AR, Eace, and Trategy: Requirements
AR, Eace, and Trategy: Requirements
AR, Eace, and Trategy: Requirements
Autumn 2006
WAR, PEACE,
AND
STRATEGY
Class: Mondays & Wednesdays 11:00-12:15 Professor Richard K. Betts Betts Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:30-5:00, Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies or by appointment. Room 1328 Teaching Assistants: International Affairs Building Dafna Hochman: dvh2001@columbia.edu 212-854-7325 Adriana Lins de Albuquerque: aalbuquerque@gmail.com rkb4@columbia.edu
Questions animating this course include: Why is force often used in international politics? What causes peace? How do wars, or competitions shaped by the lurking possibility of war, affect international relations and individual societies? How can governments best prepare to prevent wars or to win them if they occur? By what standards should resort to force, or strategic and tactical choices in combat, be judged legitimate or immoral? How are the prevention, outbreaks, processes, and outcomes of mass violence (or crises resolved short of combat) determined by politics, ideology, diplomacy, technology, economics, geography, military plans and tactics, intelligence, or arms control? What are similarities and differences among conflicts between states, within states, and between states and transnational groups (such as terrorists)? How important is terrorism? How do weapons of mass destruction coerce or deter? Is the world safer or more dangerous after the Cold War? Can war be made obsolete? The course emphasizes problems in the relation between political ends and military means. Students must grapple with the terms of reference in both dimensions. The course is organized thematically, not by cases, but illustrative examples are drawn from conflicts in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The course emphasizes issues in the 20th Century, and in U.S. national security policy.
Requirements:
This is a graduate lecture course open to advanced undergraduates. It is designed to be challenging. Any student who cannot or does not wish to read and ponder a heavy load of material should not take this course. All students must (1) complete assigned readings; (2) attend all lectures, arriving on time (seated NLT 11:00); (3) view two films (see p. 17 below; for those interested in additional films, see pp. 18-20); (4) take the final examination on the scheduled date (make-up exams will not be allowed except for certified medical excuse or family emergency). Undergraduates must also (5) take the mid-term examination (optional for graduate students) and (6) attend discussion sections (optional for graduate students). Books ordered in the College Bookstore and Labyrinth Books should be purchased. Required readings are on reserve in Lehman Library. This is a survey course. In order to allow maximum time for reading there is no paper writing assignment. The reading load averages 214 pages per week, but is concentrated disproportionately in sections IV and VI-VIII. To help you plan reading time the numbers of pages in each item of reading, and for each section of the syllabus, are noted in brackets. The total number of pages of reading required for the course is 2,996.
I.
[135 pp.]
Richard K. Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War, Updated Second Edition (Longman, 2005) Francis Fukuyama, The End of History John Mueller, The Obsolescence of Major War John J. Mearsheimer, Why We Will Soon Miss the Cold War.
[36]:
Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (Simon and Schuster, 1996), chap. 1 [20]. Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Michael Howard and Peter Paret, eds. and trans. (Princeton University Press, 1976): Book I, chaps. 1, 2 [24]. (NB: Only an unabridged German language edition is an acceptable
alternative to this translation. Do not read a different translation. Especially do not read the widely available Penguin edition of the Graham translation abridged by Anatol Rapoport.)
Sun-Tzu, The Art of Warfare, Roger T. Ames, trans. (Ballantine, 1993), chaps. 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11
(The Sawyer, Griffith, or Huang translations are also acceptable.)
[25].
[30].
II.
[278 pp.]
Kenneth N. Waltz, Man, the State, and War (Columbia University Press, 1959), chaps. 2-4, 6-8 Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War [94]: Thucydides, The Melian Dialogue E. H. Carr, Realism and Idealism Geoffrey Blainey, Power, Culprits, and Arms Margaret Mead, War is Only an Invention -- Not a Biological Necessity Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace Norman Angell, The Great Illusion Geoffrey Blainey, Paradise is a Bazaar V. I. Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism Joseph Schumpeter, Imperialism and Capitalism Kenneth N. Waltz, Structural Causes and Economic Effects Richard Rosecrance, Trade and Power Michael Doyle, Liberalism and World Politics.
