Military History Commons^™

Visual Culture Project: Confederate War Etchings: Searching For Arms By Adalbert Johann Volck, Lynn B. Hatcher

Student Publications

Adalbert Johann Volck’s 1861 sketch of Union soldiers, “Searching for Arms,” represents a substantial contribution to the narrative about gender relations during the American Civil War. This simple, small sketch offers the observer a window into the past. It is a collision of symbols and meaning—from gender to war to the household—all wrapped up in one image. This is a portrait sketch of a woman being invaded in her domestic, private sphere, revealing so much about gender relations during the time. The mistress herself seemed to embody a vast range of sentiments such as anger, fear, frailty, and strength, proving …

Visual Culture Analysis Of "The Last Ditch Of The Chivalry, Or A President In Petticoats", Sarah A. Hansen

Student Publications

This lithograph is a Northern depiction of the capture of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Titled "The Last Ditch of the Chivalry, or a President in Petticoats", and picturing Davis in a woman’s dress and bonnet, the Northern press painted Davis as a coward. Rather than being a man and standing up to the Union troops, Davis disguised himself as a woman and attempted to cowardly escape. Although in actuality Davis was wearing a rain jacket and shawl rather than a full dress and bonnet, the Northern press mocked him. This piece demonstrates the prominence of male Southern honor, and …

The World War Ii Letters Of Richard Schade, Ashley N. Sonntag

Student Publications

Richard Schade was a newlywed when he was drafted into the United States Army on January 29, 1943, in Camden, New Jersey. While stationed in the United States during World War II, he wrote a series of letters to his new wife, Betty. Many of these letters were love letters discussing deep love as well as the active plan to start a family. Through the letters written over the course of months he records his daily duties, concerns, dreams, and various information about the conditions in the military. His letters developed into a valuable insight into the life of a …

The Centennial Of The Great War, Thomas J. Crafa

Student Publications

A personal reflection on the centennial of America's entry into The Great War.

A Moment In History Relevant To The Modern Era, Brandon R. Katzung Hokanson

Student Publications

April 6, 1917 is a date that deserves great recognition and remembrance in the United States. On that day, the United States chose to enter a war that it had previously so ardently tried to avoid. Upon entrance, the United States forged a new national identity that looked past racial and religious barriers with a new mission to protect global democracy. On April 6, 2017, the 100th anniversary of America entering the First World War, news and other media throughout the United States seemed to care so little about the significance of the date and unfortunately passed over an excellent …

The Great War Then And Now: Reflections On America’S Declaration Of War, Thomas S. Potter

Student Publications

This short essay explores the many impacts of the 1917 U.S. entry to World War I on the author's hometown of Pennington, NJ, and the reaction of its residents at the time.

The Letters Of Stewart Winfield Herman Jr. An American Pastor In Berlin, 1936-1941, Lucy A. Marks

Student Publications

This paper provides an analysis of the experiences of Stewart Herman Winfield Jr based on a collection of his letters on loan to Gettysburg College from the Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary. This paper discusses Herman’s experiences as a student in Strasburg and Gottingen, and as the pastor of the American church of Berlin from 1936 – 1941. Born in Harrisburg, Herman attended Gettysburg College, and the Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary. Herman’s letters provide both a pastoral and an American perspective on the start of WWII and Nazism in Germany. Herman traveled frequently and witnessed the changes that Berlin faced during World War …

Saving Grace On Feathered Wings: Homing Pigeons In The First World War, Brandon R. Katzung Hokanson

Student Publications

Soldiers of the First World War came in all shapes and sizes. The humble homing pigeon is one of the more unique and critical examples of such. They served in the armed forces of both the Allies and the Central Powers. Used as a last-ditch form of communication, the homing pigeons were exceptional in the work of sending messages back and forth between the battle lines. Little has been written about their vital role and even less in the rigorous training the birds and their handlers both endured. Understanding their training is critical to understanding how the homing pigeons performed …

Home Front To War Front: The Navy Nurse Corps During World War Ii, Amanda L. Thibault

Student Publications

The Navy Nurse Corps was created in 1908, when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Naval Appropriations Bill. Twenty women were selected to become the corps’ first members. These women were referred to as the “The Sacred Twenty.” On December 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the Navy Nurse Corps, was one of the first groups to respond. These women were important in preventing further deaths following the attack. However the experiences of Navy nurses during World II are often left untold because their story is overshadowed by the Army Nurse Corps, which doubled in size during the war. …

Eisenhower And Montgomery: Strategy, Leadership, And Tension At The End Of World War Ii, Bradley J. Klustner

Student Publications

In late 1944, two legendary generals stood at the helm of the Allied Expeditionary Force as it plunged into Nazi Germany in an effort to end the Second World War. While the relationship between the United States and Britain, and more specifically the relationship between Generals Dwight Eisenhower and Bernard Montgomery are portrayed as cooperative, smooth, and friendly, personal memoirs of the two men and their close confidants reveal that these myths could not be further from the truth. A debate between the two men, which began as one regarding military strategy, escalated into a full blown feud; this tension …

Attacking Multiple Fronts: The Tuskegee Airmen As Pioneers Of Military Integration, Kaylyn L. Sawyer

Student Publications

Military service has long been associated with citizenship, and blacks have been part of every American war since the founding of this nation. Five thousand fought in the Revolutionary War, 180,000 fought in segregated units during the Civil War, and 380,000 enrolled in World War One. Although black participation increased with each major conflict, only 42,000 of the blacks in World War One belonged to combat units, a result of 20th century racial tensions that turned opinion against the use of black soldiers. Segregation persisted within the military establishment, including military aviation, through World War Two. Within a span of …

Education For Victory: An Analysis Of Social Studies Education In American Secondary Schools During World War Ii, Rachael E. O'Dell

Student Publications

Secondary schools during World War II were viewed as a vital component of the war effort on the home front. The nation’s youth were seen as important potential contributors to the war effort, and were educated as such. The atmosphere of total war especially affected social studies classes at this level. An analysis of contemporary educational journals and supplementary teaching materials reveals that secondary school students were virtually indoctrinated with democratic and patriotic values in their social studies classes in wartime schools. Social studies classes thus functioned as a route through which students could be encouraged to participate in the …

The Other 'Vd': The Educational Campaign To Reduce Venereal Disease Rate During World War Ii, Madeleine L. Gaiser

Student Publications

Venereal disease was a major contributor to lost man days in World War I so the government attempted to implement an educational campaign beginning in 1918. After a loss of funding, venereal disease became unattended until 1936 when Thomas Parran was appointed as Surgeon General. He made prevention of venereal disease his top priority and began a new campaign, determined to make it more effective and better funding than its predecessor. The subsequent advent of World War II strengthened national interest. With the inspiration of Parran, the Public Health Service and other organizations made movies, posters, pamphlets, books, and school …

Similar Experiences, Unique Perspectives: How Japanese American Experiences Influenced Their Participation During World War Ii, Julia K. Deros

Student Publications

During World War II, Japanese Americans had to endure racist federal government policy in the form of relocation to internment camps around the country. Of the 120,000 people that were interned, a large number were citizens of the United States who protested that their 5th and 14th Amendment rights had been violated by their placement into the camps. The way Japanese Americans reacted to their experiences during the war differed depending on their experiences as Nisei or Kibei. These reactions materialized in different forms of participation in the war, usually involving the decision to serve in the military as a …

The Rsha Generation, Sean W. Hough

Student Publications

The Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) was once the capital of a vast empire of terror; a place where surveillance, persecution, and extermination became merely a quotidian, bureaucratic function and where the Schreibtischtäter could implement their deadly ideology from afar, or sometimes in person; a place where divisions of the SS less associated by the general public with Nazi crimes against humanity, such as the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo), would persecute and kill more people than the Gestapo and most other Nazi institutions of terror. The RSHA and its many offices became an outlet for many Nazi intellectual elites, who were educated …

Mussolini's Gladius: The Double-Edged Sword Of Antiquity In Fascist Italy, Kyle W. Schrader

Student Publications

Mussolini and the Fascist Party used a plethora of propaganda techniques in order to suggest the renewal of the old Roman Empire with the rise of the Italian Fascist Party. Through the use of ideology, race issues, religion, educational control, posters, theatre, architecture, and archeology, the Fascists used the Roman past to glorify modern Italy and the Fascist party. The Fascists’ use of these Roman allusions made their own deficiencies more apparent and led to a general failure of their propaganda program in terms of creating a new Italian identity focused upon the Ancient Roman past.

History, Historical Fiction, And Historical Myth: 'The German Doctor' By Lucía Puenzo, Nathan W. Cody

Student Publications

The escape of thousands of war criminals to Argentina and throughout South America in the aftermath of World War II is a historical subject that has been clouded with mystery and conspiracy. Lucía Puenzo's film, The German Doctor, utilizes this historical enigma as a backdrop for historical fiction by imagining a family's encounter with Josef Mengele, the notorious SS doctor from Auschwitz who escaped to South America in 1949 under a false identity. While Puenzo sought to tell a story within a historical context, the film still has important historical commentaries. Ultimately, The German Doctor demonstrates the intersections of history, …

Battle For The People: Ideological Conflict Between Soviet Partisans, The German Military, And Ukrainian Nationalists In Nazi-Occupied Ukraine, David L. Heim

Student Publications

Soviet historiography discusses the People’s War during the Second World War, the idea that all of the Soviet people rallied to the cause and fought off the Nazi invaders, but this is far from the truth. Within the western borderlands of the Soviet Union multiple conflicting groups fought for control of and support from the people. This was especially true in Ukraine where the German Army, Soviet Partisans and Ukrainian nationalists all fought ‘for the people’ and for their own ideologies. This paper is an attempt to discuss the ideological conflict between the Nazis, the Soviets, and the Ukrainian nationalists, …

Women And World War Ii At Gettysburg College, Keira B. Koch

Student Publications

An examination of the women attending Gettysburg College during World War II. This project examined what the women did and experienced during the World War II, along with analyzing campus culture and life.

Slavery And The Civil War: The Reflections Of A Yankee Intern In Appomattox, Jonathan G. Danchik

Student Publications

An overview of the "Lost Cause" and the resultant challenges faced by interpreters in Civil War parks.

The "Unfinished Work:" The Civil War Centennial And The Civil Rights Movement, Megan A. Sutter

Student Publications

The Civil War Centennial celebrations fell short of a great opportunity in which Americans could reflect on the legacy of the Civil War through the racial crisis erupting in their nation. Different groups exploited the Centennial for their own purposes, but only the African Americans and civil rights activists tried to emphasize the importance of emancipation and slavery to the memory of the war. Southerners asserted states’ rights in resistance to what they saw as a black rebellion in their area. Northerners reflected back on the theme of reconciliation, prevalent in the seventy-fifth anniversary of the war. Unfortunately, those who …

The Lives Of Soldiers In World War Ii, Caroline M. Bosworth

Student Publications

An examination of soldiers' quality of life during World War II. This is done through comparing and contrasting the letters of two different soldiers.

Business, Education, And Enjoyment: Stakeholder Interpretations Of The Gettysburg Museum And Visitors Center, Ava M. Muhr

Student Publications

An anthropological study of the Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center undertaken to understand the ways in which the visitor experience is conditioned by their own personal background, as well as filtered through the carefully constructed historical narrative created by museum historians, National Park Service rangers, and administrators. The Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center is a site in which multiple stakeholders contend to ensure that their interpretations of the museum’s purpose is being upheld. This paper will examine the ways in which these various stakeholders – primarily NPS rangers, Civil War historians, and history buffs – interpret the catalyst(s) for constructing …

Assessing Reconstruction: Did The South Undergo Revolutionary Change?, Lauren H. Sobotka

Student Publications

With the end of the Civil War, came a number of unanswered questions Reconstruction would attempt to answer for the South. While the South underwent economic, political and social changes for a short period, old traditions continued to persist resulting in racist sentiment.

The Tokugawa Samurai: Values & Lifestyle Transition, Kathleen A. Mcgurty

Student Publications

The Tokugawa period of Japan was a time of great prosperity but also great strife among the social classes. Of the most affected peoples of the Japanese feudal system was the samurai, who had so long been at the center of military and even political power. For hundreds of years, these highly revered peoples had lived a consistent life based off of virtues passed on through a code, and have also lived comfortable lives due to special powers that were reserved for them.

However, with a lack of warfare and increasing Western influence on the political, social, and military system …

With One's Own Arms: Condottieri, Machiavelli, And The Rise Of The Florentine Militia, Michael N. Boncardo

Student Publications

This paper examines the use of mercenary warfare on the Italian peninsula during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. It later focuses on the unique political and economic environment in Florence that led to Niccolo Machiavelli orchestrating the creation of the Florentine militia.

“All Inferiors Are Required To Obey Strictly…” Disciplinary Issues In The Army Of The Potomac Under Grant During The Overland Campaign, Robert W. Novak

Student Publications

Between May and June 1864, the Army of the Potomac conducted yet another push toward Richmond. The intense weather, extended time under fire, and unprecedented slaughter took its toll on the rank and file. For many of the army’s best and most hardened veterans, this would be their last campaign. As their anticipation for home grew, however, their disdain for the new style of warfare grew with it. Fresh troops arrived almost daily from the cities across the north. Many of whom were conscripts or bounty men. Even the soldiers who chose not to reenlist expressed their low expectations for …

A Surgeon’S Duty, Andrew P. Carlino

Student Publications

Dr. Albert Gaillard Hall described a scenario in where he was tricked by his soldiers; “At our rendezvous, on three successive mornings, men reported sick, complaining of backache and headache, and with a very heavily coated tongue, but without other symptoms. Thinking it might prove an oncoming fever, I excused the first and second lots, and then saw that they were ‘old-soldiering the surgeon.’ Long afterwards one of the men explained the trick. The camp was surrounded by rose-bushes in bloom, and a liberal chewing of rose-leaves a little before sick call produced the effect I saw on the tongue. …

So We Ran..., Sara R. Bias

Student Publications

This paper tells the true story of a Hungarian refugee who's family fled the communist regime there in 1971. Gabriella Bercze's story reflects on what it was like to live in Hungary under communist rule, and her family's experience in escaping the country, and fleeing to Italy, where they lived in a refugee camp for months before immigrating to the United States in the early 70s.

“Long Live Freedom!”: Moral Motives Behind The White Rose Resistance, Katelyn M. Quirin

Student Publications

This paper examines the motives behind the White Rose resistance group. Active from 1942-1943, the White Rose consisted primarily of university students who produced anti-Nazi leaflets. By examining documents such as letters, diaries, the leaflets themselves, and Gestapo interrogations, the motives of the group are evident. The members resisted the Nazi regime for moral and ideological reasons, specifically in relation to the failures World War II, atrocities committed by Nazis in Poland and the Eastern Front, the restriction on personal rights, and an inner duty to oppose the regime.