Throughout history, military leaders who have studied military history have been better prepared to plan, coordinate, and conduct successful operations against enemy forces in enemy territory. Lieutenant General U. S. Grant studied military history at West Point and he was studied by students after the Civil War and his Vicksburg Campaign was the starting point for developing offensive operations by US Armed Forces during World War II and Operation Desert Storm and was cited as the offensive model in FM 100-5, Operations until it was replaced with the 1993 update. General Schwarzkopf learned Grant's Vicksburg Campaign so well; the US Army began using Operation Desert Storm as the model for offensive operations, replacing the Vicksburg Campaign in new Field Manuals. General Patton in World War II believed he had fought battles in previous lives and he even instructed his son in a letter dated 6 June 1944 to study military history, primarily the biographies of leaders in order to understand how battles are fought and led. Leaders who understand the concept of learning from the past can look at mistakes that have been made in previous operations and try to plan around those shortcomings. In World War II, Lieutenant General Eichelberger used lessons he learned in the Siberian Intervention 1918-1920 under the tutelage of Major General William S. Graves. He used the lessons while he commanded X Corps in the Pacific Theater. Using these historical actions, I plan to prove that understanding military history provides a positive framework for planning and conducting operations today and tomorrow.

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