the courses

Master of Arts in Military History

I have reorgainzed this page as follows:

Program of Study
Current class
Next class
Completed classes

Reading lists for classes are posted as they become available.

Program of Study

American Military University’s M.A. in Military History can be viewed in detail here.

Institutional Requirements

Great Military Philosophers (Complete)
Studies in U.S. Military History (Current Course)
Historiography (Complete)
Historical Research Methods

Concentration Requirements

The Civil War: Seminal Event in American History (Complete)
Civil War Strategy and Tactics
Civil War Command and Leadership
Antebellum America: Prelude to Civil War
Reconstruction and Post-Civil War America
Intelligence Operations in the Civil War
or Civil War Cavalry: Theory, Practice and Operations
or The Mexican - American War: 1846-1848
or Special Topic: Military History
or Independent Study: Military History

Comp Exam / Thesis Seminar

Master’s Capstone Seminar in Military History

Graduate Electives

TBD (3 hours)

Current Class:

Studies in U.S. Military History (started April 7th)

The course examines the military heritage of the United States from the colonial period to the present. “Through a study of the literature of American military history, this course is a study of the individuals, military policies, postures, organizations, strategies, campaigns, tactics, and battles that have defined the American military experience.”

Required Texts:

The reading list looks outstanding. Slight change in texts related to Korean War. I’ve posted these books on my virtual bookshelves that you can find here. I’ll post more about each of these as I get into the sememster. Recommended Reading Lists come primarily from the sources of the books below. One exception was: One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U.S. Navy 1890 - 1990 by George W. Baer which I’ve added to my library.

• American Civil War and The Origins of Modern Warfare
• A People’s Army: Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the 7-Year War
• The Army and Vietnam
• Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War
• For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of America, Revised and Expanded
• A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783
• War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War
• The Philippine War, 1899-1902
• Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America
• The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions, 1941-1945
• The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity
• Strategies of Containment: A Critical Reappraisal of American National Security Policy During the Cold War
• Roy E. Appleman. East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950. Reprint. Texas A&M University Press, 1991.

Instructor, Dr. Kelly C. Jordan

Completed Classes:

Historiography (December 3, 2007 - March 21, 200

The class examines historiography, the study of historical thought from its emergence in the classical world to the present. It concentrates on how history has been interpreted, rather the facts of history themselves. The course contemplates the fundamental questions about the nature of history and investigates the relationships between theory and evidence in historical writing. Also explored are the varieties of narratives historians have used to reconstruct the past and many of the major historiographical schools and ideas that have developed over time.

Required Texts

• Bentley, Michael. Modern Historiography: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 1999. 
• Breisach, Ernst. Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, 2nd Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
• Green, Anna, and Kathleen Troup, eds. The Houses of History: A Critical Reader in Twentieth-Century History and Theory. New York: New York University Press, 1999.
• Marius, Richard. A Short Guide to Writing about History. NY: Longmans, 1999
• Turabian, Kate L. Manual for Writers of Term Papers, 6th Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. 

Web-based Readings

• Maryilyn, Bernard. “The Challenge of Modern Historiography.” American Historical Review 87 (February 1982).
• Bentley, Michael. “Herbert Butterfield and the Ethics of Historiography.” History & Theory 44 (February 2005). 
• Gorman, Jonathan. “Historians and Their Duties.” History & Theory 43 (December 2004). 
• Nolte, Ernst. “The Relationship Between Bourgeois and Marxist Historiography.” History & Theory 14 (January 1975). 
• Zagorin, Perez. “History, The Referent, and Narrative: Reflections on Postmodernism Now.” History & Theory 38 (January 1999).

Recommended Supplemental Reading

• Bambach, Charles R. Heidegger, Dilthey, and the Crisis of Historicism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995.
• Barraclough, Geoffrey. Main Trends in History. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1979.
• Butterfield, Herbert. Man on His Past: The Study of the History of Historical Scholarship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955.
• Charters David A., Marc Milner, and J. Brent Wilson, eds. Military History and the Military Profession. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1992.
• Collingwood, R. G. The Idea of History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
• Garraghan, Gilbert J. A Guide to Historical Method. New York: Fordham University Press, 1946.
• Gottschalk, Louis. Understanding History: A Primer of Historical Method. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963.
• Hornblower, Simon, ed. Greek Historiography. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.
• Johnson, Allen. The Historian and Historical Evidence. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1930.
• Montagu, M. F. Ashley, ed. Toynbee and History: Critical Essays and Reviews. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1956. Powicke, F. M. Modern Historians and the Study of History: Essays and Papers. London: Odhams Press, 1955.
• Richardson, Alan. History Sacred and Profane. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964.
• Snooks, Graeme Donald. The Laws of History. London: Routledge, 1998.
• Thompson, James Westfall, and Bernard J. Holm. A History of Historical Writing. New York: Macmillan, 1942.

