military history

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• 7/8/2022
  

  The Wagner Group is Just the Latest Example of Privatized War

  by Lawrence Wittner

  Hiring soldiers of fortune to wage war has long been profitable to mercenaries and politically advantageous to rulers. Its modern resurgence with the American Blackwater organization and the Russian Wagner Group show the need for stronger cooperative security to prevent human rights abuse.

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• 6/19/2022
  

  Clearing the Name of a Horse Blamed for Near-Defeat at Waterloo

  by Stephen Dando-Collins

  A failed cavalry attack nearly doomed Wellington at Waterloo. For years, Major General William Ponsonby's Irish horse was blamed to deflect from the tactical mistakes of human officers. 

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• 6/12/2022
  

  Top-Gunning for Empire

  by Scott Laderman

  "Top Gun: Maverick" is ressurecting the theatergoing experience. Will it do the same for American enthusiasm for the imperial ambitions it represents? 

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• SOURCE: National Interest
  6/4/2022
  

  Security Studies Scholar: NATO Must Push Ukraine to Negotiate End of Hostilities with Russia

  by Hugh DeSantis

  The US and NATO must use the leverage of arms supplies to push Ukraine to negotiate with Russia or risk an interminable – and wider – conflict. 

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• SOURCE: TIME
  6/3/2022
  

  Could the US Win a Modern-Day Battle of Midway?

  by Brendan Simms and Steven McGregor

  With growing Chinese naval power in the Pacific, two historians consider how well the Navy could respond to a confrontation on the high seas. 

• 
• 6/5/2022
  

  Can Ukraine Harness the Power of the Small to Survive Russia's Attack?

  by Paul J. Croce

  While Ukraine’s fate hangs in the balance, its greatest strengths, like those of lowly insects and microscopic pathogens, rests with its readiness to use the strengths of the small.

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• SOURCE: Vox
  5/27/2022
  

  "Top Gun: Maverick" Latest Chapter in Love Affair Between Hollywood and Pentagon

  Despite its characterization as liberal and cosmopolitan, the film industry has eagerly embraced the military in the pursuit of box office. 

• 
• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  6/2/2022
  

  Destroying the Town is Not Saving It

  by William Astore

  An imagined graduation speech to the Air Force Academy encourages listeners to refuse to become death dealers. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  5/27/2022
  

  Memorial Day Was a Chance to Reflect on Hard Truths about Racism in the Military

  by Thomas A. Guglielmo

  The veneration of the surviving members of the Greatest Generation shouldn't hide the fact that discrimination in the WWII military and in postwar veterans' benefits shut many Black servicemembers out of American prosperity. 

• 
• SOURCE: War on the Rocks
  4/21/2022
  

  The Russo-Ukrainian War At Sea: Retrospect and Prospect

  by B.J. Armstrong

  "The fact that our Twitter feeds and Instagram scrolls are not filled with naval or maritime news does not mean that nothing is happening."

• 
• SOURCE: The Conversation
  4/7/2022
  

  The Forgotten Story of the "Red Ball Express"

  by Matthew Delmont

  "From August through November 1944, 23,000 American truck drivers and cargo loaders – 70% of whom were Black – moved more than 400,000 tons of ammunition, gasoline, medical supplies and rations to battlefronts in France, Belgium and Germany."

• 
• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  4/3/2022
  

  Understanding "Correlation of Forces" in Ukraine Counsels Caution for the US

  by Michael Klare

  Ukraine is a reminder of the significance of intangible factors in assessing military outcomes, and a warning against rash action in anticipation of success.

• 
• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  4/4/2022
  

  Biden's Options in Ukraine are Ugly

  by Walter Russell Mead

  "Now both sides are stuck with a war that neither knows how to win, and it is difficult to see the outlines of a compromise peace that both sides can accept."

• 
• SOURCE: CNN
  4/2/2022
  

  Historians: Putin's Strategy Echoes Hitler's Mistakes on Eastern Front

  Peter DeSimone, Timothy Snyder and Ian Ona Johnson discuss the errors of logistics, diplomacy, and treatment of civilians that have hindered the achievement of Russia's goals in Ukraine. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/31/2022
  

  How So Many Were Wrong Assessing Russia's Military

  by Phillips Payson O’Brien

  As Mike Tyson so eloquently put it, “Everyone has a plan until they are punched in the mouth.” What we are seeing today in Ukraine is the result of a purportedly great military being punched in the mouth.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  4/4/2022
  

  A Soviet Retreat from a Danish Island after World War II Suggests how Putin Could Find an "Off Ramp"

  by Caroline Kennedy Pipe and James Rogers

  Red Army troops remained on the strategically significant island of Bornholm until 1946, when Stalin negotiated a withdrawal in exchange for a pledge that foreign troops would not be stationed on the island. It's likely that a similar concession will be needed to end fighting in Ukraine. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  4/4/2022
  

  Richard Overy's New Book Tells WWII as Global History of Imperial Conflict

  by Daniel Immerwahr

  "Whatever else the Second World War was about, it was, on both sides, a war for empire."

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/5/2022
  

  Ukraine's Next Enemy: Disease

  by Max Brooks, Lionel Beehner and John Spencer

  "If we want to help the Ukrainian resistance, we shouldn’t be sending them only Javelins and body armor. They need emergency supplies — bulk sanitation items such as alcohol-based hand sanitizer, ammonium nitrate to counter food-borne illness, and rat traps and poisons."

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• 4/3/2022
  

  Has Putin Heeded Warnings from the History of Urban Warfare?

  by Brian Glyn Williams and Aaron Rawley

  While key to the mythos of Russian patriotism, the pivotal battle of Stalingrad, along with other more recent episodes of urban warfare, show that Russian forces face a difficult and bloody task in capturing Kyiv. As Russian troops now retreat to the east, has this been a lesson learned? 

• 
• 4/3/2022
  

  Remembering the Falklands-Malvinas War 40 Years Later

  by Yoav J. Tenembaum

  Britain's successful repulsion of Argentina's invasion of the disputed islands resulted as much from diplomatic maneuver as military.