The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army staff college in

Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania Carlisle Barracks is a United States Army facility located in Pennsylvania, with a Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Carlisle post office address and with a portion in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The site of the U.S. Army War College, it is the nation's secon ...

, with a

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

postal address, on the 500-acre (2 km²) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military officers, government officials, and civilians to prepare them for senior leadership assignments and responsibilities. Each year, a number of Army colonels and lieutenant colonels are considered by a board for admission. Approximately 800 students attend at any one time, half in a two-year-long

distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

program, and the other half in an on-campus, full-time resident program lasting ten months. Upon completion, the college grants its graduates a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Strategic Studies. The Army War College is a split-functional institution. Emphasis is placed on research and students are also instructed in

leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

, and joint-service/international operations. It is one of the senior service colleges including the

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associa ...

and the USAF Air War College. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Defense operates the

National War College In the United States, the National War College (NWC) is a school within the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National ...

Mission

According to U.S. Army Regulation 10–87, the Army War College "educates and develops leaders for service at the strategic level while advancing knowledge in the global application of landpower."

History

Established from the principles learned in the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, the college was founded by

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

Elihu Root and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

, and formally established by General Order 155 on 27 November 1901. Washington Barracks, now called Fort Lesley J. McNair, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

was chosen as the site. Roosevelt attended the

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

laying of the cornerstone of Roosevelt Hall on 21 February 1903. The first president of the Army War College was Major General Samuel B. M. Young in July 1902 and the first students attended the college in 1904. During the presidency of Montgomery M. Macomb in 1916, President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

accused students and staff of planning for taking part in an offensive war, even though the United States had not entered

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Wilson was unconvinced by Macomb's explanation that the college was concerned only with the intellectual growth and professional development of its students, and insisted that the school curtail its activities in order to ensure that the U.S. maintained its neutrality. Malin Craig served as commandant prior to being appointed

Chief of Staff of the United States Army The chief of staff of the Army (CSA) is a statutory position in the United States Army held by a general officer. As the highest-ranking officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the chief is the principal military advisor and a ...

in 1936, and he was succeeded by Walter S. Grant. The college remained at Washington Barracks until the 1940s, when it was closed due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It reopened in 1950 at

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

, and moved one year later to its present location.

Center for Strategic Leadership

The Center for Strategic Leadership (CSL) emphasizes experiential education, senior leader education, support to Army senior leader research, and support to both U.S. Army War College (USAWC) and Army Senior Leader strategic communication efforts. CSL's professional staff and Collins Hall facility host, support, develop, and conduct events, including workshops, symposia, conferences, games, and exercises focused on a broad range of strategic leadership and national security issues and concepts in support of the USAWC, the U.S. Army, and the Interagency and Joint Communities.

Basic Strategic Art Program

The Basic Strategic Art Program is one of the academic programs taught at the U.S. Army War College. When the program was founded in 2003, its purpose was to provide those officers who had been newly designated into Functional Area 59 (Strategist, formerly Strategic Plans & Policy) an introduction to strategy and to the skills, knowledge, and attributes needed as a foundation for their progressive development as army strategists. FA 59 officers have been deployed to combat since the onset of the War on Terror following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001. Since then, graduates of this program served in key positions in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, all combatant commands, and at

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute

The

Peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...

and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) is located at the War College. The institute's mission is to serve as the U.S. Military's Center of Excellence for Stability and Peace Operations at the strategic and operational levels in order to improve military, civilian agency, international, and multinational capabilities and execution.

Notable alumni

* John A. Lejeune, Class of 1910 * Hunter Liggett, Class of 1910 * Samson L. Faison, Class of 1911 * Ben Hebard Fuller, Class of 1914 * John Wilson Ruckman, Class of 1915 *

Walter Krueger Walter Krueger (26 January 1881 – 20 August 1967) was an American soldier and general officer in the first half of the 20th century. He commanded the Sixth United States Army in the South West Pacific Area during World War II. He rose fro ...

