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Learning To Fly: Military Aviation Training At Middle Tennessee State University And The Transformation Of Southern Higher Education In World War Ii, Christopher T. Crawford Jr.

History Theses & Dissertations

In December 1942 the Army Air Forces created the Army Air Forces College Training Program (AAFTP) to reduce the backlog of aviation recruits. This program, designed to provide recruits with basic flight instruction and education, established 153 units known as College Training Detachments (CTD) on college campuses throughout the U.S. This thesis provides a history of the AAFTP and examines the wartime role of universities and the effect of military training on colleges in the American South. The first chapter examines the AAFTP from the military perspective, the state of the AAF leading into WWII, and the forces that drove …

The Tactical Flexibility Of The Union Cavalry: How Modern Firearms Changed The Federal Cavalry, Peter J. Francione

History Theses & Dissertations

The history of warfare is replete with episodes chronicling the struggle between developing tactics with technological advances. From the bow to the smoothbore musket, military leaders have always been forced to alter their tactics in order to take advantage of technological advances. During the American Civil War the Union cavalry was able to achieve great heights by wedding their tactics to the advanced firearms their troopers carried. Realizing the potential of breech-loading and repeating firearms the Union cavalry, from 1861-1865, developed a flexible set of tactics that took advantage of those modern weapons. Their efforts came to fruition as the …

Flaws In The Armor Of The Grand Illusion: Dissent, Reluctance, And Disaffection Toward The Confederate Cause In The Central Shenandoah Valley - A Study Of Page County Virginia, Robert H. Moore Ii

History Theses & Dissertations

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was critical to the Confederacy, not only for its strategic importance, but also as a supplier of food and manpower. Due to its agricultural productivity, the area was known early on as the "Breadbasket of the Confederacy." Additionally, many of the units formed from this area were considered among the elite of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and included the famed "Stonewall Brigade." Thus, it has long been assumed that the great majority of the Valley's white residents strongly supported the Confederate cause.

However, in stark contrast to these assumptions, this paper …

The Business Of War: Military Mobilization And The State, 1861-1865, Harold S. Wilson

History Faculty Publications

This is essentially an institutional study of the Union Quartermaster Department in the American Civil War, and its central thesis is that “modern American business and government were shaped directly and indirectly by a military model of administration that had been on display in 1861–1865” (p. 4).