University of Galway

Course Module Information

Course Modules

Semester 1 | Credits: 10

This is primarily a study of the tactics and technology of European warfare on land and sea during an epoch of religious wars, unprecedented diplomatic realignments, rising and failing states, a ‘general crisis’ and external Ottoman pressure. Through discussion, presentation and self-directed learning, with an emphasis on contemporary texts, the module will progress thematically through such themes as state policy and grand strategy, tactical changes as a response to gunpowder weaponry, the (in)decisiveness of battle, ‘heroism’ versus ‘technique’ in the Vaubanian siege, manoeuvre, logistics and ‘contributions’, the impact of war on civilians, moral contexts: the ‘laws of war’ and the ‘law of nations’, women in the world of camp and train, recruitment and promotion, officers and men, the intellectual inheritance of classical Greek and Rome.
(Language of instruction: English)

Learning Outcomes
  1. describe the main wars and campaigns of the period under review
  2. assess how the strategy and tactics of seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century warfare responded to, and in turn generated, technological change
  3. explain the relative indecisiveness of battle
  4. consider the logistic constraints on manoeuvre
  5. explain the overriding importance of siege warfare
Assessments
  • Continuous Assessment (100%)
Teachers
Reading List
  1. "Warfare in the Seventeenth Century" by John Childs
    ISBN: 006089170X.
    Publisher: Collins
  2. "The wars of Louis XIV, 1667-1714" by John A. Lynn
    ISBN: 0582056292.
    Publisher: London ; Longman, 1999.
  3. "A military revolution?" by Jeremy Black
    ISBN: 033351906X.
    Publisher: Macmillan
  4. "The art of warfare in the age of Marlborough" by David Chandler
    ISBN: 1885119143.
    Publisher: Sarpedon
  5. "This Seat of Mars" by Charles Carlton
    ISBN: 0300139136.
    Publisher: Yale University Press
  6. "Fire And Stone" by Christopher Duffy
    ISBN: 0785821090.
    Publisher: Book Sales
  7. "War for the every day" by Erik A. Lund
    ISBN: 0313310416.
    Publisher: Greenwood Press
  8. "Giant of the grand siecle" by John A. Lynn
    ISBN: 0521572738.
    Publisher: Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  9. "Vauban Under Siege: Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession" by Jamel Ostwald
    ISBN: 9004154892.
    Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
  10. "The military revolution" by Geoffrey Parker
    ISBN: 0521479584.
    Publisher: Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  11. "Cities at war in early modern Europe" by Martha Pollak
    ISBN: 052111344X.
    Publisher: Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press, 2010.
  12. "War and society in Early-Modern Europe" by Frank Tallett
    ISBN: 0415160731.
    Publisher: London ; Routledge, 1992.
  13. "The art of war" by Martin van Creveld
    ISBN: 970060838539.
    Publisher: Smithsonian Books/Collins
    Chapters: 4
  14. "The Enemy at the Gate" by Andrew Wheatcroft
    ISBN: 046502081X.
    Publisher: Basic Books
The above information outlines module HI3110: "European Warfare 1618-1714: Theory and Practice" and is valid from 2017 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.