Military History Commons^™

Dancing In The Airfield: The Women Of The 46th Taman Guards Aviation Regiment And Their Journey Through War And Womanhood, Yasmine L. Vaughan

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

During the Second World War, the Soviet Union became the first country in the world to allow women to join the Air Force. Three regiments were formed, comprised of all female personnel. The three regiments flew over 30,000 combat missions and produced thirty Heroes of the Soviet Union (HSUs) in their three years of service. The 588^th, later renamed the 46^th, was the most successful and well-known of the female regiments, famous for its combat record and stunning achievements.This paper seeks to put into context the unique social constructions that allowed for the recruitment, training, and …

Between The World And Them, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The first time I learned the story of the Bryan family and their Gettysburg farm was when I read Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me. For Coates, there was something poetic about the fact that the climax of the Civil War’s bloodiest and most well-known battle—a moment forever enshrined in Confederate memory thanks to the likes of William Faulknerand Ted Turner—occurred on land owned by a free black man and his family. Pickett’s Charge—the greatest symbol of Confederate martial honor in the Civil War canon—had been repulsed on property that represented so much of what its participants fought …

Perception Is Everything: Repairing The Image Of American Drone Warfare, Luke Tubbs

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis will trace the United States’ development of unmanned warfare from its initial use in the World Wars through the Cold War to its final maturation in the War on Terror. The examination will provide a summary of unmanned warfare’s history, its gradual adoption, and concerns regarding the proliferation of drones use to understand the emphasis on unmanned weapons in the American Military. In each phase of development, a single program will be focused on to highlight special areas of interest in the modern day. Finally, the modern era of unmanned systems will focus on the growing integration of …

Zionism, Ottomanism, And The Young Turk Revolution: What Palestinian Jewish Identity Says About Zionist Political Separatism In 1908-1912, Dimitri Savidis

Of Life and History

No abstract provided.

The Broadway Of War: How Theater Remembers The American Revolution, Campbell Loeber

Of Life and History

No abstract provided.

Remembering Agincourt: An Analysis Of King Henry V'S Impact On English National Identity, Nathan C. Harkey

Tenor of Our Times

King Henry V is one of the best remembered monarchs in English History. Although he died at the untimely age of 36 after only nine years on the throne, his reign saw England's empire in France reach its highest point, an accomplishment that was actualized in the of the Battle of Agincourt. In the six centuries since, both Henry's reign as a whole and the battle itself have impacted the identity of the English nation in many ways. This paper analyzes the influence of these events on those who followed, ranging from the use of heraldry after the battle to …

The Sleeping Giant: The Effects Of Housing Titan Ii Missiles In Arkansas And Kansas From 1962 To 1987, Michael Johnson Anthony

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the Cold War, thirty-six sites across Kansas and Arkansas were selected to house Titan II intercontinental missiles. These devices could strike enemy targets 8,000 nautical miles away all while hitting inside an area of one square mile. These technological marvels quickly became an indispensable part of President Kennedy and Defense Secretary McNamara’s ‘flexible defense’ strategy. While many authors have studied the ramifications of these devices on American foreign policy, few have researched the domestic implications of the missiles. This work looks to fill this void by investigating the Titan II missile program in Arkansas and Kansas from its construction …

Tracing Moral Injury In Us Wars And Implications For The Year 2050, Robert A. Jensen

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Throughout conflicts in history, the psycho-spiritual construct known today as “moral injury” can be found. This term was coined in 1994 out of conceptions of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to describe intense shame and guilt aspects resulting from military service. The challenge comes with extrapolating this injury in the wake of nuances in terminology about related symptoms in conjunction with an evolving consciousness in identifying invisible military-related injuries. With current research and a historic pattern of unnamed moral injuries, this study explores the following: How did military chaplains address moral injuries without this construct? What are Unitarian Universalist (UU) military …

James Connolly's Bloodstained Vest: Mediating Death And Violence In Commemorative Exhibitions, Siobhan Doyle

Articles

The actions surrounding the display of images and artefacts in museums – collection, conservation, research and exhibition – are bound up with how the past is presented and remembered. These conditions and decisions relating to exhibitions are largely invisible to viewers who are confronted with the apparent completeness of an exhibition display. By conducting a historical and visual analysis of the bloodstained vest of political leader James Connolly, this article uncovers how this artefact has become a relic of historical violence due to the way in which particular aspects of its configuration, form and trajectory have been manipulated in order …

The Unsuspected Francis Lieber, Richard Salomon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

"The Unsuspected Francis Lieber" examines paradoxes in the life and work of Francis Lieber. Lieber is best known as the author of the 1863 "Lieber Code," the War Department's General Order No. 100. It was the first modern statement of the law of armed conflict. This paper questions whether the Lieber Code was truly humanitarian, especially in view of its valorization of military necessity. Also reviewed is the contrast between the Code's extraordinarily favorable treatment of African-Americans and Lieber's personal history of slave-holding.

Lieber's shift from civil libertarian to authoritarian after 1857, as exemplified by his support of Lincoln's suspension …

Perspectives On Our Past: The Killed At Gettysburg Stories Of Franz Benda And Augustus Van Horne Ellis, Ryan Bilger

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Once again, I have spent the semester working on the Civil War Institute’s Killed at Gettysburg project. This project continues to be one with which I feel a strong connection, as I have always taken an interest in the stories of Gettysburg’s fallen. As such, I am glad to have had the opportunity to work on it again.

