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Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in History
David Versus Goliath: The Power Of Weakness In Asymmetric Warfare—Lessons From History, Nicholas K. Petaludis
David Versus Goliath: The Power Of Weakness In Asymmetric Warfare—Lessons From History, Nicholas K. Petaludis
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Under what conditions do violent nonstate actors (VNA) succeed against states? Why does David sometimes beat Goliath? Since at least the time of Thucydides and the Peloponnesian Wars, the realist narrative in international relations measures power primarily in relative, coercive, and deterrent terms. Strong states should accordingly face fewer constraints and enjoy more options while pursuing their national interests. Unconventional warfare, and its subsets of terrorism and insurgency, should—given these circumstances, end in VNA failure. Sometimes, however, VNAs find success. By comparing the literature on historical and current case studies, I propose that a set of preconditions and two mechanisms …
A Hollow Victory And Unending Problem: The Undying Anti-Russian Insurgency In Ukraine, Abraham Ashley
A Hollow Victory And Unending Problem: The Undying Anti-Russian Insurgency In Ukraine, Abraham Ashley
MSU Graduate Theses
This thesis uses quantitative and qualitative research methods to: (1) explore the base causes of insurgency in Ukraine, (2) examine the historical basis for Ukrainian insurgency, (3) provide historical examples of successful and unsuccessful insurgencies to contrast against Ukraine, and (4) provide recommendations for NATO and Ukrainian policy. Collectively, this project demonstrates that current Russian counterinsurgency tactics will not be successful without significant adjustment. This Ukrainian insurgency may also derail the possibility of peace in the region.
“They Were Planning On It”: Recasting The 1967 Buffalo Uprising As A Student-Driven Insurgency, Matthew P. Gawley
“They Were Planning On It”: Recasting The 1967 Buffalo Uprising As A Student-Driven Insurgency, Matthew P. Gawley
Honors Theses
The past two decades have witnessed a critical re-analysis of the many African American urban “ghetto revolts” of the 1960s and 1970s. This paper analyzes one of the one hundred fifty-seven violent incidents of the “Long Hot Summer” of 1967, the Buffalo Uprising (June 26 – July 1, 1967). Building from recent research which indicates this incident had deeply political overtones, this work demonstrates the student-driven nature of the five-day rebellion, and the internal collaboration participants engaged in during their violent and non-violent activities. Drawing upon personally conducted interviews, interviews from 1967, newspaper testimony, and various publications, this new understanding …
Diabolus Ex Machina? A Comparative Case Study To Test Whether Automatic Weapons Can Disproportionately Benefit Irregular Forces, Harrison Durland
Diabolus Ex Machina? A Comparative Case Study To Test Whether Automatic Weapons Can Disproportionately Benefit Irregular Forces, Harrison Durland
Honors Theses
Researchers in the field of irregular conflict have observed that irregular forces such as insurgents and guerrillas have been victorious or forced draws in a greater percentage of conflicts over the past century compared with the century prior. More generally, researchers and practitioners have sought to better understand why seemingly weaker, irregular forces are able to win some wars against enemies who have significant material and other conventional advantages. This thesis engages with some of the literature in this field and focuses on what appears to be a particularly understudied issue: the potential role of shifts/innovations in military technology. Specifically, …
The Soviet And American Wars In Afghanistan: Applying Clausewitzian Concepts To Modern Military Failure, Artur Kalandarov
The Soviet And American Wars In Afghanistan: Applying Clausewitzian Concepts To Modern Military Failure, Artur Kalandarov
Honors Projects
This paper evaluates the validity of three concepts from Carl von Clausewitz’s On War as they relate to contemporary military conflict. Utilizing the Soviet and American Wars in Afghanistan as case studies, the paper also offers a model for comparative conflict analysis by expanding upon Clausewitz’s culminating point concept. It argues that – despite limitations to Clausewitz’s theory of war – his concepts of culminating points in military operations, mass and concentration, and changing war aims provide useful insights into counterinsurgency military failures. Chapter One identifies the Soviet and American culminating points. Concluding that the concept of a culminating point …
Analysis Of Nation-Building During Insurgency In U.S. Defense Policy Strategy, Joseph Valles
Analysis Of Nation-Building During Insurgency In U.S. Defense Policy Strategy, Joseph Valles
MSU Graduate Theses
