History of War
Themes studied throughout the course: technology, politics and people, religion, geography,
economics and resources
➢ Foundations of War
○ Beginnings of War: pre-war cavemen, agriculture and job specialization,
organization of city-states and kingdoms and governments, military and
nonmilitary roles of armies, Sargon and Hammurabi, absence of war (ever) in
Antarctica or the moon
○ War in Ancient Asia: Sun Tsu, Mongols, Great Wall, Code of Bushido and
Samurai, the “Divine Wind” typhoon, fireworks, Indian Caste System, elephants
at war
○ War in Ancient Africa: Hittite chariots, Bible battles, lack of domesticated
animals in sub-Saharan Africa
➢ Emergence of Empires: Greece and Rome
○ Ancient Greece: Sparta, Athens, Persia, Troy, Phillip and Alexander
○ Ancient Rome: high point of the Ancient world, most organized nation,
dependent upon conquest for wealth
➢ Medieval Warfare
○ Medieval Times: 100 years war, Black Death, War of the Roses, Jeanne D’Arc,
Knights and peasants and mercenaries, weird weapons, castles – the early
firebase, and armor
○ The Renaissance: Exploration, gunpowder, 30 Years War, English Civil War, the
Reformation, Cortez v. Aztecs
➢ Napoleonic Era
○ Napoleonic Era: 7 Years War, American Revolution, French Revolution, Trafalgar,
Austerlitz, Borodino, Leipzig, Waterloo, Greene and Morgan v. Cornwallis
➢ Industrialization of War
○ U.S. Civil War: preview of the future, industry v. elan, armored ships, railroads,
steam ships, Monitor v. Virginia, Gettysburg
○ Imperialism: Zulus, Fuzzies, Dervishes, Pathans, American West, Cuba
➢ World War I
○ World War I: end of the age of war by man and muscle, transition to machine
warfare, mud & trenches, gas, tanks, machine guns, airplanes, battleships, T.E.
Lawrence
➢ World War II: European Theater
○ Europe: Fall of France, Battle of Britain, Battle of the Atlantic, El Alamein,
Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kursk, Anzio, Bombing of Schweinfurt, D-Day, MarketGarden
➢ World War II: Pacific Theater
○ Pacific: Pearl Harbor, Midway, Guadalcanal, Burma, Iwo Jima, Okinawa
➢ The Cold War
○ Cold War: nukes, space, brushfire wars in Central America and Africa, war by
proxy
○ Korea: Pusan Perimeter, Inch’on Landings, Chosin Reservoir, MiG Alley
○ Vietnam: the most misunderstood war, firebases, helicopters, pacification,
political restrictions
➢ The War on Terrorism
○ Gulf War: Iran-Iraq War, Persian Gulf Tanker War, smart bombs, body armor,
UAVs, war for a resource
○ Afghanistan and Iraq: Contractors: the new mercenaries?
➢ Tomorrow’s War
○ Tomorrow’s War: robot v. robot, Korea 2020?, why will we fight future wars and
how?