Schools for Military History?

<p>Hey I was wondering what schools offer a major in History with an emphasis on military history? I know Hawaii Pacific University offers a Diplomacy and Military Studies major and that the United States Service Academies offer a military history major, but what are some other places? Do any of the UCs (University of California) offer a Military History program?</p>

<p>I've been trying to find good schools with good military history programs and I've found zilch, besides the army acadamies.</p>

<p>Damn liberal cultural-history crap...</p>

<p>yeah i feel ya. look at the hawaii pacific university's diplomacy and military studies major. one of the first classes you take is public speaking! i was so juiced when I found out about that place last night lol.</p>

<p>Ray:</p>

<p>I love military history and am an enthusiastic amateur. But I also recognize that most serious historians are not interested because it is too narrow a field. What happens in battle is intensely important to soldiers and, because of that, people like John Keegan are employed at places like Sandhurst. But what happens in battle is not all that interesting to most historians, who are far more interested in the broad sweep of history than in its waypoints.</p>

<p>It's not a liberal or conservative thing, but an issue of scope.</p>

<p>^^^ </p>

<p>I could recognize that... if all the colleges I looked at didn't have plenty of history classes highly narrow in scope. History of Asian American Women? Medicine in Medieval Europe? Film studies? I personally fail to see how all of these are more important and less narrow than the act that propelled much of human development and endeavor: war. </p>

<p>If modern historians cared so much more about the sweep of history, I doubt they'd start a concentration of "history of Asian Americans." Or, for that matter, create a whole major of "Jewish Studies." I really don't see any reason to have cultural/social history classes with such small scope but not military history in any form, except bias.</p>

<p>Well, many colleges do have "Peace and Conflict Studies" programs...if you go to a college that allows you to design a major you could probably cobble together something resembling military history. </p>

<p>Though I'm not sure how much "liberal bias" these programs would have. At worst you'd find yourself in a lot of very heated debates!</p>

<p>Texas A&M does.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure VMI has a program. Some of the flagship state universities do as well; I know Ole Miss does.</p>

<p>Ray:</p>

<p>Military history primarily concerns itself with either strategic movements of armies or the tactical/operational movements of armies or units in an actual battle. It fascinates me because my field is human motivation, and the psychological factors involved in the movement and behavior of troops both in and out of battle are part of what I enjoy studying the most.</p>

<p>If I were an historian, though, I would avoid the field. It simply doesn't offer enough meat, in most cases, to make a name for scholarship. John Keegan appears to have sowed and harvested what little wheat there still is in the field. Unless I could think of a different approach to the subject (one that hasn't already been done), I wouldn't pursue it.</p>

<p>The modern study of history attempts to interweave societal, economic, cultural, political, etc. trends to build a case for why things happened the way they did. For instance, if you've read "The Guns of August," you'll discover that it is military history of a sort, but on a much broader canvas than what you'll find in Douglas Southall Freeman (not to mention being far more accurate and realistic). THAT sort of military history is still of great interest, but the issue of exactly when Alexander launched his cavalry attack on the Thebans and whether his father, Phillip, could really have trained a phalanx to march backwards is old and barren ground. </p>

<p>Examining the wealth of data about Asian American Women, the society and culture in which they grew up, etc. is a much more engaging subject for most historians than the probable depth of the river at Kadesh. Many people still write that sort of history and many others (I, for instance) enjoy it. And it's still vital to professional soldiers. But your writing this off to prejudice is just silliness.</p>

<p>Are there any in California though?</p>

<p>if you like the civil war, Gettysbury college has a civil war studies program</p>

<p>Perhaps also The Citadel and VMI?</p>

<p>Are there any non-military schools that have a military history program? I'm planning on going ROTC if I can't get into an Academy, hopefully for military history, but I don't want to expose myself to the rigidness of a cadet life unless I really need to.</p>

<p>If you don't want the rigidness of a cadet life, don't even apply to a Service Academy!
Know what you are getting into. Don't take this as a "don't go here" warning, but realize that cadet life and the military in general is very regimented. If you do not want a rigid lifestyle, please do not apply to an Academy! If it is something you could deal with without a problem, then you should be alright...otherwise you would probably be miserable.</p>

<p>spectrez:</p>

<p>You know, it's very few undergrad programs that have a sub-category to the regular history major. Any subcategory. There are schools that have more faculty published in a particular topic, so they tend to be stronger in various areas. </p>

<p>UNC has a graduate level program in military history, so there may be some profs there who are strong in the subject. Texas A&M still has a corp, so I bet they have a lot to offer. I think Virginia Tech still has a military arm. You might try there.</p>

<p>But here's another question: Why do you want to narrow down to only military history as an undergrad? Don't you think you might understand military history a bit better in a graduate program if you have a broader base to work from?</p>

<p>raimius:</p>

<p>I said I do not want to deal with the rigidity of a cadet life unless I needed to, not that I didn't want it at all. I have experienced a cadet life during my stint with the Civil Air Patrol and my participation in West Point's summer program and while I know I can endure those conditions, why put myself in it if I do not need to be in it i.e. why take ROTC at VMI or Citadel when ROTC is pretty much the same everywhere and taking ROTC at another location besides a military school would give one more liberty.</p>

<p>Tarhunt</p>

<p>Its not that I really want to limit myself to just military history, its just that military history is what really interests me and while I still want to major in history, I was wondering if there were specific schools that had an emphasis on it.</p>

<p>Ok, that's good to hear. We had one guy in Beast who realized he did not like it here. He wound up outprocessing before basic was over, but he really was miserable before that. </p>

<p>Military history is very interesting. I will be majoring in Military Strategic Studies at USAFA. It is not exactly military history, but is similar.</p>

<p>Gettysburg has a semester long civil war emersion type thing that is available to students at other schools</p>

<p><a href="http://www.gettysburg.edu/academics/civil_war_era_studies/gettysburg_semester/index.dot%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.gettysburg.edu/academics/civil_war_era_studies/gettysburg_semester/index.dot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I wouldn't wanna go to gettysburg but this program definitely interests me.</p>