Exam Date and Time: May 5, 1:00 PM
The midterm exam will consist of two parts. The first will consist of questions that will require a short answer in response. The second will require you to write an essay. Check out Tips for Success on Examinations.
Before you start studying, I'd like to give you the following advice.
· Read the Question Carefully: Understand what the question is asking.
· Think: Do not merely memorize; think about the question.
· Answer the Question Asked: Make sure that you will write an essay that addresses exactly what the question requires.
· Provide a Thesis Statement in the Introduction of Your Long Essay: Explain in a concise and precise manner what your essay will do.
· Present Your Answer in an Organized Manner: Your response should get to the point and flow logically.
· Refer to Specific Examples: Do not speak in vague or abstract terms; use examples of events, developments, or ideas.
· Give as Complete an Answer as Possible: Provide all of the relevant information necessary to answer the question.
· Show Some Imagination and Orginality: Do not merely memorize the first answer that comes to mind, and do not merely repeat what has been stated in class. Try to write something creative and thought-provoking.
Section 1: Short-Answer Questions
Three of the following questions will appear on the midterm. You will have to answer one of them. These are not merely identifications. I want thorough, thoughtful answers. Surprise, surprise: most of these are taken from the Food for Thought. One word of warning: although we have touched upon all of these issues in class, our discussions have not always covered topics in their entirety. The advantage will belong to those who have read and taken notes in class—not to those who have merely written down what they heard in class without having read anything.
1) Why do you think military historians traditionally see the French Revolution as the beginning of the “modern age” in warfare?
2) Why has the emergence of Marxism and nationalism been so important to warfare in the modern age?
3) In what ways did industrialization change the face of war?
4) What appear to have been the only two successful ways for the non-Western world to adapt to the challenge posed by European armies in the 19th century? Why were both ways exceedingly painful?
5) What makes 20th century and contemporary insurgencies different from the colonial “little wars” of the nineteenth century?
6) What factors helped break the deadlock of trench warfare during World War I?
7) Why did the British attack at the Somme fail?
8) To what extent did World War II resemble the visions presented by Douhet in Command of the Air and De Gaulle in The Army of the Future?
9) Does nuclear warfare have the potential to turn Clausewitz’s ideas inside-out?
10) What kind of difficulties does “modern war” (to borrow Trinquier’s phrase) present to Western powers?
11) Breaker Morant, The Battle of Algiers, and Black Hawk Down all present conundrums that Western powers have had to wrestle with while dealing with insurgencies in the 20th century. What exactly are the conundrums associated with each movie?
Section 2: Long Essay Questions
I have provided information about six essay topics (I have not given away the exact questions—they are so great I will only reveal them on the test, so think clearly now and anticipate me). Questions dealing with three of these issues will appear on the exam. You will have to answer one of them.
1) Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme.
2) Relation of the 18th and 19th centuries to the 20th.
3) Wars of extremes.
4) Progress?
5) Revolution or evolution?
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Copyrighted by Hugh Dubrulle, 2006.