Digital Commons Network^™

Nur Al-Din: Al-Malik Al-'Adil, Drew Mecham

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Though Saladin typically dominates discussion on Muslim resistance to the European Crusades, historian Carole Hillenbrand has noted that it was not Saladin but Nur al-Din Abu al-Qasim Mahmud Ibn 'lmad al-Din Zangi, hereafter Nur al-Din, who had a "reputation ... most glorious in the succeeding centuries in the Islamic world" Writing in the thirteenth century, Abu Shama noted that Saladin "modeled himself on all Nur al-Din's qualities of piety, chastity, decency, nobility and statecraft." The great Arab historian 'Ali 'izz al-Din lbn alAthir al-Jazari lbn al-Athir, known as lbn al-Athir, stated that his epitaph for Nur al-Din is written "in …

No Dog In The Fight: East Tennessee And Its Response To The Succession Crisis, Douglas Marsh

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Despite arguments that the South fought in the 'War Of Northern Aggression' to protect the rights of the states, or to defend their homes and their freedom from a foreign power, it is clear slavery was the central issue of the American Civil War. Even the Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens declared that the inferiority of the Negro was the "immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution" and the "cornerstone" of the Confederacy. The centrality of the slave issue becomes even clearer when noting that where slavery was not so engrained in the socioeconomic system, Confederate sympathy diminished.

"They Could Not Guard Against It": The Failed U.S. Policy Response To German Sabotage At Black Tom Island, Benjamin Smith

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In the early morning hours of 31 July 1916, German agents successfully detonated a storage facility on an island in New York Harbor named Black Tom. The facility was filled with munitions meant for the Allied powers fighting against Germany in World War I. It was at that time the single most destructive subversive act ever perpetrated on U.S. soil. But it is not surprising that such an act occurred: the United States had no specialized counter-espionage agency and the area had relatively little protection. The remarkable thing is the miniscule amount of attention Black Tom, along with other instances …

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

The Battle Of King's Mountain: Making History In An Hour, Katelyn Thacker

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Heavy rain in the early morning hours of October 7, 1780, dampened the leaves and allowed the rebel militia to steal through the forest surrounding King's Mountain undetected. The loyalist corps on the top of King's Mountain became aware of the approaching enemy by the rebel's own gunfire scarcely half a mile away. Multiple units of patriot riflemen swarmed the footshaped hill, pushing the loyalist troops to one end of it. In vain, the loyalists attempted to counter showering gunfire with bayonet charges. After only one hour, the loyalist commander British Major Patrick Ferguson lay dead. His subordinate, loyalist Captain …

The Nuclear Threat: A Homeland Security Perspective, Renae Katherine Harvey

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

On December 8, 1987, the United States and Russia signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Since then, it has been a common misconception that this solidified the end of the Cold War and the Nuclear Arms Race. To this day, nuclear installations are plaguing bordering countries within the European Union. As a result, severe transnational issues become evident as transnational crime groups grow and technological advancements of terrorist groups continue to gain ground within the nuclear power threshold. Furthermore, countries within the Asian Peninsula and the Middle East continue to demonstrate nuclear prowess via mass media attention as a sense …

"That They May Become Efficient Agents, Under God.": Antebellum Scientific Medical Education At The University Of Michigan As Preparation For The Civil War, Jesse A. Roberts

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The following dissertation focuses on medical education at the University of Michigan before the Civil War and the graduate application of medical school lessons to the Civil War. Medical and Civil War Medical historians have overlooked the importance of medical education. The founding of the University of Michigan Department of Medicine and its position in Michigan's medical history and intellectual history is central to understanding the importance of the medical school. Chapters on the medical school show the valuable training Michigan medical school graduates received and how it was a scientific medical education superior to other contemporary medical schools. The …

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, If You Want Peace Prepare For War: The U.S. Army And The War Of 1812, Schuyler C. Ogden

Masters Theses

When thinking of the War of 1812, many people may think about Fort McHenry and the Star-Spangled Banner. They may also think about the only time when the American capitol was burned. Or they think about Andrew Jackson and his triumphant victory at New Orleans. Other than these, most Americans do not think about the War of 1812. In fact, the war is all but forgotten in most American minds. Despite this, this early American conflict is still worth looking at. Not because it was a success, but because it brought up much needed changes to American policies. Some of …

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

The Hut Tax War Of 1898: Political Spin And Chamberlain's Colonial Office, Chase Arnold

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In 1895, the British Empire underwent a dramatic change. This change was not precipitated by war, expansion, or discovery. Instead, the empire was changed by a renewed longing for the glory of the old empire. Where the empire had been shrinking, it would now be expanded. Where claims had been ceded, they would now be defended. All of this was undergone with the greatest hopes but resulted in the gravest consequences. Yet there was a brief moment in 1898 when this new imperialist vigor was almost cut short and this terrible history nearly averted.

Review Of “Part Of Life Itself: The War Diary Of Lieutenant Leslie H. Miller, Cef” Edited By Graham Broad, Gary Sheffield

Canadian Military History

Review of Part of Life Itself: The War Diary of Lieutenant Leslie H. Miller, CEF edited by Graham Broad.

Review Of “French Generals Of The Great War: Leading The Way” Edited By Jonathan Krause And William Philpott, Roy A. Prete

Canadian Military History

Review of French Generals of the Great War: Leading the Way edited by Jonathan Krause and William Philpott.

Review Of “Four Colour Combat: Canadian Forces In War Comics” By Cord A. Scott, Matthew Barrett

Canadian Military History

Review of Four Colour Combat: Canadian Forces in War Comics by Cord A. Scott

Authorizing Violence: Spatial Techniques Of Citizenship Politics In Northeast India, Samarth Vachhrajani

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

Authorizing Violence: Spatial Techniques of Citizenship Politics in Northeast India studies the spatial and legal instruments through which Hindu Nationalism and its political front, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), operates in Northeast India. I document the means through which authoritarian power has been introduced into a democratic structure of governance. Emphasizing the role of architecture and spatial knowledge, I attend to how the violence of disenfranchisement and dispossession is legitimized under the force of law.

For this, Chapter 1, entitled 'Legislating Containment,' turns to the legal instrument of citizenship and studies the Goalpara detention center and multi-purpose criminal …

From The First To The Last: The 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment In The Civil War, 1861-1865, Michael A. Knous Jr.

History Theses

The history of the 70th Ohio is diverse. It is not just a narrative of battles but also of survival, endurance, and an almost unbelievable war record. By the end of the war the 70th Ohio was in the upper echelon of Union Western Theatre Civil War regiments. At the Battle of Shiloh, they helped protect the western flank of the Army of the Tennessee and had perhaps their finest hour of the war. At the Battle of Atlanta, they held their position in the center of the Fifteenth Corps line while Confederates nearly surrounded them. Without their steadfast resolve …

Echoes Of Imperialism: The Philippines And America In The South China Sea, Victoria Elise Ruiz Sogueco

Senior Theses

This paper provides an overview of the conflict between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, Philippine history following its liberation from Spain to its independence from America, and the continuing impacts of American imperialism on the modern day Philippines. While it is argued that American military intervention on behalf of the Philippines is necessary in order to protect its territories in the South China Sea, this would only strengthen its legacy of imperialism on the Philippines. By analyzing case studies of sexual assaults perpetrated by US troops, such as the Jennifer Laude case and the Subic rape …

The Artful Voyeur: Seamus Heaney As Parrhesiastes, Olivia Ransbottom

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Critics Edna Longley and Ciaran Carson have examined the complicated relationship between Seamus Heaney's poetry and the Northern Irish conflict, arguing that, in general, he refrained from clear political commentary. Despite this, Seamus Heaney was a revolutionary poet celebrated for his vivid imagery and commentary on ordinary life in Northern Ireland. While these critics say he held back on stating his political opinion or mystified the violence, this paper argues that he was a parrhesiastes (one who speaks truth to the rest of society for the sake of truth itself) of his time, choosing to practice the ancient Greek idea …

The Perpetual Foreigner: Modeling Cycles Of Asian American Discrimination, Philip Min

Honors Projects

Through an Asian American perspective catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this research investigates the concept of the state of the perpetual foreigner for Asian Americans and the subsequent cycling of race-related tensions. To define the state of foreignness for Asian Americans, this is understood first through Kim’s model of Racial Triangulation, which intends to model the relationships of racial groups in the United States – namely between Black, White, and Asians – through concepts of civic ostracization and relative valorization that relate directly to foreignness and hierarchy. This is then further expanded upon through the creation of a separate model, …

Working Against Themselves Jesuit Tactics To Displace The Huron Indian Shamans, C. Mackenzie Snow

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In the spring and summer of 1635, a severe drought struck Huron country. Falling back on traditional means for relief, the native people appealed to the local shamans, their spiritual leaders, for aid. Tehorenhaegnon, one of the most famous of these "sorcerers," as the Jesuits called them, promised relief in return for "the value of ten hatchets" and "a multitude of feasts." However, Tehorenhaegon's "efforts were in vain-dreaming, feasting, dancing, were all to no purpose, there fell not a drop of water; so that he had to confess that he could not succeed, and he declared that the crops would …

The Crucible Of War: The Personal History Of A Social Democrat In Nazi Germany, Michael Tetto

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On Christmas Day 1943, Somewhere in Russia, Siegfried Sinz enjoyed a jovial moment with his unit of the German Army. It was a refreshing break from the trials of war, for he had been on the eastern front since June of 1941. Cautiousness, endemic of their proximity to the battle front, attended the preparations for the event. All windows needed to be sealed to prevent light from escaping into the night lest any Russians on patrol ascertain their location and attack. Unfortunately, someone did not seal one of the windows completely; a ray of light escaped to illuminate the darkened …

Voices Of Resiliency And Persistence: Native Americans In Southern New England In The Seventeenth Century, Debra Taylor

