HST 362 World War I
Ushered in the age of total war and, as the first truly modern war, it presents crucial lessons: on strategic planning and its associated pitfalls; on the resilience of modern states; on the demands of great power conflict; and on the awesome spectacle of modern, total war. This course will examine not only the military history of the century's first industrialized war, but also the causes of the war, the role of ideology, economics, geography, leadership, and technology and how each of these elements came together in a unique way to make the Great War a war of unprecedented cost and a pivot between the old world and the modern world.