[1][2][3] Davis earned his bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University.

[1] He attended graduate school at Indiana University, where he obtained his MA and PhD, focusing on Russian history.

[1] Davis wrote his dissertation on Vladimir Lenin and theories of warfare, especially those of Clausewitz.

He coauthored The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S. - Soviet Relations with Eugene P. Trani, an American diplomatic historian.

In 2004, Davis retired from Illinois State University after 40 years of teaching courses in European, Russian, and Soviet history.