Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2022, History

Existing scholarly literature on U.S. military bases in foreign nations does not adequately take films depicting such installations into account. This master's thesis is a corrective for this oversight. Recognizing the utility of foreign films featuring American military bases or troop presences, this thesis examines them in light of scholarly work on these installations. Of particular importance in this analysis are the periodization of U.S. basing favored by Robert Kaplan and the categorization of varieties of antibase protest favored by Kent Calder. Using these two writers as an analytical framework, as well as histories of U.S. basing and military occupations, it is possible to view these films as primary sources for these occupations. While depictions of Americans as individuals vary across films, generally U.S. occupations are viewed negatively by the non-American filmmakers examined. Local authorities of host nations are equally criticized for complicity in the crimes committed by the occupiers.

Committee: Jonathan Winkler Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Paul Lockhart Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kathryn Meyer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Arvind Elangovan Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: American History; Film Studies; History; International Relations; Military History; Modern History

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2023, History (Arts and Sciences)

After the Vietnam War, the US Army pivoted from counter-insurgency in Southeast Asia towards the renewed possibility of war with the USSR in Central Germany. This shift in perspective coincided with dramatic shifts in Army policy, most importantly the transition from conscription to the All-Volunteer Force, as well as the introduction of new battlefield technologies which transformed the battlespace. This dissertation analyzes the complicated military relationship between the US Army and an important European ally. It argues that during this period of intense reform, the US Army and the West German Bundeswehr used both new and preexisting institutions to engage in a period of intense, sympathetic, and mutually inspired reforms which developed significant new concepts in land warfare. This is significant because this period of cooperation helped to reaffirm a special relationship between the US and West Germany, which transformed to become the most significant within NATO and Western Europe. The focus of this dissertation is on the mechanics of the transatlantic exchange and how this shaped both forces through the last decades of the Cold War.

Committee: Ingo Trauschweizer (Advisor); Mirna Zakic (Committee Member); Paul Milazzo (Committee Member); Nukhet Sandal (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; European History; History; Military History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, History

This dissertation explores the nascent state-formation process that was under way in America from 1774 through the middle of 1776. Central to that process was the establishment of the Continental Army as a conventional military institution. The political processes and military events surrounding and set in motion by the founding of the army combined to actuate a military-state dynamic that shaped further choices, led to the decision to declare independence, and profoundly influenced the political economy of the subsequently developing American state. The primary approach of this work, which is informed by sociological and political science theories of state formation, is historical argument through a narrative structure which is substantiated by both primary source research involving published and archival materials along with a synthesis of historiographic literature primarily from the fields of political and military history.

Committee: John Brooke (Advisor); Joan Cashin (Committee Member); Peter Mansoor (Committee Member); Edward Countryman (Committee Member) Subjects: American History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, History

This dissertation assesses U.S. grand strategy in the Caribbean Basin during the early Cold War Period, 1945-1958. It focuses on the use of military assistance and military advisory missions in particular which were present throughout the region and a principal tool of US strategy to maintain influence with local militaries. The analysis takes place on two levels: an initial overview of U.S. security strategy and the issues Washington faced formulating and implementing it in a low priority theater and through examination of two country case studies: Venezuela and Cuba. These countries were strategically important to Washington, and hosts to two sizeable U.S. military missions. In addition, both experienced substantial political instability throughout the period while the U.S. was trying to integrate them into a Hemispheric security program. By 1958, two opposite outcomes had occurred with a radical anti-U.S. regime coming to power in Cuba, and a democracy ousting a military dictatorship in Venezuela. The case studies illustrate the limitations of miliary assistance and advisory support in countries where the political situation remains fraught with uncertainty and violence.

Committee: Allan Millett (Advisor); Peter Hahn (Committee Member); Peter Mansoor (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Military History

Master of Arts in History, Youngstown State University, 2020, Department of Humanities

In this thesis the researcher discusses the implementation of force multipliers in the Prussian and German military. Originating with the wars of Frederick the Great and the geographical position of Prussia, force multipliers were key to the defense of the small state. As time continued, this tactic would become a mainstay for the Prussian military in the wars for German unification. Finally, they would be carried through to a grim conclusion with the Second World War and the belief that this tactic would easily make up for Germany's shortcomings in material and manpower. Key discussions of this thesis are the origins, implementation and reliance on this tactic through the time periods discusses. Figures in German military history, such as Frederick the Great, Clausewitz, and Helmuth Von Moltke, and their philosophies relating to the tactic are examined. As well as the implementation of force multiplication through technological and political evolutions and their effect on the Prussian and German militaries in the conflicts discussed.

