Usahec Military History Podcast

While research has shown Latinos are highly patriotic, political rhetoric often questions their patriotism and residence in the United States. In his lecture, Dr. McGlynn will examine how Latina/Latino aspirations to demonstrate patriotism and belonging influences their experiences with military recruitment and service.

Supply and logistics are an integral component of military operations, which influences every aspect of military planning, operational art, and strategy. Among the many challenges faced by the fledgling Continental Army was establishing secure sources of supplies. That challenge came on top of developing effective and efficient lines of communication, creating functional and reliable transportation systems, finding reliable and secure logistical bases, and successfully managing what was often an ad-hoc and improvised supply and logistical system.  In his most recent book “Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778”, U.S. Army War College professor Dr. Ricardo Herrera outlines how this system catastrophically failed at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778. Dr. Herrera discusses the causes of this failure; and how Washington and his logisticians overcame it to enable the Continental Army to fight the British army to a standstill at Monmouth that spring.   

Although he took command of the Army of the Potomac only three days before the first shots were fired at Gettysburg, Union general George G. Meade guided his forces to victory in the Civil War's most pivotal battle. Commentators often dismiss Meade when discussing the great leaders of the Civil War. In this lecture historian, Kent Masterson Brown draws on an expansive archive to reappraise Meade's leadership during the Battle of Gettysburg. Using Meade's published and unpublished papers alongside diaries, letters, and memoirs of fellow officers and enlisted men, Brown highlights how Meade's rapid advance of the army to Gettysburg on July 1, his tactical control and coordination of the army in the desperate fighting on July 2, and his determination to hold his positions on July 3 insured victory.

Military expert Dr. Michael O’Hanlon examines America’s major conflicts since the mid-1800s: the Civil War, the two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. O’Hanlon addresses profound questions. How successful has the United States been when it waged these wars? Were the wars avoidable? Did America’s leaders know what they were getting into when they committed to war? And what lessons does history offer for future leaders contemplating war? —including the prospects for avoiding war in the first place.

America's World War II military was a force of good. While saving the world from Nazism, it also managed to unify a famously fractious American people. At least that is the story the U.S. Army put forward through wartime propaganda during WW2, and remains popular today.In this talk, historian and George Washington University associate professor Thomas Guglielmo offers a decidedly different view. This new perspective draws from more than a decade of extensive research and stitches together stories of race and the military; of high command and ordinary GIs; of African Americans, white Americans, Japanese Americans, and more, stories which have long been told separately. Guglielmo underscores not national unities, but racist divisions as a defining feature of America’s World War II military and of the postwar world it helped to fashion.

Defeat is a possibility in almost any undertaking. Understanding how to turn failures into lessons learned is a key contributing skill to bringing about future success. In two of his recent books, Dr. David L. Preston, the General Mark W. Clark Distinguished Professor of History at The Citadel, provides a framework of how to draw constructive criticism out of defeat.Both “Braddock’s Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution” and “The Other Face of Battle: America’s Forgotten Wars and the Experience of Combat” analyze key takeaways hidden behind the immediate sting of failure, and the dangers of not dedicating time to bring those lessons to light.

This lecture was recorded at the open house for the USAHEC's newest exhibit, “Ka-Pow Boom! Understanding the Soldier Experience through Comic and Illustrative Art.” Writer, former military strategist, and U.S. Army veteran Steve Leonard delivered a presentation on his comic series “The Further Adventures of Doctrine Man” In his presentation discussed the origins and inspiration for the iconic comic strip, and the impact it’s had on the U.S. Army.

In her award-winning novel “I Will Die In A Foreign Land”, author Kalani Pickhart offers an opportunity to connect with the human aspect of the conflict. The novel, winner of the 2022 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, lets readers experience the complex, and often intensely personal, circumstances leading up to the conflict through the stories of its main characters.

The harrowing experiences of Major Dick Winters and Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Spiers, along with their abilities to successfully lead solders, provide deep insights for anyone interested in leadership and small unit dynamics. Frederick explores the specific elements, personal and professional, which enabled Winters and Spiers to become legendary leaders.

 Lecture at the USAHEC with U.S. Army War College professor Dr. Kevin J. Weddle:In the late summer and fall of 1777, after two years of indecisive fighting on both sides, the outcome of the American War of Independence hung in the balance. Having successfully expelled the Americans from Canada in 1776, the British were determined to end the rebellion the following year and devised what they believed a war-winning strategy, sending General John Burgoyne south to rout the Americans and take Albany. When British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga with unexpected ease in July of 1777, it looked as if it was a matter of time before they would break the rebellion in the North. Less than three and a half months later, however, a combination of the Continental Army and Militia forces, commanded by Major General Horatio Gates and inspired by the heroics of Benedict Arnold, forced Burgoyne to surrender his entire army. The American victory stunned the world and changed the course of the war.

In the lecture Dr. Nolan will discusses the misconception that major battles determine clear-cut outcomes of wars, questioning the decisive power of even the most lopsided battles and debunking the concept of prodigies and geniuses of military strategy.

