World War I history book – “California at War” (University Press of Kansas, 2018) – Diane North interview

Dr. Diane North teaches history at the University of Maryland. She grew up in the Washington, DC area, fascinated by history. She earned her Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Davis and has recently written “California at War” about California’s experience during WWI. I interviewed her about the book.

2:05 – Diane was enthralled by history from an early age and from growing up in Washington, DC. She would listen to debate in the House and Senate after her chores.

3:09 – The WWI centennial was approaching when she began her research so she focused on the war. She wanted to understand what happens to people when the nation goes to war. California had a huge economy and was a trendsetter so she wanted to write on it.

8:01 – She created a new course at the University of Maryland on WWI because of her interest in the war.

9:11 – The book starts on the 1916 parade bombing in San Francisco with 40 injured and ten killed. The first chapter talks about the US men who fought in WWI before the US entered the war. Many Californians served in Siberia from 1918 to 1920.

11:45 – Chapter 2 looks at the women who served overseas during the war.

13:20 – Chapter 3 looks at how the army and navy spend considerable money building facilities in California. Chapter 4 looks at the economy of war. The war accelerated the process of corporate organization and a dramatic rise in industrial employment. She then looks at what people did in the home front to support the war.

14:40 – She also looks at how minorities participated in supporting the war in the home front. Then she touches on how the state and military dealt with the influenza problem.

15:57 – Chapters 7 and 8 deal with the rise of the security state and the role of government. Private organizations were given the power to spy on citizens without government oversight.

18:00 – California also promoted scientific and agricultural development. But these groups also spied on fellow citizens. Colleges, staff and students were also required to sign oaths of loyalty. German language and literature also could not be studied.

20:46 – Efforts were made to keep the press from writing about the IWW and also to get members arrested. Later rights of fre speech, press and assembly were restricted.

22:49 – The navy split the feet after the war and put the pacific fleet in San Diego. This helped in California’s post war boom.

24:01 – One of California’s Senators was a pacifist and he was appalled by US entry into WWI. Berkley enacted an anti-free speech ordinance. California had a real connection with the war effort before the US entered the war because of its trade with Europe.

26:30 – California did have a strong peace movement that quickly got squashed by Federal efforts. The Post office began curtailing free speech and free press by restricting the delivery of certain newspapers.

28:45 – She started her research with the National Archives in DC, Maryland and California.

30:37 – Hollywood was considered vital for the war effort by the Federal government and this boosted the film industry.

33:39 – Diane came across paintings done by an Army officer while in France. Some US forces didn’t return until 1921 or 22 because they were occupying the Rhine.

35:00 – Californians pushed the Federal government to pass many anti-Asian laws and there were many anti-Asian films put out by Hollywood at this time. There were also may pacifist films. But many were also very patriotic. Many of these films were distributed internationally.

37:20 – Diane found interesting documents from Sydney Coe Howard. He was an airplane pilot and he won an Oscar for his screenplay of Gone With the Wind. His letters are amazing and include vivid descriptions of dogfights and the war. She unearthed many journals, letters, photos and drawings from the war.

41:40 – California women do not get the recognition they deserve for their efforts in WWI.

44:00 – Ship and boat building increased considerably in California during this time. The two major universities were the University of California and Stanford University. A committee was formed to examine and organize scientific research at the time to help the California economy.

47:30 – California’s efforts to organize and improve statewide scientific research was held up as an example by the Federal government for other states to follow.

51:42 – Californians were strongly patriotic and believed President Wilson when he said the war would be the war to end all wars.

52:36 – HG Wells wrote a series of lectures before the war that a good war will end all wars and many people including Wilson bought this idea. However the country was very racist and Wilson had re-segregated parts of the Federal government that had been integrated so the soundness of this idea was questionable.

56:00 – The book will be discounted during the month of July.

