Category Archives: US Military

Red Cloud (1822-1909)

Red Cloud first visited Grant at the White Hou...

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In 1841 Red Cloud killed one of his uncle’s rivals, an event which divided his tribe for years. Nevertheless, he gained enormous prominence within the Lakota nation. Respect grew steadily as he showed great leadership in territorial wars against other plains tribes. Then something happened that changed everything… More>>

Limited vs. Total War in American Military Doctrine

The Hiroshima Genbaku Dome after the bombing.

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The defeat of Germany and Japan signaled the highpoint for America’s absolutist war doctrine– it was the greatest achievement in human history and required an all out effort on all fronts. Ironically the crowning moment for the policy of total victory achieved through total war, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also signaled its fall from prominence as the country’s chief military doctrine… More>>

The Battle of Chipyong-ni (February 1951)

2nd Infantry Division soldiers in action durin...

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There were several times in the Korean War when it looked grim for the US led forces– their eviction from the peninsula was a very real possibility– at no time were things as dire as they were in the Winter of 1950-51. Enter Ridgway, Freeman and Monclar….More>>

Three My Lai Heroes Honored (1998)

Unidentified Vietnamese man (during the My Lai...

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On this day in 1998 the Army honored three Americans who risked their lives and turned their weapons on fellow soldiers to stop the slaughter of Vietnamese villagers at My Lai in 1968… More>>