Pace Presents Academic Research
Wilson Pace ’26 spoke in chapel about two research projects in the fields of history and foreign policy that he conducted while in Upper School. His focus for these studies was primarily Poland, Germany, and the Soviet Union in the period between the two world wars.
“The impetus for this whole research process began when I traveled to Europe, particularly Normandy, France, after my sophomore year … alongside The National WWII Museum based in New Orleans,” he said during his talk in early March.
Pace was a recipient of the MUS 2024 Jackson James Roberts Fellowship, which paid for his overseas travel and research with the museum and the American Battlefield Trust.
“Apart from the experience of seeing so many historical sites firsthand, what really stuck out to me on this trip was getting a better perspective of the Second World War, not just from an American point of view but from a European one.”
His subsequent research has resulted in two works:
He offered advice to his fellow students on pursuing independent research, highlighting available resources, including the MUS faculty and library staff and MUS fellowship grants for summer enrichment.
He closed by highlighting the significance of studying the past. “History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself, but human nature most certainly does, and if you think that isn’t true, look to Eastern Europe. Or look to the Middle East, where earlier this week over 13 countries were embroiled in the most expansive war that region has seen in its modern history – right before our very eyes.
“These conflicts, among numerous others, are fundamentally rooted in historical precedent. With great conviction, they underscore how important it is to study a discipline that is not simply an archive of the human experience but a point of reference for the unwavering and often unfortunate constants inherent to our world.”
A View from The Perch
In addition to his historical research projects, Pace has created the foreign policy journal The Perch: An International Observer.
“The Perch delivers contemporary geopolitical analysis on Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East through various multimedia forms, including weekly online articles and a quarterly print edition distributed to paying subscribers,” Pace said.
“In an era when unfolding events are so often met with reactive or emotionally charged platitudes, I’ve found great clarity in an approach rooted in large-scale perspectives, historically and culturally conscious insights, and writing that inherently encourages productive discourse. Whether by consulting foreign-language think tanks and news outlets in places like Ukraine and Kazakhstan or bouncing ideas off scholars and former diplomats, this initiative has allowed me to adopt a more civic-focused approach to what otherwise [would be] a rather esoteric set of interests.”
The Perch is accessible through https://wpace.substack.com.
Caption: Wilson Pace ’26 is pictured during his trip to France with the National World War II Museum in 2024. Funded by the MUS Jackson James Roberts Fellowship, his journey sparked an interest in historical research on the interwar period in Europe and the Soviet Union.
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Pace was a recipient of the MUS 2024 Jackson James Roberts Fellowship, which paid for his overseas travel and research with the museum and the American Battlefield Trust.
“Apart from the experience of seeing so many historical sites firsthand, what really stuck out to me on this trip was getting a better perspective of the Second World War, not just from an American point of view but from a European one.”
His subsequent research has resulted in two works:
- The Polish Soviet War and the Origins of the Revisionist Struggle Against Versailles is a 70-page monograph. “[It] explores the efforts taken by the Weimar Republic and the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1933 to undermine the French-led ‘Versailles System’ of continental governance created at the end of World War I, primarily by exerting concerted political pressures on pro-Western countries in Eastern Europe,” Pace said.
- Between the Giants: The Foreign Policy of the Second Polish Republic, 1918-1939 is a book scheduled for release later this spring. “This book examines the problematic and largely unexplored geopolitical landscape navigated by the nascent Polish state throughout the interwar years,” Pace said. “It explores themes of ‘middle power politics,’ the cultivation of regionally concentric foreign policies, and the inherent interdependence associated with upholding transnational systems of collective security. Much of the source material utilized in this book comes directly from Russian and Polish-language archives.”
He offered advice to his fellow students on pursuing independent research, highlighting available resources, including the MUS faculty and library staff and MUS fellowship grants for summer enrichment.
He closed by highlighting the significance of studying the past. “History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself, but human nature most certainly does, and if you think that isn’t true, look to Eastern Europe. Or look to the Middle East, where earlier this week over 13 countries were embroiled in the most expansive war that region has seen in its modern history – right before our very eyes.
“These conflicts, among numerous others, are fundamentally rooted in historical precedent. With great conviction, they underscore how important it is to study a discipline that is not simply an archive of the human experience but a point of reference for the unwavering and often unfortunate constants inherent to our world.”
A View from The Perch
In addition to his historical research projects, Pace has created the foreign policy journal The Perch: An International Observer.
“The Perch delivers contemporary geopolitical analysis on Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East through various multimedia forms, including weekly online articles and a quarterly print edition distributed to paying subscribers,” Pace said.
“In an era when unfolding events are so often met with reactive or emotionally charged platitudes, I’ve found great clarity in an approach rooted in large-scale perspectives, historically and culturally conscious insights, and writing that inherently encourages productive discourse. Whether by consulting foreign-language think tanks and news outlets in places like Ukraine and Kazakhstan or bouncing ideas off scholars and former diplomats, this initiative has allowed me to adopt a more civic-focused approach to what otherwise [would be] a rather esoteric set of interests.”
The Perch is accessible through https://wpace.substack.com.
Caption: Wilson Pace ’26 is pictured during his trip to France with the National World War II Museum in 2024. Funded by the MUS Jackson James Roberts Fellowship, his journey sparked an interest in historical research on the interwar period in Europe and the Soviet Union.
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