, Class of 1921 * Charles H. Corlett, Class of 1925 * Edmund L. Gruber, Class of 1927 *

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

, Class of 1928 * Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., Class of 1929 * Roy Geiger, Class of 1929 * Oscar Griswold, Class of 1929 * Clarence R. Huebner, Class of 1929 * Lesley J. McNair, Class of 1929 * Troy H. Middleton, Class of 1929 * Franklin C. Sibert, Class of 1929 * Willis D. Crittenberger, Class of 1930 *

Robert L. Eichelberger Robert Lawrence Eichelberger (9 March 1886 – 26 September 1961) was a general officer in the United States Army who commanded the Eighth United States Army in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, Southwest Pacific Area during W ...

, Class of 1930 * Charles P. Hall, Class of 1930 * Jesse B. Oldendorf, Class of 1930 * Frank Jack Fletcher, Class of 1931 * William R. Schmidt, Class of 1931 * Gilbert R. Cook, Class of 1932 * Leonard T. Gerow, Class of 1932 * Wade H. Haislip, Class of 1932 *

Thomas Holcomb General (United States), General Thomas Holcomb (August 5, 1879 – May 24, 1965) was a United States Marine Corps officer who served as the seventeenth Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps from 1936 to 19 ...

, Class of 1932 * John P. Lucas, Class of 1932 * Alexander M. Patch, Class of 1932 * George S. Patton Jr., Class of 1932 * Frank M. Andrews, Class of 1933 * George Kenney, Class of 1933 * Edward Almond, Class of 1934 *

Omar Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (12 February 1893 – 8 April 1981) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He wa ...

, Class of 1934 * Ulysses S. Grant III, Class of 1934 * Lewis Blaine Hershey, Class of 1934 * Ernest N. Harmon, Class of 1934 * Jonathan Wainwright, Class of 1934 * Norman Cota, Class of 1936 *

John R. Hodge General John Reed Hodge (12 June 1893 – 12 November 1963) was an American military officer of the United States Army. Hodge commanded Operation Blacklist Forty in 1945. He served as the governor of the American military government in Korea fr ...

, Class of 1936 * Richard Marshall, Class of 1936 * Edward H. Brooks, Class of 1937 * Mark W. Clark, Class of 1937 *

Matthew Ridgway Matthew Bunker Ridgway (3 March 1895 – 26 July 1993) was a senior officer in the United States Army, who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1952–1953) and the 19th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1953–1955). Although he ...

, Class of 1937 *

Walter Bedell Smith General (United States), General Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith (5 October 1895 – 9 August 1961) was a senior officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief of staff at Allied Forc ...

, Class of 1937 * J. Lawton Collins, Class of 1938 * Leslie Groves, Class of 1939 * Paul R. Hawley, Class of 1939 * Hoyt Vandenberg, Class of 1939 * Anthony McAuliffe, Class of 1940 *

Maxwell D. Taylor Maxwell Davenport Taylor (26 August 1901 – 19 April 1987) was a senior United States Army Officer (armed forces), officer and diplomat during the Cold War. He served with distinction in World War II, most notably as commander of the 101st Air ...

, Class of 1940 * Pedro del Valle, Class of 1940 * William Westmoreland, Class of 1951 *

Bruce Palmer Jr. Bruce Palmer Jr. (13 April 1913 – 10 October 2000) was a General (United States), general in the United States Army. He commanded the XVIII Airborne Corps during Operation Power Pack, the II Field Force, Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and was ...

, Class of 1952 *

Creighton Abrams Creighton Williams Abrams Jr. (15 September 1914 – 4 September 1974) was a United States Army General (United States), general who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. He was then Chief of Staff of the United Sta ...

, Class of 1953 * Earl E. Anderson, Class of 1960 * Bernard W. Rogers, Class of 1960 * Lowell Ward Rooks, Class of 1937 *

Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; 2 December 192420 February 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabine ...

