Syllabus
ON WAR I. 1) a) Organization, requirements, sources of literature and data, etc. b) Key questions and puzzles; c) A brief introduction to key terms and concepts (tactics, strategy, operational level; Military forces and its division; systems of personal recruitment - Militia, Conscription, Professional, Mercenary; War - Conventional war vs. asymmetric war; deterrence) 2) Consequences of war a) War and its significance in the field of International Realations (Waltz 1959) b) Impact of war on the state formation (Taylor, Botea 2008) c) War, mass mobilization and social redistribution (Andreski 1954, Sheve, Stasavage 2010)
Block one, War in a historical perspective 3) a) War in traditional societies (Keegan 1996) b) Battle of the ancient world (Hanson 1988 and 2006) c) Campaign and its logistic in the ancient world (Hanson 2006) 4) Geostrategic aspects (Gilpin 1981 and Eckstein 2007) a) Basic strategic dilemmas c) Limitations to political and military participation of the people - an obstacle for sustainable territorial aggrandizement (Stasavage 2011, Tin Bor Hui 2004) d) Profits and looses from territorial expansion (Gilpin 1981) e) War-propensity of the ancient system (Eckstein 2007) f) Sea - an (in)efficient obstacle? 5) Examples a) Peloponnesian War (Hanson 2006) b) Punic Wars c) Wars in ancient China(Tin Bor Hui 2005) 6) War and the birth of the modern International System I. (Howard 1977, Tilly 1985) a) From knights to mercenaries b) Mercantilism an economic strategy c) Economic (dis)incentives of war c) The birth of territorial states 7) War and the birth of the modern international system II. a) From mercenaries to professionals (Howard 1977) b) Taxes, economic productivity and military might c) Napoleonic wars - the great transformation (Cederman et al. 2012) d) Nations at war, the birth of nationalism (Posen 1993, Kadercan 2012) e) Social and political consequences of war and mass mobilization (Andreski 1954, Sheve, Stasavage 2012) 8) The military art and thinking a) Tactics b) Strategy c) The role of technological progress d) Clausewitz (Clausewitz 2008) 9) Examples a) Battles of Swiss mercenaries b) Thirty years war c) Napoleonic Wars and its battles d) Franco-Prussian War (Howard 2001)
Block Two, the birth of modern warfare 10) The Revolution in Military Affairs - WWI a) Total war - economics as a fundament of military power b) Battle- the revolution (fire and maneuver) (Biddle 2004) c) War at sea d) First tanks and planes 11) Examples a) German (planed) war economy b) Operation Michael (Biddle 2005) c) Italian front (Rommel 1937) d) Dardanelle - on the strategic (in)significance of the sea-born operations in modern warfare 12) Selected Issues of interest a) The role of space: a historical perspective b) ………..
Annotation
The aim of this course is to introduce students into the issues of war and battle activity. The key issues discussed include: (i) Ability of political units to wage a war; (ii) Strategic feasibility of conflict; (iii) Role of space and distance in military affairs (strategic and tactical level); (iv) Tactical patterns on the battlefield. The course is structured along three basic military levels - strategic, operational and tactical. ON WAR I. discusses military issues from ancient Greece to 1st WW. Modern epoch is discussed in the ON WAR II course, which takes place at the summer semester.
At the end of the semester students should be able to understand main aspects of wars in the pre-modern era. They should understand reasons for development in military issues over the past 2 000 years. In addition, effects of military competition on (i) international system formation and (ii) formation of modern nation-state will be discussed. Further students will gain notion of basic terms like strategy, tactic, or terms connected with military organization (like company, battalion, regiment, division etc.).