Dr. Alexander S. Burns

Historian of the eighteenth-century Atlantic World, American Continental Army, and Military Europe.

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

Today, my book Infantry in Battle, 1733-1783, released.

Why should you care?

It changes the story of 18th century battles by telling the experiences of enlisted and NCOs, not just the officers. Battle looks different when you are enlisted.

A thread for the infantrymen. 1/20

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

@DavidAstinWalsh Just stay here with us

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

I've been on Twitter 8 years and I still don't realize how any of this works

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

I’ve been following Maj. (Ret.) Richard Ojeda for years, as a result of his ties to my adopted state of West Virginia.

Seeing him break containment and become a national figure this past week has been wild.

Always good to see an Appalachian veteran in the news.

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

If you want to know why the OP is wrong, and how these soldiers actually fought, check out my pinned thread.

I’m around today if you have questions.

[The Werewolf @Erwin_Rommel8]

هذا اغبى تكتيك عسكري بالتاريخ

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

What's happening in Lithuania/Poland right now?

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

Ya, sorry, he should have known this.

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Congressman: Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7th, 1941. How long did it take for the US to have its first major victory in World War II in the Pacific theater?

Pete Hegseth: A number of years.

Congressman: No, it was actually 6 months. It was the Battle of Midway. It was a turning point of World War II.

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

Real images of human beings, from the Revolutionary War, seen by human eyes, processed by human brains, and drawn by human hands, are infinitely more valuable than AI produced images could ever be.

An American Rifleman, drawn by British officer Richard Mansergh St. George. 1/

[Prime and Load Podcast @PrimeandLoad]

At the end of October we attended the White Plains National reenactment.
Together with some friends we talked about the event, our experiences, and the hobby as a whole.
Listen Now!
#PrimeAndLoad #reenacting

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

Indeed- and at many universities, the PhD students go beyond leading breakout sessions and are themselves the instructors of record.

As a professor, I teach a 5/5. It might seem scary but it is doable (and even necessary). Professors teaching more doesn’t seem like a bad thing.

["Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @BretDevereaux]

These are all valid points but then the immediate secondary question: with fewer PhD students TAs, who teaches the classes?

The answer is self-correcting (more tenure-line professors), but costs money, which is why no university is doing it in fields they'd rather defund.

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

@ijfen This degree exists in Europe.

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

There is an overproduction of PhDs in many humanities disciplines.

There is declining trust on the part of the public regarding the quality and value of a humanities PhD.

There is a crisis of wages for PhD students. (I was paid $14,000 per year to teach two 40 student classes per semester, 2015-2021

From my limited standpoint, the answer might be: make it harder to get in, admit fewer students, raise the standards of the programs, pay the students who are admitted better.

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

@themozlem In what discipline? It may still be worth going in a lucrative field?

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

@HREhistorian Only the annoying part of the public from my experience

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

The perfect insight into how historians feel every time they turn on a microfilm reader

https://t.co/w3iQnJiMfW

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

I was delighted to write up this list for the SAHR, a great scholarly organization that both supports research and connects to the interested public.

[Society for Army Historical Research @societyarmy]

The SAHR booklist is fast becoming something of an annual tradition, with historians and soldiers recommending their top 5 books on the British Army.
Kicking off this year's instalment we have this selection from Chapple Prize winner @KKriegeBlog: https://t.co/y02HOhGcYd

[Society for Army Historical Research @societyarmy]

The SAHR booklist is fast becoming something of an annual tradition, with historians and soldiers recommending their top 5 books on the British Army.
Kicking off this year's instalment we have this selection from Chapple Prize winner @KKriegeBlog: https://t.co/y02HOhGcYd

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

Be the Germanist that your enemy reply-guys think you are

[Jonathan Fine @jonathanbfine]

yes i have a phd in oompa-loompas

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

Like seriously, everyone needs to grapple with the idea of the moral economy a little bit.

Even if you think E.P. Thompson's politics are gross, the idea explains so much:

Price of 1700s English corn: Moral Economy

Price of Tea in 1773 Boston: Moral Economy

Price of Diesel in 2026 Iowa: Moral Economy

https://t.co/wpwibjTnSf

[Dr. Alexander S. Burns @KKriegeBlog]

Patriots decided they loved liberty more than their own lives because a government was arbitrarily raising the price of sugar, tea, paper/stamps, and glass, etc,

Like I agree, it's a Revolution of ideas, but economic factors play a motivating role

This is not controversial