HIST 302
WAR IN THE MODERN AGE
- Catalog Entry
History 302. War in the Modern Age (A, B)
Three hours lecture (3).
Prerequisite: Three hours of History at the 100-level.
General history of Western warfare, surveying the evolution of war, technology, and societies from the Middle Ages in Europe to the conflicts of the present-day.
- Detailed Description of Content of Course
1. The Nature of Human Warfare:
a. Definitions.
b. “Primitive Warfare”
c. “Civilized Warfare”
d. War as a factor in societal advance and decline.
2. Non-western ways of war
a. Chinese warfare.
b. Warfare practiced by the Islamic states.
3. The Rise of Feudal Warfare in Europe.
4. The Decline of Feudal Warfare in Europe.
5. The First Military Revolution and the Rise of Nation-States
6. Eighteenth Century Warfare: An Age of Limited Warfare
7. Warfare in the Age of Republican Revolutions: North America / France
8. Developments at Sea
9. Warfare in the Industrial Age.
a. Land
b. Sea
10. World War I: Modern, Mass, Industrial War
a. Pre-war plans and the coming of war.
b. The trench deadlock and attempts to break the stalemate.
1. Strategy and tactics.
2. Technology
c. Impact
11. Military Innovation Between the World Wars
12 World War II: Modern, Mass, Industrial War II
a. The European War
b. The Pacific War
c. Impact
13. Nuclear Weapons Development and Deterrence Theory.
14. The New Limited Wars: Military, Political, and Social Consequences
a. Korea.
b. Vietnam. A Post-modern War?
1. People’s Revolutionary War
2. “Post-Industrial Warfare.”
c. Persian Gulf Wars
15. Terrorism
- Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
Although primarily a lecture course, class discussion is actively sought. Class lectures are supplemented by readings in the textbooks and research projects.
- Goals and Objectives of the Course
1. Students will be able to develop knowledge of the basic terms, major events, principal individuals, and main concepts in the history of western warfare.
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the major problems and issues in the field of war studies.
3. Students will be able to increase skills in writing and research, but most of all in thinking.
- Assessment Measures
Grades will be based on a in-class examinations as well as such outside work as book reviews, term papers, and essays.
- Other Course Information
None.
- Review and Approval
Date Action Reviewed By
January 2005 Reviewed and Approved by Charles McClellan