On the Crest of Fear: The Last Months of World War II
The Department of History presents guest lecturer, Dr. Tami Davis Biddle, a historian of 20th Century Warfare. Dr. Biddle’s talk titled, “On the Crest of Fear: The Final Months of World War II” on April 10, 2018, 5-6:30 PM in Hale 270.
Dr. Davis Biddle, alumni of US Army War College, is a historian of 20th century warfare, an expert on national security, and the author Rhetoric and Reality in Air Warfare.
For more information, contact chester@colorado.edu.
This event is funded by the Center for Western Civilization, Thought & Policy and the President's Fund for the Humanities.
Results
Dr. Davis Biddle gave a moving and informative talk about the “escalatory dynamics” that contributed to US aerial bombing of civilians in World War II. She carefully traced the development of US military doctrine in the years before and during the second world war, analyzed new primary sources showing US consideration of bombing civilians in order to create refugee flows that would impede German military movements, and discussed US decision-making about air raids in Japan at the end of the war. She framed her scholarly talk with more informal discussion of her experience at the Army War College and her work training the US Army’s next generation of strategic thinkers. During her visit, she also met in with small groups of students and of faculty and taught an IAFS class.
Dr. Davis Biddle’s visit helped increase connections between students and faculty in HIST, IAFS, and ROTC. It also drew in a rather astonishing number of community members, thanks in large part to the Conference on World Affair’s generous listing of her talk in their program. Several community members approached me after the talk to ask how they could find out about more international affairs and military history events on campus. CWC funding to bring Dr. Davis Biddle to campus, to advertise her talk widely, and to arrange meetings with students and faculty helped make this event a great success.
The Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy funds research and educational initiatives that contribute to critical reflection on the development of Western civilization. All Boulder faculty and students are eligible to apply. If you are interested in applying for a CWCTP faculty grant, deadlines are rolling throughout the year.