Master of Arts in Military History

Core Course

Every student in the military history program begins with a history and historiography introductory course followed by elective courses.

• Introduction to History and Historiography

  MH510 6 credit hours

  This introductory course examines the development of military history as a topic of study and trains you in the key disciplines of historiography and methodology. Historiography examines historical thought and research from the first works of history in the classical world to those of the present. You will explore historical methodology and informational literacy, the ways historians gather information and formulate hypotheses, the development of research methods including the use of primary and secondary sources, and the challenges of objectivity, selectivity, and bias in historical interpretation.

Second and Third Course

Students select two courses below to fulfill their second and third courses in the military history program.

• Global Military History to 1800

  MH520 6 credit hours

  This course examines the global patterns of warfare, on land and at sea, from the ancient world to the eve of the Industrial Revolution. Special emphasis is placed on continuity and change in warfare, as well as the impact of socioeconomic and cultural factors.

• Military Thought and Theory

  MH530 6 credit hours

  This course examines the most influential military theoreticians and strategists from the period of the Thirty Years’ War to the present. You will examine the theories of Clausewitz, Jomini, Douhet, Mahan, Corbett, and Mao Tse-Tung, as well as the theories of deterrence and nuclear war and post-Maoist revolutionary warfare.

• Non-Western Military History

  MH540 6 credit hours

  This course examines some of the major historical factors that have shaped the military trajectory of the modern extra-European (and North American) world, comprising China, Israel, Middle East, Africa, India/South Asia, Ethiopia, Latin America/South America, and Turkey/Ottoman, with particular focus on the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

• Chinese Military History

  MH541 6 credit hours

  This course provides an introduction to Chinese military history and covers topics including military thought, strategy and tactics, technologies, and cultural factors as they pertain to the waging of war. You will be introduced to the latest scholarship and interpretations and will be encouraged to engage in comparative thinking throughout the class. In the process, you will attempt to determine if any society approaches warfare uniquely or if universal approaches outweigh the specific.

• Amphibious Warfare

  MH543 6 credit hours

  This course examines amphibious operations from antiquity to the present. It also sketches broader contexts for amphibious warfare as it has affected political, diplomatic, and economic change by determining to what degree, if at all, various amphibious actions figured in what has been labeled as an early-modern “military revolution” that contributed to the “Rise of the West.”

• U.S. Military History

  MH550 6 credit hours

  This course examines America’s unique experience of warfare and the development of military institutions and military policy in the United States. You will explore the country’s military history from the Colonial era to the present, with an emphasis on the Revolutionary War, Civil War, frontier wars, America’s rise to great power status, World War I and World War II, and the conflicts of the Cold War era. Throughout the course, you will also examine the efficacy of the Russell Weigley's “American Way of War,” as well as America’s civil-military relations.

• Race and Gender in Military History

  MH551 6 credit hours

  This course covers the complex issues surrounding racial integration in military institutions, including questions about citizenship and ethnicity. You will also examine the history of women’s participation in warfare and issues of gender integration in the military.

• Total War

  MH552 6 credit hours

  This course examines the origins of the concept and practice of “total war” in the period from the French Revolution to the end of the Cold War. The French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, American Civil War, World War I, and World War II will be studied. You will also examine the evolution of modern war, the characteristics of “total war,” and the usefulness of the concept in describing such massive conflicts.

Fourth Course

Students select one course below to fulfill their fourth courses in the military history program.

• American Colonial, Revolutionary and Early National History

  HI520 6 credit hours

  This seminar introduces students to the main themes and historiography of Early America. Students read overviews of the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Early Republic periods, but most of the assigned books are research monographs that explore particular historiographical themes and perspectives, such as religious controversies, political ideologies, gender relations, and slavery’s evolution. Although topics mostly address British North America from 1607 until the early 1800s, requisite attention is also given to Native American experiences, as well as those non-British peoples living along the borderlands. 

• 19th Century America

  HI530 6 credit hours

  The seminar is not a recitation of dry and lifeless facts. The nineteenth century is a period of much drama, humor, and sadness in American history---a time of great achievements and unspeakable horrors. This seminar maintains a sense of the enormity of this national drama---to experience what historian Bruce Catton has described as "history with the blood in it." The objective of this sort of history is to capture the "feel" of the era as well as the "facts” during the years 1815 – 1903. Broad topics include constitutional debates about slavery, American western expansion across the continent, the American Civil War in history and memory, and the challenges of American industrialization.

• 20th Century America

  HI540 6 credit hours

  This seminar explores American history beginning with the turn of the twentieth century and introduces students to major themes and historiographic trends of the period. Among these are the ways historians have interpreted the struggles for equality for women and minorities, the evolving relationships between the natural and built environments, and the increasing American involvement in international economics and foreign conflicts.  At times, large groups of people such as immigrants receive attention, while at times in the course, the influence of key individuals receives close scrutiny.

• Hunter-Gatherer and Agrarian Eras to 1500

  HI526 6 credit hours

  This seminar examines the human development from the dawn of civilization and the development of agriculture to the onset of European discovery and colonization of the New World in the late 1400s CE. In addition to examining the forces responsible for the development of human civilization in this period, major historiographic debates, historical themes, and methodological problems receive careful attention. Topics include why diverse environments fostered the development of the earliest civilizations, religion and its cultural impact on various societies, the rise and fall of great empires, the social development of class structures and cultural roles of women, and the causes and consequences of major wars. The overall framework of the seminar also allows for the consideration of how different societies influenced and interacted with each other over time.