Links of interest

https://www.californiaatwar.com/

From the Publisher: https://kansaspress.ku.edu/home/new-notable/978-0-7006-2646-5.html

From your local Independent Bookstore: https://www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstore-finder

From Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/California-War-State-People-during/dp/0700626468/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527174595&sr=1-1&keywords=California+at+War&dpID=51C5WTuV4dL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

From Target Books: https://www.target.com/p/california-at-war-the-state-and-the-people-during-world-war-i-by-diane-m-t-north-hardcover/-/A-53530392 

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: Diane North

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, California, WWI world war one, Wilson, Berkley, Stanford, San Francisco, San Diego, Hollywood, US Navy

Early 20th Century naval history – Learning War – Trent Hone interview

Trent Hone was written frequently on US Naval history. I interviewed him about his upcoming book Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the US Navy, 1898-1945 to be published by the Naval Institute Press.

1:45 – Mr. Hone discusses some of his earlier naval doctrine writing. He’s written about night combat in the US Navy in early WWII. He also wrote on how naval doctrine changed over WII. He’s collaborated on different navy history projects. He helped with the WWI navy book To Crown the Waves.

4:45 – Mr. Hone discusses his current book. From the 1890s to the 1940s, the Navy became a learning organization.

8:28 – The Spanish American war is where the US Navy realizes it needs a new institutional structure. This leads to the creation of the General Board in the Navy. Also, there’s a conflict between engineering officers versus line officers. Line officers were then required to be engineering officers and the Naval Academy changed its focus to engineering too.

10:59 – After the Spanish-American war, the US becomes a global empire. The new territories are across the oceans. The General Board thinks seriously about what the Navy should look like with these new overseas commitments.

13:40 – The board is made up of navigation, intelligence, the head of the Navy, and the others. Some leaders in the Navy didn’t trust the Board since it put civilian control over the Navy. The board leads the creation of the Chief of Naval Operations.

16:42 – Surface tactics change before WWI. The Atlantic Fleet was established and the Navy learns how to fight as a fleet rather than as squadrons. They also learn how to use torpedoes in combat. New communications are developed for tactical exercises and new ideas created for independent action.

20:30 – The US Navy went into WWI ready for a big fleet action. But Germany instead uses U-boats to win the war. The US Navy then rushed to built ships good for fighting U-boats.

22:45 – In 1916, the Navy starts to realize that there are many different ways wars can be fought. The Navy begins to grapple with how aviation can be used in the fleet. Submarines are also an uncertainty as far as what their role will be in war.

25:42 – The idea that the Navy was focused on battleships for the next war is a pervasive belief. This idea is tied with the Gun Club, which were admirals focused on big gun battles. There was more diversity in thinking about how the next war would be fought.

29:00 – WWII leaders were adept at using all their available technologies. The Navy generally did promote the best rather than those who were connected politically. Performance mattered. The Navy also created good ways to exchange feedback about important issues. There was also a great deal of creativity during tactical exercises.

32:52 – Mr. Hone looked at exercise reports and doctrinal manuals. But they lacked context about how these ideas were created. He looked at various primary and secondary sources in the National Archives and the Navy War College archives.

37:21 – PBYs were used at night during WWII. There was a large pre-WWII effort to get patrol planes and ships to work together at night. The Navy was also working on destroyer night combat before WWI.

42:00 – Mr. Hone was surprised at how far back some Navy innovations went. He would like to do more research on how the large the spheres of influence of some officers were.

44:22 – Mr. Hone focused on one action on November 13, 1942 at Guadalcanal. History has said that Officer Callahan was confused and overwhelmed at Iron Bottom. However, Navy documents suggest that he used his force the way they were expected to be used against a Japanese battleship.

48:06 – The US Navy learned quicker than the Japanese Navy in WWII and this came from the organizational structure.

53:00 – Guadalcanal has many wrecks that provide information on how the Naval campaign was waged.

53:47 – The book will be on USNI.org and Amazon. His personal website is trenthone.com.

55:00 – The Navy planned for a campaign against the Japan in WWII but they didn’t have an idea of how they would end the campaign. The Japanese focus was on one big battle and they pursued that idea throughout. Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Leyte Gulf were Japanese big battle concepts.

Links

https://www.usni.org/store/books/ebook-editions/crown-waves

https://www.usni.org/

https://trenthone.com/

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: Trent Hone

Host: Cris Alvarez

 

Early 20th Century naval history book – “Learning War” (Naval Institute Press, 2018) – Trent Hone interview

Trent Hone was written frequently on US Naval history. I interviewed him about his upcoming book Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the US Navy, 1898-1945 to be published by the Naval Institute Press.

1:45 – Mr. Hone discusses some of his earlier naval doctrine writing. He’s written about night combat in the US Navy in early WWII. He also wrote on how naval doctrine changed over WII. He’s collaborated on different navy history projects. He helped with the WWI navy book To Crown the Waves.

4:45 – Mr. Hone discusses his current book. From the 1890s to the 1940s, the Navy became a learning organization.

8:28 – The Spanish American war is where the US Navy realizes it needs a new institutional structure. This leads to the creation of the General Board in the Navy. Also, there’s a conflict between engineering officers versus line officers. Line officers were then required to be engineering officers and the Naval Academy changed its focus to engineering too.

10:59 – After the Spanish-American war, the US becomes a global empire. The new territories are across the oceans. The General Board thinks seriously about what the Navy should look like with these new overseas commitments.

13:40 – The board is made up of navigation, intelligence, the head of the Navy, and the others. Some leaders in the Navy didn’t trust the Board since it put civilian control over the Navy. The board leads the creation of the Chief of Naval Operations.

16:42 – Surface tactics change before WWI. The Atlantic Fleet was established and the Navy learns how to fight as a fleet rather than as squadrons. They also learn how to use torpedoes in combat. New communications are developed for tactical exercises and new ideas created for independent action.

20:30 – The US Navy went into WWI ready for a big fleet action. But Germany instead uses U-boats to win the war. The US Navy then rushed to built ships good for fighting U-boats.

22:45 – In 1916, the Navy starts to realize that there are many different ways wars can be fought. The Navy begins to grapple with how aviation can be used in the fleet. Submarines are also an uncertainty as far as what their role will be in war.

25:42 – The idea that the Navy was focused on battleships for the next war is a pervasive belief. This idea is tied with the Gun Club, which were admirals focused on big gun battles. There was more diversity in thinking about how the next war would be fought.

29:00 – WWII leaders were adept at using all their available technologies. The Navy generally did promote the best rather than those who were connected politically. Performance mattered. The Navy also created good ways to exchange feedback about important issues. There was also a great deal of creativity during tactical exercises.

32:52 – Mr. Hone looked at exercise reports and doctrinal manuals. But they lacked context about how these ideas were created. He looked at various primary and secondary sources in the National Archives and the Navy War College archives.

37:21 – PBYs were used at night during WWII. There was a large pre-WWII effort to get patrol planes and ships to work together at night. The Navy was also working on destroyer night combat before WWI.

42:00 – Mr. Hone was surprised at how far back some Navy innovations went. He would like to do more research on how the large the spheres of influence of some officers were.

44:22 – Mr. Hone focused on one action on November 13, 1942 at Guadalcanal. History has said that Officer Callahan was confused and overwhelmed at Iron Bottom. However, Navy documents suggest that he used his force the way they were expected to be used against a Japanese battleship.

48:06 – The US Navy learned quicker than the Japanese Navy in WWII and this came from the organizational structure.

53:00 – Guadalcanal has many wrecks that provide information on how the Naval campaign was waged.

53:47 – The book will be on USNI.org and Amazon. His personal website is trenthone.com.

55:00 – The Navy planned for a campaign against the Japan in WWII but they didn’t have an idea of how they would end the campaign. The Japanese focus was on one big battle and they pursued that idea throughout. Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Leyte Gulf were Japanese big battle concepts.

Links

https://www.usni.org/store/books/ebook-editions/crown-waves

https://www.usni.org/

https://trenthone.com/

 

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: Trent Hone

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: world war 2, world war II, wwii, wwi, world war one, world war 1, navy, us navy, sailors, General Board, Naval Academy, naval aviation, torpedoes, submarines, guadalcanal, jutland, spanish-american war, PBY, ironbottom, night fighting, USS Lexington