James Sterling Corum is an American

air power Airpower or air power consists of the application of military aviation, military strategy and strategic theory to the realm of aerial warfare and close air support. Airpower began in the advent of powered flight early in the 20th century. A ...

historian and scholar of

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...

. He has written several books on counterinsurgency and other topics. He is a retired lieutenant colonel in the

US Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. History Origi ...

Early life

Corum was educated at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

( BA, 1975),

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

( MA, 1976), and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

(

M. Litt. A Master of Letters degree (MLitt or LittM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. Ireland Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University offer MLitt degrees. Trinity has offered them the longest, owing largely to its tradition as Ireland's ...

, 1984). He graduated Ph.D from Queen's University in Canada in 1990."CV James S. Corum Ph.D."

Baltic Defence College The Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) is a multinational military college that was established by the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) in 1999. It serves as a centre of strategic and operational research and provides professi ...

at nanopdf.com, accessed 14 July 2022 His first teaching post, from 1979 to 1981, was at Oxford as a

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

tutor in the History faculty.

Career

Corum became professor of Comparative Military Studies at the

School of Advanced Air and Space Studies Air University is a Professional Military Education, professional military education university system of the United States Air Force. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award ...

, Air University,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. During 2005 he was both a visiting fellow of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

, and a visiting fellow of the Levershulme Program on the Changing Nature of War in the Department of International Politics at Oxford. He was then a professor of

military history Military history is the study of War, armed conflict in the Human history, history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to Politics, local and international relationship ...

in the Department of Joint and Multinational Operations at the

US Army Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

. In 2008 he was also an adjunct professor of military history at

Austin Peay State University Austin Peay State University (APSU) () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee, United States. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 ...

. From 2009 to 2014, Corum was dean of the

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. From there, he became a lecturer in the School of Arts and Media at the

University of Salford The University of Salford is a Public university, public research university in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, Greater Manchester, England, west of Manchester city centre. The Royal Technical Institute, Salford, which opened in 1896, be ...

. Corum's primary speciality is air power history and he argues more in favour of integrated air power than of so-called strategic missions independent of the joint battlespace.

Bibliography

* ''The

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

: Creating the Operational Air War, 1918–1940''. (University Press of Kansas, 1997, ) * ''The Roots of

Blitzkrieg ''Blitzkrieg'(Lightning/Flash Warfare)'' is a word used to describe a combined arms surprise attack, using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with ...

: Hans von Seeckt and German Military Reform'' (University Press of Kansas, 1992). * ''

Wolfram von Richthofen Wolfram Karl Ludwig Moritz Hermann Freiherr von Richthofen (10 October 1895 – 12 July 1945) was a German World War I flying ace who rose to the rank of ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) in the Luftwaffe during World War II. In the ...

: Master of the German Air War'' (University Press of Kansas, 2008, ) * * * * ''Bad Strategies: How Great Powers Fail in Counterinsurgency'' (Zenith Press, 2008). Among Corum's articles are:
"To stop them on the beaches: Luftwaffe Operations against the Allied Landings in Italy,"
''Air Power Review'', Vol. 7 No. 2 (Summer 2004), pp. 47–68. * ''Defeat of the Luftwaffe, 1935–1945'', In: Robin Higham & Stephen J. Harris: ''Why Air Forces Fail'', University Press of Kentucky 2006, pp. 203–226 Corum has been a blogger for the British newspaper ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', writing on international affairs and military issues.

References

External links

LTC James S. Corum

Bad Strategies: How Major Powers Fail in Counterinsurgency
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corum, James Air force historians American military historians Gonzaga University alumni Brown University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Living people United States Army Command and General Staff College faculty American expatriates in Estonia Year of birth missing (living people) United States Army officers 21st-century United States Army personnel 20th-century United States Army personnel United States Army reservists American aviation historians