As before, I have focused on two soldiers in my research this spring, one an enlisted soldier in the ranks and one a regimental commander. The latter, Colonel Augustus van Horne Ellis of the 124th New York Volunteer Infantry, has a life-sized …

The Controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: America's Most Expensive Weapons System And Its Global Impact, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Creative Materials

Provides an overview on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program involving the U.S. and many allied countries. Describes the costs of this program, the technical problems it has experienced, its economic impact on the U.S. and allied countries, the JSF's operational capabilities, potential combat scenarios in which it could be used, and the campaign finance impact aerospace companies and unions have in the electoral process.

Messer, George, 1833-1863 (Sc 3211), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text transcription (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3211. Letters, 6 January-31 May 1863, of George Messer to his wife Lottie in DeWitt County, Illinois, while encamped in Hart County, Kentucky and at Camp Hobson, Glasgow, Kentucky. He writes of illness and death among his comrades, troop strength, wage payments, food, and his commanding officers. Weary of a soldier’s life and anxious for the South’s total defeat, he criticizes conscription laws that allow exemption on payment of a fee, and accuses politicians and “Eastern men” of prolonging the war. He notes local citizens’ …

A Radical Idea: Charles Ellet’S Rams, Savannah Labbe

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The political cartoon above shows an engineer named Charles Ellet attempting to get a meeting with General George McClellan. Ellet contacted many government officials and important men to try to get his ideas recognized and implemented. Ellet was born in Pennsylvania in 1810 and was inspired to become an engineer when he watched the opening of the Erie Canal. At age 20, he went to Paris to learn his craft, attending lectures for civil engineers and examining bridges, railroads, and other structures. He returned to the United States afterwards and in 1835 went to work as an assistant engineer for …

Before The Post: The Women Journalists Of The Waterford News, Anika N. Jensen

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Long before Katharine Graham and Arianna Huffington established themselves in the traditionally male-dominated world of journalism, three women living through the uncertainty of the Civil War years broke into the field by controversial means: subversion. Lida Dutton (19), Lizzie Dutton (24), and Sarah Steer (26) were staunch Unionists of comfortable wealth living in Loudoun County, Virginia, a pocket of Unionist sentiment and abolitionist Quaker faith, in 1864 when they established the Waterford News, a pro-Union newspaper written, edited, and distributed in Confederate territory. The Waterford News provided an illustration of daily life in a southern town while simultaneously boosting morale …

James Bedell: The Inhumanity Of War, Jonathan Tracey

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

This semester, I am continuing to work on the Killed at Gettysburg digital history project. This time, I selected James T. Bedell, Private in Company F of the 7th Michigan Cavalry. I was introduced to his story while transcribing Henry Janes’ Case Book for Gettysburg National Military Park as a part of my work study program. Henry Janes was the doctor in charge of Camp Letterman, and after the war he compiled the bed cards of many soldiers treated at the hospital, creating his Case Book. Bedell’s record on a page entitled “Skull, Fractures of, with Injury of the Brain” …

Japanese Intentions For The Pearl Harbor Bombing, Shelbey Chappell, Hannah Hart, William Pruitt, Chris Linneman, Alex Vermillion, Colby Belcher, John Ernst

Celebration of Student Scholarship Poster Sessions Archive

No abstract provided.

The Imperial Legacy: An Examination Of The Trends Of Empire And Genocide From German Southwest Africa To The General Government, Laura Guebert

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

This project is an examination of correlations between imperial enterprises of the Second German Empire and the Nazi Reich through the lenses of global and imperial critiques. The three primary case studies are German Southwest Africa, the Ober Ost, and Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, particularly the General Government. This research draws heavily on certain themes and theories developed by leading historians of modern German and Eastern European history, including Timothy Snyder, Ben Kiernan, Shelley Baranowski, Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius, and Christopher Browning. By understanding the shared trends of empire and genocide, it is my aim to bring the actions of the National …

The Pawn Of Rome: The Roman Infantryman, Nanyi R. Yang

Young Historians Conference

Even to this day, the Roman army stands out as one of the most successful military forces in human history. The widespread success of the Roman Empire was in large part due to its armies, who were able to meet challenges with flexible and effective troops. These armies faced all kinds of attacks, from the swift hit-and-run attacks of the Germanic tribes to the crushing cavalry charges of the Parthian Empire. Rome’s military might, however, was unrelenting. This paper focuses on the Roman soldier and how he was trained to be adaptable to the variety of enemies and obstacles he …

To What Extent Does Aristophanes’ Knights Reflect Greek Opinion Of Cleon And The Peloponnesian War?, Samuel M. Hinerfeld

Young Historians Conference

This paper analyzes the similarities between the works of Greek Intellectuals like Thucydides and Plutarch, and Aristophanes’ representation of Cleon and the Peloponnesian War in his early comedy, Knights. Aristophanes satires of the Peloponnesian War were extremely popular among Athenian elite– despite this status, his early comedies failed to dissuade the Athenian Assembly from ushering the downfall of Greek power. While Aristophanes’ Knights was largely ineffective in swaying support for the conflict, it notably provides an accurate representation of the irrational nature of Athen’s demos under Cleon. Through this play, he portrays the Demos as dysfunctional and fickle–supporting policies in …