A Military History Of the Civil War from a Brigade Commander’s Viewpoint
Instructor: Col. (R) Garry R. Tenney
1946 Continuing Education Center
Mondays, April 7, 14, 21, 28, May 5, and 12
1:30 - 3:30 pm
1947 First Presbyterian Church
Thursdays, April 10, 17, 24, May 1, 8, and 15
1:30 - 3:30 pm
The military commander has always had a significant impact on the outcome of a battle or a war. This has certainly been true of the American Military from the Revolutionary era to the present day in Iraq and other places. This course will be an in-depth military study and analysis of the Civil War period led by Col. (R) Garry R. Tenney, a War College Graduate and former Brigade Commander.
We will get to know the various Civil War Brigade Commanders up close and personal. Col. Tenney has researched original documents located at the War College Library located at Carlisle Barracks. These documents often give a different perspective on how and why command decisions were made. For example, they may explain how ordinary men became great commanders; General Ulysses S. Grant would fall into this category. Also, they may reveal how some commanders have been extremely overrated or underrated by history.
Major battles and campaigns will be reviewed, with specific analyses and map studies of three: Shiloh, Gettysburg, and Antietam. Students will be directly involved in these studies by way of their readings, prior experience, and a review of the art of war strategy employed by the American Military throughout our history. The most difficult task for the commander has always been how to get maximum fire power on the enemy at the most critical time.
Please join us for this fun, hands-on series of six classes that promises to offer students a new perspective on American’s Civil War.
The textbook for this class, The Civil War, by Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns, Ric Burns
(Paperback 1995), can be purchased online.
Member: $49; Non-member: $69
Historical Controversies and Unsolved Mysteries
Instructor: Joe Menasce
1948 Palm Harbor/Dunedin
Thursdays, May 1, 8, and 15
10:00 am - Noon
1949 Continuing Education Center
Fridays, May 2, 9, and 16
10:00 am - Noon
- Was there really a woman Pope in the 9th century who is referred to as “Pope Joan?” There are numerous clues, some pointing out that she might have ascended to the Papacy of Rome between 855 and 857, while others indicate that this woman probably never did assume the burden of the Papacy, or perhaps never even existed.We will use various materials, including a fascinating documentary, in an attempt to sort out the various clues and allow a thorough discussion of all the angles surrounding this unsolved mystery. Welcome to the fun!
- B. In 1633 the famous Italian astronomer Galileo was convicted of heresy for supporting the idea that the earth and the other planets revolve around the sun. Was his trial an instance of a battle between Christianity and science? Or was it a battle between the old Aristotelian science and the newmathematical science in which the Church got entangled and was forced to act against this perceived threat to its authority? To help us gain better insight into the intricate details and merits of this trial, we will use authoritative works by several scholars, along with a video in which an actor playing Galileo relates his position and reflects upon the outcome of his trial. Join us for a full debate on this case, which will undoubtedly turn out to be far more complex than any of us imagined.
- C. How will history judge Pope Pius XII’s “silence” and neutrality during the Holocaust in World War II? Are his critics right in claiming that this Pope’s silence was a product of malice or indifference and caused further Nazi crimes, or did he in fact work hard and in secret to save Jews from their terrible tragedy?We will examine evidence for both sides of this question, including some material from the secret archives of the Vatican. Finally, excerpts from a video outlining the life of the Pope during thisextraordinary period will provide additional information. Join us for a debate that should highlight a fascinating and especially contradictory case.
Member: $39; Non-member: $59
Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust
Instructor: Bruce Spitz
1950 Continuing Education Center
Wednesdays, October 1, 8, and 15
10:00 am - Noon
1951 Palm Harbor/Dunedin
Fridays, October 3, 10, and 17
10:00 am - Noon
Over the past generation, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his administration have been subjected to unrelenting criticism for having abandoned the Jews of Europe. The Holocaust has become the moral focal point of World War II, and FDR and the American government have faced an increasing outcry of denunciation. From refusing admission to prewar refugees to failing to bomb Auschwitz-Birkenau, the record as presented depicts Roosevelt as “a trimmer at best and a moral coward at worst,” complicit at least by omission in history’s greatest crime.
In his recent book Saving the Jews, Robert Rosen challenges these revisionists. Rosen presents a spirited challenge to the conventional assertion that “something should have been done.” In what amounts to a case for the defense, Rosen asserts that Roosevelt spoke forcefully against Hitler’s Jewish policies well before Pearl Harbor, and that from December 1942, when ULTRA reports confirmed the general massacre of Eastern European Jews,
he not only condemned the “German Policy of Extermination,” but promised retribution. Rosen argues that Roosevelt continued to denounce Nazi atrocities, addressing the Jewish situation specifically and regularly. Needless to say, Rosen’s counter-revisionist views have not ended the debate.
This class will deal with U.S. policies and actions and their impact on the Holocaust: the failure to bomb Auschwitz and the railroad tracks leading to it; U.S. policy as the war progressed on both the European and Pacific fronts; American and international politics vis-à-vis the establishment of Israel; the development of the Atomic bomb; the voyage of the St. Louis to Havana, Cuba, with nearly 1,000 German refugees, most of whom were returned to Europe; and the anti-Semitism of the State Department and its contribution to banning the admission of Jews who may have been granted refuge in America. Join us in a spirited exploration of the U.S. role in the Holocaust, and in particular, FDR’s place in its history.
Member: $39; Non-member: $59
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