Digital Commons Network^™

Survivor Accounts Of Sexual Violence In The Holocaust And Rwandan Genocide: A Comparative History, Marisa Silva

Honors Projects

This research seeks to analyze and understand the approach and treatment of victims of sexual assaults stories and accounts using case studies of the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. Research was conducted by collecting and reading first-hand accounts of survivors and their experiences of sexual assault, then analyzing the historical response following the events. The two case studies are synthesized and compared in this project to understand which attributes of political and social policy effected the reception of stories of victims and witnesses of rape and assault. Both genocides are affected by unique struggles in collecting witness accounts, as well …

Off The Press: Exploring Reproducible War Art, Emily Rose Hankins

Theses and Dissertations

Aspects of modernity, such as the news cycle and ever-changing technologies, have played large roles in the construction of the history of wars through the power of reproducible war art imagery as seen in various public spheres and contexts. These include engravings and photographs of the war in news publications, propaganda posters promoting patriotism, protest posters pleading for peace, and prints and books made by artists for display in galleries. The inundation of these images become ubiquitous with the conflict, and the artists who have a hand in creating these images also have the power to construct and reconstruct histories, …

The 1863 Invasion Of Pennsylvania, Michael J. Gallagher

Theses

Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of Pennsylvania in 1863 was a grave mistake, on a variety of levels, which ultimately culminated in a crippling defeat at Gettysburg. After the Army of Northern Virginia successfully defended southern territory against northern attacks, the transition to an offensive strategy, advancing north in to Pennsylvania was a vast miscalculation. Lee’s army now traversed enemy territory, leaving behind the advantages of a campaign on southern territory and abandoning a defensive posture. This transition to fighting on enemy territory brought several difficulties that Lee seemingly overlooked, and presented challenges for which Lee was unprepared. Lee …

Paradoxes Of The Heart And Mind: Three Case Studies In White Identity, Southern Reality, And The Silenced Memories Of Mississippi Confederate Dissent, 1860-1979, Billy Loper

Master's Theses

This thesis is meant to advance scholars understanding of the processes by which various groups silenced the memory of Civil War white dissent in Mississippi. It analyzes three case studies: F. A. P. Barnard’s 1860 trial for abolitionism, the transformation of community memory which surrounded Newt Knight in the early twentieth century, and Mississippi’s interaction with the Civil War through popular culture. These examples will reveal the cultural and discursive systems that have existed in the state for more than a century. This work argues that Mississippians silenced the memory of racial dissent throughout the state’s history because it conflicted …

Teaching The Lessons Of The Vietnam War And Applying Them To The War In Afghanistan: Lesson Plans For A Sophomore Us History Class, Zoe Bond

Honors Projects

This project is a series of lesson plans for a 10^th grade US History class detailing the lessons of the Vietnam War and how they have and haven’t been used by President Obama in his decisions during the War in Afghanistan. The lesson plan uses Differentiation and Universal Design for Learning to accommodate every student in the class. The goal of this project was to teach original research in a way that promotes inquiry even if there is no correct answer at that time.

Actions Above Words: A Biography Of Vice Admiral Clifton “Ziggy” Sprague, John Kirwan

Undergraduate Theses

Among the many larger than life and fascinating figures of the Second World War, one who is seldom spoken of is the late Vice Admiral Clifton A.F. "Ziggy" Sprague. A quiet man from New England, Admiral Sprague was an accomplished pilot, administrator, and commander. From service during the First World War to assisting in the testing of nuclear devices following the end of the Second World War, Sprague was a force behind the scenes. He was devoted to his profession and refused to play the political game those above him did, preferring that his actions speak greater volumes than any …

The Ethics Of Aerial Bombardment In International Conflicts: From Douhet To Drones, Rauan Zhaksybergen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In this thesis, I demonstrate how the question of ethics in aerial bombardment has been evolving and transforming since its inception at the beginning of the twentieth century to contemporary targeted killings/assassinations by drones. I interact with early airpower theories from Douhet, Trenchard, Mitchell, and contemporary air tactics in order to establish a crucial sequence between these early theories and practices of aerial violence and modern ones conducted by armed drones. I show how the evolution of aerial bombardment challenged, influenced, and transformed essentials of conventional warfare, as well as dispersed boundaries between combatants and non-combatants. Contemporary legally uncontrolled targeted …

“Going Over The Top” – The Impact Of World War I On Three Leaders Of World War Ii, Nick Sage

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the impact that service in the First World War had on three global leaders of the Second World War: Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, and Harry Truman. Through analysis of original documents from the Churchill Archive Center, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, and the archives of the National World War I Museum, this project contends that the years 1914-1918 became a common point of reference and reflection for these three leaders—especially in their private musings and public rhetoric during World War II. Additionally, primary evidence reveals that the personal narratives of wartime service that these …

Remembering An Invasion: The Panama Intervention In America’S Political Memory, Dave Nagaji

Senior Theses

In December of 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, a military invasion of the country of Panama, capturing Manuel Noriega and overthrowing his government. This research project examines how Colin Powell, Richard Cheney, James Baker, and George H.W. Bush presented Operation Just Cause in their memoirs. It attempts to determine how these senior leaders’ depictions of this invasion incorporated it into the Bush administration’s overall foreign-policy strategy. The research finds that their general approach was to present the Panama intervention as an isolated incident which had no intentional link to other major events at the time, was not …

Honor, Courage, Commitment: Navy Recruitment Posters In World War Ii, Shelby A. Georges

Honors College Theses

Navy recruitment posters from World War II are an important piece of American culture. The iconic signage can be seen in antique stores and textbooks alike. However, these posters provide more than just bold imagery and vintage decor. By analyzing recruitment posters as if they were advertisements and placing them in the context of the time period, many facets of American identity can be understood, especially regarding race, gender, and patriotism. These posters, while they almost never stated the specific outlined duties of Naval careers or requirements for enlisting, advertised to readers under the premise that they understood the guidelines …

Manipulated Museum History And Silenced Memories Of Aggression: Historical Revisionism And Japanese Government Censorship Of Peace Museums, Benjamin P. Birdwhistell

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Japanese government has a vested interest in either avoiding discussion of its war-torn past or arguing for a revisionist take. The need to play up Japanese victimization over Japanese aggression during World War II has led to many museums having their exhibits censored or revised to fit this narrative goal. During the 1990’s, Japan’s national discourse was more open to discussions of war crimes and the damage caused by their aggression. This in turn led to the creation of many “peace museums” that are intended to discuss and confront this history as frankly as possible. At the beginning of …

The Demilitarization Of Costa Rica, Patrick Buscone

College Honors Program

Costa Rica is one of the few developed countries in the world to be completely demilitarized. In the first chapter, this thesis explores why the country decided to demilitarize and how effective their demilitarization has been. Further statistical analysis is applied in Chapter 2 to determine the effect military spending has on growth in Latin America. With Costa Rica experiencing great stability and growth following their demilitarization and the statistical analysis showing military spending to have a negative impact on growth in Latin America, the third and final chapter explores other Latin American countries that could benefit from demilitarization.

Privileged Killers, Privileged Deaths: German Culture And Aviation In The First World War: 1909-1925, Robert William Rennie

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines aviation’s influence on German cultural and social history between 1908 and 1925. Before the First World War, aviation embodied one of many new features of a rapidly modernizing Germany. In response, Germans viewed flight as either a potentially transformative tool or a possible weapon of war. The outbreak of war in 1914 moved aviation away from its promised potential to its lived reality. In doing so, the airplane became a machine which compressed time and space, reordered the spatial arrangement of the battlefield, and transformed the human relationship with killing. Germany’s fliers initially served as observers, noting …

For Country, Liberty, And Money: Privateering And The Ideologies Of The American Revolution, Scott D. Wagner

