History 240, War and the Modern World
Course Description
This course is an introduction to war in the modern world. We will survey
the major wars of the last two centuries, as well as developments in the
nature and conduct of war. The aim, as Larry Addington puts it in our
text, is simply to describe the great battles and captains of the era,
but to examine the history of warfare "as a process of change in
war's sociopolitical, technological, and organizational aspects."
We will thus examine war in relation to broader political, technological,
and sociological developments in the last two centuries: war both in the
context of the modern world and war as a constitutive part of that world.
Special attention, finally, will be devoted the question of military effectiveness:
what factors determine military success? what determines military failure?
and how might such judgements of the past condition our perception and
understanding of war in the present and in the future.
As always in history, those with some familiarity with past events will
find it easier going; but there are absolutely no prerequisites for this
course. Those with less than certain knowledge of geography are advised
to obtain or at least locate an atlas: most students will find it useful
to know (for instance) that Poland lies east of Germany.
Course Policies
Students are expected to attend class lectures and read all the assigned
material: all exam questions will be based on material from both readings
and lectures. Grades wil be based on two exams, a midterm and final, a
quiz, and a brief research paper (six to eight pages) on a topic of your
choosing (see the handout for instructions on choosing a topic).
They will be weightes as follows:
Quiz: 10% (October 17, end of class; no make-ups without prior notification)
Paper proposal: 10% (October 29)
Midterm: 25% (due November 7 in class)
Paper: 25% (due November 26)
Final: 30% (Tuesday, December 10, 13:00)
Required Texts
Assigned books (available in university bookstore and on reserve at Knight
Library)
Addington, Larry H., The Patterns of War since the Eighteenth Century
Freedman, Lawrence (ed), War
Stoessinger, John G., Why Nations Go to War
Course Schedule
| Week 1 |
Reading |
|
Oct. 1: Introduction and 18th-century warfare
Oct. 3: French revolutionary wars and Napoleon
|
Addington, 1-12; Freedman, #57(Michael Howard), 71 (Geoffrey Parker)
Addington, 12-42; Freedman, #2 (Waterloo), 61 (Napoleon)
|
| Week 2 |
Reading |
|
Oct. 8: Wars of German Unification and the idea of limited war
Oct. 10: U.S. Civil War and the tendency toward total war
|
Addington, 94-101; Freedman, #62 (Molkte), 59 (Clausewitz)
Addington, 43-58, 68-94; Freedman, #3(Gettysburg), 42 (Reid/White)
|
| Week 3 |
Reading |
|
Oct. 15: Military developments in late 19th-century and colonial
warfare
Oct. 17: World War I: Opening moves and stalemate
Quiz
|
Addington, 102-33; Freedman, #4 (Sudan), #63 (Ardent du Picq),
64 (Corbett), 75 (Porch), 36 (Dandeker)
Stoessinger, ch. 1; Addington, 134-58; freedman, #5 (Jutland),
6 (Liddell Hart)
|
| Week 4 |
Reading |
|
Oct. 22: World War I: the Years of Decision, 1917-1918
Oct. 24: Military innovation in the interwar years; outbreak of
WWII
|
Addington, 158-71; Freeman #45 (Owen)
Addington, 172-94; Stoessinger, ch. 2; Freedman, #65 (Douhet),
66 (Liddell Hart)
|
| Week 5 |
Reading |
|
Oct. 29: World War II: Hitler's War, 1939-42
Final paper topic statement/prposal due
Oct. 31: World War II: The war in Europe
|
Addington, 195-219; Freedman, #8 (Pownall), 9 (Harrisson), 10 (Macintyre)
Addington, 219-240; Freedman, #11 (Rommel), 12 (Warsaw Ghetto),
13 (Tripp), 76 (Ambrose), 78 (Gray)
|
| Week 6 |
Reading |
|
Nov. 5: World War II: War in the Pacificand conclusions
Nov. 7: Midterm Exam
|
Addington, 240-265; Freedman,
#14 (Akizuki), 72 (Total War), 77 (Thorne) |
| Week 7 |
Reading |
|
Nov. 12: The Cold War and Korea
Nov.14: The impact of nuclear weapons
|
Stoessinger, ch. 3; Addington, 266-79; Freedman, #15 (Hastings),
80 (NSC 20/1), 90 (Osgood)
Addington, 279-88; Freedman, #16 (Cuban Crisis), 69 (Beaufre),
70 (Schelling), (also suggested: 81 (Bull), 95 (Waltz))
|
| Week 8 |
Reading |
|
Nov. 19: Vietnam
Nov. 21: Persian Gulf War
|
Stoessinger, ch. 4; Addington, 288-301; Freedman, #88 (Karnow),
17 (Loehr), 86 (Mao), 87 (Laqueur), 91 (Hunt), 93 (Osgood)
Stoessinger, ch. 7; Addington, 301-23; Freedman, #22 (Desert Storm),
49 (Freedman/Karsh), 79 (MacIsaac)
|
| Week 9 |
Reading |
|
Nov. 26: Arab-Israeli conflict
Nov. 28: No class
|
Stoessinger, ch. 6; Addington,
301-307; Freedman, #92 (Handel) |
| Week 10 |
Reading |
|
Dec. 3: India, Pakistan, and the war in Kashmir
Dec. 5: Conclusions. The future of war: a new military revolution?
|
Stoessinger, ch. 5; Freedman, #94-97
Addington, 324-26; Freedman #28 (van Creveld), 40 (Elshtain), 37
(Janowitz), 39 (Manigart)
|
Final Exam: Thursday, Dec. 10 13:00
|
