During World War II, the Allies not only defeated Germany; they destroyed the German army and warmaking capability. Five years after the surrender, Theodor Blank received the responsibility for planning the rearmament of West Germany starting from nothing. Although Konrad Adenauer was the driving force behind rearmament, Theodor Blank was the instrument who pushed it through Allied negotiations and parliamentary acceptance. Heretofore, Blank's role has been told only in part; new materials and the ability now to see events in a clearer perspective warrant a new study of Blank's role in the German rearmament process. Sources for this dissertation include: Documents on Foreign Relations of the United States; memoirs, among them those of Konrad Adenauer, Georges Bidault, Lucius Clay, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Anthony Eden, Ivone Kirkpatrick, Harold MacMillan, Kirill Meretskov, Jules Moch, Sergei Shternenko, Hans Speidel, Harry S. Truman, Alexander Vasilevsky, and Georgiy Zhukov; contemporary reports from newspapers, among them the Times (London), New York Times, Le Monde, Pravda, Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, Suddeutsche Zeitung, and Das Parlement; Parliamentary Debates; official records; and interviews. Rearmament involved the interrelationship of vast, diverse interests: the conflict between East and West, national and international fears, domestic problems, and the interplay of leading personalities. When …

This thesis is concerned with determining the effect of the establishment of a Jewish state on Anglo-American relations and the policies of their governments. This work covers the period from the awarding of the Palestine Mandate to Great Britain, through World War II, and concentrates on the post-war events up to the foundation of the state of Israel. It uses major governmental documents, as well as those of the United Nations, the archival materials at the Harry S. Truman Library, and the memoirs of the major participants in the Palestine drama. This study concludes that, while the Palestine problem presented ample opportunities for disunity, the Anglo-American relationship suffered no permanently damaging effects.

This study traces the public life of Stephen Dorsey chronologically from his service in the Civil War to the end of his political career, which came with his failure to have a friend appointed governor of New Mexico Territory in 1889. Traditional interpretations of Dorsey are based on a combination of scant evidence, carpetbagger stereotypes, and the assumption that he was guilty of masterminding the monumental swindle of the Star Route Frauds. Closer examination of Dorsey's public life, however, reveals that this traditional view is distorted. A major conclusion of this study is that the assumption on which most traditional views of Dorsey are based, that he was the mastermind behind the Star Route Frauds, is not supported by the evidence. This study shows that it is impossible to study a Gilded Age political figure without also considering his business interests. Many of Dorsey's political activities, for example his involvement in the Compromise of 1877, can be traced to his business enterprises. Although Dorsey was not entirely innocent in the frauds, he was not guilty of the crimes with which the government charged him. This study also concludes that Dorsey was left vulnerable to the prosecution which ended his career …

Given Rebecca West's fame during her lifetime, the amount of significant and successful writing she created, and the importance and relevance of the topics she took up, remarkably little has been done to examine her intellectual legacy. Writing in most genres, West has created a body of work that illuminates, to a large degree, the social, artistic, moral, and political evolution of the twentieth century. West, believing in the unity of human experience, explored such topics as Saint Augustine, Yugoslavian history, treason in World War II, and apartheid in South Africa with the purpose of finding what specific actions or events meant in the light of the whole of human experience. The two major archival sources for Rebecca West materials are located at the University of Tulsa's McFarlin Library, Special Collections, and at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. Many of her works have been recently reprinted and those not easily available are found in the British Library or in the archival depositories noted above. Interviews with persons who knew West were also an important source of information. This dissertation explores chronologically West's numerous works of nonfiction, and uses her fiction where it is appropriate to …

Slavery was established in Texas with the first Anglo-American settlement in 1822. The constitution of the Republic of Texas protected slavery as did laws passed by the legislature from 1836 to 1846, and the institution of slavery grew throughout the period. Slaves were given adequate food, clothing, and shelter for survival, and they also managed to develop a separate culture. Masters believed that slaves received humane treatment but nevertheless worried constantly about runaways and slave revolts. The Republic's foreign relations and the annexation question were significantly affected by the institution of slavery. The most important primary sources are compilations of the laws of Texas, tax rolls, and traveler's accounts. The most informative secondary source is Abigail Curlee's unpublished doctoral dissertation, "A Study of Texas Slave Plantations, 1822 to 1865" written at the University of Texas in 1932.

The decade of the 1850s saw the Texas press separate into two opposing groups on the issue of filibustering. The basis for this division was the personal beliefs of the editors regarding the role filibustering should have in society. Although a lust for wealth drove most filibusters, the press justified territorial expansion along altruistic lines. By 1858, however, a few newspapers discarded this argument and condemned filibusters as lawless bands of ruffians plundering peaceful neighbors. Throughout the decade, the papers gradually drifted from a consensus in 1850 to discord by the date of William Walker's third attempt on Nicaragua in 1858.

In 1521 a band of several hundred Spaniards overthrew the Aztec empire in Mexico and its ruler, Moctezuma II. This defeat in itself created a major cultural shock for the indigenious population, but the later arrival of Spanish officials and colonists constituted a far greater if less dramatic upheaval. For the victorious Spaniards rejected Aztec governmental institutions, considering them to be distinctly inferior, and quickly substituted their own. Moctezuma II and a substantial number of the Aztec ruling class had died during the violence which accompanied the conquest and those who remained were not permitted to exercise leadership. It was, however, the stated policy of the Spanish Crown that the Indian population of New Spain should be treated with kindness, allowed to retain their property, and led gently toward acceptance of the Christian faith. Among the surviving members of the Aztec nobility were several of the emperor's children, to whom Spanish authorities accorded special attention because of their unique position. Moctezuma II's son, Tlacahuepan, who on his conversion was baptized Pedro de Moctezuma, was one who received special grants and favors, for it was the Crown's intention that members of the emperor's family should be treated with consideration and be …

This study focuses on the reaction in the United States to Jay's Treaty, 1794-96. Though crucial in the development of American diplomacy, the treaty's greatest impact was on the domestic politics of the young nation. The most important sources were the correspondence of the participants. Other materials include newspapers, diaries, government documents, and secondary sources. The thesis argues that the treaty was in the best interests of the United States, and the nation was fortunate to be led at this time by the Federalist party.

This dissertation establishes that the Evangelical Anabaptists lived a noticeably distinctive Christian life when compared with their peers, accounts for their committed pursuit of holiness, and describes the outcome of that commitment. The sources used include the arranged archival source material in the Tauferakten, confessions, tracts, letters, debates, martyrologies, miscellaneous writings of the Anabaptists, and subsequent scholarship on the subject.