Bio
Mark E. Grotelueschen, PhD, is Professor of Military and Strategic Studies in the Department of Military and Strategic Studies at the U.S. Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colo. He previously served as Professor of History and Director of Academics while holding a Senior Military Faculty position in the Department of History. During approximately two decades of teaching at the Academy, he has taught a wide range of courses covering strategy, military thought, history, statesmanship, and area studies. He is the recipient of the Outstanding Academy Educator Award, the McDermott Award for Research Excellence, and the Orrison Award for cadet advising and mentoring. In 2024, the Academy’s graduating class honored him with the William H. Heiser Award, which recognizes the Academy’s Outstanding Senior Faculty Educator for the academic year; this is the Academy’s only teaching award given by the students. A 27-year Air Force veteran and former aircraft maintenance officer, he commanded the 380th Expeditionary Maintenance Operations Squadron at Al Dhafra Air Base, UAE, in 2004-2005. Dr Grotelueschen also served as the Deputy Chief of Engagement Integration in the Strategy, Plans, and Programs Directorate (A5) at U.S. Air Forces Africa, Ramstein Air Base, Germany. He deployed as a United Nations peacekeeper in the United Nations Mission in Liberia, where he worked in the mission’s Joint Logistics Operations Centre and helped plan and execute the successful national elections there in 2011. He graduated with Academic Distinction from the Academy, earned an MA in Military and Diplomatic History from the University of Calgary, and holds a PhD in History from Texas A&M University. He is the author or editor of many articles and books, including The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I (Cambridge, 2007), which multiple U.S. Army Chiefs of Staff have included on their Professional Reading Lists. Most recently he edited The Harmon Memorial Lectures, Volume II: 1988-2017 (Air University Press, 2020). He currently serves as a trustee of the United States Commission on Military History, and has previously served as a trustee for the Society for Military History and as the President of the Rocky Mountain Military Affairs Society.
Education
Ph.D., History, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas (2003)
M.A., Military and Diplomatic History, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (1998)
Bachelor of Science (with distinction), History, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (1991)
Professional Experience
Professor of History, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (2015-2018)
Associate Professor, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (2011-2015)
– Appointed as Senior Military Faculty in May 2013
Staff/Plans Officer, Joint Logistics Operation Centre, United Nations Mission in Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia (2011)
Deputy Chief, Engagement Integration, HQ Air Forces Africa, Ramstein AF, Germany (2010-2011)
Associate Professor, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (2008–2010)
Air War College, USAF Executive Leadership Course, Montgomery, Ala. (2008-2009)
Assistant Professor, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (2006-2008)
Deputy Chief, C-17 Program Integration Office, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Alaska (2005-2006)
Commander, 380th Expeditionary Maintenance Operations Squadron, Al Dhafra AB, United Arab Emirates (2004-2005)
Operations Officer, 703rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Alaska (2003-2005)
Air Command and Staff College, USAF Senior Leadership Course, Montgomery, Ala. (2003)
Air Force Institute of Technology Liaison Officer, Texas A&M, College Station, Texas (2001-2003)
Squadron Officer School, Distinguished Graduate, USAF Junior Leadership Course, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. (1999)
Sortie Generation Flight Commander, 75th Fighter Squadron, Pope AFB, Fayetteville, N.C. (1995-1996)
Officer-in-Charge, Propulsion Flight, 23rd Maintenance Squadron, Pope AFB, Fayetteville, N.C. (1994-1995)
Officer-in-Charge, Aerospace Ground Equipment Flight, 23rd Maintenance Squadron, Pope AFB, Fayetteville, N.C. (1993)
Maintenance Officer, 40th Airlift Squadron, Pope AFB, Fayetteville, N.C. (1993)
Honors & Awards
William H. Heiser Award, U.S. Air Force Academy (2024)
LTC John William Whitman Research Fellowship, Army Heritage Center Foundation (2022)
Ridgway Grant, Ridgway Family Endowment Fund (2019)
LTC John William Whitman Research Fellowship, Army Heritage Center Foundation (2018)
McDermott Award for Research Excellence in the Humanities (2017)
(USAFA’s top research award)
Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award (2015)
Aspen Seminar Fellowship, The Aspen Institute (2013)
Holocaust Education Foundation Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization Fellowship, Northwestern University (2013)
Merrill Center for Strategic Studies Workshop Fellowship, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University (2007)
Outstanding Academy Educator Award (2007)
(USAFA’s top teaching award)
Orrison Award for Excellence in Cadet Advising and Mentoring, Department of History (1999)
Graduate with Academic Distinction, U.S. Air Force Academy (1991)
Research and Scholarly Interests
Indo-Pacific Security Issues
Modern Warfare and the Spectrum of Conflict
Statesmanship, Strategy, and Strategic Thinking
Command and Leadership
Combat Doctrine and Lesson-learning
Peacekeeping, Stability, and Military Occupation
African Security Issues
War Crimes and Genocide
Publications
Current Projects
Dr Grotelueschen has three major projects in work, including co-editing (and contributing to) “From the Jaws of Defeat: Case Studies in American Military Leadership,” with Dr John J. Abbatiello and Dr John T. Farquhar, with University of Oklahoma Press in its Campaigns and Commanders series; a monograph, “The Battle of St Mihiel: The American First Army and the Birth of Modern US Warfare in 1918,” co-writtenwith Dr Derek Varble, for Cambridge University Press; and a biography of Dwight Eisenhower for Oxford University Press.
Books
Editor, The Harmon Memorial Lectures, Volume II: 1988-2017. Air University Press, 2020.
Into the Fight: April–June 1918. Washington, D.C.: US Army Center of Military History, 2018.
The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. (Repeated selection for US Army Chief of Staff’s Professional Reading List)
Doctrine Under Trial: American Artillery Employment in World War I. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001.
Co-editor: The Officer’s Companion to Military History. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Associate editor: Forged by Fire: Military History for the Profession of Arms. Needham Heights, MA: Simon and Schuster, 1998.
Selected Chapters, Articles, Reviews
“Fixing First Army: Hunter Liggett and Victory in the Meuse-Argonne,” in From the Jaws of Defeat: Case Studies in American Military Leadership. Edited by Mark Grotelueschen, John Abbatiello, and John Farquhar. University of Oklahoma Press. Forthcoming 2027.
“Fighting and Learning:American Lesson-Learning after the Battle of St-Mihiel, 1918” with Derek Varble in Shaping Armed Forces for Conflict and War. Education, Training and Lessons-learned Processes Before, During and After Military Deployment: Implications for Policy Makers. Edited by Steve Murdoch and Per Eliasson. Swedish Defence University. Forthcoming 2026.
“St. Mihiel, September 1918” with Dr Derek Varble, in After the First Battle. Edited by Greg Hospodor and Sanders Marble. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. Forthcoming 2026.
“The First World War,” with Derek Varble, in the Oxford Handbook of American Military History. Edited by Samuel Watson. Oxford University Press, 2026.
“Framing the First World War:The U.S. Army’s Experience,” with Brian M. Linn, in Framing the First World War.Edited by Dr Michael P. M. Finch (Australian National University), Dr Aimée Fox (King’s College London), and Dr David G. Morgan-Owen (King’s College London). University Press of Kansas, 2025.
H-Diplo Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum Roundtable Review 16-34. Review of Mark Stout. World War I and the Foundations of American Intelligence. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2023. 21 April 2025.
“Provocative Weakness: The Failure of American Deterrence in 1917,” with Derek Varble, in From Peace to War, from War to Peace: Conflict Initiation and Termination: Implications for Policy Makers. Edited by Hans-Peter Kriemann and Matej Medvecky. Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr, 2024.
“Integrating the Instruments of Power,” with Paul Bezerra and Marybeth Ulrich, in Military Strategy, Joint Operations, and Airpower: An Introduction. Second Edition. Edited by Ryan Burke, Michael Fowler, and Jahara Matisek.Georgetown UP, 2022.
“Umkhonto we Sizwe” and “Azanian People’s Liberation Army” for Modern African Conflicts: An Encyclopedia of Civil Wars, Revolutions, and Terrorism. Edited by Tim Stapleton. ABC-Clio Press, 2022.
“Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf and the Failure of Strategic Leadership,” with Derek Varble, for Worst Military Leaders in History. Edited by John Jennings and Chuck Steele. Reaktion Books, 2022.
“Airpower at St. Mihiel: Billy Mitchell, Military Diplomacy, and One of the Great War’s Largest Air Armadas,” in Journal of Character & Leadership Development (Fall 2021): 105-115.
“The Religion of John Foster Dulles: A Review of Wilsey’s God’s Cold Warrior,” in Providence. The Institute of Religion and Democracy, September 28, 2021.
“Colonel George C. Marshall,” with Derek Varble, in Pershing’s Lieutenants: American Military Leadership in World War I. Edited by David Zabecki and Doug Mastriano. Osprey, 2020.
“Saint-Mihiel, Septembre 1918: Naissance de la Bataille Américaine Moderne” in L’engagement des Américains dans la guerre, 1917-1918: La Fayette nous voilà!Edited by Olivier Chaline and Olivier Forcade. Paris: Sorbonne Université Presses, 2020.
Editor, Violence Section. 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin. http://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/contributors/Mark_E._Grotelueschen
“The Belfort Ruse: The AEF’s Deception Plan at St. Mihiel, 1918,” in Weaving the Tangled Web: Military Deception in Large-Scale Combat Operations. Edited by Christopher M. Rein.Fort Leavenworth, KS: Army University Press, 2018.
“Firepower and Breakthrough in the Meuse-Argonne: 1 November 1918,” in Lethal and Non-Lethal Fires: Historical Case Studies of Converging Cross-Domain Fires in Large Scale Combat Operations. Edited by Thomas G. Bradbeer. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Army University Press, 2018.
“Decisive Factor or Junior Partner?: The American Contribution to Allied Victory in the Great War.”South Central Review (Fall 2017): 8-30.
“Joint Planning for Global Warfare:The Development of the Rainbow Plans in the United States, 1938-1941.” Army History (Fall 2015): 9-26.
(Winner of the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Writing Award)
“Pre-colonial Warfare in Africa.” Oxford Bibliographies in Military History. Edited by Dennis Showalter.New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
“Warfare 1917-1918 (USA), The American Expeditionary Forces,” in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08.
“The Doughboys Make Good: American Victories at St. Mihiel and Blanc Mont Ridge.” Army History (Spring 2013): 6-18.
“Guarding the Vote:The U.N. Mission in Liberia Secures the Path to Successful Elections,” with David Foster, in ADF: Africa Defense Forum, vol.5, no. 4, 2012: 19-23.
“Calming the Waters:Operation Horizon Sentinel Fosters Cooperation to Build Maritime Security for Liberia,” with Mike Dudas, in ADF: Africa Defense Forum, vol.5, no. 3, 2012:52-55.
“The Junior Partner:Anglo-American Military Cooperation in World War I,” in Finding Common Ground: New Directions in First World War Studies. Edited by Jennifer D. Keene and Michael S. Neiberg. Boston/Leiden: Brill, 2010.
Contributor of multiple entries to The International Encyclopedia of Military History. Edited by James C. Bradford. New York: Routledge, 2006.
“Pershing’s Combat Doctrine and Tactics.” In History in Dispute:World War I, First Series. Edited by Dennis Showalter. Detroit:St. James Press, 2002: 25-28.
Book Reviews
More than twenty reviews in the Journal of Military History; Army History; The US Army War College Quarterly—Parameters; Presidential Studies Quarterly; War in History; Journal of World History; H-War; African Studies Quarterly; The Historian; War, Literature, and the Arts; The Journal of Character and Leadership Development; H-Diplo; First World War Studies
Referee
Texas A&M University Press; University Press of Kentucky; University of North Texas Press; Oxford University Press, Brill, Bedford/St. Martin’s, University of Kansas Press; University of Oklahoma Press; Westholme Publishing; Naval Institute Press; The Journal of Military History; War & Society; The Journal of Policy History; Foundations: An Undergraduate Journal in History; US Military History Review; Journal of Military Ethics; War in History; Journal of Military and Strategic Studies; Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift (MGZ) German Journal of Military History, Journal of Peace and War Studies (JPWS), The British Journal for Military History.