Eight Bells Lecture Series: "American Ways of War in the 20th and 21st Centuries"

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Event Information

Thursday, April 04, 2019
12:00 p.m.
Sail Newport 11th Hour Great Room, 72 Fort Adams Drive, Newport, RI 02840

Meghan Brown, Naval War College Museum

This event is for Naval War College students, faculty and staff.

'American War of War in the 20th and 21st Centuries' by David Ulbrich

The term “way of war” often describes how armed forces fight wars—the German way of war for example—and emphasize characteristics that make one way of war distinctive from others. Among the possible characteristics are influences of ideological beliefs, effects of geographical features, measurements of industrial production, differences in cultural mores, predispositions for particular strategies or tactics, and others. Because these can be complex and sometimes contradictory, a singular way of war can rarely be identified. Instead, the plural “ways of war” is more useful. After outlining several characteristics of “ways of war,” this lecture will analyze how and why they apply to the American military and society during the 20th and 21st centuries.

David J. Ulbrich, Ph.D., is currently associate professor and director of the online Master of Arts in History and Military History programs at Norwich University. Ulbrich first book, Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Marine Corps, 1936-1943 (Naval Institute Press, 2011)), won the “2012 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Prize” from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. The Foundation also chose Ulbrich as the “General Lemuel Shepherd Dissertation Fellow” in 2003. Ulbrich has co-authored the second edition of Ways of War: American Military History from the Colonial Period to the 21st Century (Routledge, 2017) and co-edited The Routledge Global History of War and Society (Routledge, 2018). He has also published several articles and chapters on Marine Corps history, military logistics, and masculinity and war.

All lectures are free and open to the public, no reservations are required.

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