The Civil War: Seminal Event in American History

A study of the political, economic, cultural, and social aspects of the Civil War. The course addresses the causes of the war, how a nation coped with the struggle across multiple dimensions, and how we dealt with the conflict’s aftermath.

Reading list required:

• Catton, Bruce. America Goes to War: The Civil War and its Meaning in American Culture. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1992.
• Clinton, Catherine. Life in Civil War America. Conshohosken, PA: Eastern Acorn Press, 1996.
• Craven, Avery O. The Coming of the Civil War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957.
• Davis, William C. Cause Lost: Myths and Realities of the Confederacy. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1991.
• Linderman, Gerald F. Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War. NY: The Free Press, 1989.
• McPherson, James M. Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992
• __________. Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Roland, Charles P. An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1991.
• Thomas, Emory M. The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1991.

Recommended Supplementary Reading List:

• Adams, Charles. When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000.
• Beringer, Richard E., Hattaway, Herman, Jones, Archer, and Still, William N. Why The South Lost The Civil War. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986.
• Boritt, Gabor S., Editor. Lincoln, the War President. The Gettysburg Lectures. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
• Cornish, Dudley T. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987.
• Craven, Avery O. Civil War in the Making. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996.
• Culpepper, Marilyn M. Trials and Triumphs: The Women of the American Civil War. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1991.
• Davis, Jefferson. The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. New York: De Capo Press, 1990.
• DiLorenzo, Thomas. The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.
• Dwyer, John, Editor, The War Between the States: America’s Uncivil War. Denton, Texas: Bluebonnett Press, 2005.
• Dupuy, Ernest and Trevor Dupuy. The Compact History of the Civil War. NY: Hawthorn Books, 1960.
• Donald, David. Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967.
• Fahs, Alice and Waugh, Joan. The Memory of the Civil War in American Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
• Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative. 3 vols. NY: Random House, 1958-74. (Paper)
• Gallman, The North Fights The Civil War: The Home Front. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1994.
• Graham, John Remington. A Constitutional History of Secession. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company, 2002.
• Grant, Susan-Mary and Parish, Peter, J., ed. Legacy of Disunion: The Enduring Significance of the American Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 2003.
• Hagerman, Edward. The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare: Ideas, Organization, and Field Command. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1988.
• Hattaway, Herman and Jones, Archer. How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983.
• Henderson, G.F.R. The Civil War: A Soldier’s View. A Collection of Civil War Writings by Col. G.F.R. Henderson. Ed. Jay Luvaas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958.
• Jones, Archer. Civil War Command and Strategy: The Process of Victory and Defeat. New York: The Free Press, 1992.
• Jordan, Ervin L. Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995.
• Kennedy, James and Walter. The South Was Right! Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company, 1994.
• McDonald, Forrest. States’ Rights and the Union. University of Kansas Press, 2000.
• McMurry, Richard M. Two Great Rebel Armies: An Essay on Confederate Military History. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
• McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom. NY: Ballantine Books, 1989.
• __________. Marching Toward Freedom: Blacks in the Civil War, 1866-1865. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1994.
• __________. What They Fought for: 1861-1865. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1994.
• McWhiney, Grady, and Jamieson, Perry D. Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage. University: University of Alabama Press, 1982.
• Miller, William Lee. Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
• Mitchell, Joseph B. Decisive Battles of the Civil War. NY: Fawcett World Library, 1955.
• Mitchell, Reid. Civil War Soldiers: Their Expectations and Their Experiences. New York: Touchstone, 1989.
• Morris, Thomas D. Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619-1860. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1996.
• Roland, Charles P. The Confederacy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
• Sullivan, Walter, Editor. The War The Women Lived: Female Voices From The Confederate South. Nashville: J.S. Sanders and Company, 1995.
• Vandiver, Frank E. Their Tattered Flags: The Epic of the Confederacy. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.
• Webb, James. Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. New York: Broadway Books, 2004.
• Webb, Willard ed. Critical Moments of the Civil War. NY: Fountainhead Publisher, 1961.
• Wills, Garry. Lincoln At Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
• American Heritage. Battle Maps of the Civil War. Tulsa, OK: Council Oak Books, 1992.
• Chandler, David G. Atlas of Military Strategy: The Art, Theory and Practice of War, 1618-1878. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1980.
• Keegan, John, Ed. The Times Atlas of the Second World War. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1989.
• U.S. Military Academy. West Point Atlas Series. Wayne, NJ: Avery Publishing Group, 1986-94.
• Woodworth, Steven E. and Winkle, Kenneth J. Atlas of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Great Military Philosophers

