History Commons^™

Thither The Russian Navy? Putin’S Navalization In A Historical Context, William Emerson Bunn

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The Syrian operation of 2012 was the first successful employment by Russia of expeditionary warfare, narrowly defined as naval support to Russian (or Soviet) ground forces in a war away from their periphery (i.e., in a country that does not border them), from the sea. This was brought about in part by the development of two types of cruise missiles: advanced anti-ship missiles (which protects their expeditionary force from NATO naval units, enabling local sea control) and new land attack cruise missiles (similar in design and capability to the U.S. Tomahawk). In the past geographical, technological and political constraints …

The Guns Of Fort Monroe, Chris Fox

Student Posters: GIS Day

The objective of this research project is to analyze the interlocking fields of fire from the field artillery positions around the Bastion known as Fort Monroe located in Hampton Virginia. The research project will allow for the visualization of the artillery positions around the fort in one overview, as well as line of sight analysis from each artillery position within the moat. An analysis and line of sight for the artillery positions outside of the fort was also conducted. The 12 Inch M1895 and M1900 disappearing guns were the largest guns used at the fort and fired a projectile that …

"Elite Assault:" The 85th Infantry Division In Italy, 1944-1945, Charles Ross Patterson Ii

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis fills a major gap in the historiography of the Second World War by emphasizing the role of drafted divisions in the United States Army. Specifically, this thesis examines the 85th Infantry Division from its formation in May 1942 to its disbanding in August 1945. This thesis challenges the age-old assumption that conscripted soldiers were inferior to volunteer forces. By the 1940s, the United States retained a long-standing prejudice against drafted troops dating back to the poorly-executed drafts of the American Civil War, with many citizens arguing that volunteers were better soldiers. The 85th Division stands in direct contradiction …

"We Are No Grumblers": Negotiating State And Federal Military Service In The Pennsylvania Reserve Division, Timothy J. Orr

History Faculty Publications

The article discusses the status of state and federal military officers from Pennsylvania during the U.S. Civil War. It examines the alleged confusion as to the expiration of contracts for soldiers and sailors in the Pennsylvania Reserve Division who had enlisted in 1861. According to the article, the problems arose from organizational difficulties as the mobilization of the Union army fluctuated following the 1861 call to volunteer service from state governors. The article states that following that call, soldiers were transferred from state service into federal service. According to the article, the organizational dilemma caused discord among the Pennsylvania Reserve …

Closing The Greenland-Iceland Atlantic Air-Gap: 1939 To 1943, James F. Boland

History Theses & Dissertations

The Battle of the Atlantic during World War II centered on the submarine guerre de course of the German Kriegsmarine, aimed at severing the maritime bridge between Great Britain and North America. From 1939 until mid-1943 all of the belligerents involved struggled to balance the scarce resources they could marshal for the fight. For the Allies the limited number and quality of escort ships and patrol aircraft they could muster reflected this scarcity. During the summer of 1943 the Allies achieved their turning point in the battle when a complex mix of factors coalesced. Prominent among those factors was …

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 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).

The Interaction Of Domestic Politics And English Naval Operations During The Civil War And Interregnum, 1642-1660, Don P. Crowson

History Theses & Dissertations

The interaction of domestic politics and the English Navy during the Civil Wars and the following interregnum is analyzed. The period of interest is during the reign of Charles I (1646-1649); the Commonwealth (1649-1653), when the government functioned essentially as a republic; and the Protectorate, (1653-1660), when the executive function was performed first by Oliver Cromwell and then by his son, Richard Cromwell. A brief description of the immediate preceding years is included to establish the political climate of the time.

The major events with political implications are considered in detail. They are: (1) the struggle between Parliament and the …

The Faux Pas Of A Vert Galant: The Historiography Of Henry Iv's Military Leadership, Annette Finley-Croswhite

History Faculty Publications

Even though many modern historians agree that Henry IV was less than a brilliant military commander, a small but growing body of revisionist historians believe that his reputation deserves to be reassessed. While acknowledging his military innovations and battlefield successes, his critics see him primarily as an opportunist with a reckless streak who failed time and again to take full advantage of his victories. The revisionist school, however, believes that these interpretations are based on an inaccurate assessment of early modern warfare and its unique political, religious, and social components. Henry's modern defenders further note that his reputation has suffered …

In The Shadow Of The Fleet: The Development Of American Submarines Between The World Wars, Stephen J. Brady

History Theses & Dissertations

At the close of the First World War, American submarines compared most unfavorably with those of Germany and Great Britain. German submarines sank over 5000 ships, while the British submarine campaign, much less ambitious by design, was still credited with sinking 54 warships and 274 other vessels. Standing in stark contrast, American submarines did not sink a single ship. However, by the end of the Second World War, American submarines would sink over 1300 Japanese merchantmen and warships. This ultimate success was hard won, for attempts to modernize American submarine designs between the wars were continually stifled by advocates of …

Buying For The Cold War: Influences On Air Force Procurement, 1945-1956, William Cline

History Theses & Dissertations

Military planning and buying changed dramatically after World War II as more attention and resources were applied toward the development of a strategy that made air power the center of strategic thinking. Nevertheless, when by 1947, aircraft production dropped so low as to threaten the viability of the aircraft industry, President Truman formed the President's Air Policy Commission, which spawned a cooperative effort between government and industry.

The relationship between government officials, particularly in the military, and industry executives became so close in the next decade that the health of the aircraft industry became linked with that of the military. …

Hanover Courthouse: The Union's Tactical Victory And Strategic Failure, Jerry Joseph Coggeshall

History Theses & Dissertations

The Battle of Hanover Courthouse was the high water mark of the Union's Peninsular Campaign: the battle was a decisive Federal victory, but disjointed leadership by the Union high command squandered the ensuing strategic opportunities. This research project will evaluate the complex strategic situation which developed in the area of Hanover Courthouse as the Union high command attempted to reinforce the Army of the Potomac in its drive on Richmond in May of 1862.

The goal of this study will be to expose the strategic opportunities which were lost to the Union at Hanover Courthouse as a result of disjointed …

The Men Behind The Oath: A Profile Of The German Officer Corps In The Interwar Period, 1919-1939, Brian E. Crim

History Theses & Dissertations

The predominance of technocrats within the Reichswehr, the inability of the officer corps to reassert its elite status in the Weimar era, and the extensive interaction between the Reichswehr and a militaristic German society contributed to Hitler's successful absorption of military authority in the 1930s. The social and political upheaval resulting in part from the First World War diffused military authority and diminished the role of the officer corps in German society. The corps struggled to maintain its historic level of corporateness and consistently failed to fulfill its responsibility to the Weimar Republic. The Reichswehr's top officers worked to revitalize …

The Marine Corps In Vietnam: An Examination Of Cohesion And Effectiveness At Khe Sanh, Gregory L. Davenport

History Theses & Dissertations

The Marine defense of the Khe Sanh Combat Base in 1968 provides an isolated model to study combat cohesion and effectiveness. Focusing on Companies K and L of the 3d Battalion, 26th Regiment, reveals that cohesion and effectiveness were composed of four interlocking components: universal, cultural, institutional, and situational. Universal sources include the primary group, ideology, esprit de corps, small unit leadership, and social systems. Culturally, Marine recruitment images and pop-culture literature and cinema, which highlighted the Corps and combat as epitomizing manhood, influenced the Khe Sanh marines. Institutionally, the Corps used Marine history and gender manipulation during boot …

Partnership Of Necessity: The Anglo-American Intelligence Relationship From 1921 To 1942, H. Douglas Brooks Iii

History Theses & Dissertations

Throughout the period between the two world wars, Great Britain and the United States were embroiled in an imperialistic rivalry focused heavily in East Asia. The strong sense of competition and mistrust between the navies of the two nations hindered the development of close cooperation as war became imminent in the late 1930s. This state of affairs encompassed every aspect of naval operations, including signal intelligence whose officials sought to forge a working relationship beneficial to both countries in the opening days of the Second world War. Old prejudices and outdated perceptions of national interest were difficult to overcome even …

Judicial Intelligence: Allied Signal Intelligence And The War Crimes Trials Of Class "A" War Criminals At The International Military Tribunal For The Far East, 1946-1948, William Todd Baker

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the use of Allied signal intelligence as evidence in the prosecution of Japanese military and political leaders accused of major war crimes before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in 1946-1948. Allied signal intelligence helped illuminate Japan's participation in the Second World War. MAGIC signal intelligence, as part of a larger body of evidence presented by the prosecution, served also to aid in the convictions of Japanese military and political leaders accused as Class “A” war criminals. This study is based on documentary evidence from the thirty-nine reel microform collection of official Court Papers, two …

Naval Airborne Early Warning 1945-1985, Edwin Leigh Armistead

History Theses & Dissertations

Airborne Early Warning (AEW) is the act of carrying a search radar aloft that can actively detect and even control aircraft and ships where a radar mounted on a ship or on land cannot. The United States Navy began research during World War II to counter the low-flying aircraft threat. Development of the AEW aircraft, however, was not complete in time to be of use during this conflict. Initially the Navy used two different aircraft, one carrier-based and the other land-based, to detect such air threats. As technology improved, these different capabilities were combined into a single airframe that contained …

U.S.S. New Ironsides: The Seagoing Ironclad In The Union Navy, William Howard Roberts

History Theses & Dissertations

Of the ironclads completed by the Union during the Civil War, only the U.S.S. New Ironsides was a seagoing, high-freeboard design. Her seagoing qualities and heavy battery made her uniquely valuable to the Union in combat. Although New Ironsides was highly successful and her high-freeboard design squarely in the European mainstream, she represented the last of her direct line in the U.S. Navy. The lessons learned from her construction and wartime service, which should have provided invaluable instruction for U.S. designers, were not followed up. By failing to develop the seagoing ironclad the United States forfeited the advantages it might …

United States Tactical Doctrine, 1855 To 1861: The Mismeasure Of Technology, Marion Vincent Armstrong Jr.

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis illuminates the state of United States Army tactical doctrine at the beginning of the Civil War. In 1855, the weapons available to the United States Army left much to be desired in terms of firepower. Their limited range and lack of accuracy meant that they could not be relied upon to render the final decision in battle. The tactical system of 1855, however, blended this firepower with the shock action effect of bayonets and sabres, permitting the capabilities of the weaponry to be maximized on the battlefield while at the same time minimizing the deficiencies.

This harmony between …

The U.S. Army And The Development Of The Rok Army: 1945-1950, Charles M. Ayers

History Theses & Dissertations

When the Korean War began in June 1950, the South Korean Army was unprepared and was unable to cope with the forces from the North. This study seeks to determine whether the decisions made by the US Army as to the building of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army during the period from 1945 to 1950 were appropriate in regard to the political and strategic situation in the Korean peninsula. The study approaches the problem by examining us documents and other archival material concerning the Army's policies toward Korea, how these policies were developed and executed, and what effect they …

Signals Intelligence In World War Ii Ultra And The Air War In Europe, Demetrio J. Perez

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

(First paragraph) In recent years the study of military intelligence, particularly when viewed from a historical context, has acquired new significance. As military historians attempt to find a correlation between wartime events and the intelligence activities supporting those events, many serious works in this field have emerged. Some accounts of World War II military intelligence deal with the subject in terms of its benefits to the field commander. Others take a more extreme view and argue that major wartime successes resulted more from good intelligence than from good leadership.

Mine Warfare In The Russian And Soviet Navies, Jeffrey K. Bray

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the development of technology, tactics, strategy, and organization of mine warfare in the Russian and Soviet navies from 1807 to the present. The author reviews the trials and tribulations of the development of naval mines and their employment within these two navies. This development has been primarily driven by the needs of war and advances of technology. In spite of occasional setbacks, the Russian and Soviet mine warfare forces continued to provide support to the overall naval and central policies of their respective governments. This support has often been during times of high tension and limited resources. …

British Foreign Policy And The Crimean War A Study In Uncoordinated Diplomacy, Ronald W. Kennedy

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of British Crimean War diplomacy. Under analysis is the pre-war era (1844-1853) and the war years (1854-1856). Intense diplomatic negotiations were in progress during most of the period immediately preceding and during the Crimean War. The diplomatic efforts to avoid war as well as negotiations to resolve the conflict were protracted and extremely complex.

This study is designed to examine British policy by focusing on what often characterized British efforts prior to, and during, the Crimean War: uncoordinated diplomacy. Although the British clearly wanted to avoid this war and to hasten its conclusion once fighting …

General John Henry Winder's Administration Of Martial Law In Richmond, 1862-1864, John Michael Cobb

History Theses & Dissertations

General John Henry Winder enforced martial law in the Confederate capital in Richmond from the winter of 1862 .to the spring of 1864. Winder's Richmond was plagued with lawlessness, disloyalty, and espionage. He was an experienced and capable commander who enforced his summary orders diligently. But Winder's regime only succeeded in managing the city for brief periods. The complex problems he confronted probably were insurmountable; by the end of his administration Richmond remained in turmoil. Several factors were responsible for this: numerous people were willing to risk prison to participate in the lucrative liquor trade, the basis for much of …

The Remarkable John Bigelow, Jr.: An Examination Of Professionalism In The United States Army, 1877-91, Howard K. Hansen Jr.

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis describes the military career of John Bigelow, Jr. , with emphasis on the professional development of United States Army officers. It questions the role Bigelow played in the formation of army professionalism, a sense of corporate responsibility to exercise military expertise correctly. A focus on Bigelow to delineate professionalism in the army provides a fresh perspective of a pivotal period in American military history in the aftermath of the Civil War and before the United States started to build a colonial empire. Bigelow articulated a comprehensive concept of total^ar as he perceived its development in the United States. …

The American-British Alliance Of World War Ii And The Debate Over European Strategy, Emory Allen Burton

History Theses & Dissertations

The American-British Alliance of World Mar II did not evolve by chance but was the result of deliberate steps wh1ch can be traced back to 1938 when naval coordination talks were conducted in London. These talks emerged from an American evaluation of defense commitments in the Pacific and recognition that British cooperation would be valued in a future war.

The theme of this study is the development of the alliance and how that process was influenced by the debate over the strategy for the war in Europe. The most important decision in this process was the Europe first policy. Roosevelt …

Controlling The Big Stick: The United States Navy And The Cuban Intervention Of September 1906, Christopher A. Abel

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

A case study method is used to examine the role played by the United States Navy in bringing about the Second Cuban Intervention of 1906-1909. The 1906 American navy had a distinct lack of centralized direction during the September crisis in Cuba. As a consequence, initiative in the crisis passed to the several naval officers representing the United States in Cuba at the time. These officers acted in consonance with the navy's own institutional agendas and contrary to the objectives of the Theodore Roosevelt administration. In so doing these officers were supported and even rewarded for their actions by the …

Curtain Of Silence Japanese In Soviet Custody, 1945-1956, William F. Nimmo

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The Soviet Union attacked- and defeated Japanese forces in Northeast Asia in the final days of the Second World War, and 2,100,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians suddenly fell into the hands of the Red Army. This thesis examines the experiences of Japanese in Soviet custody, efforts to obtain their release, and their eventual return to Japan. Repatriation of civilians from Soviet-controlled areas was slow, and military personnel were taken to the USSR for use as forced labor for several years. The Soviets conducted an intensive Marxist-Leninist indoctrination program for prisoners of war, and a professed acceptance of communism was a …

The Ellet Family And Riverine Warfare In The West--1861-1865, Jesse L. Chapman

History Theses & Dissertations

During the American Civil War the centuries-old concept of the naval ram as a military weapon was revived. The most active theater of battle for naval rams was the Western rivers. The Mississippi River in the vicinity of Vicksburg saw the first modern instance of ram fleet meeting ram fleet. To combat Confederate attacks on union vessels operating on the rivers, the Mississippi Marine Brigade was added to the Ram Fleet in 1863. This brigade was a combined force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery with naval transports which would land and attack at the first sign of Confederate activity. This …

Forgotten Campaign: The Siege Of Suffolk, April 11 - May 4, 1863, Steven A. Cormier

History Theses & Dissertations

In April 1863, the Federal garrison at Suffolk, Virginia, commanded by Major General John J. Peck, was attacked by 20,000 Confederates under Lieutenant General James Longstreet. For 22 days, Longstreet's rebels kept Peck's Federals bottled up inside Suffolk while Confederate commissary troops emptied the surrounding countryside of precious food. and forage. Peck's 25,000 Federals, most of whom had seen little previous action, and the U. S. Navy gunboats sent to protect their river flank, managed to embarrass Longstreet's veterans and prevent the garrison from being captured. Nevertheless, the Siege of Suffolk was a Confederate success. Thousands of Yankee soldiers were …