History Commons^™

Mapping Stratcom: The Architecture Of Offutt, The U.S. Military, And Strategic Command, Anna Miles

Honors Theses

Architecture and the military have always been intertwined. The built environment both on and off U.S. military installations responds to the events, history, and influences of the military. This project explores one example of this by investigating the history of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, through the lens of architecture.

When exploring USSTRATCOM, this project aims to understand not only its history, but also its impact: on Offutt, on the world, and most importantly, on architecture. Firstly, the project explores the history of the military in the state of Nebraska and …

A Historical Analysis Of The Causes Of The French And Indian War, Jake Althouse

Honors Theses

The current study attempted to answer the following research question: what were the causes of the French and Indian War between Great Britain and France in 1754? To do so, the current study researched secondary sources from a historical perspective, political theories regarding the causes of war, and primary sources from individuals involved in the build-up to conflict. Previous research by historians and political scientists have mainly attributed the causes of the French and Indian War to a security dilemma and the spiral theory of war. The current study does not support this assertion. Instead, the current study asserts that …

Galvanized Yankees: Confederates In Union Service, Patrick O'Neil

Honors Theses

This museum exhibit explores the topic of the Galvanized Yankees, or U.S. Volunteers, who were regiments of captured Confederate soldiers that chose to take an oath of allegiance to the Union and served on the Western Frontier protecting settlers from Indian attacks. The former Confederate soldiers enlisted because it provided them an opportunity of freedom from the POW camps and an opportunity to earn a wage to provide for their families. One such soldier was James A.P. Fancher, a Confederate POW from Sparta, Tennessee. During their time in the West, the Galvanized Yankees patrolled to keep stagecoach and mail lines …

The Passive Side Of Conflict Archaeology: The 2016 To 2019 Excavations Of A Pow Mess Hall In The Honouliuli Internment And Pow Camp, Island Of O‘Ahu, Hawai‘I, William Belcher

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The archaeological investigation of Prisoner of War (POW) camps offers a glimpse into the passive side of conflict archaeology; that is, those parts of conflict related to imprisonment of enemy combatants and not active areas like forts and battlefields. This paper presents the research and field operations conducted at the Honouliuli National Historic Site during the 2016 to 2019 field seasons as part of the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu (UH West Oʻahu) archaeological field schools, particularly focused on the discovery and partial excavation of a mess hall concrete foundation or platform associated with a POW population during World War …

Take Off To Superiority: The Evolution & Impact Of U.S. Aircraft In War, Lane Weidner

Honors Theses

Military aviation has become a staple in the way wars are fought, and ultimately, won. This research paper takes a look at the ways that aviation has evolved and impacted wars across the U.S. history timeline. With a brief introduction of early flight and the modern concept of an aircraft, this article then delves into World Wars I and II, along with the Cold, Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars. The current War on Terrorism is then investigated, and finally, a look toward the future. Topics covered include the newest aircraft of each era, technological advancements, and how strategy and war …

Black Us Army Bands And Their Bandmasters In World War I, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This essay sketches the story of the bands and bandmasters of the twenty seven new black army regiments which served in the U.S. Army in World War I. The new bands underwent rapid mobilization and demobilization with their regiments over 1917-1919. They were for the most part unconnected by personnel or traditions to the long-established bands of the four black regular U.S. Army regiments that preceded them and that continued to serve outside Europe during and after the Great War. Pressed to find sufficient numbers of willing and able black band leaders for these new regiments, the Army turned to …

Black Us Army Bands And Their Bandmasters In World War I (Version Of 07/29/2016), Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This essay sketches the story of the bands and bandmasters of the twenty seven new black army regiments which served in the U.S. Army in World War I. The new bands underwent rapid mobilization and demobilization over 1917-1919. They were for the most part unconnected by personnel or traditions to the long-established bands of the four black regular U.S. Army regiments that preceded them and that continued to serve outside Europe during and after the Great War. Pressed to find sufficient numbers of willing and able black band leaders for the new regiments, the army turned to schools and the …

Review Of The Armenian Genocide: Evidence From The German Office Archives, 1915–1916, Edited By Wolfgang Gust, Bedross Der Matossian

