America at War

Once Americans landed in Manila, tensions simmered between the Filipino independence movement and emerging power of the United States in the Pacific. Attempts to come to any accommodation failed. Emilio Aguinaldo led an Army but failed to wrest control from the United States. Rather than give up the fight, Aguinaldo pursued a guerilla campaign. While they put up a good fight, they failed to secure...

In this episode we will wind up the story of the campaign against Spain. After the fall of Santiago de Cuba, American forces landed on the island of Puerto Rico. With the capture of the largest city on the island, the colony was for the most part secured quickly. Half way around the world, American forces concentrated on taking the political and cultural center of the Philippines - Manila. Attempt...

In February of 2016 I embarked on a new project, a podcast that would go through the timeline of American Military History. Ten years later we are finally on the cusp of the twentieth century. This episode will focus on where we are headed in the coming months and some general reflections. Thank you to all of my loyal listeners. I appreciate your support, no matter in what form it comes in. Thanks...

The story of the Spanish American War continues. In this episode we focus on the actions of the US Army and Navy in the aftermath of General Shafter's first moves. After capturing El Caney and San Juan Hill, the Spanish squadron that was in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba left their anchorage to face the Americans. In a lopsided fight, the American victory effectively marked the end of the Cuban ca...

Welcome to the first episode of the year! We are continuing our series on the Spanish-American War. We are transitioning from Tampa, Florida to the Island of Cuba. The commanding general of V Corps, William Shafter, landed outside of Santiago de Cuba. Rather than reduce the fortifications at the mouth of the harbor, Shafter was ready to move against the Spanish garrison in the city. He chose to at...

Once war was declared in April, plans to send an American expeditionary force evolved. Once a Spanish flotilla was trapped in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba, rather than striking at Havana, the decision was to send the force to Santiago. The size and complexity of the force grew from a projected 5,000 men to 25,000. The Corps commander, General William Shafter, was overwhelmed. Tampa was completel...

We are continuing our narrative on the Spanish-American War. In this episode we will concentrate on Admiral Dewey's victory in Manila Bay in the spring of 1898 as well as naval movements around the island of Cuba. Dewey's easy victory would open opportunities in the Philippines, but more on that in later episodes. The Army, pressured with more men than they anticipated, struggled to supply and arm...

After discussing the origins of the Spanish-American War in our last episode, we bring the story forward to the declaration of war and the plans of the United States and Spain. Spain was unable to pour reinforcements, either naval or ground into Cuba and the Philippines. They had no choice but to use the resources they had access to. In the United States, the navy had begun planning for a campaign...

We have done it! We have reached the end of the nineteenth century with the beginning of the Spanish-American War. In the first of a string of episodes, we will be exploring the country's first overseas venture - war with Spain over its island possessions in the Caribbean and the Pacific. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the United States was already thinking beyond its continental borders. With...

The second and final episode of this arc take the story of the new steel navy to the beginning of the Spanish-American War. From the mid-1880s to the 1890s, the necessary infrastructure was put in place to expand the capabilities of the ships joining the fleet. Moreover, there was a shift in ideas on how to use the navy. Rather than focus on coastal defense and commerce raiding, thanks to the writ...

Perhaps one of the most prominent aspects of this period is the rise of the steel navy. After several decades of decline, the navy made a bold move and built a small fleet of steel warships. There was a growing, often fractious, political consensus that the navy needed to move forward. The move toward steel ships triggered the evolution of the American manufacturing base, slowly building the capac...

In this episode we take a look at Harbor Defense in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of the most consistent missions of the US Army since the founding of the republic was defending the nation's harbors. The Civil War demonstrated that the granite of bricks of yore were outclassed by modern weapons. After a period of stagnation in the years after the Civil War, in 1886 Secreta...

In this episode we will continue and conclude our discussion of Emory Upton. We left off with the beginning of Upton's around the world journey. Upton traveled overseas on a mission to observe the armies of Asia and Europe. It was an important time for Upton. His observations of some of the most modern and, in his mind, backwards armies of the world, allowed him to work out his own notions of how...

We are continuing our exploration of professionalization and what kind of Army would emerge through a long period of introspection. In this episode we are going to explore these issues through the eyes of Emory Upton. A protege of William T. Sherman, Upton's experiences in the Civil War would trigger an intense interest in tactics and the shape of the Army in the future. This episode will focus on...

We are continuing our exploration of reform and revitalization of the US Army in the decades after the end of the Civil War. This is a critical topic that deserves some coverage if you want to understand the army's performance in the future. One of the trends that emerged in this time period was an acceleration of moving the army toward a more professional organization. Will look at the key ingred...

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's response to u...

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 during economic dow...

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 introduce the desi...

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 on a number of to...

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 were white. In the...

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 piece battles. Regar...

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 on the frontier....

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 the second time...

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 accommodation, triggeri...

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  americawarpodcast@gmail.com. Thank you for listening to this podcast for all of these years. I really appreciate the support. Please be safe and enjoy the time with you...