Menu
Idea

military leadership

109
Filter by:

Filter by published date

Statue of Andrew Jackson on galloping horse, in Jackson Square, New Orleans.

Trump Should Revive Jacksonian Military Attitudes

The worship of military technocrats underwrites American failures abroad.
by Hunter DeRensis via The American Conservative on January 15, 2025
A drawing of Nathanael Greene.
partner

An Unlikely Soldier

On Nathanael Greene’s inauspicious start.
by Alan Pell Crawford via HNN on July 2, 2024
An honor guard displays the colors of Fort Bragg, as part of the ceremony earlier this month to rename it to Fort Liberty.

Who Was Fort Bragg Named After? The South’s Worst, Most Hated General.

Mike Pence and Ron DeSantis say they would restore the Fort Bragg name if elected. Its namesake was a “merciless tyrant” who helped lose the Civil War.
by Ronald G. Shafer via Washington Post on June 16, 2023

General George H. Thomas' Journey From Enslaver to Union Officer to Civil Rights Defender

One of the thousands of white Southerners who supported the Union during the Civil War and a rare example of a slave owner who changed his views on race.
by Christopher J. Einolf via The Conversation on May 31, 2023
Benjamin Franklin playing chess with Lady Caroline Howe while Admiral Lord Richard Howe looks on, London, December 1774; watercolor circa 1875–1885

Commanders and Courtiers

Lost wars, especially when defeat comes as a rude surprise, inevitably spark painful self-examination.
by T. H. Breen via New York Review of Books on February 2, 2023
Illustration of Crazy Horse

How Would Crazy Horse See His Legacy?

Perhaps no Native American is more admired for military acumen than the Lakota leader. But is that how he wanted to be remembered?
by Pekka Hämäläinen via Smithsonian on November 2, 2022
Picture of David Rumsfield

How Rumsfeld Deserves to Be Remembered

America’s worst secretary of defense never expressed a quiver of regret.
by George Packer via The Atlantic on July 1, 2021
Gen. Milley at White House
partner

Racism Has Long Undermined Military Cohesion, Just as Gen. Milley Testified

Late 1960s conflicts within the armed forces produced efforts to educate service members on racism.
by Natalie Shibley via Made By History on June 29, 2021
An American propaganda leaflet dropped ahead of Curtis LeMay’s firebomb campaign over Japan.

Narrative Napalm

Malcolm Gladwell’s apologia for American butchery.
by Noah Kulwin via The Baffler on May 17, 2021

How Generals Fueled 1918 Flu Pandemic to Win Their World War

Just like today, brass and bureaucrats ignored warnings, and sent troops overseas despite the consequences.
by Gareth Porter via The American Conservative on April 4, 2020

1984: The Year America Didn’t Go To War

Cabinet members slugged it out, but the one with the real war experience convinced Reagan not to avenge the Marine barracks bombing.
by Mark Perry via The American Conservative on July 16, 2019

The Light of Battle Was in Their Eyes

The correspondence of Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George C. Marshall leading up to D-Day.
by Meredith Hindley via Humanities on June 5, 2019

The Hidden Power Behind D-Day

Admiral William D. Leahy was instrumental in bringing the Allies together to agree upon the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.
by Phillips Payson O'Brien via Smithsonian on May 30, 2019

MacArthur's Last Stand Against a Winless War

MacArthur leaned on JFK to stay out of Vietnam. Had Kennedy survived, might history have been different?
by Mark Perry via The American Conservative on October 3, 2018

What Does It Mean to Give David Petraeus the Floor?

Some historians worry that giving the former general an invitation to keynote means giving him a pulpit.
by Gunar Olsen via The Nation on July 5, 2018

The American Revolution’s Greatest Leader Was Openly Gay

“Baron Von Steuben” was responsible for whipping the U.S. military into shape when things were looking bleakest.
by Josh Trujillo, Levi Hastings via The Nib on June 1, 2018
George Washington resigning his commission as commander of the Army
partner

Why George Washington Rejected a Military Parade in his Honor

Of all the precedents the first president set, this is one of his most overlooked — and most important.
by Lindsay M. Chervinsky via Made By History on April 18, 2018

Making Sense of Robert E. Lee

“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”— Robert E. Lee, at Fredericksburg
by Roy Blount Jr. via Smithsonian on July 1, 2003
Protestors confronting Army military police.

When the Military Comes to American Soil

Domestic deployments have generally been quite restrained. Can they still be?
by Joshua Braver via The Atlantic on June 17, 2025
Collage of various black women mentioned within the article.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Edda L. Fields-Black on the Combahee River Raid

Harriet Tubman’s revolutionary Civil War raid and the power of preserving Black history in the face of political pushback.
by Edda Fields-Black, Janell Hobson via Ms. Magazine on June 2, 2025
A painting of Congress Hall and the New Theater in colonial Philadelphia.

The Mutiny of 1783

America’s only successful insurrection.
by Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick via Journal of the American Revolution on November 19, 2024
Korean War U.S Army helicopter and soldiers about to board.

The Korean War and Mismanaging Protracted Conflict

History can make the U.S. better prepared for the specter of protracted large-scale ground combat, which has grown more real in the wake of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
by Andrew J. Forney via Texas National Security Review on October 14, 2024
Lieutenant William Calley walking alongside his civilian attorney, with two other men following behind.

Was William Calley MAGA’s Founding Father?

He committed mass murder at My Lai. He was also its fall guy.
by Timothy Noah via The New Republic on July 31, 2024
Illustration of soldiers fighting in the Battle of the Cowpens.

Did the South Win the Revolutionary War?

A new book brings to life the war in the South.
by Dan McLaughlin via National Review on July 4, 2024
A Black woman swearing the oath to join the Navy.

A New ERA for Women in the Navy

Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr, z-grams, and the all-volunteer force.
by Heather M. Haley via U.S. Navy History on March 28, 2024
Mary A. Hallern sitting in her military uniform.

The Little Colonel That Could: Mary Hallaren and the Fight for Women in the Military

After World War II ended, government and military leaders were ready to return women to their domestic roles. But one woman had other ideas.
by Tanya L. Roth via The Saturday Evening Post on February 18, 2024
Naval battle in paiting “Battle of Tripoli."

Counterinsurgency to the Shores of Tripoli

The Navy’s operations against Barbary corsairs at the start of the 19th century provide salient lessons for operating in the gray zone today.
by Benjamin Armstrong via Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute on October 1, 2023
George Washington and his generals.

George Washington's Information War

Though technologies have altered information warfare, the underlying principles remain unchanged since the day-to-day operations of the Continental Army.
by Benjamin George via Journal of the American Revolution on July 18, 2023
George Gordon Meade

After Winning the Battle of Gettysburg, George Meade Fought With—and Lost to—the Press

The Civil War general's reputation was shaped by partisan politics, editorial whims and his own personal failings.
by Nicholas Liu via Smithsonian on July 3, 2023
A drawing of St. Johns, Canada, beside a river.

Remember Baker

A Green Mountain Boy's controversial death and its consequences.
by Mark R. Anderson via Journal of the American Revolution on May 4, 2023
View More
30 of
109

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person

brought to you by
© Bunk History