April 24, 2024

You cannot help but approach your sources from your own experiences and backgrounds

Our three-part roundtable on the “Lessons” of History continues as Con Crane, Jacqueline E. Whitt, and Andrew A. Hill discuss the roles of military historians in professional military education and the practical uses of military history in general. If history doesn’t teach clear lessons, what use is it to policymakers and leaders? To what extent has military history become insular and disengaged from the policy arena? Have historians ceded the field of practical application to political scientists? And to what extent has the need for novel ideas caused historians to succumb to commercial temptations, rather than clear, critical analysis based on evidence?

 

 

Con Crane is a military historian with the Army Heritage and Education Center. Jacqueline E. Whitt is Professor of Strategy at the U.S. Army War College. Andrew A. Hill is Chair of Strategic Leadership at the U.S. Army War College. The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.

Image: Ulysses Grant reviewing proofs of his memoirs, June 27, 1885, just weeks before his death. Source: Library of Congress.

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