military history

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• 3/19/2023
  

  The Curious History of Ulysses Grant's Great Grandfather

  by John Reeves

  The military experiences of Noah Grant in the French and Indian War typified changes in military strategy in the Americas and cemented a family commitment to the military that drove his great grandson Ulysses. 

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• SOURCE: CSPAN
  3/7/2023
  

  Matthew Connelly Presents Digital Lessons on the History of Government Secrecy

  Historian Matthew Connelly offers a series of talks and lesson plans for social studies teachers about the origins and significance of government secrecy, classified information, and freedom of information. 

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• 3/12/2023
  

  How The Irish Saved Wellington at Waterloo

  by Brendan Farrell

  For centuries, the Irish provided manpower to the British military, never more notably than on June 18, 1815. 

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• SOURCE: London Review of Books
  3/1/2023
  

  Review: The Unfinished Business of "Double V"

  by Eric Foner

  Eric Foner considers recent books on racism in the military in World War II and in Vietnam. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/24/2023
  

  Is Ukraine Headed for a Cease Fire? And Is That the Best Option?

  by Sergey Radchenko

  After an essential stalemate between 1951 and 1953, a cease-fire in Korea enabled the parties to avoid both defeat and the cost of victory. Is this the best chance for resolving the war in Ukraine? 

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• SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
  2/28/2023
  

  America Remains Trapped by the Dream of Global Hegemony

  by Andrew Bacevich

  American victory in World War II remains a source of dangerous myths and delusions about global supremacy. Both popular culture and foreign policy need to adopt the Iraq War as a less affirming, but more realistic, touchstone. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  2/17/2023
  

  Stephen Kotkin on How the Ukraine War Could End

  The historian of Russia and the USSR argues that Putin's invasion will ultimately be seen as a disaster for Russia. Its unclear, however, if that view is sufficiently widespread in Russia to change Putin's strategic outlook or the regime. 

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• 2/22/2023
  

  America Fought Its Own Battle Over Books Before it Fought the Nazis

  by Brianna Labuskes

  The Armed Services Editions paperback books were wildly popular among World War II servicemembers. But they became symbols of American freedom to read in the war against fascism only after a bitter domestic battle about the works and topics that would be permitted. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  1/17/2023
  

  Training Ukrainian Troops in the US Part of a Long History of Military Advising as Foreign Policy

  by Syrus Jin

  Training foreign military officers in the US has, since the 1950s, aimed at more than military success. It's been a vehicle for developing foreign political leadership and expanding US influence. 

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• SOURCE: New Statesman
  12/20/2022
  

  Ukrainesplaining, or, Why the West Underestimated Ukraine

  by Olesya Khromeychuk

  The credibility of Ukraine's claims and commitment to national self-determination have always been dismissed and diminished by the influence of Russian perspectives, even among academic observers. A woman historian finds the phenomenon familiar. 

• 
• 12/18/2022
  

  A Grisly but Significant Discovery at Red Bank Updates the History of the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign

  by Robin Baker

  Local volunteers excavating near the site of Fort Mercer in southern New Jersey discovered new evidence of the participation of Hessian mercenaries in a key battle in the British attempt to seize Philadelphia in 1777.

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  12/6/2022
  

  The Conventional Wisdom About War Crimes is Wrong

  by Brian Klaas

  Ideology can be seductive, and doesn't require monstrous people to incite monstrous acts. 

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• SOURCE: War on the Rocks
  12/13/2022
  

  Politicization of the US Military over the Last 4 Decades

  by Kori Schake

  "If America wants to retain a military that recruits from all parts of the citizenry and brings them together into an effective fighting force, it should both correct that public perception and better insulate the military from being a pawn in partisan political disputes."

• 
• 12/11/2022
  

  Writing My Father Into History

  by Stephen G. Rabe

  As a child, the author developed an interest in history by hearing his father's stories on the journey from parachuting in to Normandy to the Brandenburg Gate and the occupation of Berlin. But he waited until retirement to research and write about them. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/2/2022
  

  The Passing of the Generation that Remembers the Last World War Makes the Next One More Likely

  by Stephen Wertheim

  The United States faces a growing risk of conflict with other global powers without a strong awareness of how difficult and all-consuming it could be for the military, civilians, and the entire society. 

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• SOURCE: Foreign Policy
  12/2/2022
  

  In Ukraine, "General Frost" Will Fight on Both Sides

  Military commanders in Eastern Europe have long tried to deal with the effects of bitter winter on morale and logistics. How is it likely to affect the Ukrainian counterattack against Russia? 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/3/2022
  

  "Archives Rat" John Prados Punctured Military Secrecy to Write History

  "Running through all his work was the contention that records of intelligence and covert activities represented a sort of historical dark matter: a vast amount of material that, while invisible in conventional narratives, could, if revealed, radically shift our understanding of the past."

• 
• 11/6/2022
  

  From Torch to Tunis to El Alamein: Events 80 Years Ago Made the Modern Middle East

  by Robert Satloff

  80 years ago Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, opened a second front against Nazi Germany. Today, it has proven equally important for establishing models for America's relationship to the Middle East. 

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• 11/6/2022
  

  Lindsey Fitzharris on the Pioneering Facial Reconstruction Surgeon Who Remade the Faces of Great War Veterans

  by James Thornton Harris

  As one battlefield nurse wrote home, “the science of healing stood baffled before the science of destroying.” Dr. Harold Gillies let the effort to catch up, arguably the only lasting "victory" of the Great War. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  10/27/2022
  

  Newly Translated Documents Give Fuller Picture of Nuclear Danger During Cuban Missile Crisis

  The National Security Archive has released an English translation of the account of a Soviet submarine officer of events in October 1962 tells the story of how his vessel's commander nearly launched nuclear weapons against US Navy ships enforcing the quarantine of Cuba.