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

During the early seventeenth century, the Algonquian Indians of Southern New England demonstrated courage and resilience as their societies survived a "massive depopulation" from diseases introduced through European colonization (See Fig. 1). It is a credit to the strength of their core values that Native Americans successfully combined remaining clan members and reconstructed stable communities. However, these communities became threatened as increased numbers of English colonists arrived believing that the devastation of Indian numbers was the divine hand of God paving the way for colonial settlement and supremacy. As contact increased between two vastly different worlds, colonists minimized Indians and …

Remembering The Civil War In Indian Territory: Conflict, Commemoration, And The Birth Of A State, 1861-1965, Sarah Elliott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project argues that the Civil War was the mechanism by which Indian Territory transformed into the white-dominated U.S. state of Oklahoma, both in population and identity. Factions of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole Nations in Indian Territory allied with the Confederacy at the outset of the war. During Reconstruction, the federal government used these alliances to justify harsh treaty terms that dissolved tribal sovereignty and dispossessed these nations of much of their land. Initially, the federal government resettled other forcibly removed Indigenous peoples on this confiscated land, but the late nineteenth century, the Dawes Allotment Act and …

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

"Dish For An Epicure": Spanish Perceptions Of Indigenous Food In Mexico And Central America, 1517-1577, Timothy Boyer

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Upon Arrival in Veracruz, Mexico in 1520, the conquistadors were exposed to the sights, sounds, and tastes of the New World. In Cuba they had subsisted on a mostly European diet, but in Mexico they would have to learn to make do with indigenous foods. Their leader, Hernan Cortes, ordered the ships burned to prevent deserters, destroying any hope they had of receiving supplies of European foods during their conquest of what would later become known as Nueva Espana. This left them highly dependent on either their own ability to properly identify food sources or, as was usually the case, …

From Goths To Romans? Changing Conceptions Of Visigothic Kingship In The Reigns Of Leovigild And Reccared, Lance Hungar

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The historiography of Visigothic Spain has always been relevant, from the days of what is known as the Reconquista, to Franco-era propaganda efforts, and even to the modern day. Scholars have debated the varying qualities of Roman-ness or Gothic-ness that appear in the Visigothic kingdom, the importance of the Visigothic conversion to Nicene Christianity at the Third Council of Toledo in 589, and other details. Leaving those debates to others, this paper focuses on the question why did the Arian Visigothic kingdom abandon the Arian religion that had defined the Visigoths for generations? In examining this question through archaeological …

The Dry Bloodletting: A History Of The Diagnosis And Treatment Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorders In Military Service Members, Kevin Johnson

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This work is a close look at how veterans of war have been treated medically for ailents of the mind. This work looks closely at the many therapies and pharmaceutical remedies that have been perscribed to veterans with the advent of the field of psycology at the trun of the century. Sources included the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), multiple clinical trials and white papers, records from the VA, etc. The reader should walk away with a better understanding of how the path towards healing invisble wounds has been mired with revictimization and controversy.

The Experience Of Native New England Women: Community, Capture, And Enslavement, Fallon Suskavcevic

History & Classics Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Priscus At The Court Of Atilla: Unveiling Hunnic Dynamics, Jake C. Mccauley

Young Historians Conference

This paper examines and reevaluates the lasting impacts of Priscus of Panium’s eyewitness account of his ambassadorial trip to Atilla the Hun in 449 CE, dubbed Priscus at the Court of Attila. Through meticulous analysis, this paper attempts to contextualize the presence and military movements of Huns across Europe based on Priscus’ original work. I clarify that Atilla's encampment was in Wallachia while detailing the location's significance and the significance of Hunnic military movements in Media. Moving forward, I use Priscus’ work as a tool to observe the social norms of Byzantium and Scythia ranging from things like their female …

Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations And Its Interpretation With Christian Contemporary Thought, Audrey Kelley-Henroid

Young Historians Conference

Often regarded as one of the key Stoic works, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is a demonstration of the importance of self-reflection and Stoic ideals. His life was one of war and turmoil that influenced his possibly autobiographical writings over the years during his time campaigning during the Marcomannic wars. Since his death, the manuscripts remaining have been altered and interpreted in various ways. I speculate that Meditations being framed in the Christian lens is one of the most significant ways it's relevant today as it demonstrates the way contemporary ideas are imprinted onto classical work. Translators and readers of Meditations such …

Marshlands And Monasteries: The Impact Of Weapon Deposition On Medieval British Christianity, Maia Lippay

Young Historians Conference

This paper, using proven archeological evidence, time-specific literature, and references on monastic life, local tradition, and social concepts of mythology, draws a clear connection between the prevalent European Iron Age practice of ritual votive and weapon deposition into bodies of water and the state of Christianity in middle ages Great Britain. The ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, particularly the Witham Valley, is featured heavily for its high concentration of deposition and monastic sites in a verifiably close distance of each other. The paper explores the possibility that the existence of these pre-Christian ritual sites remained relevant throughout the Roman period through …