, Class of 1966 * Donn A. Starry, Class of 1966 * H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Class of 1973 * Lewis Sorley, Class of 1973 * George Joulwan, Class of 1978 * John M. Shalikashvili, Class of 1978 * Gordon R. Sullivan, Class of 1978 *

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

( Nigerian Army,

President of Nigeria The president of Nigeria, officially the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the Federal Government an ...

), Class of 1980 * William W. Hartzog, Class of 1981 * Richard Myers, Class of 1981 * Clara Leach Adams-Ender, Class of 1982 * Donald Fowler, Class of 1983 * Thomas E. White, Class of 1984 * W. Patrick Lang, Class of 1985 * Tommy Franks, Class of 1985 * James Peake, Class of 1988 * Lance L. Smith, Class of 1990 * Abdulkadir Sheikh Dini ( Somali Army), Class of 1990 * William G. Boykin, Class of 1991 * Walter E. Gaskin, Class of 1993 * John Kimmons, Class of 1995 * Raymond T. Odierno, Class of 1995 * Lloyd Austin, Class of 1996 * Chiu Kuo-cheng ( Taiwan Minister of National Defense), Class of 1999 *

Vijay Kumar Singh Vijay Kumar Singh may refer to: * Vijay Kumar Singh (politician, died 2021), Indian politician * V. K. Singh (born 1950), Indian politician and general in the Indian Army * Vijay Kumar Singh (Bihar), Indian politician * Vijay Kumar Singh, the prota ...

(

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

), Class of 2001 * Frank J. Corte, Jr., Class of 2002 * Parami Kulatunga ( Sri Lankan Army), Class of 2003 * Jeffrey W. Talley, Class of 2003 * Bikram Singh, (

), Class of 2004 *

Joe Heck Joseph John Heck (born October 30, 1961) is an American politician, physician, and retired United States Army Major general who served as the United States representative for Nevada's 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2017. Heck is a boa ...

, Class of 2006 * Jeronim Bazo, ( Albanian Armed Forces, Chief of the Albanian General Staff) Class of 2006 *

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution and 201 ...

, (

Egyptian Army The Egyptian Army (), officially the Egyptian Ground Forces (), is the land warfare branch (and largest service branch) of the Egyptian Armed Forces. Until the declaration of the Republic and the abolishment of the monarchy on 18 June 1953, it w ...

President of Egypt The president of the Arab Republic of Egypt () is the executive head of state of Egypt and the de facto appointer of the official head of government under the Egyptian Constitution of 2014. Under the various iterations of the History of the Egypt ...

) Class of 2006 * Paul M. Nakasone, Class of 2007 * Rizwan Akhtar ( Pakistani Army) (Director General

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier Pakistani Intelligence community, intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant t ...

(ISI)), Class of 2008 * Ihor Hordiichuk, (Ukraine) Class of 2008 * Doug Mastriano, Class of 2010 * Naveed Mukhtar ( Pakistani Army) (Director General

(ISI)), Class of 2011 * Dany Fortin, (Canada) Class of 2016 * Christopher G. Musa, (Nigeria) Class of 2017 * Tracey Poirier, Class of 2017 * Matthew P. Beilfuss, Class of 2018 * Ejup Maqedonci, (Kosovo) Minister of Defense, Class of 2019

References

External links and sources

Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College
– the college's strategic and security research facility
Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute websiteUS Military Strategists AssociationStrategic Experiential Education Group
– the college's Strategic Experiential Education Group
The College's quarterly refereed journal
('' Parameters''), for senior military professionals
U. S. Army heraldic entitlements
for the War College
''What Is the War College, Anyway?''
a May 2004 article from ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:United States Army War College Carlisle, Pennsylvania War colleges Universities and colleges established in 1901 Military in Pennsylvania United States Army schools Universities and colleges in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Military education and training in the United States 1901 establishments in Washington, D.C. United States Army Direct Reporting Units