Week 1

Norfolk State University

History Department

Fall 2013, Ac Yr ending 2014HIS 380, American Military History, 3 Credit Hours

Online courseInstructor: Mr. Victor Tumilty

Course description:

This course is designed to familiarize students with the history of the United States military within the context of the development of the United States as a country. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of the United States military in times of conflict and war. Additional topics, such as the development of the United States military during peacetime, tactical and strategic doctrine, technological advances and biographical sketches of key figures, will be examined.

The bottom line is that this is a course about the combat history of the United States military and its impact on the development of the United States. Accordingly, as an upper-level elective for most students who take it, HIS 380 builds upon the content knowledge of the American history surveys, HIS 102 and 103, required by many majors and offered as choices within the general education core requirements. There are no prerequisites, but taking at least one American history survey prior to enrolling in HIS 380 is recommended. In its role as a requirement for ROTC cadets, HIS 380 provides future commissioned officers of the armed forces with the basic understanding of U.S. military history as part of their professional knowledge program. More broadly, it further develops the competencies of writing and critical thinking that are introduced in the general education core. Course objectives/Learning Outcomes:

1. To evaluate the United States military in Americas wars.

2. To analyze the impact of politics, strategy, tactics and technology on the United States military.

3. To demonstrate an understanding of the impact of military operations on the history and development of the United States.

4. To demonstrate the ability to analyze and interpret primary sources within their historical context.5. To demonstrate the ability to trace and analyze changes within the United States military over time.The above course objectives/learning outcomes correlate to the following History Department objectives/learning outcomes: Ability to trace and analyze change over time; Ability to compare and contrast cultures and traditions from the same time period; Ability to write and argue clearly with a thesis statement in the first paragraph; Ability to analyze and interpret primary sources within their historical context.

Bibliography/required texts:

McPherson, James M. Antietam, Crossroads of Freedom, The Battle that changed the Course of the Civil War.

Millett, Alan R. and Peter Maslowski. For the Common Defense, A Military History of the United States. New York, NY: The Free Press, 1994.

Symonds, Craig L. Decision at Sea, Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, June 2005.

Course content:

The students final grade will be based on the following course requirements:

Antietam book exercise or student participation (100 points or 10%)

Quizzes (100 points or 10%)

Mid-term exam (300 points or 30%)

Primary source paper (200 points or 20%)

Final exam (300 points or 30%)

Primary methods of instruction: The primary instructional method for this course will be lectures, both Powerpoint presentations and Word documents posted within the Assignments portion of Blackboard. Additional methods of instruction may include teleconferences and chat sessions. Student participation:

All students are required to establish email communications with the instructor during the first week of class.

Also, each student will be required to interact with the instructor and fellow students by responding to questions and issues posed by the instructor. Students can find these interactions in the Discussion Board within the Blackboard classroom. For the most part, these questions and issues will come directly from the reading assignments. Students must respond to a minimum of four (4) of the Discussion Board postings.

The instructor will also announce when virtual class lectures and chat sessions will occur. Students are highly encouraged to participate.

Quizzes:

There will be a total of ten quizzes given during the course. When given, the quizzes will cover the course material, reading assignments, from the last quiz to the present.

Students can locate the quizzes in the Assignments section of the Blackboard classroom. The quizzes will have time limits.

A typical quiz will have five (5) questions. These questions will either be multiple choice or true/false. All quizzes will have a time limit and they will be automatically graded by Blackboard.

Mid-term examination (open book):

The mid-term exam is an open book exam. Students must complete it NLT Friday of Week #7. This exam will primarily consist of short answer identification requirements and essay requirements.

The mid term exam can be found in the Assignments, Week 7, section of Blackboard.When answering the short answer identification requirements, remember to include sufficient and significant information. Be sure to use the 5 Ws: Who, What, When, Where and Why. You may want to include How as well.

When answering the essay questions, be sure to include an introduction paragraph, a body and a conclusion. Be sure to include your thesis, or answer in the introduction. In the body, include the specific information that supports your answer. And in the conclusion, simply restate your main ideas.

Antietam book exercise:

This exercise is due during Week 8 and it consists of a series of questions pertaining to the Battle of Antietam. The answers to the questions can be found in James

McPhersons book, Antietam, Crossroads of Freedom.

Students should begin reading this book early in the course in order to complete the exercise in Week 8.Primary source paper:

Each student will complete a primary source paper of 2-3 pages. This assignment requires you use sources other than the course texts. Possible source collections include:

Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France, Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers, War of the Rebellion Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War

These are published copies of actual letters/orders written at the time by important figures in military history. As such, these papers are considered primary sources by historians. Choose a document that interests you, make a copy of it and attach it to your paper.

NOTE: You are not limited to the above collections. You may choose to use documents from WWI or WWII for example. But, you may not use The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History.

Your paper needs to fulfill two requirements

a. Explain the historical context and background of the document you selected. That is, who wrote it? To whom? Why did this person write it? What were the surrounding circumstances? What impact did it have, etc? b. Second, and most importantly, explain the overall historical significance of the document? That is, why is the document important? Why should I care about this piece of paper? Answer the so what/who cares? argument. The document is probably significant because it relates to an event that is significant. Explain this relationship to me. In essence, you are making sense of this one small slice of naval history, by showing how a seemingly trivial piece of evidence fits into the larger picture.

Answer the above questions in a cohesive essay, do not laundry list your responses. Be sure to use an introduction paragraph to introduce the subject that concludes with your thesis statement. This thesis statement should explain why you think this document is important. Your narrative should convince me of your thesis.

Final examination:

The final exam will be online and given during the last week of the course or during the universitys final exam week. The exam will be very similar to the midterm exam and will cover class material from the mid term exam to the end of the course.

The instructor will notify students where to find the exam.

Announcements:

Every week I will post a general announcement that you can view as soon as you enter the classroom.

Announcements will be posted in the Announcements section of the Blackboard classroom. This will be a primary means of communication between the instructor and students. At a minimum, students must check for announcements on a weekly basis.

Course Documents:

Within the course documents section of the Blackboard classroom, students will be able to find the course syllabus. Lectures can be found within the Assignments section by week. Lectures will be posted as either MS Word documents or Power Point presentations.

External Links:

Within this section of the Blackboard classroom, the instructor may post links that are relevant to the course.

Grading Standards:Letter grades are awarded based on the following scores:

For individual assignments, an A is 94-100, an A(-) is 90-93, a B (+) is 87-89, a B is 84-86, a B(-) is 80-83, a C(+) is 77-79, a C is 74-76, C(-) is 70-73, a D(+) is 67-69, a D is 64-66, a D(-) is 60-63, an F is 59 points or less, and an I is Incomplete.

Final grades are on a scale of 1 to 1,000; therefore, an A is 940-1000, an A(-) is 900-939, a B(+) is 870-899, a B is 840-869, a B(-) 800-839, a C(+) is 770-799, a C is 740-769, a C(-) is 700-739, a D(+) is 670-699, a D is 640-669, a D(-) is 600-639, an F is 0-599 and an I is Incomplete.

Turn-ins:

Although an online class provides you with a flexible schedule to meet your professional, personal and academic responsibilities, you are expected to follow the syllabus and submit all assignments on time. If you know you are going to be late, simply e-mail me in advance with the reason and provide me with the planned completion date. Please keep me informed.

Course Calendar/Course requirements table:

WeekDatesLesson TitleReadingTurn-in

1Aug 17-24The New World & the Colonial WarsM&M- 1-50

**McP (begin this book)**Establish email contact with instructor

2Aug 25-31The American RevolutionM&M- 51-83,

Symonds- 7-19Quiz 1

3Sept 1-7Post Revolution Ear; the Quasi War, Barbary Wars & The War of 1812M&M- 88-119,

Symonds- 23-79Quiz 2

4Sept 8-141815 thru the Mexican/American WarM&M- 123-157Quiz 3

5Sept 15-21The American Civil warM&M- 162-200,

Symonds- 83-137

6Sept 22-28The American Civil WarM&M- 203-240

**McP (Entire book)**Quiz 4

7Sept 30- Oct 5Mid-Semester Exam PeriodMidterm Exam

8Oct 6- 12Post Civil War EraM&M- 248-280

9Oct 13-19The Spanish American WarM&M- 284-313,

Symonds- 141-195Antietam exercise due

Quiz 5

10Oct 20-261900 thru the War to End All WarsM&M- 316-376Quiz 6

11Oct 27- Nov 2Between the Two World WarsM&M- 380-407

12Nov 3-9World War IIM&M- 413-446,

Symonds- 199-262

13Nov 10-16World War IIM&M- 450-486Quiz 7

14Nov 17-23Start of the Cold War, the Korean War, the Nuclear Age & Waging Cold WarM&M- 494-563Quiz 8

15Nov 24-30VietnamM&M- 570-601Primary source paper due

16Dec 1-6

Strengthening Americas Military, Ending the Cold War & Operations in the Middle East M&M- 607-642, 647-652,

Symonds- 265-341Quiz 9

FinalsDec 7-13Final Exam PeriodFinal Exam

Final exam period: Dec 7-13Reading assignment key:

McP= McPherson, Antietam (**Start reading this book from Week 1 to complete exercise in Week 8**)

M&M = Millett & Maslowski, For the Common Defense

Symonds = Symonds, Decision at Sea

Academic integrity standards:

Students are required to log into the Blackboard classroom at least once a week. This ensures that every student is aware of the latest course announcements.

Although not mandatory, students are encouraged to participate in course teleconferences and chat sessions.

Students are required to do their own work.

Students should only use their NSU email account when communicating with the instructor. Only use non- NSU email account/addresses as a last means of communication.Office hours:

Feel free to contact me anytime, either online or telephonically.

Email- My primary email address is vtumilty@nsu.edu . Or you may contact me at my alternate email address vtumilty@aol.com. It is my preferred and most efficient means of communication with you. You will normally receive a response from me within 24 hours during the week and within 48 hours during weekends and holidays.

Telephone- For emergencies, I can be reached telephonically at 757-375-0452. When I am at another number, I will inform you. If necessary, please contact me via email to arrange a telephonic appointment so I can be prepared for any specific issues or questions.

Syllabus:This syllabus contains everything students need to complete this course.

Online examinations:

The final examination will be administered online. Any student caught cheating or collaborating will be given a zero on the exam and placed on academic probation.

Readings, assignments and classroom participation:

You will be required to read slightly less than 1,100 pages in this course. To be successful in this course, you must complete the weekly reading assignments. Classroom participation and quizzes will come directly from the reading assignments. Lectures will be available and they are designed to augment the reading assignments. The mid-term and final exams will also come from the course texts. However, the primary source paper, which is due towards the ends of the course, will require you to use sources other than the texts. It is critical that you develop a time management plan while applying good self- discipline to follow it

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Statement:

In accordance with Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, if you have a disability or think you have a disability, contact Supporting Students through Disability Services (SSDS) for information regarding programs and services to enhance student success.

Location: 2nd floor Lyman B.Brooks Library, Room 240

Contact Person: Marian E. Shepard, Disability Services Coordinator

Telephone: 757-823-2014

University Assessment Statement:

As part of NSUs commitment to provide the environment and resources needed for success, students may be required to participate in a number of university-wide assessment activities. The activities may include tests, surveys, focus groups and interviews, and portfolio reviews. The primary purpose of the assessment activities is to determine the extent to which the universitys programs and services maintain a high level of quality and meet the needs of students. Students will not be identified in the analysis of results. Unless indicated otherwise by the instructor, results from University assessment activities will not be computed in student grade.Instructor biography:

Mr. Victor Tumilty completed his Bachelors degree in Mass Communications from Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia, and received his MA in Military Studies, with honors, in Civil War Studies from American Military University in Manassas, Virginia. Professor Tumilty is a retired U.S. Army signal officer. He served 24 years on active duty and retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel. Recently, he served a one year assignment with the Multi- National Force Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq. From 2004 to 2010, he was assigned to U.S. Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, Virginia, where he served as a Communications Systems planner at the U.S. Joint War Fighting Center in Suffolk. He taught military history for three years at the United States Naval Academy. His military assignments include platoon leader, field artillery signal officer, company commander, operations officer, training developer, infantry brigade signal officer and battalion executive officer. He graduated from the U.S. Armys Command and General Staff College, the Combined Arms and Services Staff School, the Communications and Electronic Staff Officer Course, the Signal Officer Basic Course, the Northern Warfare Training Center, Airborne and Air Assault schools. Professor Tumilty has also completed the Defense Information Schools Public Affairs Officer and Broadcast Managers courses, and the USMC Command and Control Systems Course. He currently resides in Suffolk, Virginia.

Courses taught at the United States Naval Academy:

HH104 American Naval History

Courses taught at American Military University:MH314 The American Civil War in the West

MH313 The American Civil War in the East

Courses taught at Tidewater Community College (Portsmouth Campus):

HIS266 The Military History of the Civil War

Courses taught at Norfolk State University

HIS 380 American Military History