The course explores the dialectical relationship between war and politics, through a historical review of armed conflicts. Starting with the warfare of the Bronze Age states in Mesopotamia and Egypt, all the way to the present age of nuclear weapons, drones and private military corporations, the course will examine the evolution of warfare through the triangular prism of a) war technology, war strategies and tactics, b) politics (state organization and functions, participation in decision-making, etc.), c) economics (modes of production, creation and distribution of surpluses etc).
Schedule of lectures (note: we may not be able to adhere strictly to this plan):
1st: Introduction: War and Politics
2nd: War in the Bronze Age
3rd: War of the Hoplites and Democracy
4th: From the Macedonian way of war at the dawn of the Middle Ages.
5th: From the feudal Middle Ages to the birth of the cannon.
6th: Renaissance
7th: The Thirty Years War and the Ancien Regime
8th: French revolution and Napoleon
9th: From the Restoration to 1913
10th: World War I and the Interwar period
11th: World War II
12th: From the cold war to today
13th: Review

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
a) understand the historicity of the relationship between war and politics, a prerequisite for understanding the functioning of human societies both in the past and in the present
b) demonstrate basic historical knowledge of the examples studied during the course
c) describe and evaluate the position of war within the general framework of politics
d) distinguish the effects of technological and economic changes in the conduct of war, as well as their political effects
e) evaluate, analyze and interpret material related to wars and their relation to politics

Course Bibliography (Eudoxus)
– Γ. Μαργαρίτης (2015), Πόλεμος και Πολιτική, Κάλλιπος
– Charles Tilly (2008), Εξαναγκασμός, κεφάλαιο και ευρωπαϊκά κράτη 990 – 1992 μ.Χ., Κυρομάνος

Additional bibliography for study
– Archer Jones (1987), The Art of War in the Western World, New York, Barnes and Noble
– Bruce Porter (2002), War and the Rise of the State, New York, Free Press
– Hans Delbruck (1990-1991), History of the Art of War.
Vol. I, Warfare in Antiquity
Vol. II, Barbarian Invasions
Vol. III, Medieval Warfare
Vol. IV, The Dawn of Modern Warfare
Lincoln, Nebr., University of Nebraska Press
– J.F. Verbruggen (1977), The Art of Warfare in Western Europe during the Middle Ages: From the eighth Century to 1340, Amsterdam, New York, North Holland Publishers
– Martin Van Creveld (2001), Επιμελητεία και Πόλεμος, Τουρίκης
– Michael Howard (2000), Ο Ρόλος του Πολέμου στη Νεότερη Ευρωπαϊκή Ιστορία, Ποιότητα
– Geoffrey Parker (1996), The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 1500-1800, Cambridge, New York, Cambridge University Press
– David Parrot (2012), The Business of War: Military Enterprise and Military Revolution in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge, New Yprk, Cambridge University Press
– MacGregor Knox, Murray Williamson (2001), The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050, Cambridge, New York, Cambridge University Press
– Παναγιώτης Κονδύλης (1998), Θεωρία του πολέμου, Αθήνα, Θεμέλιο
– Peter Paret, Craig Gordon, Gilbert Felix (editors) (1986), Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, Princeton, Princeton University Press
– Geoffrey Parker (ed., second edition 2021), Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare, Cambridge University Press
– William H. McNeill (2019), Επιδιώκοντας την ισχύ- Πόλεμοι, τεχνολογία και κοινωνίες από την αρχαιότητα έως σήμερα, Παπαδόπουλος
– Alexander Watson (2014), Ring of Steel. Germany and Austria Hungary at War, 1914-1918, London: Penguin
– Lauro Martines (2013). Furies: War in Europe, 1450 – 1700. New York,
Bloomsbury Press.
– H. Munkner (2005), Οι Νέοι Πόλεμοι, Καστανιώτης
– J.R.R. Hale (1998), War and Society in Renaissance Europe, 1450-1620, McGill-Queen’s University Pres
– John Landers (2003), The Field and the Forge. Population, Production and Power in the Pre-Industrial West, Oxford University Press
– Azar Gat (2008), War in Human Civilization, Oxford University Press