Jonathan
Epstein
Adjunct
Room number
8.65.03NB
Education

PhD   Graduate Center of the City University of New York
MA     Teachers College of Columbia University
MPhil Graduate Center of the City University of New York

AB     Columbia College of Columbia University

Bio

Jonathan Epstein, Adjunct Associate Professor of History, earned his AB from Columbia College and his MA from Teachers College of Columbia University. He received his PhD from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York for his analysis of interwar Belgian defense policy. Brill published his book Belgium's Dilemma: The Formation of the Belgian Defense Policy, 1932-1940 in 2014. He has also had an article and three book reviews published. He has presented numerous papers on Belgian military history and other topics.

Scholarly Work

Publications:
Book:

Belgium's Dilemma: The Formation of Belgian Defense Policy, 1932-1940 (Leiden: Brill, 2014)

Book Reviews:

October 2014: Henri Pirenne, Belgium and the First World War. new English edition, in the Journal of Military History
January 2010: Geir H. Harr, The German Invasion of Norway, April 1940 in the Journal of Military  History
September 2006: Larry Zuckerman, The Rape of Belgium: The Untold Story of World War I in H-Net Reviews

Papers Presented:

September 2022: “Raoul van Overstraeten and the Belgian Army of 1940” at the Northern Great Plains History Conference
September 2021: Chair to “American Experiences in World War I” at the Northern Great Plains History Conference
May 2021: “The Setting of the Red-Yellow-Black Sun: The Story of the Interwar Belgian Air Force” to the Society for Military History Annual Conference
March 2021: “Civil-Military Relations in World War I Belgium” at From Hoplites to GWOT: A Regional SMH Great Plains History Conference 
September 2019: Chair and Comments to “Ancient and Medieval Warfare” at the Northern Great Plains History Conference
May 2019: “The Importance of Fort Eben-Emael to the Campaign in the West: A Reassessment” to the Society for Military History Annual Conference
March 2019: Comments to “Trial and Development in World War II” at the Missouri Valley History Conference
February 2018: “Dunkirk: The Prequel,” lecture of opportunity, to the United States Naval War College
October 2017: Comments to “Asia” at the Northern Great Plains History Conference
September 2016: " The 1928 Mixed Commission and the Beginning of Belgian Rearmament" to the Northern Great Plains History Conference
March 2013: "Poilu and Jew: Jewish Soldiers in the French Army from Dreyfus to Versailles" to the Missouri Valley History Conference
November 2008: "Belgian Defense Policy, 1920-1940" to "Small Powers in the Age of Total War 1900-1940" at the Netherlands Defense Academy
April 2008: "'They Keep a Good Watch':Couverture, Defense a la Frontiere, and Plans for Defense against Germany" to the Society for Military History
March 2008: "May 1940: A Belgian Perspective" to the Missouri Valley History Conference
January 2008: "Rarely Told Tales of May-June 1940" to the New York Military Affairs Symposium
May 2006: “1936: Belgium and the Increasing German Threat” to the Society for Military History Annual Conference
March 2005: “’Better than that, Madame, we have been motorized!’: The Motorization
of the Belgian Corps de Cavalerie 1934-1940” to the Missouri Valley History Conference
April 2004: “’. . . . And that goes for all you damned Flemings, too!’: The Language
Issue in the Belgian Army, 1914-1940” to the New York Military Affairs Symposium
March 2004: “’Equality of Rights’ or ‘Linguistic Revenge’: The Flemish Question, the
1938 Belgian Army Language Law, and 1940” to the Missouri Valley History Conference
May 2003: “Between France and Germany: The Formation of Belgian Defense Policy,
1932-1940” to the New York Military Affairs Symposium
March 6, 2003: “Covering all the Bases: Belgian Defenses against France, 1936-1940” to the
Missouri Valley History Conference
December 2001: “British and German Propaganda aimed at Americans during World War I” to the New York Military Affairs Symposium
November 1999: “Massacre at Fort Pillow, Tennessee” to History, the Military and Society VI, The Annual Graduate Student Conference on Military     History, The Ohio State University

Research Summary

1928 Belgian Mixed Commission