Warfare in the Premodern World

Throughout much of much of the globe in pre-modern times warfare, preparation for war, and dealing with the aftermath of war consumed an enormous portion of surplus societal wealth and, indeed, wealth necessary for the basic sustenance of human life. Warfare touched on virtually all aspects of life in pre-modern societies, including political and economic organization, technological development as well as philosophy and religion. In short, war was central to the human condition. As a consequence, investigating the ways in which societies conceptualized military activities, established military obligations, and developed their human, material as well as ideological resources to engage in large-scale military activities plays a key role in understanding the pre-modern world. Students in the course, which serves as a capstone experience for history majors, will learn the skills for undertaking independent research projects on the history warfare in the pre-modern period. The course readings and intermediate writing assignments will focus on warfare in the western tradition from the classical Greek world up through the later medieval period in Europe. However, students are welcome to write their final papers on any aspect of warfare pre-modern Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas.