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Comparative Grand Strategy and Military Doctrine >> Content Detail



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Readings

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In addition to the readings listed by week below, see the bibliography of fully cited required and recommended readings used in this course.

Readings by Class Session

LEC #TOPICSREADINGS
I. Grand Strategies: Their Origins and Their Effects
1Course Overview and Introduction to Grand StrategyClausewitz, Carl von. "The Influence of Clausewitz." On War. Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976, pp. 27-44.
Note: All scholars of security affairs should own this book. If you do not wish to own this book, you must copy these pages and read them.

———. "War Plans." On War. Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976, Book 8, pp. 577-637.
Note: All scholars of security affairs should own this book. If you do not wish to own this book, you must copy these pages and read them.

Bassford. "Clausewitz and His Works." Chapter 2 in Clausewitz in English. pp. 9-33.

Liddell-Hart. Strategy. Chapter XIX, pp. 319-323.

Posen. Sources of Military Doctrine. Chapter 1, pp. 13-33.
2Material Influences on Strategy: Geographical Position, National Power and Military TechnologyGeographical Position and National Power

Kennedy. The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery. Chapter 7, pp. 177-202.

Kennedy. "The First World War and The International Power System." pp. 7-40.

Posen. Sources of Military Doctrine. Chapter 2, pp. 34-41, 59-80.

Recommended

Weigley. "A Strategy of Sea Power and Empire." Chapter 9 in The American Way of War. pp. 167-191. Supplements the preceding.

Military Technology

Howard. "Men Against Fire." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War. pp. 41-57.
3Military OrganizationsHoward. War in European History. Chapter 4, pp. 54-74.

Irvine. "The Origin of Capital Staffs." pp. 161-179.

Posen. Sources of Military Doctrine. pp. 41-59.

Vagts. History of Militarism. pp. 323-359.

Travers. "Technology, Tactics, and Morale: Jean de Bloch, the Boer War and British Military Theory, 1900-1914." pp. 264-286.
4NationalismCarr. "The Third Period." In Nationalism and After. pp. 17-26.

Stern. "Why do People Sacrifice for Their Nations?" In Perspectives on Nationalism and War. pp. 99-121.

Hayes. "Nationalism and International War," and "Nationalism and Militarism." In Essays on Nationalism. pp. 126-155, 187- 195.

Paret. "Nationalism and the Sense of Military Obligation."

Posen. "Nationalism, the Mass Army, and Military Power."

Van Evera. "Hypotheses on Nationalism and War." pp. 5-39.

Farrar, Jr. "Villain or Scapegoat? Nationalism and the Outbreak of World War I."

Williamson. "The Domestic Context of Habsburg Foreign Policy." Chapter 2 in Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War . pp. 13-33.
5The International Political System: Constraints, Incentives and InteractionsJervis. "Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma." pp. 167-214.

Waltz. "Anarchic Orders and Balances of Power," and "Structural Causes & Military Effects." In Theory of International Politics. pp. 102-128, 161-193.

Christensen and Snyder. "Chain Gangs and Passed Bucks." International Organization 44, no. 2 (Spring 1990): 137-168.

Lynn-Jones. "Offense-Defense Theory and its Critics." Security Studies 4, no. 4 (Summer 1995): 660-691.
6Historical Case StudiesGeorge. Case Studies and Theory Development. pp. 43-68.

Lijphart. "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method." pp. 682-693.

———. "The Comparable Cases Strategy in Comparative Research."

Levy. "Too Important To Leave to the Other." International Security 22, no. 1 (Summer 1997): 22-33.

Haber, Kennedy and Krasner. "Brothers Under the Skin…" International Security 22, no. 1 (Summer 1997): 34-43.

Gaddis. "History, Theory and Common Ground…" International Security (Summer 1997): 75-85.

Posen. The Sources of Military Doctrine.
Read the Preface, and Chapters 2 and 7, but read them after you read the methodology articles, and with an eye to how methodological problems were solved, or not. You can skim as much of the rest of the book as you wish.

Paret. "The History of War and the New Military History." In Understanding War. pp. 209-226.
II. Origins of World War I
7The Anglo-German Rivalry (Naval and Otherwise)Crowe. "Memorandum."

Kennedy. "Tirpitz, England and the Second Navy Law of 1900: A Strategical Critique." pp. 33-57.

———. Rise and Fall. Chapter 8, pp. 205-237.

Turner. Origins of the First World War. pp. 1-60.

Lynn-Jones. "Détente and Deterrence: Anglo-German Relations, 1911-1914." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War. pp. 165-194.

Geiss. German Foreign Policy, 1871-1914. pp. 75-83, 106-118, 121-127, 139-145.

Williamson. "Joffre Reshapes French Strategy." pp. 133-154.

Copeland. "German Security and the Preparation for World War I." Chapter 3 in The Origins of Major War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell, 2000, pp. 56-78.

Recommended

Rich. Hitler's War Aims. pp. XIX-XXX. (useful historical background)
8Grand Strategy and Military Doctrine Among the Pre-WWI Land PowersStevenson. "Militarization and Diplomacy in Europe before 1914." International Security 22, no. 1 (Summer 1997): 125-161.

Sagan. "1914 Revisited: Allies, Offense, and Instability." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War. pp. 109-133.

Ritter. "The Breach of Neutrality." In The Schlieffen Plan. pp. 3-10, 78-96.

Snyder. The Ideology of the Offensive. (entire)
9The July Crisis, Military Strategy and the Outbreak of the WarTrachtenberg. "The Meaning of Mobilization in 1914." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War. pp. 195-226.

Van Evera. "The Cult of the Offensive." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War. pp. 59-109.

Turner. Origins. pp. 60-115.

Turner. "The Russian Mobilization in 1914." pp. 252-268.

Herrmann. The Arming of Europe and the Making of the First World War. Chapter 7, pp. 199-224.

Fuller. "The Battles of the Marne and Tannenberg, 1914." In A Military History of the Western World . pp. 182-228.

The maps at this site will make the initial plans and the first battles much easier to understand.

Recommended

Levy. "Preferences, Constraints, and Choices in July 1914." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War. pp. 226-262.
10The Course and Conduct of WWI

Lupfer. "The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Changes in German Tactical Doctrine During the First World War." (entire)
Those who have not read it before should read

Keegan. "The Somme." In  The Face of Battle. pp. 204-284.
Note: This book is a Minor Classic; Security Studies Scholars should own a copy. If you do not wish to own the book or cannot find a library copy you will need to make yourself a copy.

Kennedy. Rise and Fall. Chapter 9, pp. 239-265.

Recommended

May. "The U-Boat Campaign." In The Use of Force, edited by Art and Waltz. pp. 298-315.

The original source is:
May. The World War and American Isolation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966, pp. 114-136. (Students will also find pp. 200-252, and 387-415 instructive.)

Bibliographical Note On the Pre-World War I Period

Students interested in more comprehensive discussions will wish to examine:

Steiner. Britain and the Origins of the First World War.

Berghahn. Germany and the Approach of War in 1914.

Keiger. France and the Origins of the First World War.

Lieven. Russia and the Origins of the First World War.

Williamson. Austria Hungary and the Origins of the First World War.

Shanafelt. The Secret Enemy. (About German-Austria relations.)

III. Origins of World War II
11British and German Grand Strategy in the 1930sWeinberg. "From One War to Another." In A World At Arms. pp. 6-47.

May. Strange Victory. Chapter 7, pp. 94-110.

Kennedy. Rise and Fall. Chapter 10, pp. 267-298.

Posen. Sources of Military Doctrine. Chapters 5, and 6.

