WAR THEORY: THE EVOLUTION OF WAR AND MILITARY THOUGHT

Consider both the nature and character of war in history and in the present. Examine the case study and address the following questions:

Case Study: The Korean War
Reading: Stephen L.Y. Gammons. “The Korean War: The UN Offensive,” U.S. Army Center for
Military History, Publication 19-7 (2000), pp. 1-32.

• How does this campaign illustrate (or not) the enduring ideas of the theorists listed below? Reference at a minimum three or more of the theorists and their ideas and how its applicable to the case study.
• What role, if any, did aspects of human nature, political considerations and/or
developments in technology play in the way this campaign unfolded?
• In what ways does this case study reveal insights into what you think future wars may
contain? In what ways does this case study differ from what you think future wars
might be like? Why?

Theorists:

• Thucydides,
• Antoine-Henri Jomini
• Carl von Clausewitz
• Sun Tzu
• Thomas Hobbes
• John Locke
• Alfred Thayer Mahan
• J.F.C. Fuller
• Heinz Guderian
• Julian S. Corbett
• Giulio Douhet
• J.C. Slessor
• Thomas C. Schelling
• David Galula
• John R. Boyd