• The Late Agrarian Era to 1800

  HI536 6 credit hours

  This seminar examines the development of human cultures and civilizations from the late agrarian era to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, which is more traditionally known as the Early Modern Epoch (1500-1800). In addition to analyzing new patterns in trade and increased global interactions, motivations and methods of expansions of empires emerge as key interests in the course. The role of religion, as well as the introduction and spread of new technologies such as firearms, played critical roles in the growth and competition among empires. The readings showcase major historiographic debates, historical themes, and problems for this era.

• World History from 1800 to 1991

  HI546 6 credit hours

  This seminar examines history from a global perspective, beginning with the social and political upheaval of the French Revolution and ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the contemporary post-Cold War world.  The growth and dissolution of European colonial empires, the emergence of the United States and Russia as global rivals, and the upheaval of two World Wars provide the contours of this seminar.  Readings comprise seminal works in the historiography of Modern Global History as well as more recent contributions that expand beyond the traditional focus of historical analysis on great leaders and major conflicts.

• Western Legal Traditions, 1000 CE-1789

  HI528 6 credit hours

  This course examines the origins, sources, and nature of the western legal tradition from the rediscovery of Roman Law in the 11th century CE to the Age of Revolutions in the late eighteenth century. Students survey the development of western legal traditions, including theories and practices of governance through political institutions, legislative bodies, and courts of law, as well as informal and formal arrangements between states and empires designed to mediate relations of war and peace. The course concludes with the transformation of the western rule of law into an international and global legal tradition that continues to shape national and international law within and beyond the United States and Europe in the twenty-first century.

• Race, Gender, and US Constitution

  HI538 6 credit hours

  This seminar explores the issues of race and gender in American constitutional legal history from 1789 to the present. Focusing on landmark Supreme Court decisions, this seminar provides a broad historical survey of the interactions between law, race, and gender in American society. The first several weeks explore the legal construction and regulation of questions and issues related to race, including slavery, reconstruction and the 14th amendment, desegregation, national security and citizenship, and affirmative action. Then the second half of the seminar explores how American constitutional law has shaped gender relations through the regulation of citizenship, marriage, work, and reproduction.

• Introduction to Public History

  HI513 6 credit hours

  An intensive 11-week graduate-level seminar that defines the field of public history. The seminar will teach the professional skills and knowledge in non-teaching history-related careers in preservation, oral history, archival work, records management, museology, digitization, documentary editing, corporate history, and living and public parks history. Attention will also be paid to developing grant-writing skills. 

• Archival Studies

  HI523 6 credit hours

  An intensive 11-week graduate-level seminar teaching the technical skills and knowledge needed to systematically identify, select, protect, organize, describe, preserve, and make available archival materials to users. Attention is also paid to increasing responsibility to engage and educate the public, to learning grant-writing techniques, to diversify the historical record and the profession, to solve problems and use archival materials creatively, to perform in the digital realm, to advocate for the profession, and to enhance the public good in ethical ways. 

• Museum Studies

  HI533 6 credit hours

  An intensive 11-week graduate-level seminar teaching the technical skills and knowledge to work in permanent institutions in the service of society and its development, which acquire, conserve, research, mediate, interpret, communicate, digitize, and/or exhibit the tangible and intangible heritage in ethical and professional ways for the purposes of education, study, and enjoyment of the public.

Fifth Course and Capstone

Required for all students in the military history program.

• Directed Readings in Military History

  HI550 6 credit hours

  This course is designed to help students gain a detailed, graduate-level understanding of specific areas or topics in military history and historiography that will prepare students for comprehensive examinations, capstone papers/thesis projects and for teaching.

• Capstone Course

  MH562 6 credit hours

  As a degree requirement, you will write and submit a capstone paper that explores in depth a program-approved topic of your own choosing that demonstrates effective use of appropriate academic sources. The expected length of the capstone paper is 45 to 50 pages.

Optional Master's Thesis

The optional master’s thesis is an original research project demonstrating your ability to conduct primary-source research and demonstrate mastery of the historiography germane to the research question. This option is recommended for those interested in continuing their studies in history at the doctoral level. The thesis must reflect graduate-level analysis, synthesis, and argument and make a compelling case for the argument's historical and historiographic significance. Students interested in this degree completion option must petition the Capstone/Thesis Director during the second semester. The petition must be accompanied by a thesis proposal and letters of recommendation from two faculty members of the Master of Arts in History or the Master of Arts in Military History program.

The thesis option is, at minimum are two 11-week three-credit seminars. Accompanying sustaining and thesis fees will be applied.

Prerequisites: Approval of thesis petition and successful completion of the five previous core courses.

• History Thesis I

  MH570 3 credit hours

  This is the first of two required seminars for the thesis project in the History and Military History programs. Students will conduct primary and secondary source research and write drafts of their thesis under the guidance of a faculty thesis advisor. Students pursuing a research question requiring primary and/or secondary sources in one or more foreign languages must demonstrate advanced reading proficiency in the pertinent foreign language(s). External assessment such as the Defense Language Proficiency Examinations, Foreign Service Institute examination or reading comprehension tests approved by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages will be used to assess foreign language proficiency. If required for the research project, proof of foreign language competency must accompany the petition for the thesis option. Thesis and additional fees will be applied.

  Prerequisites: approval of Program Director, Associate Program Director for Academics and Capstone Director, successful completion of Seminars 1-5, and, if applicable, advanced reading knowledge of the pertinent foreign language(s).

• History Thesis II

  MH571 3 credit hours

  The second of two required seminars for the thesis project. Students will continue their research related to their thesis and will write a final version of the thesis under the guidance of their thesis advisor. Upon approval of the thesis advisor, the student will submit their thesis to their thesis committee and schedule an oral defense with his/her advisor and program thesis readers. A successful oral defense and final manuscript meeting the approval of a majority of the thesis committee will result in a grade of S (Satisfactory).
  
  Prerequisites: MH570: Thesis I.