Committee: David Simonelli PhD (Advisor); Brian Bonhomme PhD (Committee Member); Kyle Starkey PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Armed Forces; History; Military History; Military Studies; Modern History; World History

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2014, History

The purpose of this thesis is to re-examine the nineteenth century British cavalry as an organization, one which has generally been characterized as deeply conservative and resistant to change in organization, operations and tactics. While the charge of conservatism is true in terms of the command structure of the British cavalry, this research demonstrates that the British cavalry of the nineteenth century typically adapted itself to the conditions in which it found itself, adopting whatever methods, tactics and weapons best suited the campaigns in which it fought. Beginning with the Crimean War's cavalry actions as a baseline for what was generally expected of nineteenth century cavalry in the British Army, the thesis then moves on to demonstrate that in other circumstances the cavalry would neither follow such strict and stringent rules of engagement nor rely on the massed charge as the best or only method of engaging the enemy. Moving chronologically through several campaigns in which cavalry figured prominently, including the Indian Mutiny, Anglo-Zulu War, the war in the Sudan and the Anglo-Boer War, this thesis points out the many and varied ways in which the British cavalry adapted itself to different climates, opponents and tactics around the globe, and makes clear that the British cavalry was capable of a great deal of flexibility and resourcefulness. Thus, institutional intransigence was offset by operational flexibility in the actual theaters of battle, with official doctrine often being changed in the wake of a successful campaign or battle.

Committee: Paul Lockhart Ph.D. (Advisor); Carol Herringer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jonathan Winkler Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Military History; Military Studies

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2011, History

This thesis focuses on the influence of the French military on the residents of Newport, Rhode Island during the American Revolution by highlighting the impact of the French presence in New England on American cultural development. This study sets itself apart from the historiography by offering an innovative approach to understanding the Revolutionary era by demonstrating how military conflict influences the construction of a shared identity. By examining colonial newspapers, the correspondence of American and French military personnel, and Newport church records, this thesis illustrates the consequences of the changing relationship between two different cultures during the late eighteenth century. Exploring how the French as neighbors and allies influenced the construction of a shared identity for New England colonists, this paper argues that New Englanders defined their communal identities against the French military presence inserted into their lives, ultimately seeing themselves as no longer British subjects.

Committee: Andrew Cayton PhD (Advisor); Carla Pestana PhD (Other); Stephen Norris PhD (Other) Subjects: American History; History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, History

This project, the first dissertation on foodways during the U.S.-Mexico War, reconstructs Anglo-American soldiers' experiences with Mexican comestibles. By employing food history's theoretical framework, this dissertation will argue that Anglo-American soldiers' experiences with Mexican foodways reflected cultural norms within their own society. In particular, these exchanges illustrated antebellum U.S. cultural perceptions of animal life, ethnicity, gender, race, and the senses. At the same time, their observations varied on a personal level. Some troops readily embraced Mexican foodways, comparing these exotic foods to familiar Anglo-American victuals. Others, viewing Mexico's cookery as foreign and uncivilized, disliked the country's provender or regarded it with indifference, consuming Mexican foods solely out of desperation. Still others gradually developed an appreciation for Mexican foodways, finding edibles that satisfied their Anglo-American taste preferences. This dissertation will arrive at three conclusions. First, it will show that American soldiers' experiences with Mexican foodways could impact their pre-existing cultural mores. Second, it will demonstrate that American soldiers, in their food-related exchanges with Mexicans, developed new ideas about the country's people. Specifically, it will determine that American soldiers who showed openness to Mexican foodways tended to exhibit more favorable attitudes towards Mexicans. Finally, this dissertation will conclude that American soldiers' perceptions of Mexico's foodways improved over time, coinciding with a more enlightened opinion of the Mexican people.

