You are cordially invited to an Institute of World Politics webinar presentation on “Strategy, Statecraft, and Character in Ulysses S. Grant’s Civil War Memoir” with CSD Scholar Dr. Peter Campbell, on Thursday June 10, 2021 at 5:00 – 6:15 PM EST. To register for the event, click here. To read his CSD essay, “Ulysses S. Grant’s Civil War Memoir and Strategy,” click here.
As a general, Ulysses S. Grant was often dismissed as a butcher of men and no strategist. This reputation is undeserved, however. Ulysses S. Grant’s memoir of the Civil War is a treasure trove of insights for the strategist. In its pages, Grant invites his reader to contemplate with him the constant struggle to reconcile military means with political ends, the way military maxims crumble under the weight of the reality of war, and, most importantly, the vital role that character and personality play in the design and execution of military operations and strategy.
Peter Campbell is Associate Professor of Political Science at Baylor University. He holds an MA in War Studies from King’s College London and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of “Military Realism: The Logic and Limits of Force and Innovation in the U.S. Army” (University of Missouri Press, 2019). His areas of research include national security decision making, civil-military relations, strategy, international relations scholarship and policy relevance, insurgency and counterinsurgency, the just war tradition, and cyber warfare.