Technology and Warfare: A Course

Revisiting Lessons I Taught in 1999

In 1999, I taught a course on technology and warfare at the U.S. Air Force Academy. It proved popular among the cadets in the course, and I have most of the notes I prepared back then to teach it. The course material, I think, may prove interesting to those who have to think about, and grapple with, complex relationships between technology and warfare today.

I’d like to begin this special interest Substack by reproducing the basics of the course syllabus, which was known as History 320, or H320 for short.

I. Nature and Purpose of the Course.

History 320 surveys the history of technology and warfare from ancient times to the present. Technology is more than individual machines or even systems of machines: it also comprises doctrinal and societal factors. Warfare is more than soldiers in battle: it also comprises doctrine, training, logistics, and societal and other factors. These elements will be present in our study of technology and warfare. From this course you should gain an appreciation for, and understanding of, the complex interrelationship between technology and warfare which will prove invaluable to your careers as officers in the technologically sophisticated military of the United States.

II. Course Objectives.

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

- define “technology” and “warfare” and understand how they interrelate;

- recognize major trends in military history, such as the predominance of siege warfare from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries or the changing roles of infantry compared to cavalry in armies, and how technology has affected these trends;

- understand the powerful impact technology has on airpower weapons and doctrine, and explain the role of technology in the modern American military;

- place technology and warfare in a broader historical and societal context to include political structures, economic systems, and moral and material constraints.

III. Textbooks and Materials.

Ellis, John. The Social History of the Machine Gun. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975. (E)

Keegan, John. The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo & the Somme. New York: The Viking Press, 1976. (K)

McNeill, William H. The Structure of Military-Technical Transformation. 37^th Harmon Memorial Lecture, USAFA, CO, 1994. (M)

O’Connell, Robert L. Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. (O)

On Library Reserve: McNeill, William H. The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. (Optional reading)

Another book I used was Martin Van Creveld’s Technology and War: From 2000 B.C. to the Present. New York: The Free Press, 1989.

If you’re interested in technology, warfare, and history, the three books above by McNeill (Pursuit of Power), O’Connell, and Van Creveld provide stimulating overviews. Each has its particular strengths.