Digital Commons Network^™

Dropping Question Marks: War Art, Leadership, The Canadian Forces And Afghanistan, Gertrude Kearns

Canadian Military History

As a contemporary war artist, Gertrude Kearns presents interpretive challenges to the commemoration and contextualization of controversial aspects of Canadian military history, both from her personal perspective and in terms of the institutional responsibilities associated with meaningful public presentations of war art. In the context of her decade-long Afghan War senior leadership series, and with reference to earlier Somalian and Balkan works, in this article she discusses the appropriateness of her selected subject matter as well as her own responsibility as a war artist in dealing with everything from disturbing and regular subjects to mission concept. Kearns reviews accountability, her …

Review Of The Last Cavalryman: The Life Of General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. By Harvey Ferguson, Jared Dockery Ph.D.

Faculty Research & Publications

No abstract provided.

Achieving Organizational Flexibility Through Ambidexterity, Patricia M. Shields, Donald S. Travis

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

The Strategic Logic Of Sieges In Counterinsurgencies, Lionel M. Beehner, Benedetta Berti, Michael T. Jackson

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Us Air Force Airlift And The Army's Relevance, Robert C. Owen

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Waging Financial Warfare: Why And How, David J. Katz

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Russia's Improved Information Operations: From Georgia To Crimea, Emilio J. Iasiello

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Beyond Surprise Attack, Lawrence Freedman

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

What Are America's Alliances Good For?, Hal Brands, Peter D. Feaver

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Employing Military Force In The 21st Century, Michel R. Matheny

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Expendable: Eight Soldiers From Massachusetts Regiments Executed For Desertion During The United States Civil War, Stephen F. Ragon

Graduate Masters Theses

The written history of the United States Civil War provides limited analysis on the topic of desertion and execution for desertion in the Army of the Potomac. The specific numbers involved are well documented. With the exception of occasional narratives on the executions themselves, there is no examination of the human decisions taken; beginning with the soldier’s choice to desert. In addition, while the military court-martial trial was rigid in its structure and process, it allowed for discretion in the sentencing phase. Human choice exerted its greatest influence in the aftermath of the trial as the sentence was reviewed up …

Constituent Parts: Recent Portraiture In Canadian Military Art, Lindsey V. Sharman

Canadian Military History

Not common within the art historical record of the Canadian Military, the work of a number of visual artists participating in the Canadian Forces Artists Program demonstrates a keen and growing interest in portraiture. In this article, the work of Gertrude Kearns, Mary Kavanagh, and Erin Riley will be highlighted to illustrate the recent trend. Their work is contrasted with one another as well as with portraiture created by Canada’s war artists in the First and Second World Wars to bring to light the tensions of representation inherent in military portraiture. It will be shown that shifting perceptions found in …

Following The Spirit Of The Law: Col. Eberhard P. Deutsch And The Legal Division Of United States Forces Austria, 1945-1946, Peter J. Casey

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

As World War II neared its end in Europe, the Allied powers faced a difficult situation with the occupied nation of Austria. Considering the complicated Austrian relationship with Nazism, the Allies had to decide how the nation would be liberated, occupied, and rehabilitated. Almost instantaneously, the United States, Great Britain, and France became at odds with a vengeful Soviet Union seeking to build a defensive shield of Communist European client states that included Austria. This study will show that as the head of the American Legal Division, Col. Eberhard P. Deutsch, United States Army, was instrumental in the reformation of …

Manipulated Museum History And Silenced Memories Of Aggression: Historical Revisionism And Japanese Government Censorship Of Peace Museums, Benjamin P. Birdwhistell

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Japanese government has a vested interest in either avoiding discussion of its war-torn past or arguing for a revisionist take. The need to play up Japanese victimization over Japanese aggression during World War II has led to many museums having their exhibits censored or revised to fit this narrative goal. During the 1990’s, Japan’s national discourse was more open to discussions of war crimes and the damage caused by their aggression. This in turn led to the creation of many “peace museums” that are intended to discuss and confront this history as frankly as possible. At the beginning of …

The 773rd Tank Destroyer Battalion At The Falaise Pocket, 1944: The Application Of Tank Destroyer Doctrine In The Field, Logan M. Gross