Schweller. "An Assessment of the International Distribution of Power (circa 1938-1940)." Deadly Imbalances. pp. 203-208. (Appendix)

Recommended

Howard. War in European History. Chapter 7, pp. 116-135.
12French Grand StrategyMay. Strange Victory. Chapters 8, 9, 10 (pp. 113-153), Chapters 19-21 (pp. 271-322).

Posen. "Still Strange Defeat." Draft

Young, Robert. In Command of France. pp. 1-33.

Posen. Sources of Military Doctrine. Chapter 4.
13Military Doctrine, Land Warfare, and the Crises of the Late 1930sMearsheimer, John. Conventional Deterrence. (All but the Chapter on the Nato-Pact competition.)

Herwig, Holger. "Clio Deceived." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War. pp. 262-301.

May. Strange Victory. Chapters 11, 12, pp. 153-212.

Posen. "Competing Images of the Soviet Union."

Overy and Wheatcroft. "The Soviet Union." Chapter 5 in The Road To War . pp. 210-257.
14The Opening Battles of the WarReview

Posen. Sources of Military Doctrine. pp. 81-104.

Read

May. Strange Victory. Chapters 15, 16, 17, 18 (pp. 215-268), Chapters 24 through to the conclusion (pp. 347-464).


Required Readings

Amazon logo Clausewitz, Carl von. "The Influence of Clausewitz," and "War Plans." In  On War, edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976. ISBN: 9780691056579.

Amazon logo Howard, Michael. War in European History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Incorporated 2001. ISBN: 9780192802088.

Amazon logo Bassford, Christopher. Clausewitz in English. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780195083835.

Amazon logo Liddell-Hart, Basil H. Strategy. New York, NY: Plume, Incorporated, 1991. ISBN: 9780452010710.

Amazon logo Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery. Amherst, New York, NY: Humanity Books, Publishers, 1986. ISBN: 9781573922784.

Kennedy, Paul M. "The First World War and the International Power System." International Security 9, no. 1 (Summer 1984): 7-40.

Irvine, Dallas. "The Origin of Capital Staffs." Journal of Modern History 10 (June 1938): 161-79.

Travers, T. H. E. "Technology, Tactics, and Morale: Jean de Bloch, the Boer War and British Military Theory, 1900-1914." Journal of Modern History 51 (June 1979): 264-86.

Carr, Edward Hallett. "The Third Period." In Nationalism and After. London, UK: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1945, pp. 17-26.

Amazon logo Stern, Paul C. "Why Do People Sacrifice for Their Nations?" In Perspectives on Nationalism and War, edited by John L. Comaroff and Paul C. Stern, 99-121. New York, NY: Routledge, 1995. ISBN: 9782884491662.

Hayes, C. J. H. "Nationalism and International War," and "Nationalism and Militarism." In Essays on Nationalism. New York, NY: Russell & Russell, 1966, pp. 126-55, 187-95.

Paret, Peter. "Nationalism and the Sense of Military Obligation." Military Affairs 34, no. 1 (February 1970): 2-6.

Posen, Barry R. "Nationalism, the Mass Army, and Military Power." International Security 18, no. 2 (Fall 1993): 80-129.

Van Evera, Steven. "Hypotheses on Nationalism and War." International Security 18, no. 4 (Spring 1994): 5-39.

Farrar, L. L., Jr. "Villain of the Peace: Nationalism and the Causes of World War I." Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism 22, no. 1-2 (1995): 53-66.

Williamson, Samuel. "The Domestic Context of Habsburg Foreign Policy." Chapter 2 in Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War. London, UK: Macmillan, 1991, pp. 13-33. ISBN: 0333420810.

Jervis, Robert. "Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma." World Politics 30, no. 2 (January 1978): 167-214.

Amazon logoWaltz, Kenneth Neal. "Anarchic Orders and Balances of Power," and "Structural Causes & Military Effects." In Theory of International Politics. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1979, pp. 102-28, 161-93. ISBN: 9780075548522.

