Program on Teaching Military History
Military history is not just operational history; there is also the relationship between war and the development of states. The U.S. arose as a result of a war of independence; through war it expanded from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and it was the Civil War that created the country we know. It is also through war that the relationships among states have been molded and influenced.
It is also tremendously valuable for students in the West to understand that much of the war in the world is not a matter of Western powers but is in South Asia or subsaharan Africa. Students need to understand what tribalism or ethnic conflict mean, if they are to understand the world in which they live, and that these pose real questions for the U.S. and other powers as to how to respond. Teaching military history is thus a key element of civic education.
Upcoming
- Great Battles and Their Impact on American History
A History Institute for Teachers
- April 21–22 2012, First Division Museum, Wheaton, Illinois
Webcast
- Webcast on What Students Need to Know About War, and Why
- February 25, 2009
Previous History Institutes
- Civilian Control of the Military and American Democracy
- April 2–3, 2011, First Division Museum, Wheaton, Illinois
- The Role Of The Military In America's (Domestic) History
- April 10–11, 2010, First Division Museum, Wheaton, Illinois
- What Students Need To Know About America’s Wars, Part II— 1920–Present
- May 2–3, 2009, First Division Museum, Wheaton, Illinois
- America in the Civil War Era, 1829–77
- May 17–18, 2008, Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin
- What Students Need To Know About America’s Wars, Part I: 1622–1919
- July 26–27, 2008, The First Division Museum, Wheaton, Illinois
- Teaching about the Military in American History
- March 24–25, 2007, The First Division Museum, Wheaton, Illinois
- Teaching Military History, Why and How
- September 29–30, 2007, The First Division Museum, Wheaton, Illinois
- Teaching the Vietnam War
- May 6-7, 2000, American College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
- The Cold War Revisited
- May 2–3, 1998, American College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Classroom Lessons
- The Rise and Fall of South Vietnam: An Examination (72K Microsoft Word document)
- Anthony A. Dalasio, Lackawanna Trail Junior-Senior High School, Factoryville, Pennsylvania
- U.S. Decision-Making on the Korean War, June 1950 (38K Microsoft Word document)
- Ed Robson, Benton Central Junior-Senior High School, Oxford, Indiana
- The U.S. Army as an Agent of Social Change in World War II (1.47MB Microsoft Word document)
- Kyle T. Hickman, Wheaton Warrenville South High School, Wheaton, Illinois
- Vietnam: Lost Victory or Unwinnable War?
- Col. W.P. Symolon, USMC (Ret.), Apopka High School, JROTC Dept., Apopka, Florida
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- WWII: A War of Systems (209K PDF)
- Chris Krintzline, Clyde High School, Clyde, Ohio
- End of the Colonia Era Newspaper Assignment (37K Microsoft Word document)
- Greg Stock, Centennial High School, Champaign, Illinois
- General Braddock’s Defeat at the Monongahela, 1755: An exercise in primary source analysis (41K Microsoft Word document)
- Aaron J. Gulyas, Mott Community College, Flint, Michigan
- The Mexican War and the Iraq War (2003–): A Comparison (54K Microsoft Word document)
- Paul Dickler, FPRI
- Native Americans Leaders (46K Microsoft Word document)
- Bernadette Parsons
- Patriotism, Civic Virtue, and the Citizen-Soldier (35K Microsoft Word document)
- Slides for Patriotism, Civic Virtue, and the Citizen-Soldier (79K Microsoft Word document)
- Col. W.P. Symolon, USMC (Ret.), Apopka High School, Apopka, Florida
- Social History Outcomes of Early American Wars (48K Microsoft Word document)
- Bridget Leiskau Dickler, St. Joseph’s School
- Southern Pacification in the Revolutionary War (96K Microsoft Word document)
- Lynne Wilbanks, Mountain Brook High School, Alabama
- Texas Independence and Mexican War Project (45K Microsoft Word document)
- Joren Anderson, Neillsville High School, Neillsville, Wisconsin
- Understanding War (35K Microsoft Word document)
- Daniel L. Hicks, Glenbrook South High School, Glenview, Illinois
- U.S. Foreign Policy: Consequences of U.S. Involvement in WWI
- Lesson (41K Microsoft Word document)
- Slides(1.8MB Microsoft Powerpoint presentation)
- William C. Schmadeke
- War Messages: Spanish-American War & Iraq War (86K Microsoft Word document)
- Charles Schierloh, Progressive Academy of Lima Senior High School
- World War I: Total War as Seen in Poster Propaganda (40K Microsoft Word document)
- Martha Kinney, Suffolk County Community College (Grant Campus), Brentwood NY
- American Civil War Reading and Discussion Guide (164K Microsoft Word document)
- Kathryn Lerch, Park Tudor School
- Analysis of the Battle of Gettysburg (49K Microsoft Word document)
- Sam Varsano
- The Battle of Bunker Hill: An Intellectual Examination (61K Microsoft Word document)
- Amy Moyer, Parkland High School, Pennsylvania
- War, Technology, and the Balance of Terror (2007), Ben King
- Licking Valley High School (Newark, Ohio)
- Lesson (39K Microsoft Word document)
- Related Powerpoint presentation (1.01MB Microsoft Powerpoint presentation)
- Sun-Tzu Project, Joshua Greenwood, Nashua High School South, New Hampshire (46K Microsoft Word document)
- Ancient History: The Importance of Logistics in Greek & Roman Armies (98K Microsoft Word document)
- Kathryn Lerch, Park Tudor School
- Examining an Important Battle in WWII (32K Word document)
- John Eret, Centennial High School
- Regulars and Volunteers in the U.S.-Mexican War (451K Microsoft Word document)
- Karen Weaver, Palo Alto Battleground National Historic Site, NPS
- Teaching the Experiences of American Fighting Men in World War Two Through Popular Historical Books and Primary Documents (77K Microsoft Word document)
- Nicholas Walsh
- The Vietnam War (1963–1973) and the Iraq War (2003–): A Comparison (37K Word document)
- Paul Dickler, FPRI’s Wachman Center
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