Holger Herwig

Last updated
Holger H. Herwig
Born (1941-09-25) September 25, 1941 (age 82)
Hamburg, Germany
OccupationHistorian
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia (BA), State University of New York at Stony Brook (MA, Ph.D.)
SubjectWorld War I, German military and political history
Notable worksDeadly Seas: The Destruction of the Bismarck, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1914-1918

Dr. Holger H. Herwig (born 1941) is a German-born Canadian historian and professor. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including the award-winning, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 and The Origins of World War I, written with Richard F. Hamilton. His research focuses on World War I and German military and political history. [1] Dr. Herwig holds a dual position at the University of Calgary as Professor of History and as Canada Research Chair in the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Herwig was born on September 25, 1941, in Hamburg, Germany. [3]

In 1965, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia; in 1967, he obtained his Master's degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In 1971, he received a Ph.D from Stony Brook. [1]

Career

From 1971 to 1989, Herwig taught at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. For one year, starting in 1985, he was visiting Professor of Strategy at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. [3]

In 1991, he was made Head of the Department of History at the University of Calgary. He held this position until 1996. [3] Herwig was the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Distinguished Visiting Professor of Judaic Studies at the College of William & Mary in Virginia in 1998. [3]

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. [3]

Herwig has written and co-authored over a dozen books. Many of his books have been translated into Chinese, Czech, German, Polish, Portuguese, Serbs-Croatian, and Spanish. [3] His research interests include German imperial history, German military history, German political and diplomatic history, and strategic studies. Military Diplomatic History and Europe fall under his areas of specialization. [3]

With co-author, David Bercuson, Herwig wrote Deadly Seas: The Destruction of the Bismarck and One Christmas in Washington. The former book captured the attention of filmmaker James Cameron. Both Bercuson and Herwig produced Cameron's film for the Discovery Channel, James Cameron's Expedition: Bismarck. Herwig's other television projects in collaboration with Bercuson include Deadly Seas (1998), Murder in Normandy (1999), and Forced March to Freedom (2001). [3]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Front (World War I)</span> Theatre of WWI in France and Belgium

The Western Front was one of the main theatres of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The German advance was halted with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, the position of which changed little except during early 1917 and again in 1918.

German battleship <i>Bismarck</i> German battleship of World War II

Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power.

HMS <i>Dorsetshire</i> (40) Heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy

HMS Dorsetshire was a County-class heavy cruiser of the British Royal Navy, named after the English county, now usually known as Dorset. The ship was a member of the Norfolk sub-class, of which Norfolk was the only other unit; the County class comprised a further eleven ships in two other sub-classes. Dorsetshire was built at the Portsmouth Dockyard; her keel was laid in September 1927, she was launched in January 1929, and was completed in September 1930. Dorsetshire was armed with a main battery of eight 8 in (200 mm) guns, and had a top speed of 31.5 knots.

David Jay Bercuson is a Canadian labour, military, and political historian.

German cruiser <i>Prinz Eugen</i> Admiral Hipper-class cruiser

Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third of a class of five vessels. She served with Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936, launched in August 1938, and entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940. She was named after Prince Eugene of Savoy, an 18th-century general in the service of Austria. She was armed with a main battery of eight 20.3 cm (8 in) guns and, although nominally under the 10,000-long-ton (10,160 t) limit set by the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, actually displaced over 16,000 long tons (16,257 t).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Denmark Strait</span> Naval battle during the Second World War

The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a naval engagement in the Second World War, which took place on 24 May 1941 between ships of the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine. The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Hood fought the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were attempting to break out into the North Atlantic to attack Allied merchant shipping through the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causes of World War I</span> Explanations, hypotheses and claims for how the war started

The identification of the causes of World War I remains a debated issue. World War I began in the Balkans on July 28, 1914, and hostilities ended on November 11, 1918, leaving 17 million dead and 25 million wounded. Moreover, the Russian Civil War can in many ways be considered a continuation of World War I, as can various other conflicts in the direct aftermath of 1918.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eduard von Capelle</span> German admiral (1855–1931)

Admiral Eduard von Capelle was a German Imperial Navy officer from Celle. He served in the navy from 1872 until his retirement in October, 1918. During his career, Capelle served in the Reichsmarineamt, where he was primarily responsible for writing the Fleet Laws that funded the expansion of the High Seas Fleet. By the time he retired, Capelle had risen to the rank of admiral, and had served at the post of state secretary for the Reichsmarineamt. From this post, he oversaw the German naval war during the latter three years of World War I. Capelle retired to Wiesbaden, where he died on 23 February 1931.

