Biography
Professor Paine, William S. Sims University Professor Emerita of History and Grand Strategy, has taught strategy at the Naval War College since 2000. She lectures on geopolitics, Mao, and the Russo-Japanese, world, Chinese civil, Korean, Vietnam and Cold wars. Her books are based on 9 years overseas, with multiple years in Taiwan and Japan, and a year each in China, Russia, Australia, and Britain. They focus on the relations among China, Russia, and Japan, and on the operational and strategic effects of naval blockades, commerce raiding, naval coalitions, peripheral operations, non-military uses of navies, and fleets in being. She also held the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History billet.
Online Materials
Dwarkesh Patel Youtube: Episodes 1 – 9
S. C. M. Paine, “By Land or by Sea: Continental Power, Maritime Power, and the Fight for a New World Order,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2025, published on 19 August 2025. | Online Foreign Affairs Article
“2022 George C. Marshall Lecture in Military History: Centuries of Security: Chinese, Russian, and U.S. Continental versus Maritime Approaches,” The Journal of Military History, 86 (October 2022): 813-36. | Online Journal Article | Delivered virtually at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Historical Association.
“The Unknown Unknowns,” H-Diplo Essay 368–S.C.M. Paine on Learning the Scholar’s Craft, 21 September 2021 | Online H-Diplo Article
"Interview: Sarah C. Paine: A scholar of the 20th century explains the conflicts of the 21st ,”Noahpinion, Noah Smith, 30 Jan 2024 | Online Article
“Munk Dialogue with Sarah Paine: The Rise of the Russia-China Axis,” Munk Debates podcast, 22 February 2024 | Online Podcast
Research Contributions & Publications
From Quills to Tweets: How America Communicates about War and Revolution, co-edited with Andrea J. Dew and Marc A. Genest. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2019.
Modern China: Continuity and Change, 1644 to the Present, 2nd edition, co-authored with Bruce A. Elleman. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
Navies and Soft Power: Historical Case Studies of Naval Power and the Nonuse of Military Force, co-edited with Bruce A. Elleman. Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 2015. 228 pages, paperback. Free Online Copy
Commerce Raiding: Historical Case Studies, 1755-2009, co-edited with Bruce A. Elleman. Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 2013. Free Online Copy
The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Naval Power and Expeditionary Wars: Peripheral Campaigns and New Theaters of Naval Warfare, co-edited with Bruce A. Elleman. London: Routledge, 2011.
Nation Building, State Building and Economic Development: Case Studies and Comparisons. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2010.
Naval Coalition Warfare: From the Napoleonic War to Operation Iraqi Freedom, co-edited with Bruce A. Elleman. London: Routledge, 2008.
Naval Blockades and Seapower: Strategies and Counter-Strategies 1805-2005, co-edited with Bruce A. Elleman. London: Routledge, 2006.
The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Imperial Rivals: China, Russia, and Their Disputed Frontier, 1858-1924. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1996.
Awards & Fellowships
US Navy Superior Civilian Service Award, 2025
US Navy Civilian Service Commendation Medal, 18 June 2021, for chairing the inaugural Faculty Senate
Book awards: Gelber prize long list, Leopold Prize, and PROSE Award for European & World History winner for The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949.
Book Award: 1997 Barbara Jelavich Prize for diplomatic history from the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies for Imperial Rivals: China, Russia, and Their Disputed Frontier, 1858-1924.
Fellowship: W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Bittson National Fellow at the Hoover Institution, fall 2013–Spring 2014
Fellowship: Harold White Fellow, National Library of Australia, Canberra, November 2007–June 2008
Fellowship: Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, Scholar Grant, July 2007–June 2008
Fellowship: Earhart Foundation Grant, nation-building project, July 2007–June 2008
Fellowship: Earhart Foundation Grant, nation-building project, July 2007–June 2008
Fellowship: Fulbright Grant, Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, Researcher in Tokyo, Japan, Spring 1998–Fall 1998
Fellowship: Stanford University, Hoover Institution, Title VIII Fellow, Visting Scholar, Fall 1993; Spring 1994–Spring 1995
Fellowship: Social Science Research Council, Russia & Soviet Studies Program, Dissertation Write-up, Summer–Fall 1992
Fellowship: Columbia University, President’s Fellowship, Fall 1991–Spring 1992
Fellowship: Fulbright Grant, Institute of International Education, Archival Research, Taipei, Taiwan, Fall 1991–Spring 1992
Fellowship: China Times Cultural Foundation, Archival Research, Taipei, Taiwan, Spring–Summer 1991
Fellowship: Committee for Scholarly Communication with the PRC, Archival Research, Beijing and Nanjing, China, Spring–Fall 1990
Fellowship: International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), Long-term Exchange of Advanced Researchers to the USSR, Fall 1988–Spring 1989
Fellowship: Columbia University, East Asian Institute, Departmental Research Assistantship, Fall 1986
Fellowship: IREX, Developmental Fellowship, Language Study, Stanford Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Fall 1985–Summer 1986
Fellowship: Middlebury College, Chinese School, National Resource Fellowship, Summer 1984
Fellowship: Columbia University, School for International and Public Affairs, International Fellow, Fall 1982–Spring 1983
Fellowship: Harvard University, Center for International Affairs, Undergraduate Associate, Thesis Research, Lima, Peru, Summer 1978
Education
External Memberships & Associations
American Historical Association
Association for Asian Studies
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Naval War College Foundation
Contact
You can reach me at sarahcmpaine@gmail.com