Martin van Creveld

Martin Levi van Creveld (Hebrew: מרטין ון קרפלד; born 5 March 1946) is an Israeli military historian and theorist. Van Creveld was born in the Netherlands in the city of Rotterdam to a Jewish family. His parents, Leon and Margaret, were staunch Zionists who had managed to evade the Gestapo during World War II.

In 1950, his family immigrated to Israel, and Creveld grew up in Ramat Gan. From 1964 to 1969, he studied history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and earned an M.A. From 1969 to 1971, he studied history at the London School of Economics and received a Ph.D. His thesis was titled Greece and Yugoslavia in Hitler's strategy, 1940–1941.

Van Creveld's doctoral dissertation on Hitler's strategy in the Balkans during the early years of World War II was published as a book in 1973: "Hitler's Strategy, 1940–41. The Balkan Clue." After completing his Ph.D. in 1971, van Creveld returned to Israel and began teaching at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He became a professor in 1988. In 2007, he retired from teaching at Hebrew University and began teaching at Tel Aviv University's Security Studies Program.

Van Creveld has been married twice and has three children. He lives in Mevaseret, Zion. Van Creveld is the author of thirty-three books on military history, strategy, and other topics, of which Command in War (1985), Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton (1977, 2nd edition 2004), The Transformation of War (1991), The Sword and the Olive (1998) and The Rise and Decline of the State (1999) are among the best known. Van Creveld has lectured or taught at numerous civilian and military institutes of higher learning worldwide.

Of particular significance is his 1991 book The Transformation of War (UK: On Future War), which was translated into French, German (New German edition in 2004), Russian, and Spanish. In this treatise on military theory, van Creveld develops what he calls the non-trinitarian theory of warfare, which he juxtaposes with the famous work by Clausewitz, On War.