Module Information
Module Identifier
IP26920
Module Title
America at War: A Military History of the United States
Academic Year
2018/2019
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Other Staff
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 5 x 1 Hour Seminars |
| Lecture | 16 x 1 Hour Lectures |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 2500 word essay | 50% |
| Semester Exam | 2 Hours (1 x 2 hour) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 2500 word essay | 50% |
| Supplementary Exam | 2 Hours 1 x 2 hour | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Understand the changing utility of force to the American Republic.
2. Discuss the changing character of the American experience of war.
3. Discuss the general interpretive approaches to the military history of the United States.
4. Discuss the impact of technology upon the US War Machine.
5. Assess the relationship between war on land and air and sea power in US strategy.
6. Assess the reasons for the relative military success of the United States historically.
Brief description
This module will allow students to examine in depth the military history of the current greatest power in the world since its creation in the eighteenth century.
Content
1. The study of military history
2. Ways of war, strategic culture, and the art of war
3. The age of Black Powder: from colonial wars to the Revolution
4. Building a Nation: from the Civil War to Indian Wars
5. The Age of Industrial Wars: from Expansion to the Cold War
6. The Challenges of Asymmetric warfare: US military from 2001 to wars of the future
7. Exam revision/essay preparation
2. Ways of war, strategic culture, and the art of war
3. The age of Black Powder: from colonial wars to the Revolution
4. Building a Nation: from the Civil War to Indian Wars
5. The Age of Industrial Wars: from Expansion to the Cold War
6. The Challenges of Asymmetric warfare: US military from 2001 to wars of the future
7. Exam revision/essay preparation
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | N/A |
| Communication | Students will learn how to present their ideas both verbally (seminar participation) and in writing (essay and exam). This includes clear, coherent, and effective formulation of the analysis and arguments presented in written work. Students will also learn to orally enunciate clearly and concisely arguments during seminars. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | The module aims to promote self-management but within a context in which support and assistance is available from both the convenor and fellow students alike. Students will be expected to improve their own learning and performance by undertaking their own research and exercising their own initiative, including searching for sources and deciding (under guidance) the direction of their coursework. |
| Information Technology | Students will be expected to submit their work in word-processed format. Also, students will be encouraged to search for sources of information on the web, as well as seeking sources through electronic information sources (such as Web of Science and OCLC). Students will also be expected to make use of the resources that will be available on the Blackboard VLE. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | This module contributes to the development of professional skills through: locating and summarizing information (both through archival work and assessment of secondary sources), presenting findings at seminars in a clear and concise manner, and listening, thinking and responding to the statement of others. The written work includes writing clearly and concisely, which is a common task in the workplace. Students will be encouraged throughout to reflect on their performance and to consider lessons for future application. |
| Problem solving | The module requires independent project work and problem solving through the submission of the essay and preparation for seminar discussions. Students will develop independent research skills as well as problem solving skills by means of: identify problems, access data (primary and secondary sources), collate and organize data collected, estimate an answer to the problem identified in the questions (both seminars and essay), reason logically, look for patterns, engage in comparative analysis, formulate a solution to the problem identified. |
| Research skills | Students will be required to undertake independent research for all elements of the assessed work. This will involve utilizing media and web sources, as well as more conventional academic texts. Students will in part be assessed on their ability to gather appropriate and interesting resources materials. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students have the opportunity to develop, practice and test a wide range of subject specific skills that help them to understand and evaluate historical patterns mainly through an understanding of historiography. Subject specific skills include: • Collect and understand a wide range of data relating to the module • Evaluate competing historical interpretations • Demonstrate subject specific research techniques (archival research) • Apply a range of methodologies to complex historical and contemporary problems pertaining to military history |
| Team work | Students will undertake team exercises in the seminars through small group discussion and presentation of findings. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5