WAR AND PEACE AND WAR AN MILITARY HISTORY CENTER EXPANDING ITS ROLE AT UNT
Military history as a focus of the UNT Department of History stems from two fortuitous circumstances bookending the 1980s: the arrival of Alfred F. Hurley as vice president for administrative affairs in 1980 and the 1989 move to UNT of the journal Military History of Texas and the Southwest. Hurley, who had recently retired from the U.S. Air Force as a brigadier general, is a military historian and had taught in and chaired the Department of History at the U.S. Air Force Academy. At UNT, he soon became president of the Denton campus and the first chancellor of the UNT System. He was also a professor in UNT’s Department of History, where he taught occasional classes and encouraged the establishment of the annual Military History Seminar, an event modeled on a symposium series he had coordinated at the USAFA.
Another catalyst, arguably, was Richard Lowe, who, along with department colleagues, brought the journal Military History of Texas and the Southwest to UNT in 1989. They established the Center for the Study of Military History at that time, primarily to give an administrative home to the journal, which Lowe assumed editorial responsibility for. The Military History Seminar also moved under the auspices of the center, now called simply the Military History Center. Lowe still edits the journal, now titled Military History of the West.
Twenty-seven years after its inception in 1983, the UNT’s Military History Seminar is thriving. It now bears the name of Dr. Hurley and his wife, Johanna, and consistently attracts highprofile speakers, thanks to financial support from numerous individuals and foundations. In October 2009, the featured speakers were Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post and David Kilcullen, former Australian infantry officer and more recently Special Advisor for Counterinsurgency to the U.S. Secretary of State.
The triad of the seminar series, the journal, and the center helped put UNT on the map in military history circles. Then in 2005, the initiative made a quantum leap. Through a generous grant by the family and friends of the late Maj. Gen. Olinto Mark Barsanti, an endowment at UNT was created and funded to support the Barsanti Endowed Chair in Military History. Geoffrey Wawro, a military historian at the U.S. Naval War College and host of several programs on the History Channel, was recruited to fill the chair and direct the Center. A specialist in 19th and 20th century European military history, Wawro will soon publish Quicksand: America’s Pursuit of Power in the Middle East, an analysis of U.S. strategy and policy in that pivotal region since World War I.
According to Regents Professor Richard Lowe, who joined the Department of History in 1968, “the catalyst for making military history a major focus of the Department of History was Al Hurley.” k
Capt. William Nance, one of UNT’s current West Point Fellows, points out the next combat outpost to the Corps Commander during a 2008 deployment in Mosul, Iraq. Photo by SSG Jason R. Krawczyk, courtesy of U.S. Army
New Faculty
strength of military history at UNT as the major reason for the move.
More recently, the department has hired two additional military history specialists. In 2008, Michael Leggiere, a leading American expert on Napoleonic warfare, joined the faculty. In addition to his scholarship and teaching, he serves as deputy director of the center. He came to UNT from LSU-Shreveport. One year later, in fall 2009, Robert Citino came to UNT from a visiting professor stint at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is a specialist in 20th century (and early 21st century) warfare. Both Leggiere and Citino cited the emerging
MHC Fellows In addition to Wawro, Leggiere, and Citino, the center lists five current history faculty members plus emeritus professor Hurley as “Fellows” of the center: Guy Chet, Christopher Fuhrmann, Richard Lowe, Richard B. McCaslin, and Harold M. Tanner. According to the center’s website, all Fellows are either military historians or historians with a keen interest in the impact of war on society, politics, and peace.
<5-"A0%.C-2"9RRa"\'42-)"&+)"S.5&++&"d$2'-("#3'3%&2("d3/%.2("[-13+&2"I&/"%5-"9F%5"&++$&'"-*-+%8"