From Associates to Antagonists: the United States, Great Britain, the First World War, and the Origins of War Plan Red, 1914-1919 (open access)

From Associates to Antagonists: the United States, Great Britain, the First World War, and the Origins of War Plan Red, 1914-1919

American military plans for a war with the British Empire, first discussed in 1919, have received varied treatment since their declassification. the most common theme among historians in their appraisals of WAR PLAN RED is that of an oddity. Lack of a detailed study of Anglo-American relations in the immediate post-First World War years makes a right understanding of the difficult relationship between the United States and Britain after the War problematic. As a result of divergent aims and policies, the United States and Great Britain did not find the diplomatic and social unity so many on both sides of the Atlantic aspired to during and immediately after the First World War. Instead, United States’ civil and military organizations came to see the British Empire as a fierce and potentially dangerous rival, worthy of suspicion, and planned accordingly. Less than a year after the end of the War, internal debates and notes discussed and circulated between the most influential members of the United States Government, coalesced around a premise that became the rationale for WAR PLAN RED. Ample evidence reveals that contrary to the common narrative of “Anglo-American” and “Atlanticist” historians of the past century, the First World War did …
Date: May 2012
Creator: Gleason, Mark C.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps in World War I: From Inception to Destruction, 1914-1918 (open access)

The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps in World War I: From Inception to Destruction, 1914-1918

The Portuguese Expeditionary Force fought in the trenches of northern France from April 1917 to April 1918. on 9 April 1918 the sledgehammer blow of Operation Georgette fell upon the exhausted Portuguese troops. British accounts of the Portuguese Corps’ participation in combat on the Western Front are terse. Many are dismissive. in fact, Portuguese units experienced heavy combat and successfully held their ground against all attacks. Regarding Georgette, the standard British narrative holds that most of the Portuguese soldiers threw their weapons aside and ran. the account is incontrovertibly false. Most of the Portuguese combat troops held their ground against the German assault. This thesis details the history of the Portuguese Expeditionary Force.
Date: May 2012
Creator: Pyles, Jesse
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
General Paul Von Lettow-vorbeck’s East Africa Campaign: Maneuver Warfare on the Serengeti (open access)

General Paul Von Lettow-vorbeck’s East Africa Campaign: Maneuver Warfare on the Serengeti

General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck’s East African Campaign was a conventional war of movement. Lettow based his operations on the military principles deduced from his thorough German military education and oversea deployments to China and German South West Africa. Upon assignment to German East Africa, he sought to convert the colony’s protectorate force from a counterinsurgency force to a conventional military force. His conventional strategy succeeded early in the war, especially at the Battle of Tanga in October 1914. However, his strategy failed as the war in East Africa intensified. He suffered a calamitous defeat at the Battle of Mahiwa in November 1917, and the heavy losses forced Lettow to adopt the counterinsurgency tactics of the colonial protectorate force.
Date: May 2012
Creator: Nesselhuf, F. Jon
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Theological Higher Education in Liberia: a Case Study of the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary (open access)

Theological Higher Education in Liberia: a Case Study of the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary

The Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary (LBTS), opened on March 4, 1976, exists to train men and women for Christian ministry. It offers four-year degree programs leading to bachelor of arts in theology, bachelor of arts in religious education, and bachelor of divinity. Three major periods characterized its growth and development. the first, from 1976 to 1989, was a period of growth and prosperity. the second, from 1990-2003, was a time of immense challenge for the seminary because of the Liberian Civil War. the final period, from 2003 to the present, shows the seminary attempting to re-position itself for the future as a premier Christian higher education institution in Liberia. One of the challenges remaining, however, is the lack of historical documentation on factors impacting the growth of the seminary. This historical case study research sought to provide a comprehensive overview of the LBTS within the context of theological higher education in Liberia and the Liberian Civil War. the four major purposes guiding this research were: 1. Historical—to document and evaluate the rise, survival, developments and achievements of LBTS; 2. Institutional—to gain insight into how the seminary operates; 3. to document the effects of the 13-year civil war on the seminary; …
Date: May 2012
Creator: Manyango, Wilfred M.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Ground Pounder: a Marine's Journey Through South Vietnam, 1968-1969

