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One Of The Finest Sources Of Recruits: The Canadian Cadet Movement During The Second World War, Kevin Woodger

Canadian Military History

This article examines the history of the Sea, Army, and Air Cadet programs during the Second World War. The movement expanded rapidly during the war, with the assistance of the Canadian forces, which became more directly involved with the equipping, training, and administration of their respective cadet branches. Cadet training became increasingly sophisticated in an effort to provide cadets with the rudiments of modern military training in order to speed their transition into the armed forces when they reached enlistment age. The movement’s leaders viewed their primary role as providing pre-trained recruits to meet the needs of the military, and …

Planning For A War In Paradise: The 1966 Honolulu Conference And The Shape Of The Vietnam War, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

This article explores the impact of one of the key non-military events in the U.S. war in Vietnam, at least in the crucial years from 1964 to 1968. During a two-day U.S.–South Vietnamese conference held in Honolulu in early 1966, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk laid out a series of overarching strategic objectives, both military and political, that shaped the allied war effort through the 1968 Tet offensive, and even beyond. The goals outlined at the summit remained the touchstone of U.S. military strategy until they were superseded in 1969 by a policy …

Constructing And Deconstructing 'Victory, 1918' At The Canadian War Museum, Tim Cook, Marie-Louise Deruaz

Canadian Military History

This article explores the history behind the creation of the Canadian War Museum’s exhibition, Victory, 1918: The Last Hundred Days. The exhibition presented the story of the Canadian Corps during the Hundred Days campaign of the First World War and the Canadian contributions to Allied victory. What follows is a glimpse into the challenges of exhibition development. Together, artifacts, personal stories, films, works of art, immersive spaces, reconstructions and colourized historical photographs created an engaging visitor experience while communicating key concepts about the Hundred Days.

Cet article explore l’histoire de la création de l’exposition Victoire 1918: Les cent derniers …

164th Infantry News: July 2019, 164th Infantry Association

164th Infantry Regiment Publications

July 2019 edition of the 164th Infantry News. A total of 104 pages, containing news articles, event notices, photographs, and personal memories from the veterans of the 164th Infantry Regiment.

Bridging The Gap: Canadian Engineer Operations At Canal Du Nord–Bourlon Wood, 1918, Brian Pascas

Canadian Military History

During the last hundred days of the Great War, the Allied armies swept eastward past the Hindenburg Line with hammer-blow offensive warfare. Performing their work under intense machine gun and shell fire, engineers erected bridges and constructed roads, allowing infantry and artillery units to pursue the retreating enemy. These combat engineers played a vital role in battle tactics and logistical services of open warfare. Their versatile formations contributed to the Canadian Corps’ rapid victories, which included the successful Canal du Nord crossing leading to the capture of Bourlon Wood in September 1918.

Late Imperial And Soviet "Show" Trials, 1878-1938, David M. Crowe

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"According to Cassidy, the imperial 'show' trials, which began in the 1870s, were a series of 'highly publicized public spectacles that spread the ideas of Russian radicalism even as they condemned the radicals themselves to imprisonment, exile, hard labor, civil death, or execution.'⁴ They also became a source of 'popular entertainment' that drew large audiences and helped, according Elizabeth A. Wood, create a link in the public imagination between 'revolution and trials.' Georgii Plekhanov, one of Russia's foremost Marxists, saw the 'revolutionary trials in the 1870s and 1880s' as 'the greatest historical drama which is called the trial of …

Us And The Cold War In Latin America, Thomas Field

Publications

The Cold War in Latin America had marked consequences for the region’s political and economic evolution. From the origins of US fears of Latin American Communism in the early 20th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, regional actors played central roles in the drama. Seeking to maximize economic benefit while maintaining independence with regard to foreign policy, Latin Americans employed an eclectic combination of liberal and anti-imperialist discourses, balancing frequent calls for anti-Communist hemispheric unity with periodic diplomatic entreaties to the Soviet bloc and the nonaligned Third World. Meanwhile, US Cold War policies toward …

Ike's Last War: Making War Safe For Society, Jesse A. Faugstad

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis analyzes how Eisenhower defined war and its utility in his New Look defense policy and the ramifications for America’s interactions with the world through its foreign policy. It argues that Eisenhower redefined the relationship between war and society as he executed his grand strategy, further removing society from the decision for war. To avoid what he believed to be the inevitable global destruction of a general war turned nuclear, Eisenhower broadened the scope of ‘war” to balance domestic opinion for containing communism while also avoiding the devastating consequences of war in American society. By authorizing coups in Iran …

The Little Civil War Drummer Boy, Cameron T. Sauers

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

When I think about the battle front, I think about soldiers in uniform marching off to fight with their weapons and small mementos from home. I also think about the many doctors and nurses who provided care to men riddled with bullet holes and disease. I never thought of drummers, though, until I saw the snare drum pictured above. However, this drum and the many others like it were an integral part of army life. For the drummers themselves, their instrument represented a unique avenue of service where zealous, but often underaged, patriots could join the war efforts without being …

