Military History Commons^™

"Our Captain Is A Gentleman”: Officer Elections Among Virginia Confederates, 1861-1862, Ryan C. O'Hallahan

Theses and Dissertations

Enlisted soldiers preferred to elect company- and regimental-level officers during the first year of the American Civil War. This thesis explores how early Confederate mobilization, class conflict between elites and non-elites, and Confederate military policies affected officer elections from spring 1861 to spring 1862 among Virginia Confederates. Chapter 1 explores how the chaotic nature of mobilization and common soldiers' initial expectations regarding their military service influenced elections from April 1861 until late July 1861. Chapter 2 details the changing nature of elections as elite officers faced challenges from non-elites and Confederate policies regarding furloughs and conscription forced officers to reconcile …

Remote Sensing Of World War Ii Era Unexploded Bombs Using Object-Based Image Analysis And Multi-Temporal Datasets: A Case Study Of The Fort Myers Bombing And Gunnery Range, Bryan Byholm

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

During World War II, United States Army and Navy pilots trained on several hundred bombing ranges encompassing more than 12 million acres of land, leaving behind crater-scarred landscapes across the country. Post-war estimates suggest that 10-15% of aerial bombs used failed to detonate as intended, so these areas today are contaminated by a large number of dangerous unexploded bombs (UXB) which remain under the surface. Until recently, detecting UXB has been a tedious and expensive process done in three stages: (1) identifying and mapping general areas of concentrated bomb craters using historical air photos and records; (2) intensely searching these …

The Octofoil, January/February/March 2017, Ninth Infantry Division Association

The Octofoil

The Octofoil is the offical publication of the Ninth Infantry Division Association, Inc., an organization formed by the officers and men of the 9th Infantry Division in order to perpetuate the memory of fallen comrades, preserve the esprit de corps of the Division, promote peace and serve as an information bureau about the 9th Infantry Division. The Association is made up of 9th Infantry veterans from WWII and Vietnam, spouses, widows and lineal descendants.

For Country, Liberty, And Money: Privateering And The Ideologies Of The American Revolution, Scott D. Wagner

Senior Independent Study Theses

Along with service in the Continental Army and Navy and the various state militias, American patriots during the Revolutionary War had the option of sailing aboard privateers, private ships authorized to attack British commerce during the war. Where studies analyzing other military forces during the Revolution have been more nuanced, scholars that have looked at privateering have either focused on its strategic effectiveness during the conflict or merely written it off as a profit-driven phenomenon of maritime plunder. Privateering played a role in the course of the Revolution to a degree, but more importantly the practice was influenced by the …

The Science Of Defence: Security, Research, And The North In Cold War Canada, Matthew Shane Wiseman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the development and implementation of federally funded scientific defence research in Canada during the earliest decades of the Cold War. With a particular focus on the creation and subsequent activities of the Defence Research Board (DRB), Canada’s first peacetime military science organization, the history covered here crosses political, social, and environmental themes pertinent to a detailed analysis of defence-related government activity in the Canadian North. Three contextual chapters on the history of federal defence research in Canada provide the foundation for a close study of defence research projects pursued and supported by the Canadian government. The dissertation …

Physical Evidence And The Battle Of The Little Bighorn: The Question Of Interpretation, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Archaeologists have identified over a thousand shell casings and bullets at the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Many theories on the nature of the battle, the effectiveness of the weapons, and the location of the fighting have been proposed by the location of these artifacts. But there are major problems in interpretation. Only about 1% of the supposed artifacts remain, and the vast majority were plundered long ago. The artifacts are suspect because there is no way to know if they actually had anything to do with the battle or if they were added later. Any analysis …

The Business Of Empire: American Capitalists, The Nicaraguan Canal, And The Monroe Doctrine, 1849-1858, Jonathan D. Del Buono

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the mid-nineteenth century, U.S. policymakers designed foreign policy to enhance the reach of American commerce and create a commercial empire in and through Latin America. To create this empire U.S policymakers wanted to construct a canal through Central America, which they envisioned as a joint enterprise between American businesses and the federal government. In 1849, Cornelius Vanderbilt and his associates reserved a charter from the Nicaraguan government to build and operate a canal and transit route through their county. Yet competition between varied business interests prompted the U.S. destruction of the Nicaraguan port city of San Juan del Norte …

Cry Havoc: The Rise And Collapse Of America's Contractors In Iraq, Samuel Brown

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This work aims at examining the development of Private Security Contracting, specifically Blackwater, and their role in destabilizing the United States’ mission in Iraq. In that examination, it looks at existing literature on the subject and the efforts that people involved in the Bush Administration made regarding the War on Terror that allowed these companies and Blackwater to develop. Choices made by Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and CPA leader Paul Bremer all added to the chaos and the shortage of manpower that would see these companies fill in the gaps in American planning. This work …

Star Wars, Syria, And Our Civil War: Bearing Witness To Atrocity And Suffering, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Bear with me on this one. The American Civil War will make it into this conversation, but I have a lot of other things to talk about first. And I should also warn: minor spoilers ahead.

I was moved to silence after seeing Rogue One, the first spin-off film of the Star Wars franchise. Even now, tears creep into my eyes as I remember how it shook me. I had heard reviews claiming that it was the first Star Wars movie to put the cost of war at the center of the narrative. I hadn’t expected it to be so …

Rationality, Parapsychology, And Artificial Intelligence In Military And Intelligence Research By The United States Government In The Cold War, Guy M. Lomeo

Theses and Dissertations

A study analyzing the roles of rationality, parapsychology, and artificial intelligence in military and intelligence research by the United States Government in the Cold War. An examination of the methodology behind the decisions to pursue research in two fields that were initially considered irrational.

