Social Studies Curriculum

History/Social Sciences Electives

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Adopted January 1999

US Military History

Course Description:

U.S. Military History will examine the origin and growth of U.S. Military forces. What are the foreign and military policies of the United States? How have they changed. What have been the causes and results of U.S. wars and conflicts?

Sample topics in U.S. Military History include:

• Leaders and strategies
• Successes and failures
• Allies and enemies
• Women and minorities
• Air, sea, and ground forces

The course title and description have been approved by the Anchorage School Board. This course outline is meant to serve as an example of one possibility for organizing this class. It does not represent the only way the course may be organized. Each course outline has been written by a different teacher so there will be differences in the approach used from one course to another.

Course Goals:

Through this course students will:

• Examine the historical causes of war, the idea of civilian control of the military, and the “citizen soldier”.
• Discuss critically the causes, effects, leadership and the arms and equipment of American wars from the pre-colonial to the pre-civil war periods.
• Discuss the causes, effects, leadership and arms and equipment of the American Civil War.
• Discuss critically the causes, effects, leadership and the arms and equipment of late 19th century wars and the First World War.
• Discuss critically the causes, effects, leadership and arms and equipment of the Second World War.
• Discuss critically the causes, effects, leadership and arms and equipment of the Cold War period (1947-1991).

Course Objectives:

The student will:

• Examine the historical causes of war, the idea of civilian control of the military and the citizen soldier
• Discuss and think critically about the historical causes of war.
• Examine critically the American idea of civilian control of the military from the earliest days of the Republic to the era of nuclear warfare.
• Discuss and think critically about the American idea of the “citizen soldier” from the earliest militias to the 20th century draftee.
• Discuss the causes, effects, leadership and the arms and equipment of American wars from the Pre-colonial to the pre-Civil War periods.
• Discuss and critically analyze the Native American warrior and their society from the earliest times to the era of conflict with the U. S Government.
• Analyze the leadership, equipment and tactics of the armies and navies of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods as applied to the American Continent.
• Analyze and describe the great war leaders of this period.
• Discuss the causes, effects, leadership and arms and equipment of the American Civil War.
• Discuss and analyze the causes of the American Civil War.
• Analyze the effects of Napoleonic battle tactics in the light of the technological advancements in weaponry.
• Analyze the effects or iron-plated warships.
• Evaluate and describe the major campaigns of the Civil War.
• Identify, analyze and describe the leaders of the Civil War from both the North and the South.
• Discuss the causes, effects, leadership and the arms and equipment of late 19th century wars and the First World War.
• Analyze and describe the campaigns of the American wars of expansion from 1870-1898.
• Identify and analyze the leaders of this period.
• Analyze the causes of the First World War.
• Enumerate and evaluate the reasons the U. S. entered the First World War.
• Examine the tactics and weapons used from 1914-1918.
• Discuss the causes, effects, leadership and the arms and equipment of late 19th century wars and the First World War.
• Analyze the rise of dictatorships in Europe from 1920-1939.
• Examine and describe the political and economic causes of the Second World War.
• Examine and describe the path of the U. S. which eventually led it into war.
• Analyze and comment critically on the major theatres and campaigns of the war.
• Describe the tactics and weapons used during this period.
• Examine the role of the “citizen soldier” and the “home front” in the war.
• Analyze and describe the roles of the war leaders.
• Discuss the causes, effects, leadership and arms and equipment of the Cold War period (1947-1991).
• Analyze the political, economic, and military circumstances which brought about the “Cold War."
• Discuss and comment critically on the causes, leaders, and campaigns of the Korean War.
• Discuss the concept of a “nuclear balance of terror” and the effects it had on this period.
• Identify, discuss and describe the causes, leaders, campaigns and effects of the Vietnam War on the U.S.
• Discuss and describe the role of the American land, air, and naval forces in the post-Vietnam era.
• Discuss and analyze the U. S. military in possible future roles or wars.
• Discuss leadership, arms and equipment of the Post-Cold War Era.

Course Outline

1. Introduction:
   1. Historical Causes of war:
      1. Population pressures
      2. Scarce resources
      3. Religious/ethnic/racial differences
      4. Colonialism
      5. Political dictatorships.
   2. U. S. Military Traditions:
      1. U. S. Constitution: civilian control of the military.
      2. The citizen soldier: militias/ first draft in 1863.
   3. Pre-Civil War Period
      1. Native American societies as warrior societies
         1. Ambush/ mobility/ the warrior class.
      2. The musket as a weapon.
         1. Dictated tactics: “line of battle”.
      3. Wooden ships/sail/ cannon; dictated naval tactics.
      4. Leaders: Washington, Tecumseh, Santa Anna, Winfield Scott, John Paul Jones/ Preble/ Lord Nelson.
   4. The Civil War Period:
      1. Causes: slavery/ state’s rights/western expansion/economic issues/secession.
      2. Technological advances: Minie bullet/ rifled musket
      3. Campaigns: Bull Run (1861); Fredericksburg and 2nd Manasas (1862); Shiloh (1862); Chancellorsville (1863); Gettysburg (1863); Vicksburg (1863); Atlanta (1864); The march to Richmond (1864-65).
      4. The Union Blockade: “Anaconda”
         1. Effect on the South
         2. Blockade Runners
         3. Monitor v. Virginia (1862)
         4. Confederate Commerce Raiders: Alabama; Shenandoah; Florida.
      5. Leaders: Lincoln; Grant; Lee; Sherman; Farragut; Jefferson Davis; Johnston.
   5. World War I Period
      1. U. S. Cavalry and the Native American tactics in the West
         1. Leaders: Crazy Horse; Sitting Bull; Chief Joseph; Geronimo; Crook; Custer; Terry; Sherman.
      2. Spanish-American War (1898): causes and results.
      3. World War I:
         1. Causes: Imperialism; Colonialism; Militarism; Arms Races.
         2. US reasons for entering the war: U-Boat warfare; Allied propaganda; Zimmerman note; commercial reasons.
         3. Tactics and weapons: trench warfare; heavy artillery, U-boats; true battleships; aircraft; poison gas.
   6. World War II Period:
      1. Rise of Hitler; Mussolini; Japanese Militarism.
      2. Political/economic causes
      3. US neutrality/pacifism
      4. Rise of air power:
         1. At sea: the aircraft carrier
         2. Strategic bombing
         3. German Blitzkreig
         4. Development of the atomic bomb
      5. Concept of “total warfare”
         1. The “home front”
         2. U.S. citizen, soldier and sailor
      6. Results of the War: devastation of Europe and Asia/ the Holocaust/ rise of US power/ the atomic bomb
      7. Leaders: Hitler; Mussolini; Japanese Military Leaders; FDR; Churchill; Stalin
         1. Generals and admirals.
   7. The Cold War Period:
      1. “The Iron Curtain” and the rise of Communism.
      2. The Policy of Containment
      3. The Korean War
      4. Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War
      5. “Balance of Nuclear Terror”
      6. Fall of Communism
      7. The Gulf War
   8. Post Cold War

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