Category Archives: Military History

He Kept Us Out Of War

Posted on April 29, 2022 by nathanalbright

One of the more strange electoral campaigns of American political history took place in 1916, as World War I waged in Europe and other parts of the world, and the United States vainly thought that it would be able to … Continue reading →

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On The Enduring Memory Of Russian Looting During Wartime

Posted on April 27, 2022 by nathanalbright

Yesterday evening at dinner, I started reading a book loaned to me by a friend of mine, and very early on the book I was struck by something that could have been written by a contemporary Ukranian citizen, that was … Continue reading →

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Ukraine: On Finding Identity In Negative Spaces

Posted on March 23, 2022 by nathanalbright

One of the aspects of Russia’s claims about the Ukraine that has struck me as being particularly unrealistic is their denial of Ukrainian as a genuine identity. There has long been a habit of thinking among Russian leaders that those … Continue reading →

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Never Back Down

Posted on March 12, 2022 by nathanalbright

One of the aspects of human psychology that plays an important role in the prevention or encouragement of conflict is the question of whether or not someone has a way to climb down. It is well recognized that among the … Continue reading →

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A Moment For Sweden (And Finland)

Posted on March 1, 2022 by nathanalbright

Earlier today I read an article that made a great deal out of the efforts of Sweden to abandon its habit of neutrality and non-intervention in the wars around it to provide material support to Ukraine in their defensive war … Continue reading →

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Status Quo Antebellum Or Uti Possidetis?

Posted on February 26, 2022 by nathanalbright

During most of the 18th century, the nations of the world engaged in a wild amount of wars. While most of the attention has been focused on the behavior of the European powers, there were similar wars among the powers … Continue reading →

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Errors In Estimation

Posted on October 23, 2021 by nathanalbright

One of the most notable aspects of the problems that nations get into when they get involved in wars are problems of estimation. What are some of the ways that this estimation can go awry? Let us explore the ways. … Continue reading →

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Some Notes On The Concept Of Civil War In The Bible

Posted on August 27, 2021 by nathanalbright

This evening at dinner I read the first half of a sizable book on the subject of civil wars that pointedly ignores the historiography of civil wars as a concept in the Bible while discussing it from Greco-Roman, Arabic, and … Continue reading →

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Par Avion

Posted on August 17, 2021 by nathanalbright

I was not alive to witness the shame of the evacuation of Americans and Vietnamese from Saigon in April 1975 when South Vietnam fell to an invasion from North Vietnam and was unable (and perhaps its corrupted elites were unwilling) … Continue reading →

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Roads To Glory For The Political General

Posted on April 15, 2021 by nathanalbright

In reading a couple of books about Nathaniel Banks, and having previously read books about other Civil War political generals like Benjamin Butler, I was struck by the thought of how it was that political generals ended up receiving a … Continue reading →

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