Committee: Joan Cashin (Committee Chair); John Brooke (Committee Member); Randolph Roth (Committee Member); Leslie Lockett (Other) Subjects: History

Master of Humanities (MHum), Wright State University, 2019, Humanities

The following thesis presents new perspectives on the representation of Byzantine generals during the eleventh century, focusing specifically on parallel representations of Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder. I will argue that Byzantine chroniclers routinely employed the language of Byzantine military manuals as a template to describe the generals who populate the pages of their works. This tendency created a shared language of praise and censure which chroniclers applied to the generals whose reputation they sought either to exalt or to tarnish. The career of Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder as it is presented in the History of Michael Attaleiates and the Materials for a History of Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger vividly demonstrates this tendency as Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger attempts to salvage the reputation of his grandfather.

Committee: Jeannette Marchand Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Paul Lockhart Ph.D. (Committee Member); Aaron Wolpert M.A. (Other); Valerie Stoker Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; Foreign Language; History; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages; Military History; Military Studies

PHD, Kent State University, 2018, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

To explore how and why marriage rates in the United States reached record-breaking heights during World War II, Romanticizing Patriarchy uses cultural and social history methodologies to argue that films, magazines, servicemen, and women, romanticized patriarchy in wartime America. To do this, American culture and individuals deemphasized patriarchal power in marriage and instead emphasized the loving and supportive characteristics of marital unions. This idealized perception of patriarchal marriage served as a powerful tool that preserved short and long term national stability by alleviating wartime problems and postwar concerns. In this sense, marriage promised to (1) create national unity through family formation by providing an emotional link across the home front and warfronts, (2) promote marital monogamy, and thereby lessen the threat venereal disease posed to American fighting forces while legitimately reproducing the national citizenry, and (3) preserve husbandly authority and female subordination even as wartime challenged normative gender roles. In other words, the World War II concept of romantic patriarchy solidified war marriage as a form of social control, which preserved the power and privileges of white men during the war and into the postwar era. Much of the historical literature accepts that the Cold War triggered what many Americans thought was a golden age of marriage in the 1950s. During this time, scholars suggest that a culture of conformity and strict gender roles created domestic tension and planted the seeds for the Women's Liberation Movement. This dissertation, however, shows that romantic patriarchy encouraged skyrocketing marriage rates during World War II and provided the foundation for the mythical family ideal of the 1950s. My work also reveals how wartime Americans thwarted women's independence and egalitarian relationships by romanticizing the normative gender roles that the war prevented them from practicing. These idealiza (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Smith-Pryor PhD (Advisor); Kevin Adams PhD (Committee Member); Kenneth Bindas PhD (Committee Member); Lesley Gordon PhD (Committee Member); Molly Merryman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; American Studies; Families and Family Life; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Literature; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Military History; Military Studies; Sociology; Womens Studies; World History

MA, Kent State University, 2018, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

By examining the lives and battle experiences of three brothers, this thesis explores their perceptions of cowardice and courage as Union soldiers during the American Civil War. Using primary sources from a newly uncovered collection, the Reiter Family Collection, and using a single family, the Bassetts, as a microcosm of both their community and northern society this thesis examines questions such as in the values, motivation, and struggles of loss, remembrance, and survivors guilt. As historians have often understudied the complicated nexus between experiences of cowardice and courage, this research takes an approach not common in the extant literature. What I refer to as the continuum shows that soldiers felt courage and cowardice concurrently. As a result, there was, and is, more to study about cowardice and courage than the obvious dichotomy. This work describes these terms on a continuum, a flexible scale wherein a person can experience cowardice and courage simultaneously. Examining cowardice and courage through the experiences of the Bassett brothers, this thesis explores who the brothers were, where they came from, and how they fit into the greater scheme of Union wartime society. It continues with an analysis of the experiences and perceptions of the brothers and their different cowardly and courageous experiences. Finally, the thesis concludes with a detailed glance at their successful or failed attempts at redemption.

Committee: Kevin Adams PhD (Advisor); Leonne Hudson PhD (Committee Member); Elaine Frantz (Parsons) PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Gender; History; Mental Health; Military History

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2017, History (Arts and Sciences)

The change in U.S. naval strategy from 1989 to 1994 was the most significant of its kind since the end of the Second World War. The end of the Cold War, the provisions of the Goldwater Nichols Act of 1986 and the effects of the First Gulf War of 1991 combined to radically alter U.S. and naval strategic thinking. The end of the Cold War brought about a review of U.S. naval strategy, but the personalities involved created a new process that greatly hampered the re-creation of strategy designed to combat peer competitors. The provisions of the Goldwater Nichols Act of 1986 indirectly affected the Navy staff where strategy documents had heretofore been produced. Talented officers that had sought service on the Navy Staff gravitated instead toward the Joint Staff and regional Commander Staffs as these positions offered better chances for promotion and advancement. Finally the First Gulf War caused a crisis of confidence among the Navy's senior leaders in that they did not get to validate traditional naval warfare concepts against Saddam Hussein's limited Iraqi naval forces. This feeling seems to have further convinced leaders to leave behind traditional concepts and the service staff structures that created them in favor of Army and Air Force methods of organization for combat. Those services appeared to have confirmed their warfare doctrines in the 1991 conflict. Congress agreed and the Navy was concerned that vital funding in the post-Cold War-era required the seagoing service to also adjust to a warfare organization more favorable to legislative support. These factors combined to produce a different kind of new naval strategy in the form of the “From the Sea” white paper. It eschewed blue water naval operations for those in the coastal regions of the world know as the littorals. U.S. Marine Corps forces, which had almost always had a secondary role in naval strategic planning in the past, were in many cases given the leading role in From the Sea with the regular Na (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ingo Trauschweizer Dr (Advisor); Peter John Brobst Dr (Committee Member); Paul Milazzo Dr (Committee Member) Subjects: Military History

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2014, Arts and Sciences: History

This dissertation establishes the existence of organizational dysfunction within a socialist army. It then posits a cause and outlines the tragic effects of that dysfunction on the average East German soldier. The East German Army (NVA) of the German Democratic Republic was a representation of the state in many different ways. Its demographic closely matched that of the general population, not only in terms of class, but also in educational levels. The army also closely paralleled the larger state in structure and in political ideology. As the state was militarized in the broadest sense of the word, the NVA represented in the development of its political-ideological discourse and its socialist consciousness. There were surprising continuities between state organs and its army, including its politicization, its training, and its structure. Like the army, the GDR closely paralleled the operational hierarchies of industry, business, and education with its national security equivalents. Like the political committees on the factory floor, the army also had formal and informal structures of political operatives who oversaw operational and managerial leaders, as well as the political development of the lowest workers and soldiers. Because of this sharp parallel, the records of the NVA provide a unique view into the effect of politicization and ideology on the lowest soldiers. Army records are detailed and filled with its own analysis for the causes of special incidents, including accidents, disciplinary problems, training problems, desertions, and suicides. These records also provide rare insight into the operations and functions of a socialist bureaucracy. Clearly, Marxist-Leninist ideology had an impact on the progress of Soviet client states. What is new here is the ability to watch the ideology evolve into a political-military discourse that adversely affected the training and function of East German army officers. In turn, the reduction in effective (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Martin Francis Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Edward Ross Dickinson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Katherine Sorrels Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: History

BA, Kent State University, 2014, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

The United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS), created in 1948, was the first signals intelligence organization to be created post-World War II and played an integral role in Cold War intelligence gathering. Indeed, despite its relatively young age compared to its Army and Navy counterparts, the USAFSS soon became the premier agency for signals intelligence in the early Cold War and was responsible for hundreds of secret listening posts around the world. This thesis argues that the USAFSS was able to have such a large impact on the post-World War II intelligence community due to a high level of technological proficiency, dedication, and a close working relationship with the National Security Agency (NSA) after its establishment in 1952. Using oral history interviews and declassified government documents, this thesis explores how the USAFSS was established and how it grew to leave a lasting impact for both contemporary Cold War intelligence agencies and the modern incarnation of Air Force intelligence.

Committee: Elizabeth Smith-Pryor Ph.D (Advisor); Timothy Scarnecchia Ph.D (Committee Member); Fred Endres Ph.D (Committee Member); Leslie Heaphy Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Armed Forces; Computer Science; Engineering; European History; History; Information Science; Information Technology; International Relations; Mass Communications; Military History; Military Studies; Modern History; Political Science; Russian History; Science History; Technical Communication; Technology; World History

