The Modern Battle

Catalog description

The purpose of this seminar is to examine the evolution of modern warfare by closely following four modern battles/campaigns. For this purpose the seminar offers four mock staff rides, facilitating highly engaged, well-researched experience for participants. In a mock staff ride, students are assigned roles; each student is playing a general or staff officer who was involved in the battle/campaign. Students will research their roles and, during the staff ride, will be required to explain "their" decisions and actions. Staff rides will not deviate from historical records, but closely examine how decisions were made, what pressures and forces were in action, battle outcomes, etc. This in-depth examination will allow students to gain a deeper understanding of how modern tactics, technology, means of communications, and the scale of warfare can decide, and indeed decided, campaigns. We will will spend two weeks preparing for and playing each staff ride. One meeting will be dedicated to discussing the forces shaping the chosen battle/campaign: the identity and goals ofthe belligerents, the economic, technological, cultural and other factors involved, as well as the initial general plan. The second meeting will be dedicated to the battle itself. The four battles will illustrate major developments in modern warfare.