Comparative Grand Strategy and Military Doctrine
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this graduate seminar comparing the grand strategies of Britain, France, Germany and Russia as they competed for mastery of Europe from the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth. Grand strategy here means the full mix of political and military means a state assembles to secure itself, and the course traces how each power's strategic choices took shape before World War I and World War II and how those choices played out once fighting started. Sessions work through case studies country by country, asking what recurring factors shaped each state's approach, how to judge the quality of a grand strategy, and what consequences follow from different strategic types. A second track runs alongside the historical content: how to actually conduct comparative historical case studies as a method. Materials include the syllabus, readings list, and assignments MIT has posted for independent study, with no certificate attached since this is an OpenCourseWare offering.