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
In early February of 1968, at the beginning of the Tet Offensive, Private First Class Gregory V. Short arrived in Vietnam as an eighteen-year-old U.S. Marine. Amid all of the confusion and destruction, he began his tour of duty as an 81mm mortarman with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, which was stationed at Con Thien near the DMZ. While living in horrendous conditions reminiscent of the trenches in World War I, his unit was cut off and constantly being bombarded by the North Vietnamese heavy artillery, rockets, and mortars. Soon thereafter Short left his mortar crew and became an 81mm’s Forward Observer for Hotel Company. Working with the U.S. Army’s 1st Air Cavalry Division and other units, he helped relieve the siege at Khe Sanh by reopening Route 9. Short participated in several different operations close to the Laotian border, where contact with the enemy was often heavy and always chaotic. On May 19, Ho Chi Minh’s birthday, the NVA attempted to overrun the combat base in the early morning hours. Tragically, during a two-month period, one of the companies (Foxtrot Company) within his battalion would sustain more than 70 percent casualties. By September Short was transferred to the …
Date: May 15, 2012
Creator: Short, Gregory V.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Repression, Civic Engagement, Internet Use, and Dissident Collective Action: the Interaction Between Motives and Resources (open access)

Repression, Civic Engagement, Internet Use, and Dissident Collective Action: the Interaction Between Motives and Resources

This dissertation investigates three questions: First, what conditions make dissident collective action such as protest, revolt, rebellion, or civil war more likely to happen in a country? Second, what conditions make citizens more likely to join in dissident collective action? Third, does Internet use play a role in dissident collective action, and if so, why? I argue that motives and resources are necessary rather than sufficient conditions for dissident collective action. I develop an analytical framework integrating motives and resources. Specifically, I theorize that state repression is an important motive, and that civil society is critical in providing resources. Four statistical analyses are conducted to test the hypotheses. Using aggregate level data on countries over time, I find that civil war is more likely to occur in countries where both state repression and civil society are strong. Moreover, the effect of civil society on civil war onset increases as the repression level rises. at the individual level using 2008 Latin American Public Opinion Project surveys from 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries, I find individuals more likely to join in protest when they experience both more repression and greater civic engagement. Moreover, civic engagement’s effect on protest participation increases as …
Date: May 2012
Creator: Wu, Jun-deh
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Syria: Unrest and U.S. Policy (open access)

Syria: Unrest and U.S. Policy

Syria remains mired in political confrontation and violence, and is perched on the edge of civil war. U.S. officials and many analysts believe that President Bashar al Asad, his family members, and his supporters will ultimately be forced from power. President Obama and his Administration have been calling for Asad's resignation since August 2011, and have been vocal advocates for United Nations Security Council action to condemn the Syrian government and end the bloodshed. The United States has closed its embassy in Damascus, and Ambassador Robert Ford has left Syria. In the face of intense domestic and international pressure calling for political change and for an end to violence against civilians, the Asad government has offered limited reforms while also meeting protests and armed attacks with overwhelming force. After a year of unrest and violence, Syria's political crisis is characterized by dilemmas and contradictions, which are discussed in this report.
Date: May 24, 2012
Creator: Sharp, Jeremy M. & Blanchard, Christopher M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mexico's 2012 Elections (open access)

Mexico's 2012 Elections

This report provides an overview of the parties and candidates competing in the Mexican federal elections, with a focus on the presidential contest, followed by a discussion of key issues in the campaign that could have implications for U.S.-Mexican relations.
Date: May 23, 2012
Creator: Ribando Seelke, Clare
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Teaching Past the Test: a Pedagogy of Critical Pragmatism (open access)

Teaching Past the Test: a Pedagogy of Critical Pragmatism

Existent scholarship in communication studies has failed to adequately address the particular pedagogical context of current public secondary education within the United States. While communication studies has produced a great deal of scholarship centered within the framework of critical pedagogy, these efforts fail to offer public high school teachers in the U.S. a tenable alternative to standardized constructs of educational communication. This thesis addresses the need for a workable, critical pedagogy in this particular educational context as a specific question of educational communication. a theorization of pedagogical action drawing from critical pedagogy, pragmatism, and communication studies termed “critical pragmatism” is offered as an effective, critical counter point to current neoliberal classroom practices in U.S. public secondary schools.
Date: May 2012
Creator: Jordan, Jason
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Road Debris (open access)

