H-Diplo Roundtable - Assuming the Burden, Porch on Lawrence

Mark Atwood Lawrence, Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005) Roundtable Editor: Thomas Maddux Reviewers: Anne Foster, Indiana State University, Shawn McHale, George Washington University, Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, Harvard University, Douglas Porch, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, Martin Thomas, Exeter University, UKCommentary by Douglas Porch, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California; Mark Atwood Lawrence, Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam

The Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1996

The Taiwan Strait Crisis of March 1996 demonstrated that tense relations between the People\u27s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) constitute an Achilles\u27 heel of East Asian stability. When the PRC began to fire missiles into the seas of Taiwan\u27s two major ports, the United States demonstrated its commitment to the peaceful unification (or reunification ) of Taiwan with the mainland by dispatching an armada that included two carriers, the USS Independence (CV 62) and the USS Nimitz (CVN 68), in the most significant naval display in the area since the 1950s. Because the crisis faded away and was soon consigned to distant memory, its implications have failed to receive the attention they deserve

“No Bad Stories”

Media-military relations have always been rocky; the basic explanation is that the natures and goals of the media and military are fundamentally in tension. Future trends are likely to make these relations more, rather than less, difficult. Nevertheless, the two institutions must recognize that it is in the interests of both to make the relationship work

Anniversary: The Battle of Midway; Strategic Insights, v. 1, issue 4 (June 2002)

This article appeared in Strategic Insights, v.1, issue 4 (June 2002)Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

The Pathology of War Plans: The Lessons of 1914

The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.The major European powers, Austria-Hungary , Britain , France , Germany , Italy , and Russia , developed war plans in the years prior to the August 1914 outbreak. These plans, all of them, proved to be seriously flawed. Six experts will present their analyses of the planning processes and the pathologies involved.Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security StudiesEvent webpage, streaming audio, phot

Writing History in the "End of History" Era - Reflections on Historians and the GWOT

Military history can and should play a role, even a prominent role, in debates over strategy and policy in wartime. The problem begins when partisans, polemicists, and ideologues pluck examples from past military campaigns or wars that are subsequently interpreted in ways that support policy and strategy decisions. In the case of the current “long war,” neoconservative and neoimperialist historians construct and reconstruct interpretations of the past in ways deliberately calculated to promote and sustain a policy agenda. The danger is that history twisted by some partisans into an apologia for contemporary American policy, and ultimately as a weapon of intimidation to silence doubt, dissent, disagreement, and even debate, serves neither the cause of history, nor of policy and strategy formulation, nor even of democracy in a moment of national peril

America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq; Strategic Insights, v. 3, issue 2 (February 2004)

This article appeared in Strategic Insights, v.3, issue 2 (February 2004)Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited