Gunther E. Rothenberg
Encyclopedia
Gunther E. Rothenberg was an internationally known military historian. Although widely known for his books and journal articles on the French Revolutionary Wars
and the Napoleonic Wars
, Rothenberg also had a fifteen-year military career, serving in the British Army, the Haganah
, and the United States Air Force during World War II, the 1948 War, and the Korean War
. He emigrated to the United States in 1948 with $12 in his pocket.
After military service in the United States Air Force, he graduated from the University of Illinois with an undergraduate degree. Two years later, he had a masters degree from the University of Chicago
. In 1959 he finished his doctoral degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
. He retired from Purdue University
, was appointed Professor Emeritus, and lived in Canberra
, Australia
, where he continued to write about the Napoleonic Wars.
He wrote several ground-breaking books on the organization of the Habsburg military and the military reforms of Archduke Charles
in the first decade of the Napoleonic Wars. His last book, The Emperor's Last Victory, about the Battle of Wagram
in 1809, was published posthumously.
. His family was a culturally assimilated German Jewish family. In 1937, Rothenberg moved to the Netherlands
with his mother; his father later joined them. The family moved next to Britain, where Rothenberg had some schooling. In 1939, he moved to Palestine, then under British rule. There he joined the Zionist movement and Hashomer Hatzair
(The Youth Guard), a Socialist-Zionist youth movement. He retained his passion for a Jewish homeland throughout his life.
On 13 July 1941, his parents emigrated to the United States on the Villa de Madrid. His father, Erich Joseph Rothenberg, was an importer, and both his parents spoke English, Hebrew, French, and German. Their visas, issued in Lisbon
, Portugal, claimed Cuba
n citizenship. At the age of 57, his father registered for the fourth draft in 1942, listing his residence as New York City, and his next of kin as his wife, Lotte.
In 1941, Gunther Rothenberg volunteered for the British army, serving in an all-Jewish unit. He was wounded in North Africa
. He transferred from the Royal Army Service Corps to the Intelligence Corps and fought with the Eighth Army. He served in the Italian campaign
, in the Yugoslav war of liberation and in Austria. When World War II ended, Rothenberg returned to Palestine; there he joined the Haganah
for Israel's War of Independence. He rose to the rank of captain in the Israel Defense Forces
.
By 1948, Rothenberg's father had died and his mother, Lotte (18941990), had become a naturalized United States citizen. To be with her in New York City, Rothenberg journeyed to Canada, arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia
; traveling from there to Toronto
, he lived for a while at Wycliffe College
, where he worked briefly as a construction laborer. On 19 November 1948, he crossed the international border into the United States at Buffalo
, with $12.00 in his pocket. In 1951, he volunteered for the United States Army, transferred to the Air Force, and served in the Korean War
until 1955. He remained guided by a deep sense of duty and a strong sense of American patriotism throughout his life.
, where he was recognized as an argumentative, sometimes abrasive, graduate student with a keen mind. As a graduate student, Rothenberg reviewed W.E.D. Allens Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border, 1828–1921 (Cambridge University Press, 1953) for Journal of Modern History, He wrote his 1956 masters' thesis
entitled General Crook and the Apaches, 1871–1874: the campaign in the Tonto Basin. Rothenberg received his doctorate from the University of Illinois: his 1959 dissertation, Antemurales Christianitatis: the Austrian military border in Croatia, 1522–1749, was published in 1960 by the University of Chicago Press, as The Military Border in Croatia, 1522–1749; he followed this with a second study, The Military Border in Croatia, 1750–1888: a study of an imperial institution in 1966, also published by University of Chicago Press. Both volumes were translated into German in 1970.
In part-time temporary teaching positions in Illinois and four years at the Southern Illinois University
, Rothenberg taught European and world history, and published an instructor's manual on history of the world, with Henry C. Boren
. In 1962, Rothenberg joined the faculty of the University of New Mexico
; over the following ten years, he rose to the position of full professor. In 1972, he accepted a position at Purdue University
. There, he taught courses in military and European history. As a teacher, his popular course on World War II attracted more than 250 undergraduates annually.
In the 1970s, Rothenberg also established himself as an international Napoleonic scholar with The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon, published in 1977. He also mentored hundreds of graduate and doctoral students. He regularly published in such peer-reviewed publications as Journal of Military History and served on the editorial board of War in History. In 1985, Rothenberg was a visiting Fulbright fellow in the Department of History in the Faculty of Military Studies at the Australian Royal Military College
, Duntroon
. He retired from Purdue in 1999 and was named Professor Emeritus.
From 1995–2001, Rothenberg was a visiting fellow at the School of Historical Studies, Monash University
. After his retirement, he moved to Melbourne, Australia, and then to Canberra, where his third wife, Eleanor Hancock, taught at the Australian Defence Force Academy
. Although retired, he continued to teach, lecture, and publish reviews. He also wrote two more books.
Life in Australia did not always please him; he missed both his colleagues in North America and his Purdue students. His politics—he "was anything but politically correct"—did not mesh well with Australia's leftist atmosphere. He wrote indignantly to a friend in the United States that he regretted moving to Australia when the authorities confiscated his muzzle loaders
, which were prohibited "Down Under."
In 2004, he returned to the United States to present the keynote address at the 34th Annual Conference of the Consortium on Revolutionary Europe. He had recently completed The Emperor’s Last Victory: Napoleon and the Battle of Wagram, which was published posthumously in November 2004. He died at the age of 80.
Some of his colleagues considered Rothenberg "the greatest scholar of the Napoleonic era of our day," His adventurous life and diverse experiences gave him a deep understanding of human nature. This made him a valuable colleague and a treasured mentor for his many graduate students.
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, Rothenberg also had a fifteen-year military career, serving in the British Army, the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
, and the United States Air Force during World War II, the 1948 War, and the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. He emigrated to the United States in 1948 with $12 in his pocket.
After military service in the United States Air Force, he graduated from the University of Illinois with an undergraduate degree. Two years later, he had a masters degree from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. In 1959 he finished his doctoral degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. He retired from Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, was appointed Professor Emeritus, and lived in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, where he continued to write about the Napoleonic Wars.
He wrote several ground-breaking books on the organization of the Habsburg military and the military reforms of Archduke Charles
Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen
Archduke Charles of Austria, Duke of Teschen was an Austrian field-marshal, the third son of emperor Leopold II and his wife Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain...
in the first decade of the Napoleonic Wars. His last book, The Emperor's Last Victory, about the Battle of Wagram
Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
in 1809, was published posthumously.
Escape from Nazi Germany and military service
Gunther Erich Rothenberg was born in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. His family was a culturally assimilated German Jewish family. In 1937, Rothenberg moved to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
with his mother; his father later joined them. The family moved next to Britain, where Rothenberg had some schooling. In 1939, he moved to Palestine, then under British rule. There he joined the Zionist movement and Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
(The Youth Guard), a Socialist-Zionist youth movement. He retained his passion for a Jewish homeland throughout his life.
On 13 July 1941, his parents emigrated to the United States on the Villa de Madrid. His father, Erich Joseph Rothenberg, was an importer, and both his parents spoke English, Hebrew, French, and German. Their visas, issued in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, Portugal, claimed Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n citizenship. At the age of 57, his father registered for the fourth draft in 1942, listing his residence as New York City, and his next of kin as his wife, Lotte.
In 1941, Gunther Rothenberg volunteered for the British army, serving in an all-Jewish unit. He was wounded in North Africa
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
. He transferred from the Royal Army Service Corps to the Intelligence Corps and fought with the Eighth Army. He served in the Italian campaign
Italian Campaign (World War II)
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the...
, in the Yugoslav war of liberation and in Austria. When World War II ended, Rothenberg returned to Palestine; there he joined the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
for Israel's War of Independence. He rose to the rank of captain in the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
.
By 1948, Rothenberg's father had died and his mother, Lotte (18941990), had become a naturalized United States citizen. To be with her in New York City, Rothenberg journeyed to Canada, arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax Harbour
Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality.-Harbour description:The harbour is called Jipugtug by the Mi'kmaq first nation, anglisized as Chebucto...
