005.
• History vs. Hollywood: Alexander, Host, anchor. History Channel, New York, December 2004.
• History vs. Hollywood: National Treasure, Host and, anchor. History Channel, New York, November 2004.
• The Last Days of the Nazis: The Executioners. History Channel, New York

External links

• http://www.history.com/podcasts/hardcoverhistory/hardcoverhistory_xml.xml
• http://www.hist.unt.edu/faculty/wawro/wawro.htm
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1821457/