Armed Diplomacy: Two Centuries of American Campaigning

The first annual military history symposium sponsored by the US Army Training and
Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and hosted by the Combat Studies Institute (CSI) at Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas, took place in August 2003. It brought together an outstanding
group of civilian historians and military officers for the purpose of discussing a variety of
historical case studies and the ways in which they illuminate current military issues and
operations. As the subtitle of the symposium indicates, the topics spanned two centuries
of American campaigning, ranging from the Army’s “nation-building” activities during
the Reconstruction of the post-Civil War South and the trans-Mississippi West; through
US counterguerrilla warfare in the American Civil War, the Philippines, Korea, and Latin
America; to the US occupation of Germany after World War II and American interventions
in Mexico, China, Russia, Panama, and Afghanistan. Without exception, the presentations
were thought provoking and elicited lively discussion among the attendees.
This volume contains most of the presentations made at the symposium. The entire
symposium program can be found at appendix A. The presentations can also be found at
<>,
the CSI website for the conference. A few presentations do not appear in these pages,
generally for one of two reasons. Either they were not designed for publication, or they
were still awaiting clearance for publication when the time arrived to send the present
volume to the printer. Concerning the latter category, once a presentation has received
clearance for publication, it will be posted on the cited web site.
The first annual military history symposium was an enlightening experience, both intellectually
and practically, for those who attended. We hope the readers of this volume
will share in that experience, even as we begin finalizing arrangements for the second
annual conference, “Turning Victory Into Success: Military Operations After the Campaign,”
to be held in September 2004. As we look forward to the upcoming symposium,
we at Fort Leavenworth would like to thank what was in 2003 the Doctrine, Concepts,
and Strategy Directorate at TRADOC, specifically Major General Michael Vane and
Colonel Michael Starry, US Army, Retired, for providing the support that made the first
annual conference possible.