70 Years Since The Liberation Of The Netherlands From Memory To Remembrance, H.E. Cees Kole, Andrew Burtch

Canadian Military History

On 16 October 2014, the Canadian War Museum partnered with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to host the first in the Embassy’s national series of lectures “From Memory to Remembrance” in the Museum’s Barney Danson Theatre. The Embassy launched the series in the fall of 2014, with subsequent events in February and April 2015, with Canadian and Dutch scholars helping the audience to follow the Canadian military campaign from the Battle of the Scheldt to the German capitulation at Wageningen on 5 May 1945. Attended by His Excellency Governor General David Johnston, the Ottawa event featured Terry …

“The Battle-Fortune Of Marshal Hindenburg Is Not Bound Up With The Possession Of A Hill”: The Germans And Vimy Ridge, April 1917, Holger Herwig

Canadian Military History

On 9 April 1917 four Canadian divisions and one British division of 170,000 men broke through the “Vimy Group” of German Sixth Army of some 40,000 men. By late afternoon, the Germans had been driven off the Ridge. That day, as Brigadier-General Alexander Ross famously put it, constituted “the birth of a nation.” Rivers on ink have been spilled in the Canadians’ actions that day, but little attention has been paid to “the other side of the hill.” Which German units defended the Ridge? What was the quality of their leadership? Why did the defence collapse so quickly? Why did …

A Portrait Of Raymond Brutinel As A Young Man (Part Ii): The Future Canadian Corps Machine Gun Commander As A Business Entrepreneur In The Canadian West, 1908–1914, Cameron Pulsifer

Canadian Military History

The following carries on from an article on Brutinel’s prewar life in Edmonton, Alberta that appeared in the previous issue of Canadian Military History. That account dealt with his arrival in Edmonton from France, the reasons for his immigration, and his adaptation to life in the newly-created Alberta capital. This included an initial involvement with the Edmonton French community, his editorship of the French language Le Courrier de l’Ouest, and his eventual breaking away from these pursuits into a career of business entrepreneurship. The following is specifically concerned with this latter phase of his career, in which, at the height …

Kennedy's Crisis: How John F. Kennedy Used History To Prevent Armageddon, Jordan L. Cerbone

Honors Scholar Theses

The Cuban Missile Crisis may be equated to a dangerous game of chess played between two powerful rival nations, the United States and the Soviet Union. President John F. Kennedy’s closest advisers, including all Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommended an air strike to destroy the Cuban missiles. Although Kennedy overruled them, he was nevertheless able to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis through a combination of brilliant intuition and successful diplomacy. The mainstream consensus is that Kennedy’s personality was responsible for ending the crisis amicably. Consequently, Americans can consider the Cuban Missile Crisis as Kennedy’s crisis.

This thesis explores the role …

A Hike Through History: Students Explore The Appalachian Trail, Laurel J. Wilson

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Hiking is a great way to get outside, commune with nature, and connect with the surrounding area. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hiking one of my favorite sections of the Appalachian Trail in a manner that was completely different than I had ever before experienced. Instead of dressing in my usual 21st century hiking attire, I, along with several others, opted to take things back about 154 years and dressed as a Union soldier would have in 1862.

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The Unknown Legacy Of The 13th Amendment, Danielle E. Jones

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

On January 31, 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment, declaring slavery illegal in the United States. Or so it seemed. The second line of the Amendment, and the most oft unknown, states that slavery can still be used as a form of punishment for crimes, and this practice became widely used as a part of southern backlash to Reconstruction Era policies. After the end of the Civil War, many southern states struggled with rebuilding their infrastructures and government systems. In order to avoid falling into more debt, many of these states turned towards the convict lease system, which claimed that …

The 2016 Fortenbaugh Lecture: Individual Responses To Lincoln’S Assassination, Hannah M. Christensen

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Every year on November 19th, the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, a distinguished scholar of the Civil War Era is invited to speak as part of the Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture and present an aspect of the Civil War in a format that the general public can understand. This year, the 55th annual Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture was delivered by Dr. Martha Hodes of New York University. Dr. Hodes’ lecture was based on her book Mourning Lincoln and argued, based on personal primary sources from the immediate aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, that Americans’ responses were by no means consistent. Not …

A Soldier And His Many Hats: The Evolution Of American Military Headgear, Jonathan E. Tracey

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Military headgear is a fascinating topic. It exists on a spectrum from the gaudy to the protective, but how did headgear evolve with the military? Interestingly, changes from the decorative to the practical can be examined through this blog’s favorite topic, the 1800s and the American Civil War. By tracing key changes in American military headgear in the 1800s, ideas about the nature of war, as well as how the United States was distancing itself from Europe, become clear.

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Where Was Canada? The Canadian Military Contribution To The British Commonwealth Second World War Campaign In North Africa, Andrew Stewart

Canadian Military History

The campaign fought by predominantly British Commonwealth forces in North Africa during the Second World War, in many respects, represented a final example of imperial solidarity and unity. Whilst the United States participated during the final stages prior to the surrender of Axis forces in May 1943, it was Britain and its Empire that provided most of the resources and manpower and contested most of the battles. Canada, however, played only a relatively minor part and this paper seeks to examine the associated decision-making process that took place in London and Ottawa and discuss the tensions that arose.

Destroying The Panthers: The Effect Of Allied Combat Action On I./Ss Panzer Regiment 12 In Normandy, 1944, Arthur Gullachsen

Canadian Military History

This article is an examination of the operational record of the World War Two German Panther tank during the Normandy Campaign of summer 1944. Challenging its perception as mechanically unreliable, this article argues Allied combat action was responsible for a large percentage of Panthers that were out of action. Secondly, the inferior resources of the German tank replacement and repair program were no match for superior Canadian Army practices during 1944. To support these arguments the author examines Canadian and German wartime primary documents as well as multiple secondary sources.