Gerhard Georg Bernhard Ritter was a nationalist-conservative German historian who served as a professor of history at the University of Freiburg from 1925 to 1956. He studied under Professor Hermann Oncken. A Lutheran, he first became well known for his 1925 biography of Martin Luther and hagiographic portrayal of Prussia. A member of the German People's Party during the Weimar Republic, he was a lifelong monarchist and remained sympathetic to the political system of the defunct German Empire.

Plan Z was the name given to the planned re-equipment and expansion of the Kriegsmarine ordered by Adolf Hitler in early 1939. The fleet was meant to challenge the naval power of the United Kingdom, and was to be completed by 1948. Development of the plan began in 1938, but it reflected the evolution of the strategic thinking of the Oberkommando der Marine over the two decades following World War I. The plan called for a fleet centered on ten battleships and four aircraft carriers which were intended to battle the Royal Navy. This force would be supplemented with numerous long-range cruisers that would attack British shipping. A relatively small force of U-boats was also stipulated.

<i>Expedition: Bismarck</i> 2002 American film

Expedition: Bismarck is a 2002 documentary film produced for the Discovery Channel by Andrew Wight and James Cameron, directed by James Cameron and Gary Johnstone, and narrated by Lance Henriksen. The film follows an underwater expedition to the German Battleship Bismarck and digitally reconstructs events that led up to the ship's sinking during World War II. In 2003 the film was honored with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming.

Last battle of <i>Bismarck</i> 1941 sinking of a German battleship

The last battle of the German battleship Bismarck took place in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 300 nautical miles west of Brest, France, on 26–27 May 1941 between the German battleship Bismarck and naval and air elements of the British Royal Navy. Although it was a decisive action between capital ships, it has no generally accepted name. It was the culmination of Operation Rheinübung where the attempt of two German ships to disrupt the Atlantic Convoys to the United Kingdom failed with the scuttling of the Bismarck.

The Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies (CMSSS) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Calgary focusing on military, defence and security issues, established in 1999. CMSSS' mission is to promote and develop excellence in military, security and defence studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of World War I</span>

This list contains a selection of books on World War I, using APA style citations.

Imperial German plans for the invasion of the United States were ordered by staff officers from 1897 to 1903 as training exercises in planning for war. The hypothetical operation was supposed to force the US to bargain from a weak position and to sever its growing economic and political connections in the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, and South America so that German influence could increase there. Junior officers made various plans, but none were seriously considered and the project was dropped in 1906.

Daniel Gibson Harris (1915–2007) was an accountant, a British agent during World War II and a writer on Swedish naval history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Günther Lütjens</span> 20th-century German admiral

Johann Günther Lütjens was a German admiral whose military service spanned more than 30 years and two world wars. Lütjens is best known for his actions during World War II and his command of the battleship Bismarck during her foray into the Atlantic Ocean in 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German entry into World War I</span>

Germany entered into World War I on August 1, 1914, when it declared war on Russia. In accordance with its war plan, it ignored Russia and moved first against France–declaring war on August 3 and sending its main armies through Belgium to capture Paris from the north. The German invasion of Belgium caused Britain to declare war on Germany on August 4. Most of the main parties were now at war. In October 1914, Turkey joined the war on Germany's side, becoming part of the Central Powers. Italy, which was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary before World War I, was neutral in 1914 before switching to the Allied side in May 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British entry into World War I</span>

The United Kingdom entered World War I on 4 August 1914, when King George V declared war after the expiry of an ultimatum to the German Empire. The official explanation focused on protecting Belgium as a neutral country; the main reason, however, was to prevent a French defeat that would have left Germany in control of Western Europe. The Liberal Party was in power with prime minister H. H. Asquith and foreign minister Edward Grey leading the way. The Liberal cabinet made the decision, although the party had been strongly anti-war until the last minute. The Conservative Party was pro-war. The Liberals knew that if they split on the war issue, they would lose control of the government to the Conservatives.

References

  1. 1 2 "Holger H. Herwig". University of Calgary: Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. University of Calgary. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  2. "Holger H. Herwig: The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I & The Battle That Changed the World". Pritzker Military Museum & Library. Pritzker Military Museum & Library. 6 April 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Dr. Holger H. Herwig" (PDF). University of South Florida: Department of History. University of South Florida. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  4. Review: "The Marne 1914": A Bold New Account. Huffington Post 2011
  5. Leseprobe (pdf)
  6. "Holger H. Herwig Bibliography". Open ISBN. Open ISBN. pp. 1–4. Retrieved 29 December 2015.