Building for Peace: U.S. Army Engineers in Europe, 1945-1991 (U.S. Army in the Cold War) - Softcover

Grathwol, Robert P.; Moorhus, Donita M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1516973089 ISBN 13: 9781516973088

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Synopsis

Most of the large wars between the end of World War II in 1945 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 were fought in Asia and the Middle East. Europe, where no war was fought, ironically was the epicenter of the Cold War. The stakes were highest there for both sides as two fundamentally opposed ideologies and political systems confronted each other across the so-called Iron Curtain. Both sides saw war in Europe as an Armageddon that could bring total victory or catastrophic defeat, and both sides focused and shaped their strategies and military forces to fight that war. By the time the Cold War ended in 1989 with the destruction of the Berlin Wall—the Iron Curtain incarnate—both sides had spent huge sums of money and devoted vast human resources to preparing for a war that never came. A major fraction of the resources expended during the Cold War were devoted to the physical infrastructure that housed, trained, fed, armed, protected, and diverted the soldiers of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for almost half a century. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers played a central role in building and maintaining that infrastructure. This history examines the engineers’ work in detail, chronicling their design and construction activities in support of the U.S. and NATO forces that stood on the front lines of the Cold War. “Building for Peace” tells the story of the often unglamorous but nevertheless critical missions of engineer officers and civilians and private contractors. It reflects the twists and turns of the Cold War’s history and the effect these had on the engineering itself. Engineers, like their counterparts in other branches and services, worked tirelessly and often against great odds to defend the West.

About this title

About the Author:

In 1988 Robert P. Grathwol, Ph.D., and Donna Moorhus formed a partnership to conduct historical research and provide services in organizational development. They are coauthors of Berlin and the American Military, A Cold War Chronicle (1999); American Forces in Berlin, Outpost of the Cold War, 1945-1994 (1994); and Oral History and Postwar German-American Relations: Resources in the United States (1997, with Douglas J. Wilson). They are also coauthors of "Bricks, Sand, and Marble: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Military Construction in the Mediterranean and Middle East, 1947-1991" (Hardcover format available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00518-2 --Paperback format can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00492-5 ).

Grathwol has more than thirty years of experience as a professional historian and publishing scholar. He has worked extensively with archival documents in Europe, as well as in the National Archives, federal records centers, and the Library of Congress. He taught twentieth century European history at Washington State University, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Arkansas. Academic publications include Stresemann and the DNVP and numerous scholarly articles and book reviews in both English and German. Grathwol studied in France on a Fulbright Scholarship and spent two years as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellow in Germany. He holds a Diplome Superieur frothe Centre des Hautes Etudes Europeenes, Universite de Strasbourg, and a P.h.D. from the University of Chicago.

Donita Moorrhus is an oral historian, researcher, and writer. In addition to managing several historical research projects, she has written historical reports and activities in Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1988-1992, and 1992-1996. For U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC), she as the coauthor of "Annual Historical Review, Fiscal Years 1991-1992, the "Annual Historical Review Fiscal Years 1992 through 1995," and sole author of a "Historical Report of the Investigations of Sexual Misconduct in the Army, September 1996 through July 1997." Ms. Moorhus has interviewed senior officers of the U.S. military, civilians in government service, members of Congress, business leaders, foreign nationals, and journalists. She has an M.S. from Fordham University.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1516973089
• ISBN 13: 9781516973088
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 504