The goal of this seminar is to add to students’ basic knowledge of important ideas and events in world history while helping them to develop the ability to identify the most important and strategic elements in a complex mix of circumstance and conflicting priorities. Based loosely on the Grand Strategy curriculum developed by John Gaddis, Paul Kennedy and Charles Hill at Yale, the seminar examines a series of key texts in grand strategy and a set of case studies that examine the question of strategy in important world conflicts from ancient times through the twentieth century. Texts include Sun Tzu, Thucydides, Machiavelli and von Clausewitz. Students will also read books on the grand strategies of Elizabeth I, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Students are encouraged to think critically about these conflicts and these leaders, asking what could or should have been done differently.
Required Texts:
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War
Donald Kagan, The Peloponnesian War
Livy, Hannibal’s War
Machiavelli, The Prince
Maurizio Viroli, Niccolo’s Smile
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy
Garrett Mattingly, The Armada
Carl von Clausewitz, On War
Donald Stoker, The Grand Design
A. T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History
John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment
Course Schedule:
February 3: Session 2: Sun Tzu, The Art of War
February 10: Session 3: Donald Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, Chapter 1-19 (pgs 3-250); Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Book II (Chapters 1-70), IV (Chapters 1-41), V (Chapters 84-116)
February 17: Session 4: Donald Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, Chapters 20-37 & Conclusion (pgs 251-490); Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Book VI & VII
February 24: Session 5: Livy, Hannibal’s War, Book 21-25 (pgs 3-309)
March 3: Session 6: Livy, Hannibal’s War, Book 26-30 (pgs 310-618)
March 10: Session 7: Machiavelli, The Prince; Maurizio Viroli, Niccolo’s Smile
March 31: Session 9: Garrett Mattingly, The Armada
April 7: Session 10: Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy, Chapters 1-8 (pgs 17-217); Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Introductory Essays, Author’s Preface, Author’s Comment, Preface, and Two Notes by the Author (pgs 3-74)
April 14: Session 11: Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Book I (pgs 75-126); Book 2, Chapter 2-6 (pgs 133-176); Book 3, Chapters 1, 8-14 (pgs 177-182, 194-214), Book 6, Chapters 25 & 26 (pgs 469-483); Book 8 (pgs 577-640)
April 21: Session 12: Donald Stoker, The Grand Design
April 28: Session 13: A. T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, Introduction, Chapters 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 14
May 5: Session 14: John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment, Chapters 1-10 (pgs 3-342)
