Analyze theories of war- U.S. military strategy and evolution

This activity addresses module outcomes 2, 3, & 4. Upon completion of this activity, you will be able to:

• MO2: Analyze the Just War Theory. (CO1)
• MO3: Identify ways that the military has transformed over the years. (CO2)
• MO4: Develop a final paper topic proposal. (CO 5) 

The final paper and oral presentation are designed for you to demonstrate your achievement of the course outcomes:

1. Analyze theories of war.
2. Describe the U.S. military strategy and evolution.
3. Explain cultural diversity in developing a stronger U.S. military force.
4. Evaluate cyber terrorism tactics on current and future conflicts.
5. Research and write a paper that uses audience-appropriate content, is well organized, and correctly applies writing mechanics. (General Education Outcome) 

Each outcome includes multiple competencies. See details in the course syllabus. While there are several methods to demonstrate your historical knowledge, the research assignment will allow you to analyze how the United States military has evolved from it’s beginning to today. Furthermore, by analyzing history and current events, you will be able to formulate an academically sound projection of the challenges the U.S. military will encounter in the future.

For the research assignment, do not allow preconceived opinions or beliefs about transformation and current events to influence your analysis. You must base your analysis on academic research. Although the final paper will be an 8- to 10-page paper, you will research and write your paper in several steps of no more than 2 to 4 pages at one time. Please review the scaffold document  download [DOCX, file size 36.4 KB] which illustrates the process you will follow for your research. 

The Topic Proposal (1 page)

For your selection of the topic proposal, use the following texts:

1. Stewart, R. W. (2009). American military history, volume I: The United States Army and the forging of a nation, 1775-1917  download(2nd ed.) [PDF, File size 9,943 KB]. Washington, DC: Defense Department, Army, Center of Military History. ISBN: 0-16-072362-0.
2. Stewart, R. W. (2010). American military history, volume II: The United States Army in a global era, 1917-2008  download(2nd ed.) [PDF, File size 16,233 KB]. Washington, DC: Defense Department, Army, Center of Military History. ISBN: 0-16-072542-9

Although the above texts are based on U.S. Army military history, you are not required to select a topic about the transformation of the U.S. Army. You may select any branch of service to research how the branch of service transformed over the years. The above texts, however, will help you select two wars for your research. The requirements for your topic selection are as follows:

1. Select a war in which the U.S. was involved from the 18th or 19th Centuries
2. Select another war in which the U.S. was involved from the 20th or 21st Centuries
3. Select a branch of service; you will research its transformation from one war to the next. It is crucial to select wars from two different centuries to appreciate how the military transformed over the years.
4. Prior to selecting your topic, identify and start reading three to five relevant articles that you believe will be useful in your research.
5. In your topic proposal paper include the following: 
   • The two wars you have selected to research.
   • The branch of service on which you will focus your research.
   • The themes you will research. While there are four different topic options, you only have to research two (Leadership, Ethics, Diversity, or Technological) themes. For example, you could research how diversity transformed the composition of the military from one war to the next, how the transformation was implemented, and whether the transformation was beneficial to the military. The same can be done with ethics by examining the ethical challenges the military encountered in each of the selected wars and how these challenges influenced ethical values of the military. You need to focus your literature review on the wars you selected and the two themes you chose.
   • In your proposal describe why you believe your topic is important to the analysis of military history.
   • In your topic proposal include a cover page, appropriate in-text citations, and a list of references using APA format.