A village militia muster in Massachusetts Bay
Colony, circa 1637.
(National Guard Heritage Print.
Courtesy National Guard Bureau)
077195: TTh, 10:10 A.M-11:30 A.M., TLC 103 Spring Semester 2008
Credit Hours: 3
Professor: Gregory J. W. Urwin, Ph.D. Office: 931 Gladfelter Hall
Office Hours: 9:00-9:50 A.M., 3:00-4:30 P.M., Tuesdays; 9:00-9:50 A.M., Thursdays; or by appointment
Office Telephone Number: 215-204-3809 E-Mail Address: gurwin@temple.edu
Web Page: http://www.temple.edu/history/UZ/urwin/
Teaching Assistant: Josh Wolf Office: 932 Gladfelter Hall
TA Telephone Number: 215-204-9876 TA E-Mail Address: joshuajwolf@temple.edu
TA Office Hours: 11:45-1:00 P.M., M; 12:00 A.M.-1:30 P.M., T
Declaration of Intent: This course is a survey of the rise of the American military establishment from its origins as a small, neglected cadre of coastal and frontier guardians to a mighty world police force and the most expensive concern of the federal government. Emphasis will be placed on the development of military policy, the principles of war, and the inter-relationship between military affairs, technology, politics, and social change.
Goals and Objectives:
Knowledge Based Skills: 1) Strategy, Tactics, and Logistics; 2) Applying the Principles of War; 3) Impact of Evolving Military Technology; 4) Importance of Politics; 5) War's Impact on Society; 6) Social Pressures and the Military; 7) Recruitment, Training, and Motivation; 8) Military Professionalism; 9) Recognition of Primary Sources.
Skill-Based Goals: 1) Spatial Awareness; 2) Writing Proficiency;
3) Appreciation for Historical Context; 4) Improved Reading Comprehension;
5) Sequential Logic; 6) Analytical Thinking; 7) Preparation for a Lifetime
of Learning; 8) Research Skills; 9) Computer Literacy.
A village militia muster in Massachusetts Bay
Colony, circa 1637.
(National Guard Heritage Print.
Courtesy National Guard Bureau)
Main Text: James M. Morris, America's Armed Forces: A History. Second Edition. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1996.
Collateral Texts: Lawrence E. Babits, A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
Earl J. Hess, The Union Soldier in Battle: Enduring the Ordeal of Combat. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997.
Peter S. Kindsvatter, American Soldiers: Ground Combat in the World Wars, Korea, & Vietnam. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003.
Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. New York: Penguin Books, 2007.
Semester Grade: The student's final grade will be based on the total number of points earned in two exams (100 points apiece, or 200 points, total), quizzes on the three collateral texts (50 points apiece, or 150 points, total), one essay based on the fourth collateral reading, i.e., Ricks, Fiasco (100 points), and one computer exercise (50 points) -- a total of 500 possible points. Class attendance and participation will also affect the grade. The professor reserves the right to fail any student who misses six classes without prior permission or valid excuses. It is up to any student who misses a test or quiz to schedule a make-up session with the teaching assistant. Students who do not provide valid excuses for missing the dates on which these exercises were originally scheduled can expect a late penalty. If opportunities arise, the class will be able to earn extra-credit points by attending films, lectures, or other educational events relating to the content of the course.
Computer Exercise: Students must bring the instructor any example of a primary source dealing with some aspect of United States military history from 1607 to 1992 from any site on the World Wide Web. A primary source is usually an eyewitness account of a historic event or some document that was generated at the time or shortly after the event occurred. In other words, you could select the reminiscences of military veterans or of politicians who helped make military policy or visited the front; a speech, briefing, or press conference given by an American general, admiral, or some other military spokesman; military legislation (such as the text of the Militia Act of 1792, Enrollment Act of 1863, National Defense Act of 1920, or Burke-Wadsworth Selective Service and Training Act of 1940); soldier letters or diaries; contemporaneous newspaper or magazine articles; and reports or memoranda generated by military commanders, military organizations, or government agencies (such as the War Department, Navy Department, and later, the Defense Department).
Once you have found an appropriate document and printed it out, you must then write a two-page paper (typed, double-spaced, in 10- or 12-point font) summarizing its content and explaining how it relates to what we are studying in this course. (In other words, what important thing does your primary source say about how Americans experienced war in certain historical eras or the development of the American military?) After you have written your paper, prepare a typed cover sheet giving your full name, the name of the web site, and the web site's URL (address), staple the cover sheet to your paper and the primary source that you found, and hand it in on the date signified on the course schedule.
Here are some web sites that contain primary sources relevant to this course.
