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.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Describe the tenets of the major military theories from the mid-19th to the early 20th Century;
2. Relate the origins of the major military theories of the mid-19th--early-21st century to their cultural, technological, political, and philosophical contexts;
3. Evaluate the practical application of he major military theories of the mid-19th--early-21st century through the medium of historical case studies;
4. Critically examine historical sources and commentaries; and
5. Express the results of analysis coherently, concisely, and confidently in both written and oral forms.

Research-Led Teaching

This course is significantly geared toward research-led teaching. Bianca Baggiarini's research cuts across much of the content overall and many of the weekly topics, most notably aerial, nuclear, and irregular warfare, as well as high-technology war and ethics of war.

Required Resources

All readings and course materials will be made available on Wattle.

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

• written comments
• verbal comments
• feedback to whole class, groups, individuals, focus group etc

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). Feedback can also be provided to Course Conveners and teachers via the Student Experience of Learning & Teaching (SELT) feedback program. SELT surveys are confidential and also provide the Colleges and ANU Executive with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	War's Nomenclature	It is critical that all students begin the course with a common understanding of foundational ideas and be aware of the technical language of warfare. This session will provide a working definition of ‘warfare’. It will then introduce students to the basic nomenclature associated with warfare. By way of conclusion, this session will address key difficulties related to theory-building in the context of war. Keep in mind that we shall be revisiting many of the ideas raised in this session, so there will be plenty of opportunities to revise and refresh one's understanding throughout the course.
2	Foundation theories and theorists: Asia	China has the longest continuous tradition of military literature of any culture, dating from around 500 BCE. India also has a tradition of political and military literature stretching back beyond the beginning of the common era. Classic Chinese and Indian works are supposed to embody an 'Oriental' or 'Eastern' way of war that emphasises guile, deception, and an indirect approach to avoid major force-on-force contests. This session will explore the ancient works of Chinese and Indian military theory to start adding breadth to our survey of international thinking about war and lay the ground for later critical reflection on the notion of culturally determined approaches to warfare.
3	Foundation theories and theorists: Europe	In this session, we shall examine two of the most influential thinkers in the ‘Western’ tradition of writing on war: Carl von Clausewitz and Antonine Henri de Jomini. These men—both active in the era of the Napoleonic wars—were not the first Europeans to think and write seriously about warfare, but their ideas—particularly those of Clausewitz—are probably the most enduring. This session places Clausewitz and Jomini in their historical context, attending to their military experiences and the surrounding intellectual and political climate. Most of this session is dedicated to exploring and comparing Clausewitz’s unfinished masterpiece On War—edited and published by his wife Marie von Clausewitz in 1832 and his sudden death—and Jomini's The Summary of the Art of War (1838). These were rival works. While On War and The Summary of the Art of War converged on some matters, we shall see that they diverged on very significant issues, perhaps most seriously on the relationship between theory and reality.
4	War at sea	The oceans cover approximately 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface and, as both a means of travel and a source of resources, have historically been of great strategic significance. They remain so. The evolution of naval warfare in the 20th century was heavily influenced by several sea power theorists writing around the turn of the century–Alfred Mahan and Sir Julian Corbett being foremost among them. Corbett’s writings in particular presaged the type of combined (joint) operations that would characterise campaigns in the Mediterranean, on the Normandy coast, and throughout the Pacific during the Second World War. This session will examine the work of the classical sea power theorists and compare it to more contemporary theories to gauge the influence of naval technology upon the conduct of operations on the sea.
5	Land warfare	The stalemate and horrendous casualties of the Western Front during the First World War cast a long shadow over subsequent theorising about land warfare. Concepts of mass and attrition became bywords for slaughter and exhaustion and the quest for theorists of land warfare was to ensure mobility on the battlefield, which was widely held to bring with it less costly victory. This session will examine the development of theories of land warfare during the 20th century, critically examining the role of mass, manoeuvre, momentum and attrition in them.