Christensen, Thomas, and Jack Snyder. "Chain Gangs and Passed Bucks." International Organization 44, no. 2 (Spring 1990): 137-168.

Lynn-Jones, Sean M. "Offense-Defense Theory and its Critics." Security Studies 4, no. 4 (Summer 1995): 660-691.

Amazon logo George, Alexander. "Case Studies and Theory Development: The Method of Structured, Focused Comparison." In Diplomacy: New Approaches in History, Theory and Policy, edited by Paul Gordon Lauren, 43-68. New York, NY: Free Press, 1979. ISBN: 9780029180709.

Lijphart, Arend. "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method." American Political Science Review 64 (1971): 682-93.

———. "The Comparable Cases Strategy in Comparative Research." Comparative Political Studies 8, no. 2 (1975): 158-77.

Levy, Jack. "Too Important To Leave to the Other." International Security 22, no. 1 (Summer 1997): 22-33.

Haber, Stephen, David M. Kennedy, and Stephen D. Krasner. "Brothers Under the Skin: Diplomatic History and International Relations." International Security 22, no. 1 (Summer 1997): 34-43.

Gaddis, John Lewis. "History, Theory and Common Ground…" International Security (Summer 1997): 75-85.

Amazon logo Paret, Peter. "The History of War and the New Military History." In Understanding War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993, pp. 209-226. ISBN: 9780691000909.

Crowe, Eyre. "Memorandum on the Present State of British Relations with France and Germany," January 1, 1907. In British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898-1914, vol. III: The Testing of the Entente, 1904-6, edited by G. P. Gooch and Harold Temperley. London, UK: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1928.

Kennedy, Paul. "Tirpitz, England and the Second Navy Law of 1900: A Strategical Critique." Militargeschichtliche Mitteilungen 2 (1970): 33-57.

Amazon logo Turner, L. C. F. Origins of the First World War. New York, NY: W. W. Norton and Company, Incorporated, 1970. ISBN: 9780393099478.

Amazon logo Lynn-Jones, Sean. "Detante and Deterrence: Anglo-German Relations, 1911-1914." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War: An International Security Reader, edited by Steven E. Miller, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Stephen Van Evera, 165-94. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780691023496.

Amazon logo Geiss, Imanuel. German Foreign Policy, 1871-1914. London, UK: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976, pp. 75-83, 106-18, 121-27, 139-45. ISBN: 9780710083036.

Amazon logo Williamson, Samuel R. "Joffre Reshapes French Strategy, 1911-1913." In The War Plans of the Great Powers 1880-1914, edited by Paul M. Kennedy, 133-54. Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman, 1979. ISBN: 9780049400566.

Copeland, Dale C. "German Security and the Preparation for World War I." Chapter 3 in The Origins of Major War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000, pp. 56-78.

Stevenson, David. "Militarization and Diplomacy in Europe before 1914." International Security 22, no. 1 (Summer 1997): 125-161.

Amazon logo Sagan, Scott. "1914 Revisited: Allies, Offense, and Instability." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War: An International Security Reader, edited by Steven E. Miller, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Stephen Van Evera, 109-33. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780691023496.

Ritter, Gerhard. "The Breach of Neutrality." In The Schlieffen Plan. New York, NY: Praeger, 1958, pp. 3-10, 78-96.

Amazon logo Snyder, Jack. The Ideology of the Offensive. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780801482441.

Amazon logo Trachtenberg, Marc. "The Meaning of Mobilization in 1914." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War: An International Security Reader, edited by Steven E. Miller, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Stephen Van Evera, 196-226. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780691023496.

Amazon logo Van Evera, Steven. "The Cult of the Offensive." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War: An International Security Reader, edited by Steven E. Miller, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Stephen Van Evera, 59-109. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780691023496.

Turner, L. C. F. "The Russian Mobilization in 1914." Journal of Contemporary History 3, no. 1 (January 1968): 252-68.

