On War, Part II: Occupied Japan and the End of Empire

For those of you who missed the last blog post: A couple of weeks ago I spent the day attending the fifth annual “On War” military history symposium at the Pritzker Military Library. This was the third time I’ve attended and the third time I’ve come away with a notebook full of ideas, factoids, and…

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From the Archives: Who Made the Map of the Modern Middle East?

The simple answer is: Great Britain. You want the long version? In The Makers of the Modern Middle East historians T.G. Fraser, Andrew Mango, and Robert McNamara tell the story of how today’s Middle East was created from the remains of the Ottoman Empire during the peace negotiations at the end of the First World…

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The Zimmermann Telegram-Part 2: What Did Mexico Do?

  In my last post, I wrote about the Zimmermann Telegram and the role it played in convincing the United States to enter World War I. A couple of days later as I talked to a friend about the subject, I realized I had no idea how Mexico responded. It had never occurred to me…

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