War.
Among my specializations in history is the field of military history, so it stands to reason this ought to be one area I should offer up as an area of focus. But I don't want to study just any old aspect of war. I want to look into a very specific area and ask two questions:
Which wars could be considered "just wars" and which ones could not be considered as such? Why?
My answers to those questions won't necessarily be the same as yours, but all will be open for debate and consideration. To be sure, if we're studying properly, our answers will take a good long while in forming and justifying.
Yes, we're still going to need to know some basic information to prepare you for life on the outside and standardized tests in your immediate future, but we'll still have ample time to explore the questions about what a just war involves (or doesn't involve), if one is ever possible, where the concept originated, and how history (and history filtered through legend and popular media) has influenced our current perceptions of war.
For purposes of this course, I need to have a definition of war that we can all use. War is when organized violence begins between two sides who either cannot or will not negotiate their way through a difficult situation. Wars end when one side or the other is beaten down to the point where they resist no more. The second world war, for instance, had a muddled beginning, what with German and Japanese and Italian aggressions all through the 1930's, culminating in actual declarations of war or between those nations and major world powers like Britain, France, Russia, and the USA. But the ending of World War Two is easy to see in the clearly defined moments of surrender of the axis powers. In contrast, the war between Palestinians and Israelis began decades before the Israeli war of independence in 1947 and probably won't end until one side of the other is completely destroyed. Even though we have trouble defining where in history the beginning and ending of some wars precisely may be, we can certainly find where the wars are. Where we find war, we need to look at how each war was fought on all sides and prepare ourselves to pass judgment on the war and its partaicipants.
I do not want this class to focus on technological details of various wars, except when the introduction of a particular technology has a dramatic effect on the way people fight. The constant measures and countermeasures of anti-submarine warfare, don't really concern us here. The introduction of the machine gun, however, is of major importance. Precise technical details of the machine gun aren't important. The fact a single machine could massacre hundreds of attacking infantry or cavalry is important.
Ultimately, we will be dealing with issues of morality. It is not my place, nor is it the place of anyone in his classroom, to dictate a particular moral code to anyone else in this class. I am sure there will be disagreements of opinion in this class, some of which might arouse passionate responses. So be it. Every student is required to respect everyone else's right to hold a dissenting opinion. Every student is also required to give up on trying to convert someone else's opinion when it is clear that person has no intention of changing his or her mind.
As regards sensitive topics, I am well aware of sources ready to provide a skewed interpretation of history to suit their needs. As we research these topics, we need to be able to detect bias in our sources. Bias can be subtle. Consider researching the Palestinian and Israeli conflict: there are more than two sides to that story. You can read accounts prepared by hard-line Jewish settlers, Zionists, Israelis willing to trade land for peace, people who believe coexistence is possible, Fateh supporters, Hamas supporters, PFLP supporters, Americans, British, French, Egyptians, Russians, or any number of other observers, each with his or her own agenda to promote with an interpretation of the facts. You'll even see some reports completely ignore events other reports put forward as key events to consider. Each side will see an event through its own eyes, making it sensitive to some aspects and blind to others.
A major grade in the second semester will be a research project covering a modern conflict. The following list is a suggestion of wars to consider for your research project, but if you would like to research a war not on this list, feel free to discuss it with me.
Keep in mind these are papers about wars, not studies of oppressive regimes. Sure, they can be just as vile and volent as armies ravaging a countryside, but they're not wars, and that's what we're studying, see?
So, select a war or one will be selected for you. Start reading up about it and work with me on getting your thesis and sources lined up. The paper needs to be your conclusion about the way a war was fought. It needs to be based on historical facts, which is where your sources come in. I'll go over specifics later on, but it'll be a good idea to start reading up on the outside for your research project.