Department of History: Faculty Publications

This edited volume should be considered as an significant contribution to the history of the Armenian Genocide. Gust has rendered an important service to scholarship by reviving for the first time in English the voices of the German diplomats and their informants who became eyewitnesses to one of the first genocides of the twentieth century. Almost all of the German observers, be they diplomats or missionaries from the period, agreed on the fact that what happened to the Armenians was an act of genocide. Now that Gust has furnished historians with a plethora of vital documents, it is the task …

Österreich Und Die Flucht Von Ns-Tätern Nach Übersee, Gerald Steinacher

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Deutschland nie wieder zu einer militärischen Bedrohung für seine Nachbarn werden. Eines der Prinzipien, auf die sich die alliierten Mächte bezüglich der Behandlung Deutschlands (und in diesem Zusammenhang auch Österreichs) einigen konnten, war die „Entnazifizierung“. In der Moskauer Deklaration hatten sie bereits 1943 festgelegt, dass die Verantwortlichen für Kriegsverbrechen und Völkermord zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden würden. Die Haupttäter1 sollten von ihnen gemeinsam abgeurteilt, andere Verbrecher an diejenigen Staaten ausgeliefert werden, wo sie ihre Taten begangen hatten. Doch sofort zeigte sich, dass die westlichen Alliierten – allen voran die USA – und die Sowjetunion zuweilen sehr unterschiedliche Auffassungen von Entnazifizierung …

“A Man With A Wide Horizon": The Postwar Professional Journey Of Ss Officer Karl Nicolussi-Leck, Gerald Steinacher

Department of History: Faculty Publications

In his biography of SS Obergruppenführer Werner Best, the German historian Ulrich Herbert coined the phrase Ausgrenzung in den Wohlstand, or "exclusion into prosperity." According to Herbert, "for those excluded from politics and public service, there remained the liberal professions and business, mostly provided by old contacts, some dating from their student days.”¹ Yet there are few studies on the postwar professional lives of former high-ranking Nazis and SS officers. Among them are Norbert Frei's edited volume Karrieren im Zwielicht (Careers in the twilight) and a dozen or so biographical studies, such as Herbert's work on Best.² Former …

Hist 208: History Of World War Ii—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Thomas Berg

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This Inquiry Portfolio explores the efficacy of the “flipped classroom” format for university-level history courses for students, the professor, and the history department. While creating a clear outline of expectations, readings, examination and quiz requirements will allow the student to better organize their study time, I wanted to know if the “flipped format” would help my students master the knowledge, develop good discussion skills, and practice critical thinking skills learned during classroom discussions. Also, not having taught any flipped courses, I needed the experience to discuss cogently with my peers the desirability and practicality of offering flipped history courses.

From Burma To Berlin: The Development Of U.S. Air Transport 1938-1949, Benjamin J. Johnson

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This work examines the development of U.S. military airlift from unproven curiosity to a transformative system of technologies, tactics and logistical support which enabled the United States to engage diplomatic and military scenarios around the world. Through an examination of contemporary reports, technological advances and statistical analyses of airlift practices it is shown that the period of 1938-1949 witnessed a great leap in tactical and technological innovation within the U.S. air transport community. The capabilities utilized during air supply missions to China during World War II and the Berlin Airlift foreshadowed a transformative capability providing military and diplomatic solutions when …

Close On The Wind: An Environmental Military History Examining Wind’S Influence On The Early United States Navy, Scott J. Beehler

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Utilizing General Carl von Clausewitz’s theory of friction in combat, Close on the Wind examines wind’s historical influence on early United States naval warfare, specifically small scale engagements fought during the Quasi War, First Barbary War, and the War of 1812. To accomplish this, the thesis first engages in a scientific discussion of wind, concentrating on how it occurs and what forces dictate its velocity and direction. The examination goes on to also present the types of wind that period sailing vessels encountered, including global, regional, and local patterns, as well as how wind influenced the practice of sailing and …

Coercive Airpower In The Precision Age: The Effects Of Precision Guided Munitions On Air Campaign Duration, Brett A. King

