Ft. Leavenworth Series

In March of 1847 General Winfield Scott led the first large-scale joint operation in U.S. history. Seeking to compel a favorable conclusion to the ongoing war with Mexico, the veteran U.S. Army commander developed an ad hoc partnership with the U.S. Navy to conduct an amphibious landing and assault on the fortress city of Veracruz […]

King Henry II of England (reigned 1154-1189) was the most powerful European monarch of his day, husband to Eleanor of Aquitaine, and father to two successors: Richard the Lionheart and King John. Over the course of 35 years, he successfully warred against neighbors in the Isles and on the Continent, expanding his domains to create […]

At the turn of the 20th century, President William McKinley led the United States' continued expansion abroad through war with Spain over Cuba and the Philippines. His expansion of American power and influence abroad through two subsequent wars attempted to continue shifting the global balance of power dominated for the last few centuries by European […]

Dr. Babb will discuss the wartime leadership of Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) and Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong). Their political and military leadership in the Chinese Civil War, the War Against Japan, and during two crises in the Taiwan Strait encompassed an adversarial relationship that stretched for nearly 50 years. These two leaders not only sought […]

In 1794 the new American republic was beset by a host of “enemies,” foreign and domestic. For George Washington, the greatest of these came from the disgruntled citizens of the Appalachian west who sought to resist the federal government’s ability to collect taxes and codify its powers. The Whiskey Rebellion was the first true test […]

Winston S. Churchill served as a wartime leader in the twentieth century’s two global wars. His posts during the Great War included service as First Lord of the Admiralty, akin to our Secretary of the Navy and, as such, set British naval policy until his removal following the failure at Gallipoli in mid-1915. During the […]

On February 24, 2022 Russian military forces invaded Ukraine under orders from Russian President Valdimir Putin.  This was the largest military operation in Europe since the end of the Second World War. This lecture will focus on Putin, his wartime leadership, and the status of the war in Ukraine. Dr. Sean N. Kalic is a […]

Abraham Lincoln, often characterized as one of America’s preeminent war leaders, was a master politician who intuitively understood the political consequences of any decision.  Yet on matters of strategy, arguably the most important responsibility of a wartime president, Lincoln deferred to his military commanders rather than exercise his authority as commander-in-chief.  His strategy of deference […]

Popularly known as “the Strong” for his formidable physical vigor and power, Augustus II came to power in Saxony in 1694 and won the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth three years later. He then proceeded to conduct military operations against the Turks that resulted in the Treaty of Karlowitz before forming alliances with the rulers of […]

The Nazis’ attempt to bomb Great Britain into submission in 1940 and 1941 represented Hitler’s most destructive method of forcing Britain out of the Second World War, but it was not the first time London and other cities had experienced such attacks. From 1915 to 1918, aircraft from Imperial Germany’s army and navy sought to […]

Robert Fulton is best known for the first commercially successful steamboats plying the Hudson River.  However, he did considerable work inventing and developing weapons of naval warfare: workable submarines, underwater mines, underwater cannons, and skiff-propelled torpedoes.  Perhaps his crowning contribution to naval warfare was the Demologus (Voice of the People) – the world's first steam-powered warship with […]

In April 1960 the US Navy launched the first experimental navigation satellite.  This highly classified and cutting-edge technology found in the TRANSIT satellites were designed to provide the Navy’s submarines armed with the new POLARIS ballistic missile with more precise navigation fixes as a means to improve their accuracy, if and when they had to […]