Military History Commons^™

First World War Central Power Prison Camps, Kenneth Steuer

History Faculty Publications

This is an introduction to the First World War Central Power POW Camps photo gallery that is a companion work to Steuer's e-book, Pursuit of an "Unparalleled Opportunity": The American YMCA and Prisoner-of-War Diplomacy among the Central Power Nations during World War I, 1914-1923. The images include a wide range of photographs, drawings, paintings, maps, and other images from Austrian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, German, and Turkish prison camps during the First World War which illustrate the daily life of Allied war prisoners in and outside of prison facilities. The text and database images show the activities in these camps and …

Indivisible And Inseparable: The Austro-Hungarian Army And The Question Of Decline And Fall, Kyle D. Woods

CMC Senior Theses

The title of this work is “Indivisible and Inseparable” the motto of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This motto is just one of many ways in the Austro-Hungarian Empire fought against the centrifugal forces seeking to destroy it. I argue here that the historic theory of decline and fall is misguided as a model for understanding the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and question its usefulness when applied to other nation states and empires as well. I suggest that the Austro-Hungarian military, specifically its condition prior to the First World War, is an ideal lens for exploring the dissolution of the Empire …

Philosophers Of War: The Evolution Of History's Greatest Military Thinkers, Daniel Coetzee, Lee Eysturlid

Faculty Publications & Research

The philosophy of war is usually treated in the context of philosophy as a discipline in the same way military justice is compared to justice, and military music to music. That is to say, it is presented as a red-headed stepchild at best or, more likely, as an illegitimate offspring, Carl von Clausewitz, the West's defining military philosopher and its most familiar figure, barely rates a footnote and an index entry in general histories of philosophy—even those with a German emphasis.

The same point can be made about military thought. Theoretical analysis of war is commonly understood in practical contexts: …

The Chattanooga Campaign: Death Of The Confederacy, Joshua Robert Smith

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the importance of the Chattanooga Campaign. The campaign was important to the war because the Confederate loss opened the deeper Southern states to the advancing Union Armies. Due to the ineptitudes and failures of their leader, Braxton Bragg, the Army of Tennessee was forced to relinquish their hold on east Tennessee. Bragg's failures were equally matched by the insubordination he received from his subordinate officers, Leonidas Polk, William Hardee, and James Longstreet. These men failed to work together and consequently Tennessee was lost to the Union. Chattanooga was a major rail hub …

Gettysburg: The Last Invasion, Allen C. Guelzo

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

From the acclaimed Civil War historian, a brilliant new history—the most intimate and richly readable account we have had—of the climactic three-day battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), which draws the reader into the heat, smoke, and grime of Gettysburg alongside the ordinary soldier, and depicts the combination of personalities and circumstances that produced the greatest battle of the Civil War, and one of the greatest in human history.

Of the half-dozen full-length histories of the battle of Gettysburg written over the last century, none dives down so closely to the experience of the individual soldier, or looks so closely …

William A. Hagins Papers, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection contains the papers of William Archer Hagins, Sr. from 1919-2005. Included within the collection are written letters, V-Mail, military documents, and legal documents concerning Hagins’ service in the United States Army during World War I and World War II. Additional materials related to the Hagins Family including William Archer Hagins, Jr., prominent American medical researcher, are included and consist of family photographs and genealogical research materials

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

From Scouts To Soldiers: The Evolution Of Indian Roles In The U.S. Military, 1860-1945, James C. Walker

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The eighty-six years from 1860-1945 was a momentous one in American Indian history. During this period, the United States fully settled the western portion of the continent. As time went on, the United States ceased its wars against Indian tribes and began to deal with them as potential parts of American society. Within the military, this can be seen in the gradual change in Indian roles from mostly ad hoc forces of scouts and home guards to regular soldiers whose recruitment was as much a part of the United States’ war plans as that of any other group. The gradual …

The Germans In The Seventh U.S. Cavalry At The Battle Of The Little Bighorn, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

About 15% or 131 men assigned to the Seventh Cavalry in June 1876 were born in Germany. A total of 78 of these men fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and 36 of these men were killed in action. The Germans in the Seventh Cavalry enjoyed a fine reputation as good soldiers, most of them were listed as having “excellent character,” and three of them were awarded the Medal of Honor for their action at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. This article deals with many issues including these men’s backgrounds, the condition of their lives, their height …

Ua1b1/7 Wku Ceremonies, Dedications, Groundbreakings, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records regarding special ceremonies, dedications, groundbreakings not already housed in a particular office.