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prior scholarship on the duration of coercive air campaigns has often focused on regime type, the adversary’s vulnerability (of both military forces and civilian population), and the involvement of additional forces (ground/naval). Strong findings emerged that emphasized the significance of democratic attackers and the target state’s vulnerability to their political and military strategies. These findings, however, do not address the role of the technological capabilities of the attacking states’ air forces. A more detailed explanation of military capabilities may help to fill in this hole in the research, particularly how military capabilities affect the coercing state’s ability to coerce an …

Sea Power In The Precision-Missile Age, Walter E. (Ted) Carter

U.S. Navy Research

The article discusses how the use of long-range precision strike (LRPS) systems and other technological innovations have the potential to change the way sea wars are conducted. The increasing use of remotely piloted and autonomous air, surface, and sub-surface platforms can also impact sea wars. Advanced information and communications technologies also have an impact on warfare.

1. Key Trends 2. Implications for High-End Warfare at Sea 3. The Return of Command at Sea 4. New Approach to Logistics 5. Relevant Forces for the Future

Accounts Of Settler Colonialism: A Comparative Study Of The Dakota & Palestinians’ Plight, Baligh Ben Taleb

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Over the course of the nineteenth century, American settlers spread throughout the Western frontier, driving out indigenous populations to establish unique and permanent homelands of their own. In doing so, they caused the death and displacement of thousands of Plains Indians, including the Dakota people in the young state of Minnesota in 1862. Indeed, the US-Dakota War represented a salient instance of settler colonial expansion on the frontier, triggering a bloody conflict between the Dakota Sioux and American military expeditions led by Henry H. Sibley. This paper attempts to contextualize this war within the broader framework of settler colonialism and …

Dolmetscher, Spione Und Mörder: Südtiroler Im Sicherheitsdienst Des Reichsführers Ss In Italien 1943-45, Gerald Steinacher

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Bei Kriegsende 1945 blickte die Welt entsetzt auf das Ausmaß der NS-Verbrechen. Auf die Frage, wie konnte das geschehen und wer war verantwortlich für Völkermord und Krieg, verwies man meist auf eine kleine Clique (größen-) wahnsinniger Führer und ihre fanatische und mörderische SS-Gefolgschaft. Alle anderen - etwa die Angehörigen der Wehrmacht und der Waffen-SS - hatten mit den Verbrechen nichts zu tun, hieß es zumeist. Seit den 1990er Jahren hat sich diese Sichtweise in Deutschland und Österreich deutlich geändert. Das jahrzehntelange Schweigen der deutschen Gesellschaft während des Kalten Krieges bezüglich der NS-Täter wurde durchbrochen. Ausstellungen wie "Verbrechen der Wehrmacht" und …

Case Study: The Ibar Bridge Attack, Walter E. "Ted" Carter Jr.

U.S. Navy Research

In 1999, I was the commanding officer of the VF-14 ‘Tophatters’, an F-14 squadron assigned to Carrier Air Wing Eight embarked in USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). We were flying F- 14A Tomcats, the oldest Tomcats in the fleet, modified for the air-to-ground mission with the Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infra-Red for Night (LANTIRN) system. Departing in late March 1999 for a planned six-month deployment, we made a quick transit across the Atlantic Ocean with orders to be prepared for action in the Balkans. On 6 April, our squadron conducted combat operations in support of Operation Allied Force (North …

The Military-Masculinity Complex: Hegemonic Masculinity And The United States Armed Forces, 1940-1963, Brandon T. Locke

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The military-industrial complex grew rapidly in the build up to the Second World War and continued to expand in the decades that followed. The military was not only much larger, but had also changed their relationship with American citizens, impacting their lives in new and complex ways. The defensive needs of World War Two and the Cold War made the military an imperative and prestigious institution in the United States, and the Selective Service Draft, beginning in 1940 and running continuously until 1973, gave the military unfettered access to the young men of the nation.

