Paul W. Schroeder

Who is Paul W. Schroeder?

Paul W. Schroeder is an American historian and professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois, specializing in late-sixteenth- to twentieth-century European international politics, Central Europe, and the theory of history.

Schroeder was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Rupert H. Schroeder and Elfrieda Koch. He attended Concordia Seminary, Texas Christian University, and the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his doctorate in 1958. He received the 1956 Beveridge Award for the best manuscript on American history submitted by a beginning historian. He was an associate professor of history at Concordia Senior College from 1958 to 1963, after which he was hired at the University of Illinois.

In a 1972 essay "World War I as a Galloping Gertie", Schroeder blamed Britain for the First World War. Schroeder argued that the war was a "Galloping Gertie", in events escalated out of control, sucking in all of the Great Powers into an unwanted war Schroeder that the key factor in the European situation was what he claimed was Britain's “encirclement" policy directed at Austria-Hungary.