Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula brought Spain, Portugal, and Britain into a close, if sometimes uneasy alliance. When an expeditionary force led by General Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the 1st Duke of Wellington, disembarked in Portugal...
Considered the first documented commitment of a Western-style army facing a nation-wide insurgency, the Peninsular War deserves a critical examination of French pacification methods. In spite of a severe defeat, the Grande Armee achieved success...
This monograph conducts an analysis of historical data to detect trends in war and the evolution to modern tactical battle. It also investigates the continued use of Lanchester-based attrition models. Military analysts have used the attrition...
By 1807, Napoleon’s victories over his European adversaries were legendary. His Grand Army had defeated the greatest European armies of the period. Each army, in succession, from the Hapsburg Empire to Russia, had been soundly beaten and had not...
Napoleon Bonaparte lost over 300,000 men in the Therian Peninsula combating the British Army and Navy, along with their Spanish and Portuguese allies, in the savage conventional and unconventional Peninsular War. This very important sub-theater of...
The purpose of this paper was to study the practice of military art at the operational level of war. The story of Wellington's ultimate success against Napoleon's Marshals was selected as a case study as it seemed rich in the application of mental...
This thesis examines how the Duke of Wellington used Portuguese and Spanish forces during his 1812 Salamanca campaign. Wellington assessed the strengths and weaknesses of his allies, and then leveraged them throughout the campaign within the...
The United States entered "the war to end all wars" seventy years ago, but much may still be learned from a study of that vast military and diplomatic experience. Accordingly, the Center of Military History is now bringing back into print a series...
This paper involves an in-depth study of the art of command at all three levels of warfare. It examines this art through the eyes of one of Napoleon's ablest Marshals, Louis N. Davout. The paper addresses and accomplishes three primary goals....
This study examines the campaign to defend southwest France waged by Marshal Nicholas Soult against the Anglo-Allied Army of Arthur Wellesley from 1 July 1813 until 14 April 1814 to garner insights that are applicable to today's officer. In the...
This study is an historical analysis of the military training scheme for British officers which was proposed by Major General John Gaspard Le Marchant in 1798 and adopted by the British Army in 1799. It examines the social and political climate of...
The relationship that developed between the military and the media during the Mexican War is the primary focus of this thesis. This paper looks at the media’s coverage of the war from 1846 to 1848, spotlighting a comparison and contrast of the...
Insurgency is a time-honored form of warfare that allows a weaker opponent to subvert the power of a stronger foe. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Spanish guerrillas waged an effective insurgency against the premier army of the...
The purpose of this research was to identify the SOF unique educational requirements for SF Officers attending CGSC's ILE. This question came to the forefront at the Command and General Staff College when the United States Army Special Operations...
This monograph is meant to inspire military professionals to approach Prussian military history as a source of concepts with enduring relevance for modern armed forces. Reference point for the examination is the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) and...
This staff ride examines the Battle of Tippecanoe, an engagement that occurred in 1811 in the Indiana Territory. The battle pitted the Regular and militia forces of William Henry Harrison, the governor of the territory, against the warriors of...
This monograph is an analysis and evaluation of Major General Nathanael Greene’s implementation of compound warfare in the Southern Department from December 1780 until the British surrender at Yorktown in October 1781. Major General Greene was...
Early in the history of the Republic, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and the members of the subsequent Congresses understood that the President required power to execute the laws of the land. Under authority of the Militia Clause,...
The topic of civil-military relations during the Mexican War resurfaces as an interesting historical study in the aftermath of President Obama's recent decision to relieve General McChrystal of command in Afghanistan. This review of U.S....
Economic, military, and political science all boast at least one basic theory. But concerning military assistance, the critical nexus between them, that theoretical structure that exists rests on normative assumptions and intuition. Within the...