During the same time, government …

"Il Signor Mengele Di Bolzano": L'Alto Adige Come Via Di Fuga Dei Criminali Nazisti (1945-1951), Gerald Steinacher

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Il tecnico altoatesino Richard Klement, il meccanico bolzanino Helmut Gregor: apparentemente semplici cittadini emigrati in Argentina dopo le devastazioni della seconda guerra mondiale. Ma questi nomi ne celano altri ben più noti: Adolf Eichmann e Josef Mengele. Sono solo due delle migliaia di nazisti che dopo la sconfitta, attraverso l'Alto Adige e il porto di Genova, riuscirono a raggiungere terre più sicure come Spagna, Sudamerica, Medio Oriente. Eichmann e Mengele si erano avvalsi per la loro fuga oltreoceano nel 1950 di documenti rilasciati loro in Alto Adige dopo aver assunto una nuova identità. Perché il prototipo del "burocrate dello sterminio" …

Alternative Individual Cartridge Case Identification Techniques, Curtis H. Sedlacek

Anthropology Department: Theses

Individual cartridge case identification is an essential component of historic battlefield archeology. With individual cartridge case identification archeologists are able to track the movement of the combatants as they move across the battlefield, giving a highly detailed view of the past. While useful, current methods of individual cartridge case identification require expensive equipment and extensive training and time to conduct. In this thesis two alternative methods of cartridge case identification are evaluated in order to determine if recent developments in the areas of 3D scanning and statistical analysis can be utilized to develop new methods of individual cartridge case method. …

Das Massaker Der Fosse Ardeatine Und Die Taterverfolgung. Deutsch-Italienische Störfalle Von Kappler Bis Priebke, Gerald Steinacher

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Am 23. März 1944 explodiert in der Via Rasella im Herzen Roms eine Bombe und tötet 33 Mann des Polizeiregiments "Bozen". Die deutsche Antwort auf diesen verheerenden Partisanenanschlag sollte als die "grosste Repressalerschießung in Westeuropa während des Zweiten Weltkriegs" in die Geschichte eingehen und zu einem wichtigen Symbol deutscher Schreckensherrschaft in Italien werden: Die Erschießung von 335 italienischen Geiseln in den Höhlen der Fosse Ardeatine bei Rom. Die Fosse Ardeatine wurden in Italien nach 1945 zu einem wichtigen Erinnerungsort.

Welche Rolle haben dieses Kriegsverbrechen und der Umgang damit im deutsch-italienischen Verhältnis seit 1945 gespielt? Welche Rolle die juristische Aufarbeitung? Vor …

Formation Of Public Sphere(S) In The Aftermath Of The 1908 Revolution Among Armenians, Arabs, And Jews, Bedross Der Matossian

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Revolutionary theories are most useful when they attempt to define and interpret the causes and mechanisms of revolutions. However, when they attempt to forecast the outcomes and the impact of revolutions on their indigenous societies, they are largely unsuccessful. This article deals with the impact of the Young Turk revolution on three non-dominant ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire: Armenians, Arabs, and Jews. It will argue that the revolution resulted in the creation of a multiplicity of public spheres among the ethnic groupS.1 This multiplicity of public spheres became the main medium through which these ethnic groups internalized the Young …

How To Throw A Spear On A Sling, Thomas Nelson Winter

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

When javelin throwers are told to be ready, Xenophon's phrasing appears, for instance, "He ordered the targeteers to carry javelin on strap, and the bowmen to hold arrow on string" (Anabasis 5.2, Rouse tr.). This context shows that the spear-throwers' readiness to throw, paralleling the archer with arrow nocked, was some preparation with a strap, sling, or thong. In addition to the warfare usage, Greek hunters also used a sling with their hunting spears. The hunter in Achilles Tatius 2.34 narrates, "I wound the thongs on my javelin ... " (Winkler tr.)

