Category Archives: Military History

White Paper: Samuel Ryan Curtis as a Political and Military General in the American Civil War

Posted on December 18, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Samuel Ryan Curtis (1805–1866) was one of the most unusual Union generals of the Civil War: an engineer, a West Point graduate, a three-term Congressman, a military administrator, and the victor of the strategically important Battle of Pea … Continue reading →

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Arms Diversity vs. Strategic Concentration: A Comparative White Paper on Multi-Arm Militaries and Single-Approach Forces from Antiquity to the Present

Posted on December 17, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Throughout military history, polities have faced a recurring strategic choice: whether to invest in multiple complementary military arms (infantry, cavalry, naval forces, artillery, air power, cyber, space, etc.) or to maximize a dominant approach optimized for a specific … Continue reading →

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White paper: How Czech Beads and Belgian Rifles Reached Chadron, Nebraska—and from there the Plains tribes—in the 19th century

Posted on December 16, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive summary In the 19th century, “trade goods” moved on a long, predictable conveyor belt: European manufacture → Atlantic shipping to U.S. ports → U.S. wholesale hubs → interior transport by river/road/rail → frontier posts and agency towns → Indigenous … Continue reading →

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White Paper: When Command Philosophy Fails at Scale: A Comparative Typology of Command Failure in High-Stakes Military Leadership

Posted on December 14, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary This white paper develops a comparative typology of command failure, using Robert E. Lee’s vague order-giving as a central case study and placing it alongside analogous failures in commanders such as Napoleon (1812), McClellan, Rommel, MacArthur, and others. … Continue reading →

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Command Ambiguity and Operational Friction: The Negative Effects of Robert E. Lee’s Vague Orders on the Army of Northern Virginia

Posted on December 13, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary This white paper examines the operational consequences of General Robert E. Lee’s habitual use of vague, discretionary orders within the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV), particularly during the middle and late phases of the American Civil War. While … Continue reading →

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A Typology of Great Generals: A White Paper for Strategic Studied and Leadership Analysis

Posted on December 12, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Military history reveals that “great generals” do not constitute a monolithic archetype. Their excellence emerges from distinct, interlocking domains: grand strategy, operational art, battlefield tactics, logistics, diplomacy, intelligence, innovation, and organizational leadership. Some commanders excelled primarily in one … Continue reading →

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Recommendations For A Warts And All Reading of Thai History

Posted on December 11, 2025 by nathanalbright

An honest “warts and all” reading list on Thai history has to do two things at once: give you a reliable chronological framework, and poke holes in the comforting myths of “harmonious kings, grateful peasants, and benign coups.” Below is … Continue reading →

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White Paper: The Fragile Logistics of the Mycenaean World

Posted on December 4, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary The Mycenaean civilization (ca. 1600–1200 BC) flourished as a network of palace-centered kingdoms across mainland Greece and the Aegean. Despite their monumental architecture, sophisticated administration, and extensive trade networks, Mycenaean logistics were profoundly fragile. Their economic and military … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Designing Historical Wargames of the Bronze Age

Posted on December 3, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary The Bronze Age (ca. 3300–1200 BCE) offers one of the richest yet least standardised eras for historical wargame design. This period’s combination of sparse but evocative textual sources, rapidly evolving military technologies, fluid political systems, and distinctive battlefield … Continue reading →

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The North Sea Empire in the Early Eleventh Century: A White Paper on Its Military, Political, and Economic History

Posted on December 2, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary The early eleventh-century North Sea Empire—principally associated with King Cnut the Great (r. 1016–1035)—represented one of the most ambitious and short-lived thalassocratic unions of medieval Europe. Encompassing England, Denmark, Norway, and intermittent influence over Sweden and parts of … Continue reading →

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