War Studies: Battle Analysis

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

To understand war, study wars. Focusing on the military battle as a unit of analysis, we will examine and practice two of the three approaches to the study of war recommended by the eminent historian Sir Michael Howard. In his 1981 article, “The Use and Abuse of Military History,” Howard argued that professionals must study in width, depth, and context. Building from your standing knowledge of context from other classes, you will focus here on width and depth. You will explore the concepts of war studies and battle analysis, and you will experiment with both large-set (tens or hundreds of cases) and single-case battle studies. You will learn how to work with battle data covering extended periods of time and different geographic areas. And you will learn how to read and develop a single-case battle study, leveraging the 1953-1954 battle at Dien Bien Phu as an example. Throughout the course we also will explore the challenges of military forecasting and the use of war studies to inform policy.