Digital Commons Network^™

Was The Us Invasion Of Iraq A Mistake, Or Are We Missing The Emergence Of A Promising Democracy?, Robert Burrell, Arman Mahmoudian, John Pennell

Journal of Strategic Security

This study evaluates the long-term impact of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq on its democratic development, social stability, and regional geopolitics. Utilizing a comprehensive data-driven approach, including metrics on governance resilience, national morale, political dynamics, economic indicators, and security sector reforms, the research assesses progress over two decades. Findings indicate gradual improvements in Iraq’s democratic institutions, public confidence, and economic resilience, despite persistent challenges such as corruption, sectarian divisions, and regional influence from Iran and neighboring states. The analysis suggests that Iraq’s resilience and evolving political landscape could foster a nascent democracy capable of regional influence if key reforms …

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Besieged Emotions: Female Writers, Vicksburg, And The Domestic Sphere During The Civil War, Theresa Schaecher

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, is most often interpreted in terms of military strategy, leadership, and battlefield outcomes. While these perspectives provide important insights into the campaign, they have often placed less emphasis on the experiences of civilians who endured the forty-seven-day siege within the city. This dissertation examines the civilian experience through women's writings, arguing that their diaries and memoirs serve as analytical accounts of survival, emotional endurance, and social transformation under siege. Drawing on the writings of Mary Loughborough and other female civilians, this study employs content and narrative analyses to identify patterns of fear, grief, hope, and …

Sustaining The Carrier War: The Deployment Of U.S. Naval Air Power To The Pacific, Viktor M. Stoll, Stan Fisher

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Research & Debate—Forms Of Military Strategy: Historical Parallels Between The American Confederacy And Imperial Japan, And A Way Forward, Robert C. Rubel

Naval War College Review

Two cases, almost eighty years apart, in which a weaker power—the Confederacy and imperial Japan—sought to achieve an end to the war before the United States could mobilize its material advantages and before the weaker side’s limited resources ran out provide useful insights into this western Pacific conundrum. Studying the failure of both challengers bears particular lessons for the United States in its potential conflict with China, in ways that studying our past victories against these adversaries cannot.

Review Essay—A Wake For Objective Control—"The State And The Soldier: A History Of Civil-Military Relations In The United States", Frank Hoffman, Kori Schake

Naval War College Review

Just five years ago, scholars with extensive Washington policy experience assessed that a civil-military relations crisis existed. They perceived that military perspectives were dominating the Pentagon during the first Trump administration. One book accused Secretary of Defense James Mattis of shirking his responsibility to maintain meaningful civilian control. Frustrated, midlevel policy officials faced a slew of bureaucratic initiatives and pressures from an aggressive Joint Staff. Was it a crisis, or were civilians outmaneuvered or unresponsive? Did the military have undue influence, and was civilian control really undermined? The timely publication of The State and the Soldier delivers historical context and …

Fighting Without Mastery—Italian Naval Strategy And The Defeat Of The Regia Marina In The Mediterranean, 1940–1943, Fabio De Ninno

Naval War College Review

Fascist Italy’s campaign to secure and command oceanic sea-lanes in the period between 1935 and 1943 marks a noteworthy failure in interwar strategy. Such a glaring historical moment—particularly the failure to raise a suitable navy capable of achieving Italy’s geopolitical objects—demands further inquiry to uncover how and why this project fell far short of its projected aims.

“A True Sailor-Statesman”—The Ethical Quandary Of Ambassador Raymond A. Spruance In The Philippines, Andrew K. Blackley

Naval War College Review

After retiring from the Navy, Admiral Raymond A. Spruance took on the role of U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. Thomas Buell, a prominent Spruance biographer, previously has claimed that Spruance’s involvement in the 1953 Philippine presidential election was ethically questionable, a perspective challenged by new research.

Destined To Fail?: The U.S. Advisory Period And The Lost Path To Victory, 1960-1965, Alexander Patrick Fancher

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

South Vietnam experienced robust military and economic development between 1960 and 1963 under the leadership of President Ngo Dinh Diem. With the help of U.S. aid, the RVNAF improved its ability to wage war against the Viet Cong, while simultaneously pacifying the countryside. ARVN and VNN units developed new capabilities and trained officers to replace losses after the French Exodus from Vietnam. The introduction of U.S. advisors created the conditions necessary for the development of a young, inexperienced military. Acting as guides, these Americans were cautiously optimistic that South Vietnam was on the path to self-sufficiency by spring 1963 as …