On September 14, 20022 the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, presented a lecture by Pulitzer Prize nominated author Dr. Megan Kate Nelson. In this lecture, Dr. Nelson discussed the American Civil War by introducing the national conflict’s impact on Indigenous peoples in the West and analyzing the strategic connections between the Civil War, Indian War, and western expansion. In highlighting the Civil War in the West, Dr. Nelson points attention to nine charismatic individuals who fought for regional control in the West in the midst of the larger military conflict.To learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website https://ahec.armywarcollege.edu

In this lecture, Dr. Alan Allport of Syracuse University, discusses World War II’s critical first years and how the United Kingdom’s strategic and political decisions impacted the outcome of the war.

On June 22, 2022 the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, presented a lecture by Georgetown University Professor, Dr. Matthew Kroenig. In this lecture, Dr.Kroenig provided an in-depth analysis of the return to great power competition and how the democratic system of the United States is advantageous compared to the autocratic systems of Russia and China.To learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website https://ahec.armywarcollege.edu

April 20, 2022 – Robert D. KaplanOn April 20, 2022 the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center inCarlisle, Pennsylvania, presented a lecture by the New York Times bestsellingauthor, Robert D. Kaplan. In this lecture, Mr. Kaplan provided a ground levelgeopolitical primer of great power competition and the state of Europe, theMiddle East, and Asia. He also described how second phase globalization isdifferent than the first and the relevance of imperialism in today’s world. To learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

February 16, 2022 – Dr. Michael NeibergOn February 16, 2022 the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, presented a lecture by Dr. Michael Neiberg of the U.S. Army War College based on his new book, “When France Fell: The Vichy Crisis and the Fate of the Anglo-American Alliance.”. In his lecture, Dr. Neiberg provides an in-depth analysis of the repercussions of the shocking six-week defeat of France by the Nazi regime in 1940. In panic and desperation, U.S. leaders chose to recognize the collaborationist Vichy government. Dr. Neiberg explores the resulting effects on the Anglo-American alliance, the relationships with other allies, and the prosecution of the war with Germany.To learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

On February 6, 2020, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania welcomed USAHEC Senior Historian Dr. Michael Lynch as he presented his talk on Edward M. Almond. Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond was one of the more controversial leaders in U.S. Army history, but his story is more nuanced than the legends indicate. He commanded the 92nd Infantry Division—one of only two complete African American divisions formed during World War II—and led it through two years of training. He did so in a time when both the Army and American society were segregated, which presented training and stationing challenges. Almond lived by the adage that “units don’t fail, leaders do,” but when the 92nd performed poorly in Italy in February 1945, he asserted that it was due to their inferiority as a race. The Almond legends highlight his shortcomings as a leader, but don’t address the maltreatment of all African American Soldiers by a separate but unequal society, and how those cultural mores affected Almond’s persp

On September 16, 2021 at 6:30PM EST, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania welcomed Prof. Amy Gaudion, of Penn State Dickinson Law, as she presented her lecture, Shifting the Oversight Lens on Cyberspace Operations. In this lecture, Prof. Gaudion examines the recent expansion of the U.S. government’s cyber authorities, to engage in both offensive and defensive measures, and explains how that expansion has coincided with a weakening and dispersion of congressional oversight mechanisms. Professor Gaudion proposes alternative mechanisms for plugging the gaps in the oversight structure and for ensuring appropriate limits on the use of cyber capabilities, considering their potential for unintended escalation, catastrophic effects, harm to third-parties, damage to diplomatic relationships, and the development of reciprocal state actions at odds with the goal of creating international norms in cyberspace.To learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers,

On August 19, 2021 at 6:30PM EST, the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania welcomed Dr. Peter Campbell, of Baylor University, as he presented his lecture, Statecraft and Cyberspace: Is the Best Cyber-Defense a Good Cyber-Offense? In this lecture, Dr. Campbell discusses the clear advantages of defensive over offensive cyber tactics and strategy, and how the power of the defense applies in cyberspace. According to Dr. Campbell, advocates of the cyber-offense do not appreciate the dangers of an offensive cyber strategy while underestimating the tactical, strategic, and political advantages of cyber-defense. These defensive insights can help the U.S. to develop a defensive cyber strategy, leveraging vital public/private partnerships for protection of critical infrastructure both at home and abroad. To learn more about the USAHEC, find education support for teachers, researchers, and soldiers, or to find more programs at the USAHEC, please visit our website at www.usahec.org.

  August 19, 2020 – Dr. Andrew Marble On August 19, 2020 the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, presented a lecture by Dr. Andrew Marble of Brown University based on his new book, Boy on the Bridge: The Story of John Shalikashvili’s American Success. In his lecture, Dr. Marble tells the story of John Shalikashvili, the son of immigrants who fled Europe to the safety of the United States after World War II. Despite his underprivileged upbringing, Shalikashvili clawed his way to a Bachelor’s degree before being drafted into the Army and attending Officer Candidate School. Shalikashvili’s empathetic and collaborative approach to leadership impressed his colleagues, subordinates, and leadership alike. He demonstrated his expertise in military affairs through his ability to handle conflict, his humility, and his ability to work well with others. He rose rapidly in rank, eventually serving as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe for NATO and then as the Chairman of the United State