Analysis Considering The Significance Of The Use Of Naval Blockades During The Napoleonic Wars, John J. Janora

The Exposition

During the course of the 18th and 19th centuries the British Navy took an age old method of manipulating and dominating an enemy, the naval blockade, and perfected it. The blockade was going to be used by a generation of admirals, captains, and crews in a way that would cause pain, financially, physically and psychologically, on a large swath of the western world, much of it specifically centered on ensuring that Napoleon and his aggressively expansionist France would pay too dear a price if they tried to move off of the European mainland. The British Navy and their continued use …

A War Of Frustration: Saddam Hussein’S Use Of Nerve Gas On Civilians At Halabja (1988) And The American Response, Christopher Huber

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The large-scale use of chemical weapons in conflict dates to World War I, but international regulations kept its use in check until Saddam Hussein’s decision to implement it throughout the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. The consistent use of poison gas and repeated lack of international intervention allowed Saddam to murder thousands of Kurdish citizens in Halabja on March 16, 1988. This paper admits Saddam Hussein committed heinous acts of human rights violations and war crimes, but argues he was forced to make these horrific decisions by an unyielding adversary in the Ayatollah Khomeini, abandoned by an ineffective United Nations …

The Private Navy Of The United States: The Effects Of Privateers On The War Of 1812, Anthony Green

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The declaration of war in June of 1812 brought more questions than it did answers for the United States. Economically, the government was not prepared to fund a war with multiple fronts. To make matters worse, the government’s primary source of income was through import duties, which they expected to decrease drastically as the war progressed. Militaristically, the United States Navy was too small to offer the protection that was needed from Britain, who possessed the world’s strongest navy at the time. Luckily for the United States, Congress in conjunction with President James Madison authorized privately owned ships to participate …

The Knights Templar: The Course Of God And Gold, Aaron Wozniak

Young Historians Conference

The creation and expansion of the Knights Templar exemplifies the power of religious organizations during the time of the Crusades. However, it is the dissolution of the Templars that makes the order’s existence stand out among other knight orders. While the legal accounts of King Philip IV condemn the Templars for heresy, modern scholars and the political context suggest the possibility of exploiting the order for its significant financial holdings. This paper follows the history of the Templar order, from its creation to its demise, to evaluate how the Templars drifted far enough from their initial mission to provide royals …

The Role Of Stoic Philosophy In Military Leadership And Values, Elliot Witscher

Young Historians Conference

Military leaders have historically relied on different justifications for violence and war, including philosophy. A perennial favorite of the military has been stoic philosophy, often based on the teachings and work of Epictetus. However, a careful examination of the actions of three well known military leaders, Marcus Aurelius, Frederick the Great, and the modern United States military, show that philosophical beliefs, no matter how firmly held, rarely translate into military actions or policy. Many leaders claim to value stoic teachings, however these internal and personal worldview is hard to scale into a specific type of action on the battlefield or …

The Great Heathen Failure: Why The Great Heathen Army Failed To Conquer The Whole Of Anglo-Saxon England, Ryan Macneill

Graduate Theses

In the year 865 CE, a coalition of Viking forces combined to form an army aimed at the conquest and settlement of England. Known as The Great Heathen Army, these Vikings managed to capture most of the territory that today constitutes England with the notable exception of the English kingdom of Wessex. And so, despite many successes, they failed to conquer all of English territory. Though these events, which transpired throughout the 860s and 870s, are well documented, the Viking perspective is rarely taken into account and there has yet to have been an argument that pinpoints how and why …

Women In Combat: The Soviet Example, Hayley Noble

History Graduate Projects and Theses

This project explores the experiences of Soviet women in combat on the eastern front during World War II. Through an exhibit, website, and thesis, Soviet women are shown in stereotypically male-dominated roles, performing as well as their male counterparts, while not acknowledged for their work after the war. Their invisible service reveals trends through military history scholarship, and larger ideology surrounding women in combat. This project informs on a relatively unknown topic, while using their historical example to advocate for American women in the military integrating into combat jobs.

The Battle Of The Ourcq River, Earl Jacob Starbuck

Masters Theses

An account of the Battle of the Ourcq River, 28 July-6 August, 1918, World War One.

Opportunism & Duty: Gendered Perceptions Of Women's Involvement In Crusade Negotiation And Mediation (1147-1254), Gordon M. Reynolds

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Women’s involvement in negotiation and mediation during the Middle Ages has received close scrutiny. However, few scholars have concentrated their investigations on the trends in female-led negotiations during the crusades in the Near East, and the significance of the religious connotations of such leadership in this theatre. There were dramatic societal shifts in the Latin East during the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, most significantly in the aftermath of the Battle of Hattin and loss of Jerusalem in 1187. The destruction of much of the Latin East’s crusader states that followed Jerusalem’s fall displaced many individuals, and with a plethora of Christian nobles …

The Fighting Blue Ridgers: Combined Arms Capabilities Of The Us Army's 80th Infantry Division In World War Ii, 1944-1945, Brannon Price