Senior Independent Study Theses

Along with service in the Continental Army and Navy and the various state militias, American patriots during the Revolutionary War had the option of sailing aboard privateers, private ships authorized to attack British commerce during the war. Where studies analyzing other military forces during the Revolution have been more nuanced, scholars that have looked at privateering have either focused on its strategic effectiveness during the conflict or merely written it off as a profit-driven phenomenon of maritime plunder. Privateering played a role in the course of the Revolution to a degree, but more importantly the practice was influenced by the …

Attitudes About Work And Time In Los Angeles, 1769-1880, Tyler D. Lachman Mr.

Theses

This thesis argues that the industrious Californio people continued to prosper in Los Angeles after statehood in 1850. Certain historians have emphasized the hardworking Californio culture at various points in Los Angeles history. But no one has defended their overall work ethic. Thus, this thesis goes farther than other historians in discrediting the notion that Californio Angelinos died out quickly because they could not sustain success under American leadership.

The Reality Of Combat!: An Analysis Of Historical Memory In Broadcast Television, Kaleb Q. Wentz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the World War II television drama COMBAT!, which ran from 1962 to 1967, and how this program dealt with and addressed the national memory of the Second World War. The way in which the “Good War” is remembered has changed over time. In the years of the conflict and immediately following its conclusion, there was a sense of zealous patriotism surrounding the war, but as our culture changed, a more critical approach was taken.

This paper examines the way in which the show deals with its two main subjects – the American forces …

A Mind At War: Erga Paraloga In Thucydides' History, Damon George Korf

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

A Sickly Season: The Royal Canadian Navy And The Mainguy Commission, Keith D. Calow

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ABSTRACT

This dissertation examines the proceedings of the Mainguy Commission, which was established in 1949 to investigate and report on a series of three “incidents” of collective disobedience which had taken place aboard Canadian warships in the early months of that year. The “incidents” were the culmination of a series of challenges that the senior staff was already endeavouring to address internally. Media and political attention to the indiscipline, however, brought the minister to insist that there be a public enquiry.

Historians who have examined the report of the Mainguy Commission have generally accepted that in calling for the Canadianization …

The Government Facilitation Of North Korea's Human Rights Abuses Eclipsed By The Threat Of Nuclear War, Kim Kathryn Angstro Doom

Senior Projects Fall 2015

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Spirit Of His Men: The Development Of The Lord Nelson Legend, 1805-1905, Alexa M. Price

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Mastering The Patrol: A Look At The Importance Of Training For American Pilots In The Battle Of The Atlantic, Ethan M. Feinstein

Senior Independent Study Theses

This thesis studies the role of training in the Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. I argue that training played a significant role in this decisive battle in World War II. I detail the different stages of training for both the Navy and Army Air Force.

Klotzen, Nicht Kleckern (Strike Together, Not Divided!): The Panzer Divisions As New Dominating Strategy Of Modern Warfare, Stefano Alianelli

Senior Independent Study Theses

The beginning of the Second World War was dominated by a new type of strategy developed by German General Heinz Guderian that overwhelmed the Allied armies in Poland and France. Guderian argued that the best way to win on the battlefield and avoid the stalemate of World War I should be done through the use of tanks grouped together in formation: the product of this strategy was embodied in the Panzer divisions that, through mobility and coordination of multiple weapons, were able to breach the enemy's defensive lines with devastating effects.

The Environmental And Cultural Effects On The Conquest Of Mexico, Tristan Siegel

Senior Projects Spring 2012

In this work I examine the environment and cultural attitudes of Mesoamericans, specifically the Mexica (Atzec), and how these factors played a role in the Conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortes. I begin by examining Mesoamerican agriculture, lithic technology, and metallurgy. I conclude by examining how these factors played out in the Conquest.