Industrial Democracy: Unionization, Power, And Control In Rockefeller’S Southern Colorado, Ava Welty

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

By 1914, democracy was clearly connected to America’s political ethos, and Wilson and Frank Walsh only amplified the term. Against this backdrop, labor and CF&I sought to define their movement as aligned with the national project of industrial democracy, despite having divergent understandings of the term. CF&I and Rockefeller built upon decades of social betterment, in addition to new ideas of company unionism to create their definition of industrial democracy, while workers returned to union recognition as a tool of power to construct their definition of industrial democracy. This paper argues that conflicting definitions of industrial democracy after the Ludlow …

Legends, Lies, & Rewritten Lives: After The Little Bighorn: Forgotten Struggles Of Those Who Walked Away, 2nd Edition, Thomas B. Davidson

DU Textbooks

This Story surrounds an event that occurred one summer on June 25, 1876, along the banks of the Little Bighorn River in what is now the state of Montana. Seen from a 21st century perch, it is a story of a collision between two very different civilizations or empires. Both empire’s military fought in the manner of their society. This narrative will attempt to balance the believable truth of what happened in that contest between the military representatives of both societies while also trying to tell an engaging story, without drifting into naked partisanship, purple prose, or sensationalism. The narrative …

Old World Ranks On A New Frontier: Noncommissioned Officer Command In The United States Military, Robert K. Whillock

History Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the development of the United States Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Corps and the regulatory limits placed on its authority. The early American military adopted European traditions that reserved command for commissioned officers and confined NCOs to supervisory and disciplinary roles. Regulations reinforced this hierarchy by preventing NCOs from exercising autonomous command and limiting opportunities for advancement into the officer corps through merit. Over time, however, egalitarian reformers began to question whether these rigid distinctions served the needs of the evolving American military.

The paper argues that foreign military examples and operational necessity gradually challenged the established roles of …

The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins Of The U.S. Autonomous Military Arsenal, Jonathan Panter, Jacquelyn Schneider, Julia Macdonald

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Admiral James Stavridis: Sailor, Scholar, Leader, Christopher Nelson, Stanley D. M. Carpenter

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Set & Drift—Disposing Of Sea Mines In Operation Desert Shield: Developing Eod Doctrine In Wartime, Thomas Bernitt, Jason Gilbert, Michael Dalrymple

Naval War College Review

In 1990, during Operation DESERT SHIELD, the buildup to the first Gulf War, the United States began to amass a naval presence not seen since World War II. The Navy deployed eight aircraft carriers, three amphibious ready groups, and numerous smaller warships to the Persian Gulf alone. Prior to this, no aircraft carrier had entered the Gulf since 1974, because the Navy considered the water space too constricted for carrier operations. It perceived the chief threat to warships operating in the Gulf to be from the Iraqi air force—USS Stark had been hit by two Iraqi air-launched Exocet missiles just …

The Art Of Securing “Strong Places” Overseas—A History Of A British Naval Base In Oman In The Early Twentieth Century, Terence M. Nicholas

Naval War College Review

Securing a “strong place” overseas without disrupting local politics or agitating rivals is as crucial today as it has ever been. The experience of the British in northern Oman in the early twentieth century has more than academic relevance today.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal for Florence Normal College, October 1909.

*Press of The Florence Times*

Distilled Identities: The History And Gender Politics Of The Perfume Industry, Emma Shaffer

Honors Projects

This paper analyzes the use of gendered perfume marketing in the West. Drawing upon the work of Joe Schwartz, Sarah Evrett, and others, I examine the history of this phenomenon and the politics keeping the perfume market segregated by gender. How long has perfume existed? Has it always been so strict on who wears what fragrance? My results found that perfume has only been gendered since the Victorian era, dispelling the myth that gendered fragrance is the only way to market perfume. However, I also found that when gender neutral fragrances have been introduced, they have not had much staying …

The Courier, Fall 2025, Tennessee. Historical Commission.

Tennessee Historical Commission

No abstract provided.

The Courier, Winter 2026, Tennessee. Historical Commission.

Tennessee Historical Commission

No abstract provided.

