Patrick Shrier

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The Actual Writing of a Thesis-Part 9

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Well, I figured it is time for another update.   I have made the first round of changes to my rough draft and turned them back in and my thesis made it past my professor and is now in the hands of the second reader.   It went up to the second reader Tuesday and I should get it back sometime next week for corrections, if any.   If there are no corrections needed it will go the department Chair and then I will get a final grade for the thesis and the thesis class.   At that point I will be done with my thesis and should only need … More after the Jump…

Samual Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations”

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Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations?, Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993, pp. 22-49 This article set off a debate in academia that continues to this day. What Huntington argues in the paper is that after the fall of communism in 1989, the world is no longer looking at a standoff between ideologies but that the world will revert to clashes between civilizations. The basic thesis is that the ideological struggle between liberal democracy and communism covered over or subsumed the natural differences between civilizations. He argues that prior to the end of the Cold War the conflicts that shaped history were primarily Western and have gone through three phases since … More after the Jump…

What is an Act of War?

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In light of the beginning of Attacks against Libya and the UN Security Council Resolution authorizing the establishment of a No-Fly Zone over part of Libya I thought it would be useful to have a post about Acts of War and historically what has been considered a legitimate reason to go to war. I will focus this post on the Westphalian System established in 1648 by the Peace of Westphalia ending the Thirty-Years War that also inaugurated the current system of Sovereign nation-states operative in the world today. The Westphalian System did not spring fully formed in 1648, mainly because it was focused on monarchical and dynastic states and not … More after the Jump…

Talk about Killing Two Birds with One Stone

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Dead Men Risen: The Snipers’ Story For a soldier like me, this is an uplifting story about how a British sniper in Afghanistan killed two insurgents with one round.   I have done that before but not with a sniper rifle, I had to use the 25mm Bushmaster on my Bradley.   I am very impressed by this shot because it is so rare.   That it was achieved using a 7.62mm sniper rifle is even more impressive.   Kudus to these British snipers and may they continue to shoot straight.

Heroe€™s Portraits: Staff Sergeant Stanley Bender, US Army

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Staff Sergeant Stanley Bender, US Army SSG Bender was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for actions in France during World War II.   He climbed on top of a knocked out tank to locate the source of machine-gun fire that had stopped his company’s advance.   Then he led his squad through a ditch to attack the position and started an assault on the German position in which he killed 37 and captured a further 26 German soldiers.   He survived the war and passed away in 1994.   He is buried in Oak Park, WV. His citation is here: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life … More after the Jump…

The Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

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I had to post something about the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan last Friday.   First off, I hope that the death toll does not go as high as they currently fear.   Second, everything I have seen so far about the Japanese reactions to the quake inspires nothing but admiration and respect for the Japanese people.   My prayers go out to all the victims and their families. I am sure that if this disaster had happened in California the news would be full of stories about how the government is not doing enough and where is all the help people are supposed to be receiving from the government … More after the Jump…

Book Review (sort of): Julius Caesar -The Gallic Wars

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Caesar’s Gallic Wars are a series of eight books that Caesar either wrote or had written detailing his actions during the eight years he was the Roman governor in Gaul.   They are best understood as an exercise in propaganda because during the time he was away from Rome the books were an excellent way to keep his name in front of the people in Rome and to enhance his reputation and prestige.   That being said, they are still invaluable as an account of his time there and as a look into the mind of one of the best politicians of the most powerful polity of his age.  It … More after the Jump…

The Actual Writing of a Thesis-Part 8

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I got my rough draft back from my Thesis professor this morning with the first round of requested corrections.   It actually looks much better than I thought it would.   There are not as many corrections as I expected and so I will start working on revising it tonight after I get home from work.   I just quickly glanced at it this morning.   I guess it will take me two or three days to make the requested corrections. After I make corrections and resubmit it as a final version, it will go to a second reader in the history department for a final round of changes.   … More after the Jump…

An Interesting Page

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The Five Myths Archive at the Washington Post is an intriguing site that has some very interesting pieces in it of both contemporary and historical significance. none of them are particularly military that I could see though. *sigh*

Heroe’s Portraits: Captain Charles Upham.

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Captain Charles Upham is one of the three men who were awarded the Victoria Cross twice.   Both his awards were won during World War II, the first in the Battle for Crete in 1941 and the second at the Battle of El Alamein in 1942.   He was captured in the action that earned him the second VC and spent the remainder of the war as POW in Colditz prison.   He retired to New Zealand after the war and bought a farm.   He died in 1994 at the age of 86 in a Christchurch, New Zealand.   His VC and Bar are on display at the Queen … More after the Jump…

Postmodernism and Historiography

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I figured I would touch on post-modernism/post-structuralism and my personal opinion of the phenomenon because I am seeing it more and more in contemporary academics.   Let me preface this whole post by saying up-front that I think the whole post-modernist movement is a bunch of hogwash that has little if anything to add to the discipline of history. I was first introduced to the phenomenon of post-modernism/post-structuralism in my very first Graduate level class, which was Historiography.   you can almost say it was hate at first sight because from the get-go I have been struck with the way post-modernists obfuscate and use odd language to describe their concepts.   … More after the Jump…

Heroe’s Portraits: Surgeon Captain Arthur Martin-Leake

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Double VC holder: Surgeon Captain Arthur Martin-Leake

Surgeon Captain Arthur Martin-Leake is a two-time winner of the Victoria Cross.   He is one of only three men who have won the VC twice, and two of the double winners were medical men.   He won his first VC in 1902 during the Boer War in South Africa when he treated 8 wounded men in full view of the enemy and remained at his position providing them treatment despite being shot three times himself.   He recieved his second award in World War I during First Ypres for continually exposing himself to enemy fire to retrieve wounded men forward of the British trenches.   He survived the First World War and died in 1953.   He is buried at High Cross in Hertfordshire, England.

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Where is the Serious National Conversation about American Debt?

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I really try to stay away from politics but I find that I just have to say something her, even if I just howling in the wilderness and nobody is listening. Debt or at least the current and future debt of America has been much more prominent in the news lately.   It is always in the news, but people are actually, hopefully, starting to talk about addressing the issue in a serious manner.   I ran across these three pieces recently that address the issue and also talk about what America needs to do versus what it is doing. Niall Ferguson, The End of Prosperity? Fareed Zakaria, Are America’s … More after the Jump…

Battle of Carrhae, 53 B.C.

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The Battle of Carrhae in 53 B.C. was one of the biggest military disasters Rome ever suffered, ranking right up there with Cannae, The Teutoberg Forest, and Lake Trasimene.   The battle occurred in what is today Syria between a Roman army under Marcus Licinius Crassus and a Parthian (Persian) army under a general Surena.   In the battle, seven legions were destroyed and their Eagles taken and Rome did not trouble the Parthian Empire again for almost 50 years.

The battle was written about by both Livy and Plutarch.   The links are to translations of their texts.

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I Suppose I Can Consider Myself Published Now

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I got my first article published this past week.   I belong to the Society for Military History and in a recent society newsletter, they asked for people who had recently worked in an archive to submit a guide.   I visited the Austrian Kriegsarhive last spring while doing research for my MA thesis and emailed them contact person that I would be interested in providing a guide for the Kriegsarchive.   I got a positive response and pulled out my notes and recollections of my visit and over the next week or so, I wrote up a guide.   It has now been posted on the SMH website at: … More after the Jump…

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