I found this article amusing and at the same time right on the money…If you have ever served I think you will too. -SF While there are a number of military stereotypes that are true, most of them are completely false. The military is full of stereotypes. Contemporary perceptions of the average soldier or veteran…
Tag: Military History
Military History: Marine Corp General James Mattis, “Nothing New Under the Sun…”
In 2013 General James N. Mattis retired after a 41-year Marine Corps career that included field commands in the Persian Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan. In the theater of combat the hard-charging general was known by the call sign “Chaos.” But it was his respect for history and studious commitment to training in strategy and…
Military History: How Stealth was Baptized by Fire During Desert Storm 25 Years Ago
One of the most spellbinding military capabilities used 25 years ago during the Operation Desert Storm was stealth technology. Despite many billions of dollars invested, until that point it had never been proven in actual combat on a large scale. This would change in the opening moments of the conflict as F-117s raided Baghdad with…
Military History: What if the Kuomingtang Had Won the Chinese Civil War?
This is the first in a four-part mini-series of articles focused on key counter-factuals in the Asia-Pacific. What would China’s history look like if Chiang Kai-shek had ignored George C. Marshall’s request in 1946? History, paraphrased by the British historian Niall Fergusson in Civilization, can be taught in many ways. Lamenting the lack of proper…
Military History: Napoleon, the First Modern Politican
I have read several Biographies on the military exploits of Napoleon, but this article explores a side of the man rarely discussed: The Political agenda. -SF David A. Bell, Napoleon: A Concise Biography (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 152 pp., $18.95. Michael Broers, Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny (New York: Pegasus, 2015), 608…
Military History: 6 Rare Facts about the Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a Hail Mary pass by a führer who was quickly running out of options. Hitler desperately needed a decisive victory on either his Western or Eastern front. Remembering his series of victories after sneaking through the Ardennes forest in 1940, he went for a repeat in 1944. On Dec. 16,…
Naval Military History: Grog and the Barbary Wars
Editor’s note: For readers seeking more information on grog and the history of naval drinking, be sure to check out our podcast on the subject here, and articles here and here. America’s military actions in the Middle East and North Africa are not isolated to the modern era. In truth, American military forces have been…
Where Has All The Hatred Gone?
By Mark Stout Carl von Clausewitz offered his “paradoxical trinity” as a tool for thinking about wars and their various manifestations. His trinity was: Composed of primordial violence, hatred, and enmity, which are to be regarded as a blind natural force; of the play of chance and probability within which the creative spirit is free…
Military History: The ‘Other’ Revolutionary War & The Fall of Fort Sackville
By John Farnam “… in the event of Great Britain attempting to force unjust laws upon us by strength of arms, our Cause we leave to Heaven, and our rifles!” ~ Hanover Association, Lancaster County, PA, 1774 During the French and Indian Wars of the 1750s and 1760s, many North American Indian tribes had allied…
Psychological Warfare Files: Ghost Tape #10 and Operation Wandering Soul
“Vietnamese legends held that on the anniversary of a person’s death, a spiritual channel between our world and the afterlife can open making communication possible. Was this just such a phenomenon?” JUST AFTER dusk on the night of Feb. 10, 1970, the jungles near the U.S. Army’s Fire Support Base Chamberlain in Hau Niga Province, South Vietnam…