U.S. defense policy has often relied on a strategy of nation-building to reform the local government and address the root causes of the instability in a given nation or region. This strategy has, in recent years, been criticized for being ineffective and a wasteful drain on American resources. This paper will determine if such criticism is valid by analyzing the performance of four security environments where such a strategy was used: Vietnam, El Salvador, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The paper will determine if such a strategy was effective in these conflicts by analyzing the progress of reforms and, when possible, the …
Bernard Fall And Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare In Indochina, Nathaniel Lawson Moir
Bernard Fall And Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare In Indochina, Nathaniel Lawson Moir
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
What accounts for Bernard Fall’s understanding and description of Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare in Indochina? How did formative experiences during and after the Second World War actuate Fall’s thought on the political nature of warfare in Indochina? What distinguished Fall’s thought on revolutionary warfare from others? Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare in Indochina addresses these questions through an intellectual history and contextual biography of Bernard Fall’s scholarship on the First and Second Indochina Wars. Bernard Fall, an authority on Vietnamese history, society, and the First Indochina War, began to explain in 1957 that subsequent war in Vietnam could not be …
Winning At The Graduate Level Of Warfare: Six Core Factors Of A Successful Counterinsurgency Campaign And The Example Of Sierra Leone, John D. Rimann
Winning At The Graduate Level Of Warfare: Six Core Factors Of A Successful Counterinsurgency Campaign And The Example Of Sierra Leone, John D. Rimann
Honors Theses
The most common form of warfare so far in the 21st Century has been insurgencies and counterinsurgencies, types of warfare which are particularly challenging for industrialized Western nations to wage effectively. This paper identifies six factors of primary importance which form the key to a successful counterinsurgency campaign. These factors are legitimacy, clarity, beneficial geopolitical factors, restraint, intellectual understanding, and an enduring commitment. This paper argues that these factors must all be present for a counterinsurgency campaign to succeed, and argues that without these factors being accounted for a counterinsurgency will fail. The British humanitarian intervention in Sierra Leone in …
The Wolf Attacks: A History Of The Russo-Chechen Conflict, Christina E. Baxter
The Wolf Attacks: A History Of The Russo-Chechen Conflict, Christina E. Baxter
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Chechens fought against the Russians for independence. The focus in the literature available has been on the wars and the atrocities caused by the wars. The literature then hypothesizes that the insurgency of today is just a continuation of the past. They do not focus on a major event in Chechen history: the Soviet liquidation of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1944. It is this author’s assertion that the liquidation of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR forever changed the mindset of the people because it fractured a society that was once unified. This …
The Birth Of A Drone Nation: American Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Since 1917, Garrett Dale Mckinnon
The Birth Of A Drone Nation: American Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Since 1917, Garrett Dale Mckinnon
LSU Master's Theses
Drones have entered American consciousness and society. Little attention, however, has been paid to how America got here, how it became a drone nation. This thesis seeks to counter the “New Drone” misconception, the general ignorance of drone history present in the historiography, and popular perception of the subject. Chapter one, “The “New Drone” Misconception: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the World Wars,” examines America’s first experiments with military drones. Charles Kettering, “Hap” Arnold, and Reginald Denny were among the first to recognize UAV potential and garner American support. The main motivation for drone use--removing American soldiers from danger--was first recognized …
Tactics, Politics, And Propaganda In The Irish War Of Independence, 1917-1921, Mike Rast
Tactics, Politics, And Propaganda In The Irish War Of Independence, 1917-1921, Mike Rast
History Theses
This thesis examines the influences on and evolution of the Irish Republican Army‘s guerrilla war strategy between 1917 and 1921. Utilizing newspapers, government documents, and memoirs of participants, this study highlights the role of propaganda and political concerns in waging an insurgency. It argues that while tactical innovation took place in the field, IRA General Headquarters imposed policy and directed the conflict with a concern for the political results of military action. While implementing strategies necessary to effective conflict of the war, this Headquarters staff was unable to reconcile a disjointed and overburdened command structure, leading its disintegration after the …