Military Scholar Finds Americans Woefully Ignorant of History, Geography
By Jim Brown
October 16, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC (AgapePress) - A military historian says although the study of history is the key to military success, many U.S. students -- including some of the top students at American military academies -- are seriously deficient in their knowledge of this essential subject.

Dr. Williamson Murray is Professor Emeritus of European Military History at Ohio State University and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Defense Analysis (IDA). Recently, he spoke at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, about his latest book, The Past as Prologue: the Importance of History to the Military Profession (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

According to Murray, if a person has not read extensively in history by the time he or she arrives in a government position or reaches a senior position in the U.S. military, it may be too late. He notes that in addition to being at IDA, he is also a visiting professor at the United States Naval Academy, where he teaches plebes "Naval History and Heritage," and where he has been dismayed by what he discovered about many students' knowledge of history. the rest