America at War

Dec 02 2024 170 ep. 21 mins 122

America at War Podcast artwork

Explore the rich history of our past through the lens of our military institutions. From the settlement of North America to the present, this podcast encompasses traditional military history and goes the extra step to address the evolution of ideas and institutions. Join us!

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165 Reform and Revitalization: The Military and Civil Disorder II

Dec 02 2024 19 mins

In this episode, we will continue our story on the military's response to civil unrest. As we spoke of in the previous episode, we concentrated on how and why the National Guard and the US Army responded to civil disorders. We focused on the 1877 strike and in this episode we will talk about the Pullman strike and other actions as the nineteenth century began to draw down. The Army

164 Reform and Revitalization: The Military and Civil Disorder, Part I

Nov 01 2024 28 mins

We are back! Our series on the reform and revitalization of the American military continues with a focus on how the military responded to civil disorder. The rise of the factory system and the industrialization of the United States changed the economic landscape of the nation. Wage earners, feeling powerless at time of rampant profits as well as little in the way of protections dur

163 Reform and Revitalization: The National Guard

Aug 19 2024 22 mins

In this episode we kick off the Progressive Era with a brief overview of the National Guard in the late nineteenth century. The National Guard emerged from the volunteer militia's that dominated the scene from before the Civil War until the decades after. We will delve more into their activities in future episodes, namely responding to civil disturbances. In this episode we will in

162 Reform and Revitalization: Introduction

Jun 17 2024 15 mins

We have finished western expansion and the Army's campaigns 'out west'. With this episode we move into reform and revitalization of the Army and Navy until the end of the nineteenth century. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the United States remained insular. Without any external threats, the Army and Navy began to professionalize and think about the future. We will be focusing o

161 The West: Buffalo Soldiers

May 29 2024 27 mins

In our last episode on the frontier army, it seems appropriate to highlight the African-Americans who served in the west - the Buffalo soldiers. Two infantry and cavalry regiments were set aside for African-American soldiers. They flocked to the colors to serve. Taking part in many of the campaigns in the west, they cemented their reputation. The officers who led these regiments we

160 The West: Combat

Apr 26 2024 20 mins

This episode follows up with the previous. After focusing on what it was like to serve in the west after the Civil War, we close the circle with this episode where we focus on the campagin trail and combat. Rather than fighting standing armies as had occured in the Civil War, the 'wars' more often than not, these brushes with violence could be called skrimishes rather than set piec

159 The West: A Soldier's Life

Mar 27 2024 28 mins

In this episode, we take a closer look at the life of officers and enlisted men on the frontier. We explore the motivations for joining and the challenges of serving. The post Civil War Army served in over 200 posts spread through the west. They had to endure tedium, hardships, and occassionally the terror of serving in a battle. This episode will provide a broad overview of life o

158 The West: Geronimo

Feb 29 2024 20 mins

As we draw down the arc of episodes related to post-Civil War Indian Wars, in this episode we will concentrate on subduing Geronimo. Geronimo bedeviled the US Army as he left the reservation three separate times. For the last two campaigns, General George Crook successfully cornered the proud warrior and compelled him to return to the reservation. Unfortunately, Crook was not happy

157 The West: The Navajo, The Apache, and the Border

Jan 25 2024 23 mins

In the episode we move from the Lakota and Sioux to the border region. Long before the United States controlled what we know today as the Southwest, Spanish and then Mexican authorities had to contend with Navajo and Apache raids. Once the Americans established themselves, the pressures of colonization would trigger Army intervention, and basically very little in the way of accommo

Special Holiday Message - 2023

Dec 25 2023 6 mins

I wanted to ask you all a question and wish you a happy and safe holiday season. If you would like to respond to the query, you can either respond through the podcast's facebook page or drop me a line through the podcasts email at [email protected]. Thank you for listening to this podcast for all of these years. I really appreciate the support. Please be safe and enjoy th