Expectations of Warfare: How the Marine Corps Selectively Remembers its Small Wars Past

Jenna Scholz

Advisor: Christopher H. Hamner, PhD, Department of History and Art History

Committee Members: Meredith Lair, C. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa

Horizon Hall, #3225
April 07, 2025, 03:00 PM to 05:00 PM

Abstract:

This dissertation studies how the U.S. Marine Corps and its members approach the remembrance of its military campaigns differently based on expectations attached to combat. These expectations are heavily tied to institutional identity and how Marines view their roles during conflicts. The turn of the twentieth century “Banana Wars” are a microcosm of this phenomenon. Far from the action elemental to the Corps’ identity, duties regularly misaligned with how institutional leadership and most Marines saw themselves. Confronted with unmet expectations, this dissertation argues that many Marines rationalized their experiences to better fit burgeoning institutional identities. Institutional leaders made similar conclusions, promoting the stories that helped illustrate the services’ worth. These contemporary justifications initiated a precedence of selective remembrance that is still present in current historical presentations.