I owe to my former student Donald …

Small Wars Logistics: The Intervention In Haiti, 1915-1934, Jenna Schutz

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Tailored to a unit’s size, scope, and mission, logistics or the practical art of transporting and supplying military forces via air, land, and sea is at the heart of any military operation. During the late nineteenth century the United States became increasingly involved in low intensity conflicts throughout Latin America and the Philippines. The nature of small wars required not only military provisions, but also supplies to help stabilize countries. The 1915 intervention in Haiti by the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy is a prime case study for the flexible bifurcation of logistical efforts to support military and civic operations. …

Administrating The Non-Muslims And "The Question Of Jerusalem" After The Young Turk Revolution, Bedross Der Matossian

Department of History: Faculty Publications

The historiography on the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 in general has mainly concentrated on the impact of the Revolution on the Ottoman Turkish society. Rarely do we see works that deal with the impact of the Revolution on the non-dominant groups in the Empire from a comparative perspective. How did the different ethnic groups view the Revolution? How did the Revolution influence the dynamics of power inside these groups? What were the relations between the Revolution and the religious groups within the Empire? How did the local /central government view the transformations taking place among the non-Muslim communities in …

Zebulon Pike: Great American Explorer Or Climate Spy?, Merlin P. Lawson, Randall Cerveny, Cary Mock

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Zebulon Pike is known in history books as one of America’s heroes—a great explorer whose adventures in the American West rivaled the Lewis and Clark Expedition and who became the namesake for Colorado’s Pike’s Peak. But what if the history books got it wrong, and Pike was actually not the hero everyone thinks he is? What if he was actually a spy carrying out a secret mission, or a scoundrel interested in overthrowing the American government and helping to carve a new empire out of the North American Southwest? Evidence from Pike’s famed expedition in 1806-1807 points to the possibility …

The Special Operations Executive (Soe) In Austria, 1940-1945, Gerald Steinacher

Department of History: Faculty Publications

In January 1941, Great Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) defined its policy on Austria with two objectives: (1) to assist in the disintegration of the Third Reich by fostering the soon to be expected all-out revolutionary and separatist uprising in Austria; and (2) to bring about the “restoration of Austria as a national unit” within the framework of a central European federation. In short, the hopes and aspirations of the SOE in the Austrian resistance against Nazi Germany were flying high. Five years later, in March 1946, Britain’s political representative in Vienna, William B. Mack, summarized the history of the …

" ... Verlangt Das Gesunde Volksempfinden Die Schwerste Strafe ...": Das Sondergericht Für Die Operationszone Alpenvorland 1943-1945. Ein Vorbericht, Gerald Steinacher

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Seit Kriegsende 1945 gelten die Akten des Amtes "Oberster Kommissar für die Operationszone Alpenvorland" Franz Hofer als verschollen.2 Die Quellen- und Wissenslage zur Geschichte der Operationszone Alpenvorland ist dementsprechend dürftig. Das trifft besonders auf das Sondergericht für die Operationszone Alpenvorland zu. Im Rahmen der Bestandsaufnahme im Archiv des Landesgerichts (Tribunal) in Bozen im Oktober 2001 konnte nun auch ein kleiner Bestand Akten des Sondergerichts geborgen werden. Es handelt sich dabei um eine Mappe mit insgesamt 20 Akten der Jahre 1944- 1945.3 Neben diesen meist vollständigen Akten (Ermittlungsergebnisse, Anklage, Verhandlung, Urteil, Gnadenanträge, Gefängnisunterlagen, Sterberegistermitteilung, sogar ein Abschiedsbrief usw.) kann man aus …

Nichts Vergessen Nur Verschwiegen. Das Massaker Von Gröden 1945 Und Die Oss-Mission "Tacoma", Gerald Steinacher

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Am 15. Mai 1985, genau 40 Jahre nach dem Auftakt zum sogenannten "Massaker von Gräden", erschien unter dem Titel ,,Auch das geschah vor vierzig Jahren" folgende Anzeige in der Bozner Tageszeitung Dolomiten:

"Nach Kriegsende, am 15. Mai 1945, der Morgen war gerade angebrochen, wurden jUnf unbescholtene, ehrenwerte Männer - Vater Adolf Senoner- Vastlt, Bürgermeister und Kaufmann, Lehrer Engelbert Ploner, Kau.fmann Gabriel Rijfeser, Lehrer Pepi Pitscheider und der Angestellte Kosmas Demetz - aus dem Schlaf gerissen und von den Partisanen der Provinz Belluno entfUhrt: sie wurden auf brutalste Weise im Wald von Pescul an der Forcella Staulanza gefoltert und ermordet. …