Robert Gerwarth

Robert Gerwarth is Professor of Modern History at University College Dublin (UCD), where he founded the interdisciplinary Centre for War Studies in 2008. The Centre has become a globally leading institution in war studies, organizing international conferences and research seminars. Gerwarth has held visiting fellowships at Sciences Po Paris, Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard’s Centre for European Studies, the European University Institute, and the Herder Institute in Marburg.

He received his first degree from Berlin’s Humboldt Universität with the highest distinction and completed his PhD at Oxford University in 2003. His PhD thesis was published by Oxford University Press (OUP) and earned him the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History.

Gerwarth’s research focuses on German history within broader European and global contexts from 1870 to 1945, particularly political violence, 20th-century European history, and the aftermath of World War I. His publications analyze the continuity of violence, paramilitary movements, and intersections between colonial and Nazi violence.

Scientific Awards:

• 2020 Reimar Lüst-Prize, Humboldt Foundation
• 2015 Alfred Grosser Chair, Sciences Po, Paris
• 2014 Fernand Braudel Senior Research Fellow (European University Institute)
• 2013 Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Fellow
• 2012 Member, Royal Irish Academy
• 2011 Member, Princeton Institute for Advanced Study
• 2009-14 ERC Starting Grant
• 2005 Fellow, Royal Historical Society (UK)

Gerwarth has secured significant research grants, including a DFG-funded fellowship at Bielefeld’s ZIF and a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship. As general editor of OUP’s 'The Greater War, 1911-23' book series, he contributes to expanding the historiography of World War I and its aftermath.