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

During World War II, the United States Army employed a new weapon on the battlefield in an attempt to defeat German armor tactics: the tank destroyer. Tank Destroyer Force was created to stem the tide of German armored attacks and form an opening for American tanks to make their own counter-attacks. Since the end of the war, tank destroyer battalions have been regarded as a failed experiment, despite the evidence that they effectively did their jobs. The negative feedback in the immediate post-war period lead to the dissolution of the Tank Destroyer Force. Many of the studies of tank destroyers …

Material, Trace, Trauma: Notes On Some Recent Acquisitions At The Canadian War Museum And The Legacy Of The First World War, Christine Conley

Canadian Military History

Recent acquisitions at the Canadian War Museum are considered in relation to the radical innovations of soldier-artists who endured the somatic conditions of the First World War trenches, privileging materiality and psychic reality over visual perception. Barbara Steinman and Norman Takeuchi bring the past into the present through the indexical presence of black and white photographic fragments and the emotive presentation of lost objects as signifiers of the desires of the absent. Scott Waters and Mary Kavanagh evoke dread and the contingency of death through anamorphic distortion and blinding luminosity. Like the suggestive surfaces of the Museum itself, these works …

"I'D Rather Be Forgotten Than Dishonored": An Oral And Life History Project With A Vietnam Veteran, Hayley Michael Hasik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

More than 2.7 million Americans served in the military during the Vietnam era and roughly 40,000 of them as helicopter pilots in Vietnam, yet scholars are still trying to understand the Vietnam experience. There is little doubt that the war played an influential role in the lives of that generation. Yet, many Vietnam veterans refrained from talking about their service, making it difficult to study and understand their experiences within the existing historical narrative. Using the life history of Warrant Officer James Scott, Hayley Hasik argues that Vietnam veterans—particularly helicopter pilots—are an underrepresented group that, through oral history, can provide …

Mitigating Munitions: The Consequences Of Using Technology During Counterinsurgency Campaigns, Pake L. Davis

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

American counterinsurgency in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan relied on conventional warfare methods than counterinsurgency warfare methods. These methods proved detrimental to operational success and put members of the military at risk. To find this, I used after-action reports from Vietnam by the 1st Cavalry, 4th Infantry, and 25th Infantry Divisions. I used oral histories by the Veterans History Project and the Cantigny First Division Oral Histories to reveal their experiences while conducting these campaigns. The primary method began in Vietnam with Arc Light (B-52) strikes, artillery strikes, and napalm as preparatory strikes. American units then used search-and-destroy maneuvers to root …

William Walker And The Seeds Of Progressive Imperialism: The War In Nicaragua And The Message Of Regeneration, 1855-1860, John J. Mangipano

Dissertations

For a brief period of time, between 1855 and 1857, William Walker successfully portrayed himself to American audiences as the regenerator of Nicaragua. Though he arrived in Nicaragua in June 1855, with only fifty-eight men, his image as a regenerator attracted several-thousand men and women to join him in his mission to stabilize the region. Walker relied on both his medical studies as well as his experience in journalism to craft a message of regeneration that placated the anxieties that many Americans felt about the instability of the Caribbean. People supported Walker because he provided a strategy of regeneration that …

Defending Reconstruction, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

There are no Reconstruction re-enactors. And who would want to be? Reconstruction is the disappointing epilogue to the American Civil War, a sort of Grimm fairy tale stepchild of the war and the ugly duckling of American history. Even Abraham Lincoln was uneasy at using the word “reconstruction”—he qualified it with add-ons like “what is called reconstruction” or “a plan of reconstruction (as the phrase goes)”—and preferred to speak of the “re-inauguration of the national authority” or the need to “re-inaugurate loyal state governments.” Unlike the drama of the war years, Reconstruction has no official starting or ending date. ( …

Maligned “Milish:” Mississippi Militiamen In The Civil War, Tracy L. Barnett

Master's Theses

Thousands of southern men avoided regular military service in the American Civil War and enlisted or were drafted into state organized militias. In Mississippi, these units were termed Mississippi State Troops or Minute Men. This thesis argues that Mississippi militiamen’s pre-war positions and localized conception of military service directly influenced their wartime experiences. Militiamen, often in their thirties and forties, were older than the average Confederate soldier, established community members, and heads of families who sought service near home. The Mississippi state government, however, visualized militia service as anything but local and developed a centralized militia system that removed men …

Unconventional Lawfare: Operational Law In The War On Terror, L. P. Miller

Political Science Student Scholarship

This thesis examines the legal work required to establish a sufficient lawfare defense by focusing on the Department of Defense Judge Advocate Generals’ Corps (JAG Corps). The work will describe the JAG Corps as a well-trenched bureaucracy with a moral mission to uphold the military’s honor through laws, and how this was interpreted by the Bush and Obama administrations.

