We are pleased to publish the video of the Masterclass lectured by Dr. Alexander Bielakowski within the framework of the Area on Security and Defense and the Master’s Degree in Military History of INISEG, the International Institute for Studies on Global Security, and FUINMA, the International University Foundation of Madrid.
Dr. Bielakowski’s lecture examines the Battle of Hue, one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. In that confrontation, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and three battalions of the United States Marine Corps defeated an enemy force comprised of more than 10,000 NVA and Viet Cong troops. The Battle of Hue is the prime example of a military standoff that highlights many of the lessons that military units constantly learn when confronted with well-entrenched enemy forces in a dense urban terrain.
Dr. Alexander Bielakowski is a historian and a prominent researcher on the Vietnam War. He holds both a B.A. and an M.A. in History from Loyola University Chicago and a Ph.D in US History from Kansas State University. His current positions, since 2016, are those of Associate Professor at the University of Houston and Adjunct Professor at the Naval War College. He held other important positions such as Editor-in-Chief in the U.S. Military History Review (2012–2023) and Associate Professor at the Army University (2004 –2016).
Dr. Bielakowski is the author of Proud Warriors: African American Combat Units in World War II. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, 2021; and From Horses to Horsepower: The Mechanization and Decline of the U.S. Cavalry, 1916-1950. Stroud, UK: Fonthill Media, 2019. He is co-author of Buffalo Soldiers: African American Troops in the US Forces, 1866-1945. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2008.
Blog GRIP will keep publishing a selection of Masterclasses and lectures on military history and military conflicts, with a special emphasis, albeit not exclusive, on the Vietnam War (the Second Indochina War), direct consequence and legacy of the First Indochina War, a conflict taught by Professor Juanjo Alarcón in the Master’s Degree in Contemporary Military Conflicts, whose video presentation is also available on Blog Grip. Incidentally, Prof. Juanjo Alarcón is the host of these lectures.
We really hope that this series of selected lectures may spark your interest in the topics presented in each one of them. And since they are all part of the Area on Security and Defense and the Master’s Degree in Military History of INISEG, we provide you with the links to INISEG’s academic offer directly related to the lectures we publish:
