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    Soviet operational art and the airland battle : the influence of Soviet operational warfare on American doctrine : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2004) Rowe, Cameron Donald
    This thesis examines the development of Soviet and American operational thought. It investigates the development of the Soviet operational paradigm during the early 1920s and follows further Soviet development into the 1980s. It then studies the US Army's development of the operational level and suggests reasons for the relatively late development of American operational thought. It goes on to establish the influence of Red Army operational thought and practice on the development, and nature of US Army doctrine. It does this by comparative analysis of the Soviet 1936 Provisional Field Regulations for the Red Army and the American 1993 Field Manual (FM) 100-5 Operations. The thesis concludes that the strategically defensive nature of American doctrine and the historically tactical emphasis of the US Army slowed American recognition of the operational level, and its application, operational art. American recent historical experience also played a large part in this. A more significant conclusion is that Soviet, and especially Red Army doctrine and practice had a large impact on the formulation and eventual nature of American operational doctrine. American operational thought crystallised due to the threat of a major conflict against the Soviet Union and its allies in Europe during the Cold War. This was helped by the thorough study of Soviet historical and contemporary operational thought, by organisations and individuals both within and without the US Army.
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    The prosecution of multi-theatre warfare : an analysis of the German military leadership's attempt to direct war in simultaneous theatres : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1999) Betts, Rowan
    On 1 September 1939 Adolf Hitler convened a session of the Reichstag to announce war with Poland. Dressed in a grey field tunic, he declared that Polish aggression would be suppressed, and that he would wear the tunic until "victory is ours, or, I shall not live to see the day!"1 Germany did not win the war, and Hitler did not live to see the day of its defeat. The established record of the Second World War adequately portrays what happened, and the chronology is ingrained. Nevertheless, aspects of the war have been neglected, especially in relation to command issues within the German armed forces. Because of the prominence of Hitler in all accounts, the actions of those below him have traditionally been marginalised. The purpose of this thesis is to address this 'gap' in history by evaluating the overall German military leadership's attempt to direct war in simultaneous theatres. Using primary sources such as war diaries, memoirs, and various accounts of Führer conferences, this study will analyse how the unique German command structure eventually contributed heavily to Germany's defeat. While many authors hold Hitler solely responsible for defeat, and thus overlook the role of others, my work is primarily concerned with analysing the German High Command structure and its attempt to direct war on multiple fronts at the same time. Responsibility for eventual German defeat cannot be laid at Hitler's feet alone because while he maintained sole executive powers, he remained open to the suggestions of those in his inner circle. In the end, those figures, who will be discussed in this study, failed Germany because they were unable to present a united front against Hitler when the situation became critical for the armed forces after 1941.
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    Hearing voices : the gendered nature of mental health practices in New Zealand in the 1920s and 1940s : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Master of Arts in Women's Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2007) Adams, Glennys Elaine
    This thesis asks what insights can be gained from the oral histories of mental nurses and attendants about the gendered nature of mental health practices in New Zealand in the 1920s - 1940s. Previously recorded interviews provided the primary texts for analysis. In considering both their oral accounts and memories as constructions, feminist poststructuralist models are used to study the nurses' and attendants' experiences. Utilising gender as an analytical tool meant that the narrators' memories were understood as the gendered products of the interconnections between the practices and discourses of culture and individual subjectivity, and that gender was implicated in the practices and production of power in mental institutions. Discourse theory and practices provided the conceptual framework and methodology for an analysis that regarded knowledge as residing in and produced by discourses. By studying the different constructions of female nurses and male attendants in discourses of mental nursing it was possible to recognise how these representations legitimised and privileged particular kinds of knowledge and power. Contextualising the narratives socially and culturally enabled consideration of how the nurses and attendants reproduced dominant discourses of femininity and masculinity in circulation at the time they were working. The findings point to the way in which powerful discourses of gender predicated on the separation of women and men respectively into private and public spheres, intersected with gendered assumptions of mental illness and mental nursing. The oral testimonies show that the female nurses were situated between the paradigms of these discourses, but because subjectivities are not fixed and immutable, they adopted different and changing positions in relation to them at different times. Although it is argued that discourses of gender did shape the subjectivities of the nurses and attendants and were employed to support gendered institutional practices this was more complex than first appears. The voices of the female nurses can be heard sometimes embracing, sometimes resisting and sometimes transgressing gender norms.
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    Edith Stein, a study in twentieth-century mysticism: a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Religious Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1993) Nolan, Ann Michele
    Edith Stein 1891-1942, born Jewish, converted to Catholicism and ten years after her conversion became a Carmelite nun. Nine years later she was killed in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. The intentions of the Nazis at Auschwitz were clear: Edith Stein died because she was born Jewish. For the Catholic church however, the manner of her death has qualified Edith Stein for beatification as a martyr. Catholic tradition gives the name martyr to those who have died expressly for the sake of their faith, and their love of Christ. The church's inclusion of Edith Stein among the ranks of the martyrs has placed her in an extremely controversial position: to whom is she a martyr? Did she die because she was Jewish or because she was a Catholic? This thesis examines the development of Edith Stein's spirituality towards mystical prayer and union with God and claims that she is demonstrably a mystic. It further discussed why she is an atypical mystic in the Catholic tradition. Nonetheless, it will be shown that mystic is a more complete and authentic description of her than controversial and questionable martyr. The thesis has three parts, and eight chapters. The first part of three chapters discusses Edith Stein's search for the truth up until the time of her conversion to Catholicism. Chapter one draws largely on her autobiography for instances of her reflections on God and spirituality. The second chapter analyses the influences on her in her academic life, of others who were or became Christians, and her own experiences of Gof, which cojlminated in read the Life of Teresa of Avila, resulting in her conversion to Catholicism. An indepth analysis of the ongoing influence of Teresa of Avila on Edith Stein is presented in chapter three. The second part of the thesis which comprises chapters four and five contains a comprehensive and critical analysis of Edith Stein's growth in Catholicism and mystical prayer. Chapter five focuses on her major philosophical and theological works in which her understanding of the ascent to the meaning of being and mystical theology as related to her own life, is demonstrated. The final part discusses the place of mysticism in the Catholic church. Six classic Catholic mystics are described in chapter sex and in chapter seven they are compared and contrasted to Edith Stein. Chapter seven argues that on theree essential points Edith Stein is a mystic, if an atypical one. These are, her conversion, her understanding and definition of mysticism itself and her controversial status of being perceived to be a martyr. Chapter eight presents an argument ot show that Edith Stein is demonstrably a mystic but that the political reasons surrounding her sainthood status serve to distort a full focus on her mysticism in favour of presenting her definitively as a martyr.