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Strategic and Defence Studies Centre · ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
This course is concerned with the conduct of war. It will examine the theories developed to guide the use of organised violence in the pursuit of political objectives, and how the application of those theories has shaped the experience of war for those involved in it. While the course’s staring point is the texts held to constitute the ‘classical’ foundations of military thought, such as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Clausewitz’s On War, and Jomini’s The Art of War, its emphasis will be on reciprocal relationship between the development of military technology and the evolution of military theory from the mid-19th to the early-21st centuries. Students will thus explore ideas about the conduct of war on the sea, on the ground, and in the air, as well as the rapidly emerging operational domains of space and cyberspace, and efforts to produce joint theories of warfare that unite activity in all these spheres. The course will challenge the Eurocentrism of much of the writing about the evolution of military thought by embracing non-Western theories of war and critically examining the notion of culturally-defined approaches to warfighting.
classroom contribution
Learning outcomes 2, 3, 4, 5
weekly quizzes
Learning outcomes 1
comparative exercise (2000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 4, 5
research essay (4000 words)
Learning outcomes 2, 3, 4, 5
Eleven weekly two-hour lectures and one-hour tutorials, plus a half-day wargaming activity. Students will be expected to to spend an average of 10 hours per week on the course, with three being made up of the contact hours and the remainder preparing for lectures and tutorials, and completing assessment.
N/A Preliminary Reading B. Heuser, The Evolution of Strategy: Thinking war from antiquity to the present, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010. J. Angstrom and J. J. Widen, Contemporary Military Theory: The dynamics of war, Abingdon, Routledge, 2015. C. von Clausewitz (ed. and trans. M. Howard and P. Paret), On War, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1976. S. Cox and P. Gray (ed.), Airpower History: Turning points from Kitty Hawk to Kosovo, London Frank Cass, 2002. A. Gat, A History of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Cold War, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001. D. Jordan, et. al., Understanding Modern Warfare (2nd ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008. P. A. Lorge, The Asian Military Revolution: From gunpowder to the bomb, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008. J. A. Lynn, Battle: A history of combat and culture, Boulder, Westview Press, 2003. J. A. Olsen, Airpower Reborn: The strategic concepts of John Warden and John Boyd, Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2015. P. Porter, Military Orientalism: Eastern war through Western eyes, London, Hurst & Company, 2009.