The class examined the development of the military intellect by introducing the wisdom of the great military thinkers of the past. Among others, the philosophers the course addressed included Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Clausewitz, Jomini, Mahan, Corbett, Douhet, Mitchell, Liddell Hart and Mao Tse-tung. Much of the reading was of primary sources although commentary and analysis sources were also excellent. Study of these great thinkers provided considerable insight into the nature and conduct of war at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels.

Required Textbooks

• Clausewitz, Carl von. On War. Edited and Translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.
• Handel, Michael I. Masters of War: Classical Strategic Thought. 3^rd Revised and Expanded Edition. London: Frank Cass, 2001.
• Jablonsky, David. Roots of Strategy (Book 4). Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1999.
• Liddell-Hart, Basil H. Strategy. 2^nd Edition. NY: Meridian Books, 1991.
• >Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Art of War. Translated with Commentary by Christopher Lynch. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
• Paret, Peter, ed. Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
• Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Samuel B. Griffith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971
• Tse-Tung, Mao. The Art of War (Special Edition). El Paso, TX: El Paso Norte Press, 2005.

Recommended Supplementary Reading List:

• Addington, Larry. The Blitzkrieg Era and the German General Staff, 1865-1941. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1971.
• __________. The Patterns of War Through the Eighteenth Century. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
• Asprey, Robert B. War in the Shadows: The Guerrilla in History. 2 Vols. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1975.
• Brodie, Bernard and Fawn. From Crossbow to H-Bomb. Rev. Ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973.
• Builder, Carl H. The Army in the Strategic Planning Process: Who Shall Bell the Cat? Bethesda: Concepts Analysis Agency Report, 1989:94-105.
• Challand, Gerard. Art of War in World History: From Antiquity to the Nuclear Age. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993.
• Department of the Army. Field Manual 3-0, Operations. GPO, June 2001.
• Foerster, Roland G., ed. Generalfeldmarshall von Moltke: Bedeutung und Wirkung. Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1992; Specifically, Michael D. Krause, “Moltke and the Origins of Operational Art” (pp.141-164) and “Moltke and Grant” (pp. 131-139).
• Gat, Azar. The Origins of Military Thought. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989/92.
• German Army. On the German Art of War: Truppenführung. Edited and Translated by Bruce Condell and David T. Zabecki. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001.
• Handel, Michael I., ed. Clausewitz and Modern Strategy. London, 1986.
• Howard, Michael. Clausewitz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.
• Hughes, Daniel J. Moltke on the Art of War: Selected Writings. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1995.
• Kissinger, Henry A. Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy. NY, 1957.
• Luvaas, Jay. “European Military Thought and Doctrine, 1870-1914,” in The Theory and Practice of War. Edited by Michael Howard. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975.
• Paret, Peter. Understanding War: Essays on Clausewitz and the History of Military Power. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
• Rosinski, Herbert. Development of Naval Thought. Newport, 1977.
• Schnelling, Thomas C. The Strategy of Conflict. NY, 1968.
• Thibault, George, ed. The Art and Practice of Military Strategy. GPO, 1984.
• U.S. News & World Report. Triumph Without Victory: The Unreported History of the Persian Gulf War. NY: Random House, 1992
• Wallach, Jehuda L. The Dogma of the Battle of Annihilation: The Theories of Clausewitz and Schlieffen. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1986.

Articles:

• Echevarria, Antuilo J., “Moltke and the German Military Tradition: His Theories and Legacies,” Parameters (Spring 1996):91-99.
• Hadley, Arthur T., “The Split ‘Military Psyche,’” The New York Times, 13 July 1986, VI, pp. 22-25.
• Krause, Michael D., “Moltke and the Origins of Operational Art,” Military Review (September 1990): 28-44.