War of Independence
George Washington Papers at Library of Congress (See Washington's wartime diaries, Continental Army Papers, general correspondence, and military papers): http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html
U.S. CIVIL WAR
U.S. Civil War Center (see links on "Archives," "Diaries," and "Letters"): http://www.civilwarhome.com/indexcivilwarinfo.htm
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR AND PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION
Spanish-American War Centennial Web Site: http://www.spanamwar.com/
World War I
Diaries and letters of American soldiers (The Doughboy Center): http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/
(Left) Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, one of the few major victories won by American forces in the War of 1812. (U.S. Navy)
Oral histories from American veterans (The Dropzone Virtual Museum): http://thedropzone.org/index_back.html
American and Japanese eyewitness accounts of the Battle of Wake Island, December 8-23, 1941: http://astro.temple.edu/~gurwin/ffo.htm
POST WORLD WAR II AMERICA (KOREA AND VIETNAM)
Harry S. Truman Library & Museum: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/
LBJ Library and Museum: http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/
Essay on Ricks: After reading Fiasco, write an essay in which you address the following questions about America's war in Iraq from 2003 to present:1) What were the major mistakes made by the U.S. government and military in 2003 and 2004 that caused a freshly conquered Iraq to erupt in a widening insurgency? 2) How did the U.S. Army's experience in Vietnam, a guerrilla war, inhibit its ability to practice effective counterinsurgency during its first two years in Iraq? 3) What did Thomas E. Ricks mean when he charged the U.S. Army with waging an anti-insurgent campaign in Iraq in 2003-4 rather than a true counter-insurgency? 4) What major mistakes did the U.S. Army commit in reacting to the insurgency in Iraq in 2003-4? 5) Finally, what did the American military start doing right in combating the insurgency from 2005 into 2007?
Your paper should be typed, double-spaced, and at least five pages in length. You must provide enough information from the book to prove that you read it and to support your historical arguments.
Academic Honesty Statement: Students are expected to do their own work on all exams, quizzes, and other exercises. Anyone caught cheating in class and/or plagiarizing will receive a failing grade in the course. The American Heritage Dictionary defines plagiarism as: "1. To steal and use the ideas and writings of another as one's own. 2. To appropriate passages or ideas from another and use them as one's own."
Americans with Disabilities Act Statement: Temple University adheres to requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, you should contact the professor privately to discuss your situation as soon as possible. Contact Disability Resources and Services at 215-204-1280 (or 11280) in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. You may also access Disability Resources and Services at this web site: http://www.temple.edu/disability/Handbook/Noframes/noframes.html.
Statement on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities: Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has a policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy #03.70.02), which can be accessed through at the following URL: http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy_no=03.70.02.
Some Basic Regulations
1) No food, liquids, or tobacco products may be consumed in class.
2) It is a sign of poor manners for men to wear hats or caps indoors. All students will remove their headgear for tests and quizzes.
3) Anyone leaving class after an exam or quiz (i.e., cutting the lectures after these exercises) will fail that particular exercise.
4) If you must miss class for some foreseeable reason, have the courtesy to notify the instructor in advance.
5) Anyone caught cheating will flunk the course.
6) Students who disrupt class will be liable to punitive quizzes that may lower their grades. Persistent misbehavior can lead to expulsion or other disciplinary action.
A squad of American soldiers engages in a fire
fight in an Iraqi city in 2003.
(U.S. Army Center of Military History)
CLASS SCHEDULE
Week 1: 22-35 January
Introduction: The Nature and Principles of
War
The Colonial Wars, 1607-1774
Morris, Ch. 1
Week 2: 28 January-1 February
The War of Independence, 1775-1783
Morris, Ch. 2, pp. 13-36
Week 3: 4-8 February
Military Vulnerability, 1784-1812
The War of 1812-1815
Morris, Ch. 2, pp. 36-53
Quiz: Babits, A Devil of a Whipping (7 February)
Week 4: 11-15 February
Indian Removal and Frontier Defense, 1815-1845
The Mexican War, 1846-48
Morris, Ch. 3
Week 5: 18-22 February
The Mexican War, 1846-48 (Cont.)
Skirting the Whirlwind, 1848-61
The Civil War: The First Taste of Total War,
1861-65
Quiz: Hess, The Union Soldier in Battle (21 February)
Week 6: 25-29 February
The Civil War: The First Taste of Total War,
1861-65 (Cont.)
Morris, Ch. 4
Week 7: 3-7 March
The Civil War: The First Taste of Total War,
1861-65 (Cont.)
Morris, Ch. 5
Internet Exercise Due (6 March)
Spring Break: 10-14 March
Week 8: 17-21 March
Losses and Gains on the Seas and the Plains
Morris, Ch. 6, pp. 133-53
Midterm (18 March)
Week 9: 20-24 March
The War with Spain and the Philippines, 1898-1902
Growing Pains and a Prolonged Adolescence,
1898-1917
Morris, Ch. 6, pp. 154-64; Ch. 7, pp. 165-74
Week 10: 27 -31 March
Over There: The United States and World War
I, 1917-18
Morris, Ch. 7, pp. 174-92
Week 11: 7-11 April
A Sleeping Giant, 1919-39
The United States and World War II, 1939-45
Morris, Chs. 8 and 9
Quiz, Kindsvatter, American Soldiers (10 April)
Week 12: 14-18 April
The United States and World War II, 1939-45
(Cont.)
Week 13: 21-25 April
Cold War, Containment, and Complacency, 1945-50
The Korean War: Reaction and Rearmament, 1950-53
From Massive Deterrence to Counterinsurgency:
Military Affairs under Eisenhower and Kennedy, 1954-63
Morris, Chs. 10, 11
Week 14: 28 April-2 May
America's First Defeat: The War for Vietnam,
1965-1973
From Vietnam to Desert Storm, 1973-91
Morris, Chs. 12, 13, and 14
Essay on Ricks, Fiasco, Due (1 May)
Week 15: 5-9 May (Final Exams Start on 8 May)
Study Days, 6-7 May
Final Exam Week: 8-14 May
Final Exam, Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 9:00-11:00 A.M.
A Martin B-26C of the U.S. 9th Air Force en
route from England to bomb a target somewhere
in Northwest Europe during World War II.
(Courtesy Air Force Historical Research Agency)
Course Materials