[184].
III.
[178 pp.]
Inis L. Claude, Power and International Relations (Random House, 1962), chaps. 2-3
[82].
G. F. Hudson, Collective Security and Military Alliances, in Herbert Butterfield and Martin Wight, eds., Diplomatic Investigations (Harvard University Press, 1968) [5]. Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War [19]: Robert Gilpin, Hegemonic War and International Change Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, Power and Interdependence. Kimberly Zisk Marten, Enforcing the Peace (Columbia University Press, 2004), chaps. 2, 3
[72].
[416 pp.]
Thomas Schelling, Arms and Influence (Yale University Press, 1966), chaps. 2-4
[154]. [134].
Robert A. Pape, Bombing to Win (Cornell University Press, 1996),1 chaps. 2, 3, 7, 9 Gen. Wesley K. Clark, Waging Modern War (PublicAffairs, 2001), chaps. 8-12
[128].
V.
pp.]
[ 140
Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War [14]: Niccolo Machiavelli, Money is Not the Sinews of War, Although It Is Generally So Considered Alan S. Milward, War as Policy. Michael Howard, War in European History (Oxford University Press, 1974), chaps. 4-6 John Keegan, The Face of Battle (Viking, 1976), chap. 4, pp. 210-237, 242-279
1
[62].
[64].
Ph. D. students: For criticism see Barry D. Watts, Ignoring Reality, and Papes rebuttal, The Air Force Strikes Back: A Reply to Barry Watts and John Warden, in Security Studies 7, no. 2 (Winter 1997/98).
VI. Policy, Strategy, and Operations: Integrating Political Ends and Military Means
Three Levels of Analysis Technology: Innovations and Interactions Plans: Organization, Doctrine, Tactics, Obstacles Military Effectiveness: What Produces Success in Combat? Attack and Defense: Aggressive, Preventive, Preemptive, and Defensive War How Ends Determine Means, How Means Determine Ends
[ 448 pp.]
Clausewitz, On War: Book I, chap. 7; Book II, chap. 3; Book III, chap. 1; Book VI, chaps. 1, 3, 5; Book VII, chaps. 1-5 [31]. Stephen Biddle, Military Power (Princeton University Press, 2004),2 chaps. 2, 3
[37].
Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War [25]: Robert Jervis, Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma Jack S. Levy, The Offensive/Defensive Balance of Military Technology. Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels (Ballantine, 1975)
[355].
[ 341 pp.]
Clausewitz, On War, Book VII, chap. 22; Book VIII, chaps. 1-3, 6
[32].
Michael Geyer, German Strategy in the Age of Machine Warfare, 1914-1945, in Peter Paret, ed., Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age (Princeton University Press, 1986)
[70].
[117].
Michael R. Gordon and Gen. Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals War (Little, Brown, 1995), chaps. 18-20 [86]. Michael R. Gordon and Gen. Bernard E. Trainor, Cobra II (Pantheon, 2006), chap. 8 and Epilogue
36 ]. [
Ph. D. Students: See criticisms by five scholars and Biddles response in Military Power: A Roundtable Review, Journal of Strategic Studies 28, no. 3 (June 2005).
[ 388 pp.]
[12].
Col. C. E. Callwell, Small Wars, Third Edition (London: His Majestys Stationery Office, 1906), chaps. 3, 7 [19]. Harry G. Summers, On Strategy (Presidio Press, 1982), chaps. 1, 7-11, 15
[109]. [93].
Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr., The Army and Vietnam (Johns Hopkins Press, 1986), chaps. 1, 6-8, 10 Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War [70]: T. E. Lawrence, Science of Guerrilla Warfare Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare Samuel P. Huntington, Patterns of Violence in World Politics Martha Crenshaw, The Strategic Logic of Terrorism Mark Juergensmeyer, Religious Radicalism and Political Violence. Marc Sageman, Jihadi Networks of Terror, in Katharina von Knop, Heinrich Neisser, and Martin van Creveld, eds., Countering Modern Terrorism (Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann Verlag, 2005) [15]. Robert A. Pape, Dying to Win (Random House, 2005), chaps. 4, 7, 10
[63].
Osama Bin Ladin et al., Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: World Islamic Front Statement, February 23, 1998 <http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm> [3]. Full Transcript of Bin Ladins Speech, October 30, 2004
<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79C6AF22-98FB-4A1C-B21F-2BC36E87F61F.htm> [ 4 ].
Required Film: See The Battle of Algiers before the end of Section VIII. Refer to questions on p. 17.
[ 223 pp.]
Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War [38]: Edward Mansfield and Jack Snyder, Democratization and War Chaim Kaufmann, Possible and Impossible Solutions to Ethnic Civil Wars Radha Kumar, The Troubled History of Partition. Edward Shils and Morris Janowitz, Cohesion and Disintegration in the Wehrmacht in World War II, Public Opinion Quarterly 12, no. 2 (Summer 1948) [35]. Omer Bartov, Hitlers Army (Oxford University Press, 1991), chaps. 3-4
[31]. [119].
Kenneth Pollack, Arabs at War (University of Nebraska Press, 2002),3 Conclusions and Lessons
Ph.D. students: See Risa A. Brooks, Making Military Might: Why Do States Fail and Succeed? A Review Essay, International Security 28, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
X.
[84 pp.]
Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars, Third Edition (Basic Books, 2000), chaps. 4 ,6, 9, 16, 19
[84].
Required Film: See Saving Private Ryan before lectures for Section X. Refer to questions on p. 19.
[155 pp.]
Lawrence Freedman, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, Third Edition (Palgrave, 2003), chaps. 6-9, 12, 14-16, 19 [133]. Paul Fussell, Thank God for the Atom Bomb in Fussell, Thank God for the Atom Bomb and Other Essays (Summit Books, 1988) [22].
[78 pp.]
Eyre Crowe, Memorandum on the Present State of British Relations with France and Germany, January 1, 1907, and Thomas Sanderson, Observations on Printed Memorandum on Relations with France and Germany, January 1907, in G. P. Gooch and Harold Temperley, eds., British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898-1914, vol. III: The Testing of the Entente, 1904-6 (London: HMSO, 1928) (NB: Read pp. 399-405, 414-419 carefully; skim the rest.) [11]. Documents 551, 553, and 650 on the Munich crisis in E. L. Woodward and Rohan Butler, eds., assisted by Margaret Lambert, Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939, Third Series, vol. II: 1938 (London: HMSO, 1949) [7]. Richard K. Betts and Thomas Christensen, China: Getting the Questions Right, National Interest No. 62 (Winter 2000/2001) [12]. Barry R. Posen and Andrew L. Ross, Competing Visions for U.S. Grand Strategy, International Security 21, no. 3 (Winter 1996/97) [48].
[40 pp.]
Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War [40]: Samuel P. Huntington, Arms Races: Prerequisites and Results Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr. and Abram N. Shulsky, Arms Control: The Historical Experience Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: More May Be Better.4
[92
Environmental Sources of Conflict Religion Power Without Force? A Revolution in Military Affairs? Information Warfare Non-Lethal Weaponry Theories, Experience, and Prediction Culture and Conflict
Betts, ed., Conflict After the Cold War [35]: Thomas Homer-Dixon, Environmental Changes as Causes of Acute Conflict Richard K. Betts, The Delusion of Impartial Intervention Eliot A. Cohen, A Revolution in Warfare. Biddle, Military Power, chap. 10
[18]. [39].
Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, chaps. 10, 12
For elaboration of this argument and rebuttals by Scott Sagan see Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed (W.W. Norton, 2003).
10
Thomas A. Keaney and Eliot A. Cohen, Revolution in Warfare? Airpower in the Persian Gulf (Naval Institute Press, 1995). Benjamin S. Lambeth, The Transformation of American Air Power (Cornell University Press, 2000). Benjamin S. Lambeth, NATOs Air War for Kosovo (RAND, 2001). Ernest R. May and Phillip D. Zelikow, eds., The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis (Harvard University Press, 1997). Karl Mueller, Strategies of Coercion, Security Studies 7, no. 3 (Spring 1998). Barry R. Posen, The War for Kosovo, International Security 24, no. 4 (Spring 2000). Darryl Press, The Myth of Air Power in the Persian Gulf War and the Future of Warfare, International Security 26, no. 2 (Fall 2001). Scott D. Sagan, The Limits of Safety (Princeton University Press, 1993). Wallace Thies, When Governments Collide (University of California Press, 1980). L.C.F. Turner, Origins of the First World War (Norton, 1970). U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, Summary Report (European War) (Government Printing Office, September 1945). U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, Summary Report (Pacific War) (Government Printing Office, July 1946). John W. Wheeler-Bennett, Munich: Prologue to Tragedy (Macmillan, 1948).
VI. Policy, Strategy, and Operations: Integrating Political Ends and Military Means
Alexei Arbatov, Defense Sufficiency and the Restructuring of the Armed Forces, in USSR Academy of Sciences/IMEMO, Disarmament and Security:1988-1989 Yearbook (Moscow: Novosti, 1989). Yoav Ben-Horin and Barry Posen, Israel's Strategic Doctrine, R-2845-NA (RAND Corporation, September 1981). Richard K. Betts, "Must War Find a Way?" International Security 24, no. 2 (Fall 1999). Richard K. Betts, Is Strategy an Illusion? International Security 25, no. 2 (Fall 2000). Stephen Biddle, Rebuilding the Foundations of Offense-Defense Theory, Journal of Politics 63, no. 3 (August 2001).
11
Stephen Biddle, "Victory Misunderstood: What the Gulf War Tells Us about the Future of Conflict," International Security 21, no. 1 (Fall 1996). Stephen Biddle, Winning with Allies: The Strategic Value of the Afghan Model, Inte3rnational Security 30, no. 3 (Winter 2005/06). Roger Boesche, Kautilyas Arthasastra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India, Journal of Military History 67, no. 1 (January 2003). Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command (Free Press, 2002). Julian S. Corbett, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy (London: Longmans, Green, 1911). Michael Gordon and General Bernard R. Trainor, Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (Pantheon, 2006). Colin S. Gray, Modern Strategy (Oxford University Press, 1999). Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones, How the North Won (University of Illinois Press, 1983), Appendix A: "An Introduction to the Study of Military Operations." Michael I. Handel, "Clausewitz in the Age of Technology," in Handel, ed., Clausewitz and Modern Strategy (London: Cass, 1986). I.B. Holley, Jr., Ideas and Weapons (Yale University Press, 1953). Dan Horowitz, "Flexible Responsiveness and Military Strategy: The Case of the Israeli Army," Policy Sciences 1, no. 2 (Summer 1970). Elizabeth Kier, Imagining War (Princeton University Press, 1997). Captain Timothy T. Lupfer, The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Changes in German Tactical Doctrine During the First World War, Leavenworth Paper No. 4 (U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, July 1981). Edward Luttwak, Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace (Harvard University Press, 1987). Sean M. Lynn-Jones, "Offense-Defense Theory and Its Critics," Security Studies 4, no. 4 (Summer 1995). Niccolo Machiavelli, The Art of War, Ellis Farneworth, trans. (Bobbs-Merrill, 1965) Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Seapower on History, 1660-1783 (Little, Brown, 1890). Colin McInnes and G.D. Sheffield, eds., Warfare in the Twentieth Century: Theory and Practice ((Unwin Hyman, 1988). William H. McNeill, The Pursuit of Power (University of Chicago Press, 1982). Allan Millett and Williamson Murray, eds., Military Effectiveness (Allen and Unwin, 1988), 3 volumes. Williamson Murray, MacGregor Knox, and Alvin Bernstein, eds., The Making of Strategy (Cambridge University Press, 1994). Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won (W.W. Norton, 1995). Barry Posen, The Sources of Military Doctrine (Cornell University Press, 1984). Stephen Peter Rosen, Winning the Next War (Cornell University Press, 1991). Dennis Showalter, From Deterrence to Doomsday Machine: The German Way of War, 1890-1914, Journal of Military History 64, no. 3 (July 2000). Jack Snyder, The Ideology of the Offensive (Cornell University Press, 1984). E. D. Swinton, The Defence of Duffer's Drift (Avery, 1986).