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2013, History

The San Francisco Bay Area played a critical role in supporting military activities throughout the twentieth century. Due to its location, the Bay Area served as one of the key military staging grounds for the Pacific campaign of WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The region benefited from war-related industry, housing the largest shipyard west of the Mississippi and supporting the burgeoning postwar military industrial complex. Its demographics diversified dramatically as soldiers, Vietnam War refugees, and war workers migrated to the region. As part of the Sunbelt, the Bay Area benefited economically from generous military procurement spending. However, over the course of the 1980s, 1990s, and the 2000s, the Bay Area shifted away from having a significant military presence to having practically none. Compared to the approximately thirty military facilities operating in 1980, today all but a handful are either closed or slated for closure. Residents, experts, and scholars wondered how could a single region in the Sun Belt, which benefited from significant federal defense investment, lose so much, so quickly? Many locals blamed the region's "liberal" people and politicians for inciting the military's wrath. Hence, a popular social narrative evolved. Many contended that the navy and Department of Defense deliberately targeted bases in the Bay Area for closure as a way of punishing the Bay Area for its anti-war intransigence. This dissertation challenges the narrative that the Bay Area was punished. It examines the causal factors that led to the elimination of the region's bases. Through three case studies covering base closures in three Bay Area cities, Alameda (Alameda Naval Air Station), Vallejo (Mare Island Naval Shipyard), and Oakland (Oakland Army Base and Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Oakland), a different explanation for the closures emerges. This project demonstrates that the passage of federal policies and legislation, urban encroachme (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Stephen Ortiz Ph.D. (Advisor); Douglas Forsyth Ph.D. (Committee Member); Gary Hess Ph.D. (Committee Member); Amy Robinson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, History

The Royal Navy went through an important period of growth and development between 1889, with the passage of the Naval Defense Act, and 1905, when construction on the Dreadnought commenced. Though the pre-Dreadnought era of ship design and construction is often seen as a period characterized by resistance to change and self-satisfied indifference to the value of new technology for naval warfare, it was instead a period of cautious, measured and successful adaptation of new technology, which produced powerful and effective battleships. The Royal Navy was able to do this because it had developed a systemic method for designing ships and incorporating new technology into those designs. The system was able to effectively decide on the role the battleship would fill within the broader context of naval operations. It decided how to balance the competing demands of the capabilities that were wanted to fill that role in an environment of strict limits on space, weight and money available. The system also evaluated new technology and determined what filled the Navy's needs and produced better ships. The period between the Naval Defense Act in 1889 and the Dreadnought in 1905 is a vastly underappreciated period in the history of the Royal Navy. It was not a period of failure for the Royal Navy, as least so far as ship design and technological advancement were concerned, that can be dismissed as something that “Jackie” Fisher needed to fix. The Royal Navy had its failures at that time, to be sure. However, the failure effectively design its ships and to grapple with new technology and adapt and adopt it for its ships, most importantly, its battleships, was not one of them.

Committee: John Guilmartin F (Advisor); Alan Beyerchen (Committee Member); Jennifer Siegel (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, History

This doctoral dissertation, Mughals at War: Babur, Akbar and the Indian Military Revolution, examines the transformation of warfare in South Asia during the foundation and consolidation of the Mughal Empire. It emphasizes the practical specifics of how the Imperial army waged war and prepared for war—technology, tactics, operations, training and logistics. These are topics poorly covered in the existing Mughal historiography, which primarily addresses military affairs through their background and context—cultural, political and economic. I argue that events in India during this period in many ways paralleled the early stages of the ongoing “Military Revolution” in early modern Europe. The Mughals effectively combined the martial implements and practices of Europe, Central Asia and India into a model that was well suited for the unique demands and challenges of their setting.

Committee: John Guilmartin PhD (Committee Chair); Stephen Dale PhD (Committee Member); Jennifer Siegel PhD (Committee Member); Laura Podalsky PhD (Other) Subjects: History; Military History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, History

