We will study the history and nature of amphibious warfare from the advent of global maritime power projection to the post-Cold War era of expeditionary and littoral warfare. The emphasis will be on the strategic and especially the operational level of warfare in understanding what makes for successful amphibious capability. The approach will utilise case studies progressing chronologically from the age of sail up to contemporary and current regional developments, and drawing on the maritime conflicts of early modern Europe, the Napoleonic Wars, the two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, The Falklands, and the Iraq War. This will provide the opportunity to address such issues as why amphibious operations succeed or fail, the developing theory of amphibious warfare, amphibious command and commanders, the experience of amphibious warfare, the contrasting effects of geography on amphibious warfare (eg the European and Pacific theatres in the Second World War), the development of a specialist amphibious military culture, and the potential of amphibious warfare to change history (eg Normandy in 1944). The course has fundamental relevance to the study of conflict and security issues in dealing with the history, theory, operation and context of amphibious warfare. It can form an integral part of a major or minor sequence in History and relates particularly well to other courses in military history, as well as to those in strategic studies and air power.