; traveling from there to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, he lived for a while at Wycliffe College
Wycliffe College
Wycliffe College is an Anglican Church of Canada seminary federated with the University of Toronto. It is evangelical and Low church in orientation. On the other hand, the University of Toronto's other Anglican college, the University of Trinity College is Anglo-Catholic in outlook. While being an...
, where he worked briefly as a construction laborer. On 19 November 1948, he crossed the international border into the United States at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, with $12.00 in his pocket. In 1951, he volunteered for the United States Army, transferred to the Air Force, and served in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
until 1955. He remained guided by a deep sense of duty and a strong sense of American patriotism throughout his life.
Education and career
Although he had never finished high school, with the help of the GI Bill, Rothenberg completed a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois in 1954. He attended graduate school at the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, where he was recognized as an argumentative, sometimes abrasive, graduate student with a keen mind. As a graduate student, Rothenberg reviewed W.E.D. Allens Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border, 1828–1921 (Cambridge University Press, 1953) for Journal of Modern History, He wrote his 1956 masters' thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
entitled General Crook and the Apaches, 1871–1874: the campaign in the Tonto Basin. Rothenberg received his doctorate from the University of Illinois: his 1959 dissertation, Antemurales Christianitatis: the Austrian military border in Croatia, 1522–1749, was published in 1960 by the University of Chicago Press, as The Military Border in Croatia, 1522–1749; he followed this with a second study, The Military Border in Croatia, 1750–1888: a study of an imperial institution in 1966, also published by University of Chicago Press. Both volumes were translated into German in 1970.
In part-time temporary teaching positions in Illinois and four years at the Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...
, Rothenberg taught European and world history, and published an instructor's manual on history of the world, with Henry C. Boren
Henry C. Boren
Henry C. Boren is a historian and author. He is professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina.-Professional life:...
. In 1962, Rothenberg joined the faculty of the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
; over the following ten years, he rose to the position of full professor. In 1972, he accepted a position at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
. There, he taught courses in military and European history. As a teacher, his popular course on World War II attracted more than 250 undergraduates annually.
In the 1970s, Rothenberg also established himself as an international Napoleonic scholar with The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon, published in 1977. He also mentored hundreds of graduate and doctoral students. He regularly published in such peer-reviewed publications as Journal of Military History and served on the editorial board of War in History. In 1985, Rothenberg was a visiting Fulbright fellow in the Department of History in the Faculty of Military Studies at the Australian Royal Military College
Royal Military College, Duntroon
The Royal Military College, Duntroon is the Australian Army's officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, in the Australian Capital Territory, in 1911 and is situated on picturesque grounds at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Lake Burley Griffin, close to the Department of Defence...
, Duntroon
Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory
Duntroon is a suburb of the city of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.-History:Robert Campbell's property Duntroon was situated on the limestone plains of New South Wales in the area that is now covered by the ACT....
. He retired from Purdue in 1999 and was named Professor Emeritus.
From 1995–2001, Rothenberg was a visiting fellow at the School of Historical Studies, Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
. After his retirement, he moved to Melbourne, Australia, and then to Canberra, where his third wife, Eleanor Hancock, taught at the Australian Defence Force Academy
Australian Defence Force Academy
The Australian Defence Force Academy is a tri-service military Academy that provides military and tertiary academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy , Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force .Tertiary education is provided by the...
. Although retired, he continued to teach, lecture, and publish reviews. He also wrote two more books.
Life in Australia did not always please him; he missed both his colleagues in North America and his Purdue students. His politics—he "was anything but politically correct"—did not mesh well with Australia's leftist atmosphere. He wrote indignantly to a friend in the United States that he regretted moving to Australia when the authorities confiscated his muzzle loaders
Muzzleloader
A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and usually the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun . This is distinct from the more popular modern designs of breech-loading firearms...
, which were prohibited "Down Under."
In 2004, he returned to the United States to present the keynote address at the 34th Annual Conference of the Consortium on Revolutionary Europe. He had recently completed The Emperor’s Last Victory: Napoleon and the Battle of Wagram, which was published posthumously in November 2004. He died at the age of 80.
