Category: United States

US Civil War history book – “River of Death” (University of North Carolina Press, 2018) – William Robertson interview

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William Glenn Robertson has a PhD in History and has written books and numerous articles on the US Civil War. He became a faculty member of the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1981. There he revived the educational technique known as the Staff Ride and wrote the Army’s manual on the subject. He retired as the Director, Combat Studies Institute in 2011. We spoke about his latest US Civil War book on the Chickamauga campaign.

0:47 – William talks about how he got into studying military history. He grew up around it.

4:24 – William talks about the book itself. He talks about the motivation to write it.

7:27 – William talks about how his study differs from previous studies of the Chickamagua campaign. William talks about the personalities of the military leaders and also how they moved through and mapped the terrain they were fighting in.

16:05 – William talks about feeding and supplying large Civil War armies.

18:41 – William talks about the staffs of these armies.

23:49 – William talks about a southern family that had a son in the Union Army and who fed false information to the Confederate Army.

25:34 – William talks about the role of technology in the campaign.

32:04 – William talks about how no one had ever managed armies the size of those in the US Civil War.

34:43 – William talks about what documents he used for his research.

50:43 – William talks about some of the Civil War stories that saddened him.

59:26 – William talks about a serious problem he sees in the study of US Civil War history.

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: William Glenn Robertson

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, US history, US military history, US Civil War, Georgia, Chickamauga, Union, Confederacy

20th Century US Warfare history book – “Crash Course” (Rutgers University Press, 2018) – H. Bruce Franklin interview

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H Bruce Franklin was an US Air Force navigator and intelligence officer but then became an anti-war activist. He’s written nineteen books and hundreds of articles and we talk about his latest book about the wars of the United States in the 20th century.

1:01 – Bruce talks about how he got into studying and writing on war. He talks about his influences when he was young.

2:01 – Bruce talks about the book and his life experiences that led to writing this book starting with when he was eleven on the day of the end of WWII. When he got older he joined the Air Force as a navigator. He talks about his reconnaissance and provocation missions over the Soviet Union.

8:37 – Bruce talks about his time with the Strategic Air Command and their efficiency and proficiency.

10:21 – Bruce talks about his first mission as a combat ready navigator and being part of a four plane cell. The mission almost resulted in an air collision.

13:49 – Bruce talks about the military-industrial complex and how it’s affected the wars the US has been part of.

25:58 – Bruce talks about the events that switched his political thinking on war.

27: 29 – Bruce mentions the anti-napalm movement.

31:53 – Bruce talks about the Korean War.

40:17 – Bruce talks about the historical archival material that he used for the book.

46:01 – Bruce talks about an interesting episode associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis.

56:00 – Bruce talks about 1991, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the peace dividend.

1:01:56 – He has a website at HBRuceFranklin.com where people can find information on all his books. It also has an events page.

Links of interest

https://www.hbrucefranklin.com/

https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/crash-course/9781978800939

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: H. Bruce Franklin

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Cold War, Soviet Union, anti-war, Air Force, Strategic Air Command, KC-97, Boeing, bombers, Vietnam War, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Iraq, peace dividend, Saddam Hussein

American Revolution history book – “Valley Forge” (Simon & Schuster, 2018) – Tom Clavin interview

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Tom Clavin is a prolific history writer who’s been on the New York Times Bestsllers list. We talk about his latest book co-authored with Bob Drury, Valley Forge.

0:41 – Tom talks about how he got into co-authoring a book on Valley Forge during the American Revolution.

3:05 – Tom talks about how the book is laid out and describes each of the three parts.

7:51 – Tom talks about the ways Washington was able to keep his troops at Valley Forge.

10:44 – Tom talks about Lafayette and Von Steuben.

14:14 – Tom talks about Washington’s feelings of fatherliness to the men in his army and to the country.

17:02 – Tom talks about the British plans and the effects of winter on campaigning.

19:58 – Tom talks about Washington’s plans for the time at Valley Forge and after. He also describes Von Steuben and what he did for the army.

24:19 – Tom talks about how Washignton managed an army made up of people from all over the country and also of other nationalities. There were also hundreds of black troops in the army.

29:00 – Tom talks about what they used to research the book.

31:55 – Tom talks about visiting the site of Valley Forge.

34:55 – Tom tells the sad story of John Lawrence, one of Washington’s favorites.

38:15 – The Americans deployed an attack submarine during Valley Forge. As wild as that sounds, Tom explains.

39:40 – Tom talks about the effort to usurp Washington.

43:54 – Tom talks about how camp followers were taken care of.

45:29 – Tom talks about the huge population of people at Valley Forge at the time.

47:04 – Tom talks about Washington’s experience in managing this large number of people.

53:45 – He has a website tomclavin.com

Links of interest

http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Valley-Forge/Bob-Drury/9781501152719

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Tom Clavin

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book. George Washington, Lafayette, Von Steuben, Alexander Hamilton, Howe, British, Continental Army, Continental Congress, Franklin, American Revolution