Ua3/1/2/2 President's Office-Cherry Correspondence - Special, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Special correspondence regarding Western Kentucky University. This series runs concurrently with the General Correspondence and there is no indication of what makes it special. Of special note is correspondence regarding the Student Army Training Corps, World War I veterans and construction of Cherry Hall. Incoming letters are mainly addressed to Henry Hardin Cherry. Responses are made by Cherry and occasionally by faculty and staff. The president's secretary Mattie McLean is the author of some of the letters signed by Cherry.

Ua37/30/1 Faculty Personal Papers Lowell Harrison Correspondence/Subject File, Wku Archives, Sam Bruer, Bess Mchone

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Correspondence and subject files created by Lowell Harrison.

Methods Short Of War: The United States Reacts To The Rise Of The Third Reich, Kenneth Negy

HIM 1990-2015

This project analyzes the various opinions in the United States of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis during the 1930s and studies the amount of information that was available in the United States regarding Nazi Germany before entering World War II. Specifically, it seeks to understand why the United States did relatively little to influence German and European affairs even in the face of increasing Nazi brutality and bellicosity. The analysis has been divided into three different categories. The first focuses on the United States government, and the President and Secretary of State in particular. The second category analyzes the minority …

Hunting For Huntington’S Evidence: An Empirical Reassessment Of The Clash Of Civilizations Theory, John Daniel Shindelar

Political Science Theses and Capstones

I inquire into Samuel P. Huntington’s clash of civilizations theory as outlined in his landmark The Clash of Civilizations. I explore conflicts starting at the end of the Cold War to 2007 in order to examine whether Huntington’s theory has been materializing (there is a marked increase in conflicts between Civilizations, and they have become more intense) or if the face of conflicts has stayed relatively similar to Cold War era clashes. I use International Crisis Behavior data on conflicts since the fall of the U.S.S.R. which Huntington cites as the end of a bipolar world and the beginning of …

Beyond The Battle: Religion And American Troops In World War Ii, Kevin L. Walters

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation examines the ways in which military personnel interacted with religion during World War II. It argues that the challenges of wartime service provided the impetus and the opportunity to improvise religious practices, refine religious beliefs amid new challenges, and broaden religious understanding through interaction with those from other traditions. Methodologically, this dissertation moves beyond existing analyses that focus primarily on institutions and their representatives such as military chaplains. Instead, it explores first-person accounts left by men and women who were not part of the chaplain corps and analyzes ways in which non-chaplains engaged religion. The exigencies of war …

Klotzen, Nicht Kleckern (Strike Together, Not Divided!): The Panzer Divisions As New Dominating Strategy Of Modern Warfare, Stefano Alianelli

Senior Independent Study Theses

The beginning of the Second World War was dominated by a new type of strategy developed by German General Heinz Guderian that overwhelmed the Allied armies in Poland and France. Guderian argued that the best way to win on the battlefield and avoid the stalemate of World War I should be done through the use of tanks grouped together in formation: the product of this strategy was embodied in the Panzer divisions that, through mobility and coordination of multiple weapons, were able to breach the enemy's defensive lines with devastating effects.

Indiana, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of key Civil War developments in Indiana and how this conflict impacted Indiana.

Lamar, Mirabeau Buonaparte, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a biographical portrait and career overview of Mirabeau Lamar (1798-1859) who served as the second President of the Republic of Texas from 1838-1841.

Morton, Oliver Hazard Perry Throck, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Biographical portrait and analysis of Indiana Civil War Governor Oliver Morton.

The Case For A Custer Battalion Survivor: Private Gustave Korn's Story, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

Almost all of these claims of men having survived Custer’s Massacre at the Battle of the Little Bighorn have proven to be false, Gustave Korn’s case has merit. He was with Company I of Custer’s Battalion when it was attacked and later overwhelmed by the Indians. Korn claimed that his horse was wounded, became unmanageable, and carried him away from the Custer’s Battalion before it was wiped out. The circumstantial evidence supports his claim, and many of the other men in the Seventh Cavalry believed him. Korn was also famous because he cared for Comanche, the horse that was badly …

Countering-Insurgency : A Comparative Analysis Of Campaigns In Malaya (1948-1960), Kenya (1952-1960) And Rhodesia (1964-1980), William J. Bailey

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

History has lessons for the present; could this be the case for modern counterinsurgency operations in countries resembling Iraq and Afghanistan? This research set out to study three historical counter-insurgencies campaigns in, Malaya (1947-1960), Kenya (1952- 1960) and Rhodesia (1964-1980), with a view to establishing whether or not the Colonial authorities had a substantial advantage over modern forces when combating insurgencies. If this was the case, are these advantages transferable to aid forces involved in modern counterinsurgencies?

The research questions focussed on how important the role of the Colonial Forces was to the eventual outcome, examining the principal factors that …