Military History Test Review: From the Civil War to Modern Times

Test Date:  Wednesday, May 14

Format:  15 multiple choice (3 points each), 1 essay (choice of 2), 55 pts.

Content:

The American Civil War

• Napoleonic influence
• Major technological changes and role of technology in the war
• Comparisons between the North and the South
• Strategies and tactics of each side
• The details and significance of the following battles and campaigns:
• First Bull Run, The Valley Campaign, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, the Wilderness Campaign, the marches of Sherman and Sheridan
• The Civil War as “proto-total war”—role of resources and civilians

The Wars of Unification--German unification

• Otto von Bismarck’s approach to war
• Influence of the American Civil War--technology
• New perceptions of warfare resulting from the Franco-Prussian War

The World Wars

• The characteristics of World War I warfare, including:
• Trench warfare
• The use of new weapons—what they were and their impacts
• The loss of life
• The characteristics and impact of “Total War"
• The consequences of peace process
• Characteristics of total war during World War II (compared with WW I)
• conventional combat vs. economic warfare
• The significance of the atomic bomb

War after the World Wars

• the influence of nuclear technology on the outbreak of war
• characteristics of warfare from 1950-present
• "proxy wars" and limited conflicts
• "asymmetrical" warfare 
• insurgency, guerrilla warfare, and terrorisism
• "digital" war
• the future of war