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Title: United States. National War College. Course 2, Syllabus - Topic 1: Introduction: The Prelude to Modern War
http://www.resdal.org/Archivo/syl2-topic1.htm
fought and why-and conduct-how war was fought-on the eve of the French Revolution. In the seminar following, we will discuss war's impact on society, and the variety of influences that shaped war during the century-and-a-half leading to the French Revolution. With this foundation established, we will be able to approach our critical analysis of modern military theory and practice from a much better informed perspective. Objectives: Understand the objectives of the course and the process by which the seminar will achieve these objectives.
Appreciate the influences that shaped both the character and conduct of European war in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Issues for Consideration: What are your own key ideas about the character and conduct of war?
Do you accept the notion that there are immutable principles that should govern and shape the character and conduct of war? Why, or why not?
What were the principal factors shaping and defining the character of war in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries? Do they bear any similarity to factors at play today?
Could current and future developments in technology, politics, or economics fundamentally change the character or conduct of war? If so, how? Required Readings: * Peter Paret, "Introduction," and R. R. Palmer, "Frederick the Great, Guibert, Bulow: From Dynastic to National War," Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, ed. Peter Paret (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986), pp. 3-8, 91-113. (Student Issue) * Michael Howard, "The Causes of War" and "War and the Nation State," The Causes of War, ed. Michael Howard (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), pp. 7-22 and 23-35. (Reprint) * Andrew Krepinevich, "From Cavalry to Computer," The National Interest, No. 37, Fall 1994, pp. 30-42. (Reprint) Supplemental Readings: * Michael Howard, War in European History (Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 1976). * Hew Strachan, European Armies and the Conduct of War (London: George, Allen, and Unwin, 1983). 2
* Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988). * Archer Jones, The Art of War in the Western World (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1987).