The transmission of military ideas across time and the problems arising from tracing diffusion were examined. A major theme was investigating the similarities between Greco-Roman military formations and traditions (eighth century B.C. to 400 A.D.) and those of the medieval Swiss (1315-1544). Only six possibilities could explain the similarities. Stimulus Diffusion was examined as an explanation. This theory suggested that military ideas spread, by word of mouth. It was determined that, in the Swiss case, stimulus diffusion was not a factor, since inherent in the definition of stimulus diffusion is the requirement of an originality (“ideational germ”) on the part of the diffusing society. The evidence suggested the opposite, that the use of pike formations in Italy, Scotland, Flanders, and elsewhere in Europe, had an earlier origin. In order to determine what this earlier origin had been, Hanson's theory of a “Continuous European Tradition,” with Greco-Roman roots, of fighting in organized columns was explored with the Swiss as a test case. Contact between the Helvetii and Alemanii, along with other Germanic tribes with ties to ancient “Switzerland,” and the ancient Greeks and Romans was established. However, it was determined that a “continuous tradition” of fighting in the classical Greco-Roman style was unlikely due to medieval Feudalism. The possibility the Swiss may have created formations in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries using Greco-Roman military treatises was viable. Similarities between the Swiss long-pike formations (1474-1550) and those described by Asklepiodotus (second century B.C.) were persuasive. Yet, since Swiss long-pike columns were developed in the fifteenth century, and Asklepiodotus appeared in Switzerland in the seventeenth century, alternative pathways had to be considered. The notion that Swiss formations were the result of an egalitarian society was also considered. The ratification of oaths for perpetual support coupled with egalit (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Geoffrey Parker (Committee Chair); John F. Guilmartin Jr. (Committee Co-Chair); Nathan Rosenstein (Committee Member) Subjects: Military History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, History

The Zaydi Imamate of Yemen collapsed in the nineteenth century as a result of inherent conflicts in its structure as a tribal quasi-state, between the Zaydi tribesmens culture of honor and the Islamic values of the Imamate. This in turn facilitated the Ottoman conquest of the Yemeni highlands in 1872. The inferior weaponry of the Zaydi tribes and their political fragmentation made it impossible for them to conduct a sustained resistance against the Ottomans. As a result, the Ottomans were able to maintain control in the early years of the occupation by the methods of indirect rule: divide-and-conquer tactics coupled with intermittent punitive expeditions. The presence of the Ottoman state, however, created the political conditions under which the Zaydi tribes would unite to defend themselves. This allowed the Imams to rebuild the Imamate as a supra-tribal state deriving its authority from Islamic principles, organized to unite the tribes in a long-term jihad against the Ottomans. In turn, this compelled the Ottomans to change their methods of dealing with rebellion in Yemen. Ottoman statesmen sought increasingly to employ the techniques of the bureaucratic nation-state to consolidate their grip on Yemen: police repression, counter-guerrilla tactics, and programs of social and economic development designed to win the support of the population. Such measures failed as a result of the poverty of the Ottoman state and the dictatorial practices of the Hamidian regime. Together with the growing military sophistication of the Zaydis, however, they did push the conflict in Yemen toward total war. The culmination of this process would come in the rebellion of 1905, characterized by grinding campaigns of attrition and massive social destruction in Yemen. After this rebellion, the Ottomans would realize the futility of a total war policy, and seek a negotiated settlement with the Imam. Such a settlement finally came after the Young Turk era,peace was made with the Imam on the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carter Findley (Advisor) Subjects: History, Middle Eastern

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, History

By the declaration of the armistice on November 11, 1918, the United States had mobilized and deployed millions of soldiers to France helping to break German resistance and end the war. The expansion of American capabilities that contributed to the decision on the Western Front was astounding. The agencies responsible for equipping and supplying forces had increased their operations several hundred-fold as the army expanded from 290,000 to over four million men in 19 months. However, for all its achievements, the American mobilization had been a close run thing. For a time, the obstacles seemed so great that many doubted whether the United States would propel sufficient force overseas to contribute to the war before German victory in Russia or Franco-British exhaustion led to Allied defeat. In the winter of 1917, a crisis arose that led Congress to investigate and the administration to reorganize the War Department. This work examines the targets of the investigations and public distress: the five War Department supply bureaus. The Engineer, Medical, Ordnance, Quartermaster and Signal Departments were the nucleus of the system to support the troops in the field, develop equipment, and purchase necessary items for the Army. These bureaus, which reported to the Secretary of War and assisted his administration of the Army, provided the resources that allowed the Infantry and Artillery to operate in peace and war. Critics at the time pointed to the five supply bureaus as the cause of the War Department's inability to manage the mobilization effort. What caused the near collapse of the United States' mobilization program in 1917? In their analyses of the War Department's supply bureaus, nearly every historian attributes the collapse of the Army's industrial mobilization effort to some combination of four fatal flaws. They suggest that the bureaus and their chiefs opposed coordination that endangered their autonomy, regularly went around the War Department hierarchy to se (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Allan Millett (Advisor) Subjects: