Fifteen Battles that Shaped Europe, 1200 BC-1600 AD
History 300/500, Special Topics, Spring 2008
Instructors Horodowich (lizh@nmsu.edu) and Milliorn (milliorn@nmsu.edu)
Hardman 212, TTh 11:45-1
Office Hours: Horodowich, Breland 246, W 10-12 and by appointment, 646-1515
Milliorn, Breland 171, W 3-5, 646-3896
This course will consider approximately 15 significant battles in the history of the West from the 13th century BC through the 16th century AD. Each week, the first lecture will cover the specific military history of a battle and the second lecture will consider the social, economic, and cultural implications of the battle. While class attendance is not mandatory, you are strongly encouraged to attend class regularly. Weekly quizzes will be based almost entirely on lecture and discussion from class, so that excessive absences will result in the lowering of your grade. You should complete class reading BEFORE class each day, preferably before each week, and bring the reading to class for discussion. This course is on WebCT, where quizzes, grades, and supplemental material will be posted.
Assignments and grading will involve:
Quizzes: 20%
Papers 30% (15% each)
In-class midterm and final examination: 25% each (please bring blue books to exams)
Graduate students will be required to write longer papers than undergraduates and to complete two additional assignments. The breakdown of grading for graduate students will be: Quizzes 15%, Assigned papers 25%, Exams 20% each, and Graduate Papers 20% (10% each).
Reading assignments are almost entirely taken from the course reader (CP), which will be on sale in Breland 171. In addition, students can purchase J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Christine de Pizan’s The Book of Deeds of Arms and Chivalry from the NMSU bookstore. Graduate students may also wish to purchase the additional two books for the course, Victor Davis Hanson’s Wars of the Ancient Greeks, and Bert Hall’s Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe, on which their additional assignments will be based. All readings (though not the course reader) are also available on reserve at the Zuhl Library.
Students with Disabilities: If you have (or believe you have) a disability and would benefit from classroom accommodation(s), please contact the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) Office located at Corbett 244. Phone: 646-6840. We cannot offer students special consideration for disabilities without official documentation from this office.
Plagiarism Policy--We take plagiarism very seriously. Plagiarism is defined as representing someone else’s work as your own. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, submitting examinations, papers, or reports that have been prepared by someone else, copied from someone else (including books, encyclopedias, and websites), or downloaded from the Internet, in part or in whole. Any student found guilty of plagiarism will, at a minimum, receive in an F on the assignment and may be expelled from the course (with a grade of F). In the event that you are expelled from the course for plagiarism, we will send a letter documenting your academic misconduct to the dean of student affairs for your college. You may also be subjected to further disciplinary action under the Student Code of Conduct in the NMSU Student Handbook. If you are unclear as to what constitutes plagiarism, or how to avoid it, see: http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/hc/plagiarism.html
The midterm examination is an essay exam only. The final exam consists of two parts weighted equally: (1) an essay dealing only with the material from the first hour exam to the end of the course, and (2) identifications. The identification list will consist of people, terms, places, and events taken from throughout the course. You will be asked to write a paragraph for each one not merely identifying the person or defining the term, but also discussing the historical significance.
Attendance. While attendance is not mandatory and no roll will be taken, the exams will consist of material from both the reading and the lectures. Some of the lecture material will not come from the reading. Students who attend every lecture consistently score better on tests. The instructors reserve the right to drop a student whose chronic late arrivals, early departures, or frequent abscesses disrupt the class.
Dropping the course. The instructors will not administratively drop students from the course. Students who stop attending the course but fail to fill out a form to withdraw from the course will receive a grade of "F" at the end of the semester. The last day to drop the course is March 10.
Class Schedule:
Week 1 January 17 Introduction
Week 2 January 22 Troy, 1200 BC
Lendon (CP: note that all readings, unless
otherwise noted, are in the coursepack on disk)
January 24 Homer, Wood, Finley
(quiz Jan 25-28)
Week 3 January 29 Salamis and Thermopylae (480 BC)
Warry, “The Persian Wars”
January 31 Herodotus, Mendelsohn
Week 4 February 5 Gaugamela (331 BC)
Warry, “Alexander the Great”
February 7 Fox
(quiz Feb. 8-11)
Week 5 February 12 The Punic Wars (264-146 BC)
Rodgers
February 14 Harris, Badian, Gruen
Week 6 February 19 Masada (73 AD)
Paper #1 Due
February 21 Silberman, “Israel: The Fall of Masada”
Flavius Josephus
(quiz Feb22-25)
Week 7 February 26 Film/Discussion/Exam Review
February 28 Midterm Examination
Week 8 March 4 Tours (732)
Davis
March 6 White, Bachrach
Week 9 March 11 Hastings (1066)
Gravett
March 13 Bridgeford
(quiz Mar. 14-17)
Week 10 March 18 Antioch (crusades, 1097)
Baumgartner
March 20 Maalouf (**note..start reading ahead for
upcoming weeks!)
Week 11 April 1 Crecy (1346)
Hall
April 3 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (entire book, but not The Pearl/Sir Orfeo)
(quiz April 4-7)
Week 12 April 8 Agincourt (1415)/Orleans (1428-9)
Keegan, Oakeshott
April 10 Christine de Pisan, The Book of Deeds of Arms and of Chivalry (entire book)
Week 13 April 15 Constantinople (1453)
Kritovolus
April 17 Paper #2 Due
(quiz April 18-21)
Week 14 April 22 Vienna (1529) and Lepanto (1571)
Guilmartin
April 24 Dursteler
Week 15 April 29 Armada (1588)
Raleigh
May 1 Gregory VII, Luther, Machiavelli,
Montaigne
(quiz May 2-5)
Final Examination: Tuesday, May 6. 10:30-12:30
** There are no exceptions to this examination time.