Newe Country: Environmental Degradation, Resource War, Irrigation And The Transformation Of Culture On Idaho's Snake River Plain, 1805--1927, Sterling Ross Johnson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Idaho's Shoshone and Bannock Indians have long relied upon the Snake River. The waterway provides salmon and waters the vast Camas Prairie. On the prairie grows the Camas plant, the roots of which Shoshones and Bannocks harvest as a staple of their diet. Grass also grows on the prairie and the surrounding plains, which fed huge herds of bison that Shoshones and Bannocks also relied upon for food and skins to wear and trade. As a result of integration into the globalizing economy initiated by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, indigenous peoples of the area and Euroamericans overhunted bison populations, …

The Experience Of The 756th Tank Battalion In World War Two: A Microcosm, Scott Millenbach

Senior Theses

December 7, 1941, "a day which will live in infamy," was the moment that the United States was plunged into the largest conflict that the world had ever seen. The sovereignty of the United States was being threatened at two ends of the globe by tyrannical leaders on the continent of Europe and the islands of the Pacific. In the years to come, the U.S. would have to fight to stop the spread of Emperor Hirohito's army in the Pacific and Hitler's Nazi Wermacht in Europe. It would take all the resources our mighty country could muster and the fighting …

Jubal Early’S Trains: The Battle Of Lynchburg In Historical Memory, John G. Marks

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

On June 18, 1901, Charles Minor Blackford, brother of Battle of Lynchburg veteran Eugene Blackford, made a speech commemorating the thirty-five year anniversary of the Lynchburg Campaign. In the Battle of Lynchburg, as a part of the wider Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864, General Jubal Early and the Confederate force defended the city from General David Hunter and the Union in a two-day engagement, marked mostly by skirmishing. Blackford stated in this speech that, “During the night of the 17th, a yard engine, with box cars attached, was run up and down the Southside Railroad, making as much noise as …

Recruiting A Lady: The Depiction Of The Women's Army Corps, Amanda Rutherford

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The Women's Army Corps [WAC] proves to be an interesting topic for reading and analysis for students of the Army in WWII. One can see a good deal of patriotism in the examination of how WAC was formed and 'how women were recruited. Patriotism greatlyfueled all of the propaganda sun-ounding the Women's Army Corps. Patriotism was also at the root of most of the scholarship on the Women's Army Corps, thus it is at the heart of theArmy sanctioned story of the WAC. This Army sanctioned story is cemented most in Mattie E. Treadwell's The Women's Army Corps, which was …

Confederate Matrons : Women Who Served In Virginia Civil War Hospitals, A. Elise Allison

Honors Theses

In September 1862, the Confederate Congress authorized hospitals to employ white women as chief matrons, assistant matrons, and ward matrons. This paper examines the lives and experiences of matrons who worked in Confederate hospitals in Virginia. It concludes that only ''exceptional" women with the stamina to endure physical and mental hardships were able to defy conventional ideas about their proper role and contribute to the care of Confederate sick and wounded as matrons.

Origins Of The Commonwealth Of Puerto Rico In The Context Of United States Strategic Interests In The Caribbean (1938-1950), Francisco J. Gonzalez Sosa

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this paper is to explore the political and military considerations that provided the frame of reference for the promulgation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952. Since 1492 possession of this island has been coveted by nations with vital interest in the Caribbean region. To the United States, who conquered the island in 1898, Puerto Rico formed the backbone of the defense perimeter for the Panama Canal and adjacent shipping lanes. Experience during World War 11 and the subsequent threat from the Soviet Union reinforced the military value of the island. The importance of the geostrategic …

The Tripolitan War, 1911-1912, John D. Lyon Jr.

All Master's Theses

This paper presents an analysis of the forces of the "new imperialism" that led Italy to war with Turkey in 1911-1912. The interests of the Powers of Europe and America in the area of the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa are examined. The focal point is a resumé of the military aspects of the Tripolitan War. The concluding chapters deal with diplomatic reactions to Italy's conquest of Tripolitania and the judgment that Italy did not benefit from her imperial adventure.