Military History Commons^™

Civil-Military Relations: Guidelines In Politically Charged Societies, Patrick Paterson

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Current events warrant a review of US civil-military relations doctrine. This article examines eight principles of military subordination to elected civilian officials and addresses the fundamental question at the heart of civil-military relations theory and practice—what options, if any, does the military have when civilian leadership disregards military advice? Examples drawn from US history provide an important framework to understand the complex interrelational dynamics at play.

Chinese And Western Ways Of War And Their Ethics, C. Anthony Pfaff

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

US officials often portray the Chinese government as having few, if any, ethical boundaries in its pursuit of power. This article argues China, like Western countries, has a rich tradition of constraining this pursuit that can impact the nation’s policies. With a focus on the relationship between ways of war and ethics of war, it relies on traditional and contemporary scholarship from both the East and the West to highlight differences in how each military views the practical and ethical aspects of war and how these views can interact. Understanding the ethical logic available to one’s adversaries will allow US …

In The Spotlight: Dealing With The Russians, Andrew Monaghan

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Srad Director's Corner: The People’S Republic Of China’S Challenge To Us Security, George Shatzer

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This “SRAD Director’s Corner” is the inaugural contribution by Colonel George Shatzer, director of the Strategy Research and Analysis Division of the Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College. In each contribution, Shatzer will discuss books of relevance to US Joint planners and strategists, as well as those of our allies and strategic partners. He will apply his experience and education as a US Army senior strategist to extract insights useful to anyone contemplating how to confront the challenges of today’s strategic environment.

Water Wars Of The Future: Myth Or Reality?, Gerald J. Krieger

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article provides background and context for regional trends and historic agreements focused on the Nile River Basin, offers a comprehensive assessment of security challenges, and presents focus areas for future investment and cooperation. The policy recommendations will serve American interests better and improve agricultural practices in the region. Without a marked alteration of existing aid from Western countries, the water scarcity situation will continue without significantly producing the required infrastructure improvements.

Developing Strategic Lieutenants In The Canadian Army, James R. Mckay, H. Christian Breede, Ali Dizboni, Pierre Jolicoeur

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This Canadian contribution to Parameters’ Strategic Lieutenant series shows how domestic context creates the conditions for professional military education reform to a greater extent than the global strategic context. The article assesses the junior officer education delivered by Canada’s military colleges and analyzes interviews with key stakeholders responsible for the formulation and implementation of reform at the military colleges.

Information Warfare: Lessons In Inoculation To Disinformation, Meghan Fitzpatrick, Ritu Gill, Jennifer F. Giles

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

While propaganda and disinformation have been used to destabilize opposing forces throughout history, the US military remains unprepared for the way these methods have been adapted to the Internet era. This article explores the modern history of disinformation campaigns and the current state of US military readiness in the face of campaigns from near-peer competitors and proposes education as the best way to prepare US servicemembers to defend against such campaigns.

"They Will Change The Situation Immediately": Perpetrator Subgroups And Germany's Genocidal Practices In Southwest Africa, James Michael Thaxton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The genocide of the Herero tribe in German Southwest Africa illuminates the horrors of colonialism broadly and of German settler colonialism more specifically. I contend that the perpetrators of this event can be separated into two broad subgroups, the Old Africans and the Metropole Soldiers, distinguished by their intentions, exploitative and exterminatory respectively, concerning the indigenous tribes. Those intentions were formed over varying lengths of time but are the result of either firsthand experience with the racial hierarchy in the colony or relying on information and misinformation relayed to the metropole. Utilizing primarily letters, diaries, journals, and postcards, I argue …

Middle East Lessons For America, Will Gunzelman

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation provides the talking points from a discussion on the Middle East, Russian “Siege and Starve” tactics, and the need to recognize agriculture as a U.S. national security issue. Presented to the Cattleman’s Association on February 21, 2022; two days prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Author, Will Gunzelman, retired from U.S. Army Special Forces (“Green Berets”) after 27 years of service and numerous combat deployments.

Keywords: Middle East, Russia, Ukraine, Agriculture, National Security, National Defense, Foreign Policy, Political Science, Farming, Ranching, Great Power Competition (GPC), Warfare, Economics, Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan , NATO, Food Shortage

Boston Discusses The Massacre, Jean C. O'Connor

The Montana English Journal

Teachers may use this chapter from The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution as a short story for grades 7 – 12., to explore themes of interpersonal conflict, conflict resolution, and the value of law.

The chapter “Boston Discusses the Massacre” is taken from The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution (Knox Press, 2020), and used with permission. James Lovell, teacher at the Boston Latin School, discusses the pivotal events of March 5, 1770. As the conflicts that become the American Revolution begin a group of …

Ua1c11/119 Douglas Verdier Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Digital images of members of WKU Pershing Rifles.

Ua94/6 Company B 3rd Regiment Pershing Rifles Wku 1960s, Doug Verdier

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Personal narratives of members of the Pershing Rifles compiled by Doug Verdier.

Ua94/6 Wku Pershing Rifles Company B-3 Vietnam Timeline, Doug Verdier

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Timeline of Vietnam War events 1963-1975 experienced by Pershing Rifles members compiled by Doug Verdier.

Music And Sound In Weihsien Internment Camp In Japanese-Occupied China, Zhihui Sophia Geng

Asian Studies Faculty Publications

From the chapter's Introduction:
On 7 July 1937, Japanese forces based in Manchuria charged southward towards Beijing, invading north China and hence starting the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, transforming the Second Sino-Japanese War into the Pacific War. As a result of Pearl Harbor, the status of Allied citizens living in China at the time changed from neutral to ‘enemy aliens’. These Allied citizens included individuals and their families who worked in China as government officials, executives, engineers and Christian missionaries. They were forced into internment camps under the watchful eyes of the …

Colonial Markets, Consumers, And Trade: A Comparative Analysis Of Historic Ceramics From The Bluefields Bay Area, Westmoreland, Jamaica, Lacy Risner

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The ceramic assemblages from a British colonial settlement in Bluefields Bay, Jamaica, provide a unique window into the market availability, exchange routes, and consumption patterns of the eighteenth century. This study compares the historic ceramics collected from two sites in Bluefields Bay to one another and to other intra-island (Jamaica), intraregional (Lesser Antilles), and international (North America) colonial and postcolonial sites to reveal patterns of individual and global ceramic consumption and distribution in the emergent capitalist networks and markets of the colonial era. Integrating small British colonial sites into the networks of other more extensive studies focusing primarily on plantations …

1918: Over Here, Carol Street, Jennifer Hootman

Library Faculty Digital Projects

1918 Over Here is an online, curated exhibit of holdings in the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center and other repositories. The exhibit is intended to tell the story of the impact of World War I on the University of Kentucky campus and Lexington primarily during 1918.

War And Society In Colonial Zambia, 1939–1953, Alfred Tembo

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Written from a Zambian perspective, this leading study shows how the British colony of Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia) organized and deployed human, military, and natural resources during and after the Second World War.

The Second World War brought unprecedented pressures to bear on Britain’s empire, which then included colonial Northern Rhodesia. Through new archival materials and oral histories, War and Society in Colonial Zambia tells—from an African perspective—the story of how the colony organized its human and natural resources on behalf of the imperial government.

Alfred Tembo first examines government propaganda and recruitment of personnel for the Northern Rhodesia Regiment, …

Spanish Halberds In South Carolina?, Chester B. Depratter

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

The Civil War At Santa Elena, James B. Legg, Heathley A. Johnson

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Improving Veteran Access; Status Of Operations Of The United States Department Of Veteran Affairs Work-Study Program, Kirk Allen

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The usage status of The U.S. Department Veterans Affairs Work-Study Program is examined. Beneficiary numbers from the Global, Unites States, State, and Local/County perspective are reviewed. While of essential value, the program suffers from a lack of scholarly research and government oversight, and is further hindered by restrictive administrative rules lived first-hand. Research suggests that the program is operating outside of accountability to the taxpayer, presents as unnecessarily/overly-restrictive in accessibility, and is underutilized. The program appears to not be serving all veterans to full potential.

The Work-Study Program is codified in Veterans Benefits', Title 38 United States Code, Part III, …

Parameters Winter 2021, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Broken Nest: Deterring China From Invading Taiwan, Jared M. Mckinney, Peter Harris

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan without recklessly threatening a great-power war is both possible and necessary through a tailored deterrence package that goes beyond either fighting over Taiwan or abandoning it. This article joins cutting-edge understandings of deterrence with empirical evidence of Chinese strategic thinking and culture to build such a strategy.

What Went Wrong In Afghanistan?, Todd Greentree

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Critics of the Afghan war have claimed it was always unwinnable. This article argues the war was unwinnable the way it was fought and posits an alternative based on the Afghan way of war and the US approach to counterinsurgency in El Salvador during the final decade of the Cold War. Respecting the political and military dictates of strategy could have made America’s longest foreign war unnecessary and is a warning for the wars we will fight in the future.

From The Editor, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Sino-Indian Border Disputes In An Era Of Strategic Expansions, Roman Muzalevsky

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The June 2020 clash between the People’s Republic of China and India in the disputed Ladakh border area resulted from the strategic expansions of both powers. Like two bubbles expanding in a contained space, these expansions were bound to collide and cause friction. This article explains how the expansions precipitated the incident and might exacerbate border disputes in the future. In pondering implications, it recommends Washington pursue a Eurasia-focused policy embracing the disputed region.

The Grand Strategic Thought Of Colin S. Gray, Lukas Milevski

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Colin S. Gray distinguished himself from other scholars in the field of strategic studies with his belief that grand strategy is indispensable, complex, and inherently agential. This article identifies key themes, continuities, conceptual relationships, and potential discontinuities from his decades of grand strategic thought. Gray’s statement that “all strategy is grand strategy” remains highly relevant today, emphasizing the importance of agential context in military environments—a point often neglected in strategic practice.

Sherman And His Historians: An End To The Outsized Destroyer Myth?, Mitchell G. Klingenberg

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

For years, scholars have viewed the career of William Tecumseh Sherman in light of an antiquated destroyer myth and neglected his memoirs, which were written as a military textbook. This essay reviews Sherman’s legacy and literature, both of which contributed to the advancement of modern military thought. His experiences may serve as a prescriptive text to servicemembers, providing critical lessons on military warfare and philosophy still relevant today.

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Defeat Mechanisms In Modern Warfare, Frank Hoffman

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article explores the current debate about service and Joint operating concepts, starting with the Army’s multi-domain operations concept. It argues for adaptations to an old operational design technique—defeat mechanisms; updates to Joint and service planning doctrine; and discipline regarding emerging concepts. Rather than debate over attrition versus maneuver, combinations of a suite of defeat mechanisms should be applied to gain victory in the future.