Many students might agree that taking a class at 8 a.m. had better be worth the effort to even get out of bed.

Apparently, Dr. Jeremy Neely’s Military History (HST 315) is.

Neely, associate professor and undergraduate director in the Department of History, has been teaching HST 315 for nearly 10 years. He assumed responsibility for the class upon the retirement of Emeritus Professor William Piston.

Now, he teaches the class every semester, almost always at that dreaded early morning timeslot. Even so, the course regularly fills to capacity. Each semester, roughly 30 students decide that this 8 a.m. class is worth the effort.

American history with a global context

Chronologically, HST 315’s topics start with America’s colonial period and usually ends in the early 21st century, according to Neely.

“The course covers as much as I can squeeze into 15 weeks,” he said. “We cover a lot of ground, which unfortunately means that we don’t linger on any particular period for very long. Some events are more consequential than others, of course, so we do spend a bit more time on watershed events like the American Revolution and the Civil War.”

Even with the focus on American military history, the class still places that history within a global framework. American leaders have always been aware of the country’s position on the world stage, even during periods of isolationism, Neely noted. As an example, the Philippine-American conflict (1899-1902) was the topic during one class session.

“One of the recent turns in historiography is an effort to frame the American past within a wider global context,” Neely explained. “I’ve tried to help students see that you can’t understand the history of the United States without a sense of where it fits within the world around it.”

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