6	Aerial warfare and future warfare	This session has two parts: theories of aerial warfare and future war. In 1935 the French airpower theorist Pierre Faure published L'Avion tuera la guerre (The aeroplane will kill war). He argued that a large bomber force would prevent war through its deterrent power, or bring it to a swift conclusion with devastating strikes on the enemy's cities. Arising from the costly ground operations of the First World War, and the development of aircraft from simple reconnaissance platforms to full-fledged weapon delivery systems, the inter-war period saw the emergence of many air power theorists, like Faure, who foretold a revolution in warfare and, at their most extreme, predicted an end to ground combat. This session will examine their work, the political, military, and economic factors that shaped their ideas, and how it influenced the conduct of air warfare for the next 60 years. We shall also see how great promise of air power (‘bloodless victory’ from the air), predicted in the in the 1920s-1930s, has periodically resurfaced. In the second half of this session we shall consider futurist speculation about future war. By comparing contemporary futurist speculation with discourses about the future of war at the turn of the 20th century, we shall see that breakneck technological and social change stimulate military imaginations. While predictions about the future of war rarely come to pass and this practice is inevitably highly speculative, we shall see that futurist speculation remains important to the ways in which armed forces and governments deal with change.
7	Resourcing and sustaining war	Logistics is often called the 'lifeblood of war'. But compared to the conduct of war, logistics has received relative little attention from military and civilian theorists. This session examines key attempts to define logistics as a concept and rules for logistics. We shall consider the extent to which coherent concept of logistics emerged in classic philosophical treatments of war before examining more mature work on logistics produced from the First World War’s end—paying special attention to the work of Henry Eccles who is widely regarded as the most sophisticated and philosophically-orientated writer on the topic. We shall see that logistics is not easy to define and situate within a broader theory of war. Logistics has its own rules and relates to the political, civilian and economic ‘spheres’ in different ways to the conduct of war. Logistics is vitally important to the prosecution of war.
8	Nuclear warfare	In 1946, the sheer destructive potential of atomic weapons caused the American strategist Bernard Brodie to write: 'Thus far the chief purpose of our military establishment has been to win wars. From now on its chief purpose must be to avert them. It can have almost no other useful purpose'. Nevertheless, throughout the Cold War the military establishments of the United States, and later its allies, and the Soviet Union continued to expand and refine their nuclear arsenals and consider how to employ them to win wars. This session will explore these theories, as well as the political and military factors shaping them, and reflect on the nature and character of war featuring a nuclear release. It will also reflect on potential future developments in the field of nuclear warfare - throughout the world many minds continue to devote their attention to ways to effectively employ nuclear weapons.
9	Irregular warfare	Irregular warfare – war characterised by tactics and strategies that eschew the model of organised armed forces confronting each other directly – is often portrayed as a key hallmark of war in the post Second World era. This is attributed to the sheer military power of the superpowers, which had the power to crush weaker opponents electing a conventional strength versus strength clash; the spectre of nuclear war, which suppressed inter-state conflicts; and large numbers of intra-state conflicts arising from clashes of ideology, struggles for independence, and grabs for power and resources; many of which were exacerbated by of the great powers. While this session will focus on 20th century theories of insurgency and counterinsurgency, we shall see that irregular warfare has a long history that is bound up with other forms of political violence that we might not call war.
10	War and ethics	So far we have addressed classic theories of war, domain-specific theories of war, and theories related to a mix of other important military activities: logistics, nuclear warfare, and irregular warfare. This session considers the ways in which scholarly knowledge about ethics has been produced in relation to war. We will examine dominant theories, including deontological and consequentialist approaches, as well as just war theory and ontological approaches to ethics and war. We will also explore the relationship between law and ethics, tracing the ways in which they converge and diverge in the context of war. What is an ethical war? There is no straightforward answer, and an examination of contemporary warfare will reveal the complexity of thinking through the morality of warfare today.
11	War and Technology Part I	First lecture on war and technology - analysing emerging trends and implications for Australia and the world.
12	War and Technology Part II	Second lecture on war and technology - analysing emerging trends and implications for Australia and the world.

Tutorial Registration

MyTimetable

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Learning Outcomes
Contribution to Group Learning	10 %	*	1-5
Classical theories writing task	20 %	13/03/2024	1, 4, 5
Future Warfare Assignment	35 %	07/05/2024	2, 5
Theorists and Theories Exam	35 %	*	1-5

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines , which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Integrity Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Guideline and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure
• Code of practice for teaching and learning

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Skills website. In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Wattle’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Participation

Participation marks are based on students' verbal contributions in tutorials, where quality (thoughtfulness, relevance, usefulness) will be valued over quantity.