Amazon logo Hermann, David. The Arming of Europe and the Making of the First World War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 199-224. ISBN: 9780691033747.

Fuller, J. F. C. "The Battles of the Marne and Tannenberg, 1914." In A Military History of the Western World. New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1956, pp. 182-228.

Lupfer, Timothy. "The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Changes in German Tactical Doctrine During the First World War." Leavenworth Paper, no. 4 (July 1981): 69.

Amazon logo Keegan, John. "The Somme." In The Face of Battle. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1983 (reprint edition), pp. 204-84. ISBN: 9780140048971.

Amazon logo Weinberg, Gerhard L. "From One War to Another." In A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 6-47. ISBN: 9780521443173.

Amazon logo Schweller, Randall L. "An Assessment of the International Distribution of Power (circa 1938-1940)." In Deadly Imbalances: Tripolarity and Hitler's Strategy of World Conquest. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1998, pp. 203-208 (Appendix). ISBN: 9780231110730.

Amazon logo Young, Robert. In Command of France: French Foreign Policy and Military Planning, 1933-1940. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978, pp. 1-33. ISBN: 9780674445369.

Amazon logo Posen, Barry R. The Sources of Military Doctrine. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780801494277.

Amazon logo Mearsheimer, John J. Conventional Deterrence. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983. ISBN: 9780801415692.

Amazon logo Herwig, Holger. "Clio Deceived." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War: An International Security Reader, edited by Steven E. Miller, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Stephen Van Evera, 262-301. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780691023496.

Posen, Barry R. "Competing Images of the Soviet Union." World Politics 39, no. 4 (July 1987): 579-97.

Amazon logo May, Ernest R. Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2000. ISBN: 9780809089062.

Amazon logo Overy, R. J., and Andrew Wheatcroft. "The Soviet Union." Chapter 5 in The Road To War. Revised and updated edition. London, UK: Penguin, 2000, pp. 210-257. ISBN: 9780140285307.

Recommended Readings

The following books are recommended as sources for substantive or theoretical enrichment; I do not ask you to buy them but you should know of their existence.

Amazon logo Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. New York, NY: Vintage Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780679720195.

Amazon logo Mearsheimer, John J. Liddell Hart and the Weight of History. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780801420894.

Amazon logo McNeill, William H. The Pursuit of Power. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780226561585.

Amazon logo Rich, Norman. Hitler's War Aims: Ideology, the Nazi State, and the Course of Expansion. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1973, pp. xix-xxx. ISBN: 9780393054545.

Amazon logo Levy, J. "Preferences, Constraints, and Choices in July 1914." In Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War: An International Security Reader, edited by Steven E. Miller, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Stephen Van Evera, 226-62. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780691023496.

May, Ernest R. "The U-Boat Campaign." In The Use of Force: International Politics and Foreign Policy, edited by Robert J. Art and Kenneth Neal Waltz, 298-315. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1971.

Amazon logo Steiner, Zara. Britain and the Origins of the First World War. London, UK: Macmillan, 1977. ISBN: 9780333154274.

Amazon logo Berghahn, V. R. Germany and the Approach of War in 1914. London, UK: Macmillan, 1973. ISBN: 9780333106969.

Amazon logo Keiger, John F. V. France and the Origins of the First World War. London, UK: Macmillan, 1983. ISBN: 9780333285527.

Amazon logo Lieven, D. C. B. Russia and the Origins of the First World War. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1983. ISBN: 9780312696115.

Williamson, Samuel. Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War. London, UK: Macmillan, 1991. ISBN: 0333420810.

Amazon logo Shanafelt, Gary. The Secret Enemy: Austria-Hungary and the German Alliance, 1914-1918. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780880330800.

Amazon logo Ropp, Theodore. War in the Modern World. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780801864452.

Amazon logo Snyder, Jack. Myths of Empire. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780801497643.

Amazon logo Weigley, Russell. The American Way of War. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1977. ISBN: 9780253280299.


 








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