Road Debris

This dissertation comprises two parts: Part I, which discusses the growing trend in project books in contemporary poetry, and Part II, a collection of poems titled, Road Debris. There is an increasing trend in the number of project books, which are collections of poetry unified in both thematic and formal ways. the individual poems in a project book share overt connections which allow the book to work on many different levels, blending elements of fiction and non-fiction or sharing a specific theme or speaker. While these books have the advantage of being easily memorable, which might gain poets an edge in book contests, there are also many risks involved. the main issue surrounding project books is if the individual poems can justify the book, or do they seem too repetitive or forced. As more poets, especially newer ones, try to use the project book as a shortcut to publication, it can result in poorly written poems forced to fit into a particular concept. By examining three successful cotemporary project books—The Quick of It, by Eamon Grennan; Incident Light, by H. L. Hix; and Romey’s Order by Astory Riley—this essay discusses how these books work in order to understand the potential …
Date: May 2012
Creator: Dewoody, Dale W.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Continuity of Caste: Free People of Color in the Vieux Carré of New Orleans, 1804-1820 (open access)

Continuity of Caste: Free People of Color in the Vieux Carré of New Orleans, 1804-1820

Because of its trademark racial diversity, historians have often presented New Orleans as a place transformed by incorporation into the American South following 1804. Assertions that a comparatively relaxed, racially ambiguous Spanish slaveholding regime was converted into a two-caste system of dedicated racial segregation by the advent of American assumption have been posited by scholars like Frank Tannenbaum, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, and a host of others. Citing dependence on patronage, concubinage, and the decline in slave manumissions during the antebellum period, such studies have employed descriptions of the city’s prominent free people of color to suggest that the daily lives of non-whites in New Orleans experienced uniform restriction following 1804, and that the Crescent City’s transformation from Atlantic society with slaves to rigid slave society forced free people of color out of the heart of the city, known as the Vieux Carré, and into “black neighborhoods” on the margins of town. Despite the popularity of such generalized themes in the historiography, however, the extant sources housed in New Orleans’s valuable archival repositories can be used to support a vastly divergent narrative. By focusing on individual free people of color, or libres, rather than the non-white community as a whole, this …
Date: May 2012
Creator: Foreman, Nicholas
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Comparison of Rights in Military Commission Trials and Trials in Federal Criminal Court (open access)

Comparison of Rights in Military Commission Trials and Trials in Federal Criminal Court

The initiation of military commission proceedings against Khalid Sheik Mohammad and four others for their alleged involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks has focused renewed attention on the differences between trials in federal court and those conducted by military commission. This report provides a brief summary of legal issues raised by the choice of forum for trying accused terrorists and a chart comparing selected military commissions rules under the Military Commissions Act, as amended, to the corresponding rules that apply in federal court.
Date: May 9, 2012
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pakistan-U.S. Relations (open access)

Pakistan-U.S. Relations

In a security alliance since 2004 and "strategic partners" since 2006, the United States and Pakistan for decades experienced major shifts in the nature and tone of their relations. In the post- 9/11 period, assisting in the creation of a more stable, democratic, and prosperous Pakistan actively combating religious militancy has been among the most important U.S. foreign policy efforts. Pakistan is among the leading recipients of U.S. aid in the post-9/11 period, having been appropriated about $24 billion in assistance and military reimbursements since 2001. FY2013 legislation in the 112th Congress would cut U.S. assistance funding significantly from both the levels requested by the Administration and from those Congress approved for FY2012. Provisions also would introduce more rigorous restrictions and certification requirements on such aid. With anti-American sentiments and xenophobic conspiracy theories rife among ordinary Pakistanis, persistent economic travails and a precarious political setting combine to present serious challenges to U.S. decision makers.
Date: May 24, 2012
Creator: Kronstadt, K. Alan
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance (open access)

Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance

This report covers concerns and issues relating to governance, elections, election fraud/nepotism, human rights, and Afghan culture in Afghanistan. It discusses the pros and cons of U.S.A. intervention in the shaping of these endeavors.
Date: May 1, 2012
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
A New Literary Realism: Artistic Renderings of Ethnicity, Identity, and Sexuality in the Narratives of Philip Roth (open access)

A New Literary Realism: Artistic Renderings of Ethnicity, Identity, and Sexuality in the Narratives of Philip Roth