Legacy
Rothenberg's legacy is not only the generations of scholars he prepared, but also his vast historiographical contribution to understanding the Revolutionary era. For many years, his Army of Francis Joseph (1976) was the standard and the only English language analysis of the Habsburg Army in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic wars. He changed the widespread perception of Archduke Charles' military acumen. A masterful historian, Rothenberg was known furthermore as an eminently fair scholar. After publishing a critique of a publication, the author contacted him, and proved the critique unjust; Rothenberg immediately wrote to a review retracting the criticism, and the two scholars remained friends for the remainder of his life.Some of his colleagues considered Rothenberg "the greatest scholar of the Napoleonic era of our day," His adventurous life and diverse experiences gave him a deep understanding of human nature. This made him a valuable colleague and a treasured mentor for his many graduate students.
Personal life and family
His first marriage in 1952 ended in a 1967 divorce. In 1969, Rothenberg married Ruth Gillah Smith, a widow with three daughters, whom he helped to raise; she died in 1992. In 1995, he married for a third time, to Eleanor Hancock, a lecturer at Monash University in Australia. She is now a Senior Lecturer in History at the Australian Defence Force Academy at the University of New South Wales, and has written the first biography of Ernst Julius Röhm. Her 1988 doctoral thesis, National Socialist Leadership And Total War, 1941–45 for the Australia National University was published by St. Martin's Press in 1992.Publications
Rothenberg published hundreds of journal articles, reviews, and lectures. This is a partial list.Books
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Military Border in Croatia, 1522–1749. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Military Border in Croatia, 1740–1881; a study of an imperial institution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. The army of Francis Joseph. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue Univ. Press, 1976.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. Napoleon's great adversaries: the Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army, 1792–1814. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. (Later publications show the title as Napoleon's great adversary: the Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army.)
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon. Tempus Pub Ltd 2000.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. The Napoleonic Wars. London: Cassell, 2000.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. The emperor's last victory: Napoleon and the Battle of Wagram. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004.
Collaborations
- Rothenberg, Gunther E., Béla K. Király and Peter F. Sugar. War and society in East Central Europe volume 1: Special Topics. New York: Brooklyn College Press, 1979.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E., Béla K. Király and Peter F. Sugar. War and society in Eastern central Europe. vol. 2: East Central European society and war in the pre-revolutionary Eighteenth century. Boulder: Social Science Monographs, 1982.
Journal articles
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Origins of the Austrian Military Frontier in Croatia and the Alleged Treaty of 22 December 1522." The Slavonic and East European Review. 38. 91 (1960): 493–498.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "Venice and the Uskoks of Senj: 1537-1618." The Journal of Modern History. 33. 2 (1961): 148–156.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "Aventinus and the Defense of the Empire Against the Turks." Studies in the Renaissance. 10 (1963): 60–67.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Croatian Military Border and the Rise of Yugoslav Nationalism." The Slavonic and East European Review. 43. 100 (1964): 34–45.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Struggle Over the Dissolution of the Croatian Military Border, 1850- 1871." Slavic Review. 23. 1 (1964): 63-78.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Austrian Army in the Age of Metternich." The Journal of Modern History. 40. 2 (1968): 155–165.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "Toward a National Hungarian Army: The Military Compromise of 1868 and Its Consequences." Slavic Review. 31. 4 (1972): 805–816.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Austrian Sanitary Cordon and the Control of the Bubonic Plague: 1710–1871." Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. (1973).
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Habsburg Army in the Napoleonic Wars." Military Affairs: The Journal of Military History, Including Theory and Technology. 37. 1 (1973): 1–5.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "Nobility and Military Careers: The Habsburg Officer Corps, 1740-1914." Military Affairs: The Journal of Military History, Including Theory and Technology. 40. 4 (1976): 182–186.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Origins, Causes, and Extension of the Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon." Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 18. 4 (1988): 771–793.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. "The Austro-Hungarian Campaign Against Serbia in 1914." Journal of Military History. 53. 2 (1989): 127–146.