Master's Theses

This study of the Second World War examines the tactics employed by the 80th Infantry Division of the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations in 1944 and 1945. Early historiography portrays American units as brave but less sophisticated than their German adversaries. However, recent scholarship praises American combat capabilities. Drawing largely upon official Army records and firsthand accounts from American soldiers, this thesis argues that the 80th Infantry Division developed into a highly effective fighting force in the European Theater when it properly employed the concept of combined arms (the coordination of infantry, artillery, and armor) on …

A Peculiar Service: The Chronological Exploits And Evolving Nature Of The Confederate States Marine Corps, Lucas Peed

Masters Theses

This work looks at the little studied and often neglected history of the Confederate States Marine Corps. The purpose of this work is to tell the story of the CSMC and provide a chronological account of their actions. Through the Confederate Marines’ story, their ability to adapt their skills and training throughout the war becomes apparent.

'We Are Abolitionizing The West': The Union Army And The Implementation Of Federal Emancipation Policy, 1861–1865, Scott Ackerman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project provides a new history of the implementation of federal emancipation policy by the Union armies during the Civil War. It examines five geographic regions occupied by the Union army—the Mississippi River Valley, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, and Kentucky—focusing on the activities of officials whom I term the “middle managers” of federal emancipation policy. Though often overlooked by historians, officers such as Union army Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, Commissioner for the United States Colored Troops George Stearns, and Major William Sidell were specifically designated by the Lincoln administration to superintend the implementation of emancipation policy in …

"We Germans Fear God, And Nothing Else In The World!" Military Policy In Wilhelmine Germany, 1890-1914, Cavender Sutton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the Second Reich’s short life, military affairs were synonymous with those of the state. Indeed, it was the zeal and blood of Prussian soldiers that allowed the creation of a unified German empire. After solidifying itself as a major power, things grew more complicated as the Reich found itself increasingly surrounded by hostile rivals. To the west, French humiliation over their catastrophic defeat in 1870-71 continued to fester while, in the east, Russian sympathies for the new empire waned. The finalization of a Franco-Russian alliance in 1894 meant Germany faced formidable adversaries along her eastern and western borders. That …

Flying Tigers, Black Sheep: Legends In The Pacific, Delynn Burrell

Masters Theses

This project seeks to explore the relationship between Claire Lee Chennault and Gregory “Pappy” Boyington and their respective units. By carefully studying Claire Chennault and Gregory Boyington and the strategies they implemented within their units for missions one can better understand what made their units so successful. By extension, this project also seeks to understand how popular culture has continued to bring their stories to the forefront for a new generation and the influence it has in expanding the legends. By examining personality traits, leadership skills, and the command policies of the commanders outside of missions, it is hopeful that …

Casualties Of War? Refining The Civilian-Military Dichotomy In World War I, Eric Grube

Madison Historical Review

Throughout the First World War, newspapers around the world mocked the British state for its lavish spending on captured German officers kept at Donington Hall, a refurbished English estate. Why was this camp such a controversial space of perceived decadence? I argue that its comforts seemed to linger from an earlier era, one in which military men exuded genteel civility as integral to their supposedly heroic service. The British state essentially enabled such treatment, and the public decried this space for sustaining the anachronism of aristocratic privilege in the face of a globalized total war. However, the German inmates expected …

Review Of "Life And Death In Captivity: The Abuse Of Prisoners During War" By Geoffrey P.R. Wallace, Jean-Michel Turcotte

Canadian Military History

Review of Life and Death in Captivity: The Abuse of Prisoners during War by Geoffrey P.R. Wallace.

Review Of "Canadians On The Somme, 1916: The Neglected Campaign" By William F. Stewart, Brian Douglas Tennyson

Canadian Military History

Review of Canadians on the Somme, 1916: The Neglected Campaign by William F. Stewart.

Review Of "Forgotten Under A Tropical Sun: War Stories By American Veterans In The Philippines, 1898-1913" By Joseph P. Mccallus, Frank Schumacher

Canadian Military History

Review of Forgotten Under A Tropical Sun: War Stories by American Veterans in the Philippines, 1898-1913 by Joseph P. McCallus.

Review Of "'By, With, Through': A Sof Global Engagement Strategy" By Emily Spencer, Ed., Emah Saviour Peter

Canadian Military History

Review of “By, With, Through”: A SOF Global Engagement Strategy by Emily Spencer, ed.

Review Of "Thunder In The Skies: A Canadian Gunner In The Great War" By Derek Grout, Kyle Pritchard

Canadian Military History

Review of Thunder in the Skies: A Canadian Gunner in the Great War by Derek Grout.

Review Of "The Fear Of Invasion: Strategy, Politics, And British War Planning, 1880-1914" By David G. Morgan-Owen, Alexander Maavara

Canadian Military History

Review of The Fear of Invasion: Strategy, Politics, and British War Planning, 1880-1914 by David G. Morgan-Owen.