This dissertation explores Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories (1959), the Ghost Writer (1979), the Counterlife (1986), the Facts (1988), Operation Shylock (1993), Sabbath's Theater (1995),and the Human Stain (2000), arguing that Roth relishes the telling of the story and the search for self within that telling. with attention to narrative technique and its relation to issues surrounding reality and identity, Roth's narratives stress unreliability, causing Roth to create characters searching for a more complex interpretation of self. Chapter I examines Roth’s negotiation of dual identities as Neil Klugman in Goodbye, Columbus feels alienated and displaced from Christianized America. the search for identity and the merging of American Christianity and Judaism remain a focus in Chapter II, which explores the implications of how, in the Ghost Writer, a young Nathan Zuckerman visits his mentor E.I. Lonoff to find him living in what he believes to be a non-Jewish environment—the American wilderness. Chapter II also examines the difficulties of cultural assimilation in "Eli, the Fanatic," in which Eli must shed outward appearances of Judaism to fit into the mostly Protestant community of Woodenton. Relative to the negotiation of multiple identities, Chapter III considers Sabbath’s attempt, in Sabbath’s Theater, to reconcile his …
Date: May 2012
Creator: Harvell, Marta Krogh
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Stonewall County Courier (Aspermont, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 3, 2012 (open access)

The Stonewall County Courier (Aspermont, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 3, 2012

Weekly newspaper from Aspermont, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: May 3, 2012
Creator: White, Jay
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Portal to Texas History
The Dublin Citizen (Dublin, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 17, 2012 (open access)

The Dublin Citizen (Dublin, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 17, 2012

Weekly newspaper from Dublin, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: May 17, 2012
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Superior Mirth: National Humor and the Victorian Ego (open access)

Superior Mirth: National Humor and the Victorian Ego

This project traces the wide and varied uses of patriotic (and, at times, jingoistic and xenophobic) humor within the Victorian novel. a culture’s humor, perhaps more than any other cultural markers (food, dress, etc.), provides invaluable insight into that nation’s values and perceptions—not only how they view others, but also how they view themselves. in fact, humor provides such a unique cultural thumbprint as to make most jokes notoriously untranslatable. Victorian humor is certainly not a new topic of critical discussion; neither is English ethno-cultural identity during this era lacking scholarly attention. However, the intersection of these concerns has been seemingly ignored; thus, my research investigates the enmeshed relationship between these two areas of study. Not only do patriotic sentiment and humor frequently overlap, they often form a causational relationship wherein a writer’s rhetorical invocation of shared cultural experiences creates humorous self-awareness while “inside” jokes which reference unique Anglo-specific behaviors or collective memories promote a positive identity with the culture in question. Drawing on and extending the work of James Kincaid’s Dickens and the Rhetoric of Laughter, Harold Nicolson’s “The English Sense of Humor,” and Bergson’s and Freud’s theories of humor as a social construct, I question how this reciprocated …
Date: May 2012
Creator: Stober, Katharyn L.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Nocona News (Nocona, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 3, 2012 (open access)

The Nocona News (Nocona, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 3, 2012

Weekly newspaper from Nocona, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: May 3, 2012
Creator: Mesler, Tracy R. & Mesler, Linda L.
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sapulpa Daily Herald (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 97, No. 173, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 (open access)

Sapulpa Daily Herald (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 97, No. 173, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: May 16, 2012
Creator: Gibbs, Angenene
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Gateway to Oklahoma History
The Altus Times (Altus, Okla.), Vol. 112, No. 292, Ed. 1 Tuesday, May 29, 2012 (open access)

The Altus Times (Altus, Okla.), Vol. 112, No. 292, Ed. 1 Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: May 29, 2012
Creator: Bush, Michael
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Gateway to Oklahoma History
The GV Tribune (Grandview, Tex.), Vol. 117, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, May 4, 2012 (open access)

The GV Tribune (Grandview, Tex.), Vol. 117, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, May 4, 2012

Weekly newspaper from Grandview, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: May 4, 2012
Creator: Roberts, Janeen
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Understanding the Owner’s Manual: the United States Constitution Examined Through the Lens of Technical Communication (open access)

Understanding the Owner’s Manual: the United States Constitution Examined Through the Lens of Technical Communication

This dissertation explores the collaborative process and use of language that went into the creating the United States Constitution in 1787. From a technical communication perspective, the collaborative process explored did not develop any new theories on collaboration, but instead, allows scholars to track the emergence of a well-documented America collaborative process from the early period of the developing American nation on a document that has remained in use for over 235 years. in addition to examining this collaborative process, the author also discusses the use of passive voice and negative language in the first article of the Constitution.
Date: May 2012
Creator: Elerson, Crystal
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sapulpa Daily Herald (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 97, No. 183, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 30, 2012 (open access)

Sapulpa Daily Herald (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 97, No. 183, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: May 30, 2012
Creator: Gibbs, Angenene
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Gateway to Oklahoma History