Bio

John H. Maurer serves as the Alfred Thayer Mahan Distinguished University Professor of Sea Power and Grand Strategy at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. As Chair of the Strategy and Policy Department, he led a major reform of the College’s curriculum on strategy. https://usnwc.edu/Faculty-and-Departments/Directory/John-H-Maurer.

He is a graduate of Yale University and holds an M.A.L.D. and Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.

He is the author or editor of books examining the outbreak of the First World War, military interventions in the developing world, naval rivalries and arms control between the two world wars, and a study about Winston Churchill’s views on British foreign policy and grand strategy.

He is as a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in the Program on National Security and served as executive editor of Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs. https://www.fpri.org/contributor/john-maurer/.

He serves on the Academic Board of Advisers, The International Churchill Society.

He served on the Secretary of the Navy’s advisory committee on naval history.

At the Naval War College, he teaches in the advanced strategy program and an elective course on Winston Churchill as statesman, strategist, politician, soldier, and war leader.

In recognition for his contribution to professional military education, he has received both the U.S. Navy’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award and Superior Civilian Service Award.

Upcoming Events

Published Works

“Great Britain and Imperial Germany’s Naval Challenge: Decline or Renewal of British Power?” in Essays in Honor of Keith Neilson, edited by Thomas Otte (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

“Churchill and Air Power—The Wilderness Years,” Finest Hour (Summer 2019).

 “Churchill and the Outbreak of the Second World War in Europe,” Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs (Summer 2019). 

“Lloyd George and the Naval Battle of Paris,” in The Paris Peace Conference, edited by B.J.C McKercher (Routledge, 2019).

“Winston Churchill and the Rise of Imperial Germany,” in Winston Churchill: At War and Thinking of War before 1939, edited by B.J.C. McKercher (Routledge, 2019).

 “Is China Repeating Germany’s World War I Mistakes?” National Interest (September-October 2018) https://nationalinterest.org/feature/china-repeating-germanys-world-war-i-mistakes-29667.

“‘A Life-and-Death Struggle’: The Contest for Naval Mastery and America’s Entry into the Great War—Lessons for Today,” Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs (Spring 2018) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0030438718300061.

“Churchill the ‘Mad’ Chancellor,” Finest Hour (Spring 2018) https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-180/winston-gone-mad-first-world-war/.

“Thucydides and the Tragedy of Athens: A Parable for America,” The American Review of Books, Blogs, and Bull (June 26, 2017) https://www.fpri.org/article/2017/06/thucydides-tragedy-athens-parable-america/.

“Seventy-five Years Ago: Remembering Pearl Harbor and a World at War,” Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Notes (December 7, 2016) https://www.fpri.org/article/2016/12/seventy-five-years-ago-remembering-pearl-harbor-world-war/.

“This Is Sparta,” Claremont Review of Books (November 11, 2016) http://www.claremont.org/crb/article/this-is-sparta/.

“The Influence of Thinkers and Ideas on History: The Case of Alfred Thayer Mahan,” The American Review of Books, Blogs, and Bull (August 11, 2016) https://www.fpri.org/article/2016/08/influence-thinkers-ideas-history-case-alfred-thayer-mahan/.

“Great War at Sea: Remembering the Battle of Jutland,” Foreign Policy Research Institute E-Books, The Philadelphia Papers (May 27, 2016) https://www.fpri.org/article/2016/05/great-war-sea-remembering-battle-jutland/.

“Don’t Exile Thucydides from the War Colleges,” coauthor, The National Interest (May 3, 2016) http://nationalinterest.org/feature/dont-exile-thucydides-the-war-colleges-16038 

“Churchill and the Dardanelles,” Calliope (Spring 2015).

“Embattled Superpowers,” The Fletcher Security Review (January 31, 2015) https://www.fpri.org/article/2015/01/embattled-superpowers/.

“A Rising Power and the Coming of a Great War,” Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs (Fall 2014) https://www.fpri.org/article/2014/10/a-rising-power-the-coming-of-a-great-war/.

“Averting the Great War? Churchill’s Naval Holiday,” Naval War College Review (Summer 2014) https://usnwc2.usnwc.edu/getattachment/21ef42ce-17b3-4c90-8803-642a3d903c02/Averting-the-Great-War--Churchill-s-Naval-Holiday.aspx.

At the Crossroads between Peace and War: Naval Rivalries and Arms Control between the World Wars: The London Conference of 1930, co-editor (Naval Institute Press, 2014). https://www.amazon.com/Crossroads-Between-Peace-War-Conference/dp/1612513263/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=John+Maurer&qid=1572193634&sr=8-1.

“‘Winston has gone mad’: Churchill, the British Admiralty, and the Rise of Japanese Naval Power,” The Journal of Strategic Studies (December 2012) http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402390.2012.654648?src=recsys&journalCode=fjss20.

“A Rising Naval Challenger in Asia: Lessons from Britain and Japan between the Wars,”Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs(Fall 2012) https://www.fpri.org/article/2012/11/a-rising-naval-challenger-in-asia-lessons-from-britain-and-japan-between-the-wars/

Churchill and Strategic Dilemmas Before the World Wars: Essays in Honor of Michael I. Handel, editor (Frank Cass, 2003). https://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Strategic-Dilemmas-before-World/dp/071465468X/ref=sr_1_9?qid=1572193729&refinements=p_27%3AJohn+Maurer&s=books&sr=1-9&text=John+Maurer.

The Outbreak of the First World War: Strategic Planning, Crisis Decision Making, and Deterrence Failure(Praeger, 1995). https://www.amazon.com/Outbreak-First-World-War-International/dp/0275949982/ref=sr_1_6?qid=1572193788&refinements=p_27%3AJohn+H.+Maurer&s=books&sr=1-6&text=John+H.+Maurer.

The Washington Conference, 1921-22: Naval Rivalry, East Asian Stability, and the Road to Pearl Harbor, co-editor (Frank Cass, 1994). https://www.amazon.com/Washington-Conference-1921-22-Stability-Statecraft/dp/0714645591/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=John+Maurer&qid=1572193634&sr=8-6.  

Military Intervention in the Third World, co-editor (Praeger, 1984).

“The Giants of the Naval War College,” Naval War College Review (October 1984) https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4665&context=nwc-review.

“Fuel and the Battle Fleet: Coal, Oil, and American Naval Strategy, 1898-1925,” Naval War College Review (November-December 1981) https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5253&context=nwc-review.