Experiences Of Soviet Women Combatants During World War Ii, Michelle De Jesus Reyes

History Theses

World War II was arguably the most heroic event in the history of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), so much that it was known as the “Great Patriotic War.” Tens of millions of Russians were killed during the large scale conflict against their “fascist foes.” Still, the large population of the USSR were moved to action primarily by mass propaganda distributed by the Communist Party leaders. Women played a large role during the war, not just in the factories on the home front or as partisans, but as combat nurses and snipers as well. Since the losses …

Humanization Of The Enemy: The Pacifist Soldier And France In World War One, Daniel E. Stockman

Senior Theses

Not all French citizens were enthused by the prospect of war in 1914, nor were they all so willing to embrace a dehumanized view of the enemy. Some French citizens believed the “Great War” to be a patriotic endeavor. Propaganda encouraged this nationalism and the dehumanization of the enemy. “Political” pacifism existed within the French Third Republic psyche following France’s defeat in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. However, these pacifistic undertones were systematically undermined as France began to militarize itself. Drawing from a series of notebooks, and established academic sources, this paper shows that some French soldiers endured a world at …

Friend Or Foe? Martial Race Ideology And The Experience Of Highland Scottish And Irish Regiments In Mid-Victorian Conflicts, 1853-1870, Adam Spivey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines martial race ideology in the British Army during the mid-nineteenth century. A “martial race” was a group of people that the British considered to excel in the art of warfare due to biological and cultural characteristics. This thesis examines perceived “martial” natures or lack thereof of the Highland Scots and the Irish during this era. Central to this analysis are the Crimean War (1853-1856) and the Indian Mutiny of 1857 which provided opportunities for soldiers to display their “martial” qualities. The Crimean War was the first war where the daily newspapers covered every aspect of the war …

Bomb-Dropping Bombshells: An Analysis Of The Motivations And Accomplishments Of The All-Female 46th Taman Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, Yasmine L. Vaughan

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

The 46^th Taman Guard Bombers Aviation Regiment was an all-female regiment of bomber pilots enlisted by the Soviet military during World War II. Nicknamed the Night Witches by Germans soldiers, they flew over 24,000 combat missions in three years and produced twenty-four Heroes of the Soviet Union. Although gender equality in Soviet Russia made this regiment possible, equality was not what made them successful. To understand their achievements, their motivations must be examined. When the Germans invaded, these women were driven by patriotism to join the fight. Enduring the harsh frontlines, this regiment owed their success to their …

Civil Wars In The Capital: Civil Affairs In The Defenses Of Washington, 1861-1863, Blake M. Lindsey

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the relationships between civilians and soldiers in the Defenses of Washington during the Civil War. Marked by a combination of conflict and adaptation, the visible tension between soldiers and civilians threatened Union loyalty around Washington. Differing identities and priorities caused these conflicts. Young soldiers steeped in a Northern education that cast the South as an enemy thought slavery and associations with Maryland marked Washington’s rural outskirts as an enemy territory. This dynamic, along with material needs, led soldiers to frequently take private property without compensation, known as foraging. Furthermore, soldiers adopted new identities and social groups that …

Kit Carson's Last Fight: The Adobe Walls Campaign Of 1864, David A. Pafford

History ETDs

In the fall of 1864, Brigadier General James H. Carleton sent Kit Carson and about four hundred men on a punitive campaign against the Kiowa and Comanche Indians of the high plains. The resulting battle was one of the largest in the history of North American Indian Wars. Yet this conflict has been relegated to historical obscurity.

In this paper, I examine why Kit Carson’s 1864 Adobe Walls Campaign remains obscure, I measure the success of the mission, and place it in the larger context of nineteenth century Indian Wars, particularly those prosecuted against Plains tribes.