Donald Stoker

Donald J. Stoker Jr. is a military and diplomatic American military historian with expertise in military theory and grand strategy.

Education He earned his bachelor's degree in 1989, his Master's of Arts in 1990 from Valdosta State University and his PhD in Military and Diplomatic History from Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL in 1997.

Career Donald Stoker was a Professor of Strategy and Policy for the U.S. Naval War College’s program at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California for 18 years. He was a Visiting Fellow and Fulbright Visiting Professor of International Relations, Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Austria during the 2017-2018 academic year. In 2021, he became Professor of National Security and Resource Strategy at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School of the National Defense University in Washington, DC.

Publications Britain, France, and the Naval Arms Trade in the Baltic, 1919-1939: Grand Strategy and Failure. London: Frank Cass, 2003. Girding for Battle: The Arms Trade in a Global Perspective, 1815 - 1940. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. Military Advising and Assistance: From Mercenaries to Privatization, 1815-2007. London: Routledge, 2008. With Harold D. Blanton, and Frederick C. Schneid. Conscription in the Napoleonic Era: A Revolution in Military Affairs? London: Routledge, 2009. The Grand Design: Strategy and the U.S. Civil War. Oxford; New York : Oxford University Press, 2010. With Kenneth J. Hagan, and Michael T. McMaster. Strategy in the American War of Independence: A Global Approach. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010. Clausewitz: His Life and Work. New York : Oxford University Press, 2014. With Michael T. McMaster. Naval Advising and Assistance: History, Challenges, and Analysis. Helion and Company, 2017. ISBN 978-1911512820 With Edward Westermann. Air Force Advising and Assistance: Developing Airpower in Client States. Helion and Company, 2018. With Edward Westerman. Expeditionary Police Advising and Militarization: Building Security in a Fractured World. Helion and Company, 2018. ISBN 978-1911512868 Why America Loses Wars: Limited War and American Strategy Since Korea. Cambridge University Press, 2019. Second edition, paperback, 2021. ISBN 978-1009220866 With John Dunn. A Naval History of the Middle East: 500-2020. Helion and Company, 2024. ISBN 978-1804512340 Purpose and Power: US Grand Strategy from the Revolutionary Era to the Present. Cambridge University Press, 2024. ISBN 978-1009257275

Awards The Grand Design was recognized with Fletcher Pratt award for best non-fiction Civil War book of 2010 by the Civil War Round Table of New York and was a Main Selection of the History Book Club.

He was named as an Outstanding Alumnus of Valdosta State University by the Department of History in 2014.