Military History Commons^™

Making Peace: Next Steps In Colombia, Seth Cantey, Ricardo Correa

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

After a brief history of the longest-running insurgency in the Western Hemisphere, this article contextualizes recent developments in the transition of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to legal politics in Colombia. The authors also provide policy recommendations for the US Department of Defense.

From The Editor, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Clausewitz's Theory Of War And Victory In Contemporary Conflict, Emile Simpson

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article considers whether Clausewitz’s account of the nature of war is universal to all wars, in order then to assess how far his concept of victory is universal. While aspects of Clausewitz’s concept of war are still universal, others are not. Accordingly, his theory of victory is not universal to all wars, and especially not to wars fought against transnational terrorist networks.

Will War's Nature Change In The Seventh Military Revolution?, F. G. Hoffman

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines the potential implications of the combinations of robotics, artificial intelligence, and deep learning systems on the character and nature of war. The author employs Carl von Clausewitz’s trinity concept to discuss how autonomous weapons will impact the essential elements of war. The essay argues war’s essence, as politically directed violence fraught with friction, will remain its most enduring aspect, even if more intelligent machines are involved at every level.

Navigating The Third Offset Strategy, Damon V. Coletta

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article suggests adding a “craftsman” at lower ranks to steer private-sector projects through the Third Offset Strategy. This strategy was established by experienced leadership at the Pentagon to increase military acquisitions of automation and artificial intelligence technology.

Expansibility And Army Special Operations Forces, Eric P. Shwedo

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines how Army Special Operations might prepare to expand in the event of a major war by resolving impediments to growth, improving recall procedures, and developing plans to expand training capacities.

Lessons Unlearned: Army Transformation And Low-Intensity Conflict, Pat Proctor

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines the US Army’s experiences and lessons learned during military interventions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. It explores why these lessons did not affect the Army transformation, directed in the late-1990s by James M. Dubik, John W. Hendrix, John N. Abrams, and Eric K. Shinseki.

The Belarus Factor In European Security, Alexander Lanoszka

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article challenges strategists to reconsider longheld assumptions associated with the alliance between Belarus and Russia when planning military support for the Baltic states.

Parameters Winter 2017 – 2018, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Deterrence & Security Assistance: The South China Sea, Tommy Ross

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article identifies how the United States can apply security assistance to support regional security in the South China Sea in order to counter China’s assertive expansion strategy.

The Geopolitics Of Rare Earth Elements: Emerging Challenge For U.S. National Security And Economics, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Rare earth elements (REE) contain unique chemical and physical properties such as lanthanum, are found in small concentrations, need extensive precise processes to separate, and are critical components of modern technologies such as laser guidance systems, personal electronics such as IPhones, satellites, and military weapons systems as varied as Virginia-class fast attack submarines, DDG- 51 Aegis destroyers, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and precision guided munitions. The U.S. has some rare earth resources, but is heavily dependent on access to them from countries as varied as Afghanistan, Bolivia, and China. Losing access to these resources would have significant adverse economic, …

The Missiles Of Oklahoma: Southwest Oklahoma's Role In The American Cold War Nuclear Arsenal, 1960-65, Landry Brewer

Faculty Articles & Research

To counter the Soviet Union’s Cold War nuclear threat, the United States government enhanced its offensive nuclear capability in the 1950s by creating intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the Soviet Union. The first American ICBM was the Atlas missile. Southwest Oklahoma near Altus Air Force Base (AFB) played a crucial role in the nation’s nuclear arsenal from 1960 through 1965 by building several missile launch sites that housed Atlas F missiles. The state was rewarded with jobs, massive amounts of federal dollars spent here, and the satisfaction of deterring Soviet aggression while defending the nation against possible attack.

Bower, Robert Founer, 1823-1882 - Relating To (Sc 3157), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3157. Letter, 1 February 1878 to Robert F. Bower, Keokuk, Iowa, from the U. S. War Department with information about his service in the Mexican War; letter, 29 May 1882, to Bower’s widow from the National Association of Veterans of the Mexican War acknowledging his death and advising that pending legislation will entitle her to a pension.

