Robert Cowley is an American military historian whose work spans American and European military history, with particular focus on the period from the American Civil War through World War II. Throughout his career, he has held several senior positions in book and magazine publishing. Cowley is best known as the founding editor of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, a publication dedicated to military history scholarship and analysis. Beyond his editorial work, he has written extensively on military history topics and has edited three collections of essays in counterfactual history under the What If? series, exploring alternate historical scenarios and their implications.