23 April 2010 Civilized warfare oxy morinic or not?

23 April 2010 Civilized warfare oxymorinic or not?


East TN State

HIST 3940 - War In Modern World

A study of war since the 18th century, including how armies reflect the values of a society. changes in warfare in the modern era, the American way of war strategy, tactics, generalship, weapons, and the impact of war on society.

3.000 Credit Hours

In the earliest forms of warfare we – humans- merely attacked those who angered or offended us with the most readily available weapon, our own bodies. Fists, feet, teeth, and even the mass of the entire body can be formidable weapons when deployed against someone who is smaller, less adept, less massive, or simply less prepared to engage in combat to the death against as single opponent.

The primary risk in such combat is that the combatant may be outclassed and beaten into submission or killed by the opponent. There is also the risk that the victor will incur personal injury but survive with temporary or permanent impairment of disability. Since being injured may prevent the victor from fully enjoying the spoils, some means of personal protection is in order and some means of multiplying force used against an opponent would be desirable and an improvement in the art of war as practiced in Stone Age society.

Over the centuries the technology of war improved, allowing one man, armed with the latest technical improvements to wreak extreme damage upon anyone less skillful and/or less adequately equipped. Single combat reached its pinnacle when combinations of offensive and defensive weaponry evolved to the point that allowed armored nobles to batter and hack at each other with little risk of harm while laying waste to the opposition foot soldiers with little risk of personal harm.

The crossbow and musket changed that equation.

Armies began to consist of troops of foot soldiers led by nobles and the occasional plebian with a gift for tactics. Massive formations of men stood shoulder to shoulder and marched into the musket fire of the enemy until they were close enough to become engaged in bayonet and/or hand-to-hand personal mayhem, returning the cycle nearly to its beginning.

The American Civil War was the last of the Napoleonic wars and the first of the modern wars. Technology advanced rapidly to the point that allowed the next large war to be fought on land; but also in the air, on the sea, and beneath the sea.

VietNam was the end of one era of warfare and the harbinger of the current era, the video game wars.

I’m hoping to flesh out this overview in my next semester on campus. Watch this space for observations on the technology and art of modern warfare as taught at East Tennessee State University.