I'm far from alone in this. I scarcely have time this morning to explain all the ways by which this connection can be made. But I would like to focus on four key issues that strike me as central. The second is to get them to think about war and military affairs in comparative perspective. The third is to consider not only how war and military affairs reflect the workings and values of society but also how they shape society.
Students typically begin with many unexamined assumptions about military history.
Chief among them are an expectation that it mainly concerns battles, commanders, and weapons, and that it can be studied with little or no reference to political, social or cultural history. I well remember my very first day of teaching American military history. I suggested that one could not understand the wars between the English settlers and the Indians without understanding something about racism. I think he must have regarded a military history course as a refuge from political correctness and was terrified to see it rear its visage even there. Today I would go further and suggest that warfare frequently not only reflects racism, but is sometimes an important element in the construction of racial modes of thought.