Alexander S BurnsDr Alexander Burns is a lecturer in Modern European History at West Virginia University. In 2021, he defended his dissertation, "The Entire Army Says Hello: Common Soldiers, Localism, and Army Reform in Britain and Prussia, 1739-1789" which was direced by Dr Katherine Aaslestad. His research focuses on the intersection of violence, race, and the state in the Atlantic world during the eighteenth century, as well as the history of state-building and reform in German Central Europe. He has published articles on the Hessian, British, and Prussian militaries, and his next monograph explores the international culture of military professionalism that allowed the United States to triumph during the American War of Independence. Read More Read Less