Calculated Self-Presentation: Japan At Twentieth Century American World’S Fairs, Mary Rose Comerford

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

World’s fairs are places of innovation, culture, and technology. They are places where visitors go to be wowed by the innovations of other countries, but do they have a deeper meaning? In this thesis I will argue that world’s fairs serve a purpose beyond the sharing of culture and innovation. They allow national commissions to control the narrative of their country through a careful curation of displays that meet the objectives of their government. Countries’ objectives at world’s fairs change all the time, depending on their position in the world and what serves their best interest. The fairs themselves each …

In The Eyes Of Empires: Depictions Of Ancient Illyria, Maeve Quinlan Miller

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Illyria, called Illyricum under Roman governance, was an area in the ancient Mediterranean which extended across the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. Situated north of Greece, west of Macedon, and across the ocean from Rome, Illyria occupied a critical place in the world, and yet it remains underdiscussed in scholarship. The sources that have survived into the modern era come from non-Illyrian voices, like Livy from Rome, Polybius, a Greek historian, or Arrian, who took great lengths to record the campaigns of Alexander the Great. Without affiliation or deep understanding of Illyrian ways, places like Rome, Greece, and Macedon …

St. Mary's Rotc, One Hundred Years Of Military Science, Pedro Martinez

Posters - 2026

The ROTC program at St. Mary’s has built a proud legacy of over a century of military tradition, leadership, and service. That distinguished chapter will evolve at the end of this semester as the program transitions from host institution status and becomes an extension of the University of Texas at San Antonio. While the program will continue to operate, this change marks both the end of one era and the beginning of another. Much of this rich history had long gone undocumented by the university and the battalion, until now, bringing together the key moments of its evolution, from its …

Unassuming Antiquity: The 1939-1940 New York World’S Fair, Mary Rose Comerford

History & Classics Student Scholarship

This paper examines the self-representation of Japan at the 1939 New York World’s Fair through the country’s displays and gifts to the United States. American world’s fairs were events that many countries wanted to participate in, to showcase their innovation, industry, and culture. It was a place for them to enter the international stage and control their image of themselves to the rest of the world. Japan’s choice of displays varied at different points in history depending on what would best serve the country’s diplomatic interests. In 1939, following its military aggression in China, Japan looked for a chance to …

"That Others Might Be Free”: Pride, Prejudice, And Paternalism In The Imperial Period, Bridget Goguen

History & Classics Student Scholarship

The goddess of wisdom and war models intellect without complacency, valor without rashness. Claiming this duality—a civilized militancy—from their patron goddess Athena, an ancient Athenian citizenry could rationalize imperial conquest as democratic goodwill. Millennia later, the United States, seeking subtle proclamation of classical succession, crafted their national personification Columbia from the mold of Athena. Amidst the politics of territorial expansion in the aftermath of the 1898 Spanish-American War, the Americans called on Columbia to symbolically marshal and disguise their own imperial ascent. This paper explores the American adaptation of Greco-Roman rhetoric through the mediums of cartoons, sculptures, and paintings in …

Review Essay—"Spoiling Victory: How Weaker Fleets Win": Deterrence And Denial: The Power Of Fleets In Being, Norman Friedman, S.C.M. Paine

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

“Let Sleeping Dogs Lie”—The Impact Of Naval Air Warfare During The Spanish Civil War On The Royal Navy, 1936–1939, Néstor Cerdá

Naval War College Review

The landscape of modern warfare is one of constant metamorphosis caused by a variety of factors, from technological advancement to shifting combat terrains. The Royal Navy’s experience with German airpower while enforcing nonintervention during the Spanish Civil War set uneven expectations for the role of naval airpower in the war to come.

Research & Debate—Operation Sledgehammer Reconsidered: Disaster Averted Or Opportunity Lost?, Gary Giumarra

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Rocky Mountain National Park: A History, C W. Buccholz

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park: A History is more than just the story of Rocky Mountain in its brief tenure as a national park. Its scope includes the earliest traces of human activity in the region and outlines the major events of exploration, settlement, and exploitation. Origins of the national park idea are followed into the recent decades of the Park's overwhelming popularity. It is a story of change, of mountains reflecting the tenor of the times. From being a hunting ground to becoming ranchland, from being a region of resorts to becoming a national park, this small segment of the …

The Origins And Expansion Of The Soviet Union’S Military-Industrial Complex, Noah B. Heminger

All Master's Theses

This thesis explores the way in which the “Soviet Military-Industrial Complex” that dominated the Soviet Union’s economy in the latter half of its existence came into existence and what forces caused its expansion. The first force was the ideological and strategic beliefs and assumptions of the leadership and military planners which held that the USSR would always be in existential danger. The second was Stalin’s “Revolution from Above” which broke down the barriers economically and politically that resisted the militarization of politics, economics, and society. And the final force was the stresses of World War II which caused the Soviet …