Examination(s)

There is a final, in person exam.

Assessment Task 1

Contribution to Group Learning

Students play a role in the learning of their peers. As such, students are expected to engage with the material presented by the convenor, in the readings, and by their peers. Students should thus ensure they have prepared for each session. A mark will be awarded to recognise students’ contributions in class. Students will be assessed on their level of preparedness and participation for each activity, the clarity and relevance of their contributions, and their collaboration with and consideration of their peers.

Assessment Task 2

Classical theories writing task

 

Compare and contrast two of the four major classic theorists introduced in sessions 2 and 3 (Clausewitz, Jomini, Sun Tsu, or Kautalya). In addition to the primary texts, use at least five academic sources—books, journal articles, or book chapters. This task is 2,000 words, excluding footnotes and bibliography.

 

You may approach this task in several ways. You might compare a Western and Eastern theorist, or you might compare one of each. You might compare two theorists in general, or you might focus on a few aspects (or ideas) of two theorists. It is up to you. Whatever way you decide to approach the question, however, this assignment will be assessed against the following criteria:

 

·     The depth and sophistication of the student’s engagement with the primary texts;

·     The extent to which the student has critically engaged with academic commentaries;

·     The extent to which the student has considered theorists in their historical context; and,

·     The clarity and persuasiveness of the student’s writing.

 

In terms of structure, think about this writing task as a ‘mini essay’. There ought to be brief introduction which at least provides a ‘thesis’ (that is, main argument) and conclusion which reiterates the assignment’s main points. Use full paragraphs, with clear topic sentences. If you require further guidance about the standard essay structure, please consult the ‘Wars20001 Mini Essay Writing Guide’.

 

Note that further guidance for this assignment will be provided in week two.

Assessment Task 3

Future Warfare Assignment

Students will complete a creative writing assignment requiring them to reflect upon the theories of warfare discussed in the course and what elements of war they see as enduing (war's nature) and what elements they see as subject to change (war's character). Where is warfare heading? The monopoly on the use of violence held by states is eroding—will this continue? Will conflicts continue to be pursued, and decided, in the three principle domains - land, sea and air—or will new domains such as space and cyberspace become the new crucible of war? Will war remain an essentially human activity? Or will flesh and blood combatants be pushed aside replaced by machines and the algorithms that direct them? Ultimately, in 2045 will the theorists examined in this course still hold relevance?

Assessment Task 4

Theorists and Theories Exam

Students will sit a cumulative, in-person exam consisting of a series of short answer questions to test their knowledge of the specifics of theories and case studies discussed during the course.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. The University’s students are an integral part of that community. The academic integrity principle commits all students to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support, academic integrity, and to uphold this commitment by behaving honestly, responsibly and ethically, and with respect and fairness, in scholarly practice.

The University expects all staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle, the Academic Integrity Rule 2021, the Policy: Student Academic Integrity and Procedure: Student Academic Integrity, and to uphold high standards of academic integrity to ensure the quality and value of our qualifications.

The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 is a legal document that the University uses to promote academic integrity, and manage breaches of the academic integrity principle. The Policy and Procedure support the Rule by outlining overarching principles, responsibilities and processes. The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 commences on 1 December 2021 and applies to courses commencing on or after that date, as well as to research conduct occurring on or after that date. Prior to this, the Academic Misconduct Rule 2015 applies.

 

The University commits to assisting all students to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. All coursework students must complete the online Academic Integrity Module (Epigeum), and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students are required to complete research integrity training. The Academic Integrity website provides information about services available to assist students with their assignments, examinations and other learning activities, as well as understanding and upholding academic integrity.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date, or on or after the date specified in the course outline for the return of the assessment item. Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

The Academic Skills website has information to assist you with your writing and assessments. The website includes information about Academic Integrity including referencing requirements for different disciplines. There is also information on Plagiarism and different ways to use source material.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Access and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students