A City Divided: Cosmo Mackenzie And Baltimore On The Eve Of Civil War, Zachary A. Wesley

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Baltimore was a city of 215,000 inhabitants on the eve of the Civil War: 215,000 souls who would soon be torn by conflicting loyalties. One of these individuals, Cosmo Mackenzie, sat down on the evening of April 12, 1861, to write a letter to his brother, Collin. Despite the rainfall all day in Baltimore, Cosmo proclaimed “the war has opened at last and all is excitement here.” Throughout the city, Baltimoreans found themselves choosing between their identities as citizens of the Union and supporters of a Southern, slave-based society. [excerpt]

Discovering The War At Home: Oakland Manor, George Gaither, And The Shipley Brothers, Anika N. Jensen

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

From my high school, which is majority African American, it takes only ten minutes to drive to Oakland Manor, a grand, sweeping 19th century-style stone house that sits in my hometown of Columbia, Maryland, a town made up mainly of apartments and identical suburban homes. Growing up, the manor was no more than a big, old building that hosted weddings and was somehow tied to my local history. Growing up, moreover, I did not realize the extent to which my hometown was tied to slavery and the Civil War; both seemed too far removed from a community that stressed diversity …

Geopolitics Of Rare Earth Elements, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Rare earth elements (REE) contain unique chemical physical properties such as lanthamum, are found in small concentrations, need extensive precise properties to separate, and are critical components of modern technologies such as laser guidance systems, personal electronics such as IPhones, satellites, and military weapons systems as varied as Virginia-class fast attack submarines, DDG-51 Aegis destroyers, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and precision guided munitions. The U.S. has some rare earth resources, but is heavily dependent on access to them from countries as varied as Afghanistan, Bolivia, and China. Losing access to these resources would have significant adverse economic, military, and …

“Let Us Stand Or Fall Together”: Hood’S Texas Brigade: An Interview With Dr. Susannah Ural, Ashley Whitehead Luskey

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Over the course of this year, we’ll be interviewing some of the speakers from the upcoming 2018 CWI conference about their talks. Today we are speaking with Dr. Susannah Ural, Professor of History and Co-Director of the Dale Center for the Study of War & Society at the University of Southern Mississippi. A military historian and scholar of war and society, Ural’s work focuses on the experiences of soldiers and families in the U.S. Civil War era. She is the author of several books, including Don’t Hurry Me Down to Hades: The Civil War in the Words of Those Who …

The Duration Of Sub-Saharan African Civil Armed Conflict Episodes, Christian Ilunga-Matthiesen

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

The socio-economic question which this study intends to answer is one of global relevance. For quite some time now, civil wars on the African continent have been a major source of economic and social destruction resulting in excessive human suffering. The primary objective of this study will constitute the analysis of 32 armed conflict episodes across 17 countries between 1990 and 2014 throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Armed conflicts will be defined as the following: “a contested incompatibility that concerns government and/or territory where the use of armed force between two parties, of which at least one is the government of a …

Finding Meaning In The Flag: Furl That Banner, Olivia Ortman

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Hello again, readers. I hope you enjoyed the summer and are now as eager as I am to jump back into our conversation about the Confederate flag. Although I spent the summer at Minute Man NHP, the Civil War was never far from my mind. Even in a northern park dedicated to the American Revolution, I still heard a lot about the Confederate monument debates, and as I spoke with visitors who were following this topic in the news, I was reminded of a similar debate several years ago concerning the Confederate flag. [excerpt]

Hebron, John L., 1842-1914 (Sc 3154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescript of letter (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3154. Letter, 26 October 1861, to his mother from John L. Hebron, serving with the 2nd Ohio Infantry at Camp Leslie Combs, West Liberty, Kentucky. He describes a recent engagement with Confederate troops, reports on the killed, wounded and local conditions in the aftermath, and criticizes Confederate battle skills. Expecting to spend the winter at Camp Dennison, Ohio, he expresses satisfaction with his warm clothing but complains of the lack of overcoats.

Waging Just Warfare During America’S Civil War: An Interview With Dr. D.H. Dilbeck, Ashley Whitehead Luskey

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Over the course of this year, we’ll be interviewing some of the speakers from the upcoming 2018 CWI conference about their talks. Today we are speaking with Dr. D.H. Dilbeck, an historian of 19th-century American legal and religious history. Dr. Dilbeck received his Ph.D. in American History from the University of Virginia. His first book, A More Civil War: How the Union Waged a Just War (UNC Press, 2016), was a finalist for the Gilder-Lehrman Lincoln Prize. His most recent book, Frederick Douglass: America’s Prophet is forthcoming from UNC Press in 2018. A former Assistant Professor of History at Oklahoma …

Part 6: Miscellaneous And Bibliography, Jack L. Dickinson

C.S.S. Alabama: An Illustrated History

The Alabama claims were a diplomatic dispute between the United States and Great Britain that arose out of the U.S. Civil War. The peaceful resolution of these claims 7 years after the war ended set an important precedent for solving serious international disputes through arbitration, and laid the foundation for greatly improved relations between Britain and the United States.

Part 3: Cruise Of The Alabama, Jack L. Dickinson

C.S.S. Alabama: An Illustrated History

“The Alabama was built for speed rather than battle. Her lines were symmetrical and fine; her material of the best. In fifteen minutes her propeller could be hoisted, and she could go through every evolution under sail without any impediment. In less time her propeller could be lowered; with sails furled, and yards braced within two points of a headwind, she was a perfect steamer. Her speed, independent, was from ten to twelve knots; combined, and under favorable circumstances, she could make fifteen knots. When ready for sea she drew fifteen feet of water.”

Century Magazine, 31, April 1886, p.911.

Part 5: Exploration & Excavation, Jack L. Dickinson

C.S.S. Alabama: An Illustrated History

During June and July 2001, the American CSS Alabama Association and the French Association CSS Alabama carried out an archaeological investigation of the remains of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama. Under the direction of Dr. Gordon P. Watts Jr., American and French archaeologists, French volunteer divers and French Navy personnel cooperated in an examination of the wreck that took place between 6 June and 4 July. Objectives for the investigation included video and 35mm photographic documentation of the wreck, limited test excavation in the officer’s quarters and recovery of selected artifacts exposed on the bottom surface. Unfortunately the most …

Part 4: Battle With Uss Kearsarge, Jack L. Dickinson

C.S.S. Alabama: An Illustrated History

“June 19: Lying off Cherbourg. Moderate breeze from the westward. At 10:20 am discovered the Alabama steaming out of the port of Cherbourg, accompanied by a French ironclad steamer and a fore-and-aft rigged steamer, showing the white English ensign. Beat to general quarters and cleared for action. Steamed ahead, standing offshore, being distant from land about 2 leagues; altered our course and approached the Alabama."

Official Records of Union and Confederate Navies, I, 3, p.64.

Part 2: Officers And Crew, Jack L. Dickinson

C.S.S. Alabama: An Illustrated History

During the Civil War naval officers were divided into four categories for purposes of berthing and messing aboard ship: cabin, wardroom, steerage, and forward officers. The captain had a private state room, and higher ranking officers had small cabins, while lower ranks only had individual lockers. This was the arrangement of the officers of the CSS Alabama.

Part 1: Building Ship No. 290, Jack L. Dickinson

C.S.S. Alabama: An Illustrated History

Classified as a bark-rigged sloop-of-war known as “hull 290,” built by Laird Shipbuilders in England, launched 15 May 1862.

“Died Of The Spotted Fever”: The Spot Resolutions And The Making Of Abraham Lincoln, Ryan D. Bilger

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

On December 22, 1847, the Speaker of the House of Representatives recognized a young, freshman congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln who wished to speak about the ongoing war with Mexico. The lanky, awkward, high-voiced westerner raised doubts regarding President James Knox Polk’s conduct in starting the war, proposing eight resolutions that challenged Polk to provide evidence for his stated reason for doing so. Polk had said that Mexican troops had shed “American blood on American soil” and forced his hand, but Lincoln challenged this assertion. Lincoln insinuated that the fatal encounter between Mexican and American troops had in fact …

The Call To End Conscription, Commission For Justice And Peace

End Conscription Campaign

A pamphlet with the statement by the South African Catholic Bishops Conference explaining its call to end conscription.

Fast For A Just Peace, End Conscription Campaign

End Conscription Campaign

A pamphlet explaining the End Conscription Campaign’s “Troops out of the Townships” campaign and three week fast. Includes biographies of conscientious objectors, Ivan Toms, Harold Winkler, and Richard Steele.