12
Louis Morton, Strategy and Command: The First Two Years (Department of the Army, Office of Chief of Military History, 1962). Robert E. Osgood, Limited War (University of Chicago Press, 1957). Robert E. Osgood, Limited War Revisited (Westview, 1979). Norman Rich, Hitler's War Aims, 2 volumes (Norton, 1973-74). Scott Sagan, "The Origins of the Pacific War," in Robert I. Rotberg and Theodore K. Rabb, eds., The Origin and Prevention of Major Wars (Cambridge University Press, 1989).
13
14
Martin van Creveld, Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945 (Greenwood, 1982). Eliot A. Cohen, Citizens and Soldiers (Cornell University Press, 1985). Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command (Free Press, 2002). Brian M. Downing, The Military Revolution and Political Change: Origins of Democracy and Autocracy in Early Modern Europe (Princeton University Press, 1992). Samuel Finer, The Man on Horseback (Praeger, 1962). Victor Davis Hanson, Carnage and Culture (Doubleday, 2001). Samuel P. Huntington, The Soldier and the State (Harvard University Press, 1957). Morris Janowitz, The Professional Soldier, Second Edition (Free Press, 1971). Stuart J. Kaufman, Modern Hatreds (Cornell University Press, 2001). Kyung-Won Kim, Revolution and International System (New York University Press, 1970), selections. James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 1997). George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (Harcourt, Brace, 1952). Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 1500-1800, Second Edition (Cambridge University Press, 1988). Stephen Peter Rosen, Societies and Military Power: India and Its Armies (Cornell University Press, 1996). William Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Fifth, IV, iii (St. Crispin's Day speech). M. Brewster Smith, "Combat Motivations Among Ground Troops," in Samuel A. Stouffer, et al., The American Soldier, Vol. II: Combat and Its Aftermath (Princeton University Press, 1949). Jack L. Snyder, From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict (W.W. Norton, 2000). Charles Tilly, ed., The Formation of National States in Western Europe (Princeton University Press, 1975). Stephen M. Walt, Revolution and War (Cornell University Press, 1996). Myron Weiner, "The Macedonian Syndrome," World Politics 23, no. 4 (July 1971).
15
Richard K. Betts, "Heavenly Gains or Earthly Losses," in Harold Brown, ed., The Strategic Defense Initiative (Westview, 1987). Bruce G. Blair, Strategic Command and Control (Brookings Institution, 1984). Bruce G. Blair, The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War (Brookings Institution, 1993). Bernard Brodie, ed., The Absolute Weapon (Harcourt, Brace, 1946). Bernard Brodie, Strategy in the Missile Age (Princeton University Press, 1959). Albert Carnesale, Paul Doty, Stanley Hoffmann, Samuel P. Huntington, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., and Scott D. Sagan, Living With Nuclear Weapons (Harvard University Press, 1983). Lawrence Freedman, Deterrence (Polity Press, 2004). John H. Herz, International Politics in the Atomic Age (Columbia University Press, 1959). Fred Ikl, "Can Nuclear Deterrence Last Out the Century?" Foreign Affairs 51, no. 2 (January 1973). Robert Jervis, The Illogic of American Nuclear Strategy (Cornell University Press, 1984). Robert Jervis, The Meaning of the Nuclear Revolution (Cornell University Press, 1989). Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War (Princeton University Press, 1960). Herman Kahn, Thinking About the Unthinkable (Horizon Press, 1962) Herman Kahn, On Escalation (Hudson Institute, 1965). William W. Kaufmann, "The Requirements of Deterrence," in Kaufmann, ed., Military Policy and National Security (Princeton University Press, 1956). Laurence Martin, Arms and Strategy (McKay, 1973). Paul H. Nitze, "Assuring Strategic Stability in an Era of Detente," Foreign Affairs 54, no. 2 (January 1976). Anatol Rapaport, Fights, Games, and Debates (University of Michigan Press, 1960). Thomas Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict (Harvard University Press, 1960). Warner R. Schilling, "U.S. Strategic Nuclear Concepts in the 1970s," International Security 6, no. 2 (Fall 1981). Glenn H. Snyder, Deterrence and Defense (Princeton University Press, 1961). John D. Steinbruner, "National Security and the Concept of Strategic Stability," Journal of Conflict Resolution 22, no. 3 (September 1978).
16
James M. Lindsay and Michael E. OHanlon, Defending America: The Case for Limited National Missile Defense (Brookings Institution Press, 2001). David Alan Rosenberg, "The Origins of Overkill," International Security 7, no. 4 (Spring 1983). Scott D. Sagan, Moving Targets (Princeton University Press, 1989). David N. Schwartz, NATO's Nuclear Dilemmas (Brookings Institution, 1983). Stephen I. Schwartz, ed., Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 (Brookings Institution Press, 1998). Marc Trachtenberg, History and Strategy (Princeton University Press, 1991). Marc Trachtenberg, A Constructed Peace (Princeton University Press, 1999).
17
18
Hedley Bull, The Control of the Arms Race, Second Edition (Praeger, 1965). Richard Dean Burns, ed., Encyclopedia of Arms Control and Disarmament, 3 volumes (Scribners, 1993). Charles Fairbanks, "Arms Races," National Interest No. 1 (Fall 1985). Colin S. Gray, House of Cards (Cornell University Press, 1992). Fred Charles Ikl, How Nations Negotiate (Praeger, 1967). Robert Gordon Kaufman, Arms Control During the Pre-Nuclear Era (Columbia University Press, 1990). Joshua Lederberg, ed., Biological Weapons: Limiting the Threat (MIT Press, 1999). Salvador de Madariaga, Disarmament (Coward-McCann, 1929). John Newhouse, Cold Dawn: The Story of SALT (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973). Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed (W.W. Norton, 2003). Thomas C. Schelling and Morton H. Halperin, Strategy and Arms Control (Twentieth Century Fund, 1961). Albert Wohlstetter, "Racing Forward or Ambling Back?" in James Schlesinger et al., Defending America (Basic Books, 1977).
19
1. The Battle of Algiers (1967), directed by Gilo Pontecorvo, screenplay by Franco Solinas (2 hours, 5 minutes). For section VIII of the course. To understand the film you must know the essential story of the Algerian war of independence. Remember that the French did not consider Algeria a colony, but a part of metropolitan France (it had about a million European settlers). Although fiction, several characters are composites of real historical figures (one of the FLN leaders plays himself in the movie). The realism of this film is demonstrated by the fact that after early showings the producers had to insert a notice at the beginning that it was not a documentary. While obviously pro-FLN, the film is also unusual in the extent to which it does not demonize the French, but empathizes with them. (Interestingly, the actor who played Colonel Mathieu was a French Communist!) Were the tactics used on either or both sides illegitimate? Does the legitimacy or illegitimacy of terror or torture depend on the nature of the tactics or the justice of the cause they serve? By what criteria were tactics employed effective or counterproductive? Could either side have hoped to win without using those tactics? In what respects are the issues posed by Al Qaeda today similar and different from those in this case? Is Colonel Mathieus character evil, admirable, tragic, or something else? How do the French and FLN strategies reflect Huntingtons points about the tripartite nature of revolutionary war or Maos points about guerrillas and population being fish and sea? Have U.S. intelligence services learned the wrong lessons from this film?
2. Saving Private Ryan (1998), directed by Stephen Spielberg, screenplay by Robert Rodat (2 hours, 49 minutes). For section X. Look at the first 25-minutes (the assault on Omaha Beach) as one of the least unrealistic of Hollywood portrayals of combat. (Paul Fussell, of all people, approved heartily of this sequence.) Look at the rest of the film as an evocation of dilemmas about risking, deliberately spending, or wrongfully taking lives in wartime. How should decisions to spend lives be made? By what criteria? Whose decisions to spend lives in this venture were right or wrong? Did the Americans who shot surrendering Germans in the overrunning of the bunkers on Omaha Beach commit a war crime that should have been prosecuted? Was Upham right or wrong about whether to kill the prisoner the first time the question arose? The second time?
20
Optional Films
Cinema has done little to illustrate processes of peace, in the sense of depicting diplomacy, non-forcible instruments of foreign policy, or institutions of conflict resolution. In contrast, there are many films about war. Most war movies are superficial action fantasies or wartime propaganda, or reflect typical Hollywood vices of melodrama, sensationalism, caricature, jingoism, romanticization of combat, and either a grossly antiseptic lack of realism about carnage or grotesque surrealism. In short, there is a handful of classics, but few war movies that qualify as artistic or instructive masterpieces. Among those with typical Hollywood limitations, however, are many that effectively illustrate important aspects of war having to do with military sociology, moral dilemmas encountered in combat or preparing for combat, leadership, tactics, and other subjects. Experience indicates that many students born since 1970 are resistant to older movies, especially ones in black and white, or treatments that reflect mid-20th century sensibilities and lack the lavish special effects of the later era of astronomical budgets for filmmaking. Students who can get over the generational difference and Hollywood limitations are encouraged to see and think about some of them. If fifteen or more students promise to see any of the following six films, and to think about the study questions provided, showings will be arranged.
1. Zulu (1964), directed by Cy Endfield, screenplay by John Prebble and Cy Endfield (2 hours, 19 minutes). Relevant to sections VI and IX. The cinematic version of the famous defense of Rorkes Drift in 1879. Ignore the subplot about the missionary and his daughter, inserted to help market the movie. Also, distinguish questions about military effectiveness from questions about political legitimacy (the British soldiers are portrayed as heroes in the film, but were in the service of an imperial land grab). Focus on the linkages among organization, doctrine, tactics, technology, professionalism, and combat effectiveness on both sides in the engagement. Why and how was the small force of British regulars (fewer than 100 functioning riflemen) able to defeat 4,000 Zulus, some of whom also had rifles? How was this brought off by two junior officers whose records were not distinguished? Why did this small force succeed at Rorkes Drift when the British force of 1,500 was completely destroyed at the Battle of Isandhlwana earlier on the same day? (Betts will summarize what happened at Isandhlwana in class. Hint: The over-confident British at Isandhlwana departed from standard tactics while those at Rorkes Drift adhered to them.) How does this case illustrate the importance of force-to-space ratios, training, and fire discipline? Is the film racist? Is todays disparity in military capability between the USA and Third World militaries (such as Iraqs) comparable to the disparity between Europeans and locals in colonial wars of the 19th century?
21 2. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), directed by Lewis Milestone, adapted by Maxwell Anderson, screenplay by George Abbott, from the novel by Erich Maria Remarque (2 hours, 12 minutes, including restored footage). Relevant to sections I and IX. This is the classic anti-war novel and film of the interwar period, banned in several countries. Star Lew Ayres famously became a conscientious objector in World War II. How and why does the literary or artistic sensibility see war differently from the perspective of politicians or social scientists? Reflect back on Paul Fussells The Real War Will Never Get in the Books. If you have the opportunity sometime, compare this film with (a) movies, like John Waynes or Errol Flynns, that glorify combat; (b) grotesque or surreal anti-war films such as Apocalypse Now or The Deer Hunter; and (c) another famous interwar film, Grand Illusion.
3. Paths of Glory (1959), directed by Stanley Kubrick, screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham, and Jim Thompson, from the novel by Humphrey Cobb. (1 hour, 27 minutes.) Relevant to Sections I, IX, and X. The vast distance between high command and battlefield, and the contrast between collective mission and individual justice. The fictional events are a twist on the actual French army mutinies of 1917. If the attack on the ant hill portrayed in the middle of the film reflects the reality of battles like Verdun, how could troops not have mutinied much earlier than they did? The Adolphe Menjou and George MacCready characters are caricatures, but what considerations could make more realistic versions of their behavior plausible? Are the conflicts driven primarily by military imperatives, bureaucratic politics, class, venality, or stupidity?
4. Twelve OClock High (1949), directed by Henry King, screenplay by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay, Jr. (2 hours, 12 minutes.) Relevant to Sections IV, VII, and IX. The problem of achieving military effectiveness at the price of driving men to their limits in the development of the U.S. precision bombing campaign in 1943-44. Through what mechanisms does operational effectiveness depend on organization, discipline, and morale? What is the distinction between effective leadership and command? How do social distance or fraternization between leaders and led affect unit effectiveness? Recall Shaaras Lee telling Longstreet: Soldiering has one great trap.... To be a good soldier you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.... No other profession requires it. That is one reason why there are so few good officers. Although there are many good men. How do the strategic and operational problems of using air power effectively in World War II compare to those in the current era of real precision targeting?
22 5. A Gathering of Eagles (1963), directed by Delbert Mann, screenplay by Robert Pirosh (1 hour, 56 minutes). Relevant to Sections IV and XI. Before watching, get over the fact that this has more standard Hollywood saccharine aspects than the other films mentioned here. In its glitzy way it presents social and organizational issues in elite unit command, personnel management, and operational combat readiness, and provides insight into the most important U.S. military organization of the Cold War era: SAC. The film is in many respects a nuclear-age echo of Twelve OClock High. What does the story show about the Cold War in general, about deterrence and military strategy, and about issues in linking political objectives and strategy to military operations? In earlier decades, this film reportedly was used in training programs for Israeli army officers, although they did not have any mission comparable to that of SAC. Why was the film deemed useful for officer development? What does the film suggest about the clich of the loneliness of command? Particularly, what does the surprise twist at the end say about this? Was the ORI genuinely vital, or excessively obsessive? Why was this fixation greater in SAC than in any other military organization? (Pay attention to details; for example, whenever Col. Caldwell walks in the door at home, why does he make a phone call to report this before doing anything else?)
6. Fail Safe (1964), directed by Sidney Lumet, screenplay by Walter Bernstein, based on the novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. Relevant to Sections IV and XI. The non-comedy counterpart to Dr. Strangelove (which it is assumed that most students have seen) as a scenario of accidental nuclear war.
What if the system of peacetime deterrence illustrated in A Gathering of Eagles had gone wrong? Is the Walter Matthau character Kissinger, Kahn, Wohlstetter, or Schelling? Is the Presidents decision at the end plausible? If not, what else should he have done? Does the plot seem plausible for the Cold War but not after? If so, see Crimson Tide (1995).