Robert M. Citino (born June 19, 1958) is an American military historian and the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the National WWII Museum. He is a leading authority on modern German military history, with an emphasis upon

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the German influence upon modern operational doctrine. Citino received recognition for his works from the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

, the

Society for Military History The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...

, and the

New York Military Affairs Symposium The New York Military Affairs Symposium (NYMAS), is an independent, not for profit educational body dedicated to the preservation and furthering of military history in the city of New York. The membership includes scholars, active and retired mil ...

. The '' Historically Speaking'' journal described him as "one of the most perceptive military historians writing today".

Early life and education

Citino was born and grew up in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

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. His father was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

veteran of the Pacific War who served in the Guadalcanal Campaign as a

combat medic A combat medic, or healthcare specialist, is responsible for providing emergency medical treatment at a point of wounding in a combat or training environment, as well as primary care and health protection and evacuation from a point of injury ...

and gave Citino a copy of '' Guadalcanal Diary'' by Richard Tregaskis.National WWII Museum
Robert M. Citino, PhD, joins Museum as Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian After graduating magna cum laude with his Bachelor of Arts in history from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1978, he earned his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

in 1980 and 1984. Citino is fluent in German, having first learned it as an undergraduate, and is a prolific reader of early 20th-century German military literature.

Career

Citino has held academic postings at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...

Lake Erie College Lake Erie College is a private liberal arts college in Painesville, Ohio. Founded in 1856 as a female seminary, the college converted to a coeducational institution in 1985. As of the 2016–2017 academic year, the total enrollment was 1,177 stud ...

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

United States Military Academy at West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

, and the

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military offic ...

. He is a fellow of the Barsanti Military History Center, a trustee of the

, and a consultant for the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

staff. He has also appeared as a consultant on the

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. He currently chairs the Historical Advisory Subcommittee of the Department of the Army.

Wehrmacht history

Throughout his career Citino has advocated changing the current nomenclature of German military tactics. Although he uses the word '' Blitzkrieg'' on the cover of his books, he has always espoused the view that it should be called by its proper German military term, ''Bewegungskrieg'', or

manoeuvre warfare Maneuver warfare, or manoeuvre warfare, is a military strategy which seeks to shatter the enemy's overall cohesion and will to fight. Background Maneuver warfare, the use of initiative, originality and the unexpected, combined with a ruth ...

. Citino has taught courses on

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and American military history, including

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, and the Cold War. On March 15, 2013, Citino was awarded the 2013 Distinguished Book Award by the

for his work ''The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943''. The book explores German losses in key campaigns in 1943—losses which would eventually lead to an erosion of the German military's strategic advantage. It is his second Distinguished Book Award; he previously received one in 2004 for his book ''Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm.'' Citino was a visiting professor at the

in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the 2013–14 academic school year.

Awards

* Winner of the 2004 Paul M. Birdsall Prize for Best Book in Strategic Studies,

for ''Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm: The Evolution of Operational Warfare'' * Winner of the 2005 Distinguished Book Award,

for ''Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm: The Evolution of Operational Warfare'' * Winner of the 2012 Arthur Goodzeit Award

for ''The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943'' * Winner of the 2013 Distinguished Book Award,

for ''The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943''

Works

* Citino (1991). ''Germany and the Union of South Africa in the Nazi Period.'' Greenwood Press. * Citino (1994). ''Armored Forces: History and Sourcebook.'' Greenwood Press. * Citino (1999). ''The Path to Blitzkrieg: Doctrine and Training in the German Army, 1920–1939.'' Lynne Rienner; Stackpole Books (paperback, 2008) * Citino (2000). ''Was the Reputation of the Wehrmacht for Military Superiority Deserved?'' In ''History in Dispute'' 4, ''World War II, 1939–1945'' Detroit: St. James Press. * Citino (2001). ''The Weimar Roots of German Military Planning.'' In ''Military Planning and the Origins of the Second World War in Europe.'' edited by B.J.C. McKercher and Roch Legault. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. * Citino (2002). ''Quest for Decisive Victory: From Stalemate to Blitzkrieg in Europe, 1899–1940.'' University Press of Kansas. * Citino (2004). ''Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm: The Evolution of Operational Warfare.'' University Press of Kansas. * Citino (2005). ''The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich.'' University Press of Kansas. * Citino (2007). ''The Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942.'' University Press of Kansas. * Citino (2007). ''Military Histories Past and Present: A Reintroduction.'' American Historical Review vol.112 no.4 * Citino (2012). ''The Wehrmacht Retreats: The Campaigns of 1943.'' University Press of Kansas. * Citino (2017). ''The Wehrmacht's Last Stand: The German Campaigns of 1944–1945.'' University Press of Kansas.

Notes

Sources

External links

"Death of the Wehrmacht"
– 2009 article by Citino at Historynet.com
Fritz on Citino, 'Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942'
– Review by the historian Stephen G. Fritz on

H-Net __NOTOC__ H-Net ("Humanities & Social Sciences Online") is an interdisciplinary forum for scholars in the humanities and social sciences. It is best known for hosting electronic mailing lists organized by academic disciplines; according to the o ...

'Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942'
– Review by Richard L. Dinardo of

Marine Corps Command and Staff College Marine Corps University is a professional military education university system of the United States Marine Corps. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Master's Degrees. H ...

Interview with Professor Robert Citino
via WW2History.com, a web site by the historian

Laurence Rees Laurence Rees (born 1957) is an English historian. He is a BAFTA winning historical documentary filmmaker and a British Book Award winning author of several books about Adolf Hitler, the Nazis and the atrocities committed, especially by them, ...

Videos

* * , via the official channel of the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center * , via the official channel of

The National WWII Museum The National WWII Museum, formerly known as The National D-Day Museum, is a military history museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street. The ...

; session by Citino and the historian Jonathan Parshall at the 2013 International Conference on World War II * , via the official channel of the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center * , via the official channel of the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Citino, Robert M. 1958 births Living people Historians of Nazism American military historians American male non-fiction writers Writers from Cleveland Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Indiana University alumni Historians from Ohio