In most of American higher education and even most policy schools, military history is relegated to the sidelines. Rarely is it taught in its own right, with a focus on the technologies and tactics of war, the strategies and major campaign plans of the participants, the mistakes made and lessons learned, the great “what ifs?” of history. This is regrettable, not least because it impoverishes our own debates on issues of war and peace. Military history doesn’t provide lessons in simple cookbook style, as Richard Neustadt and Ernest May underscored in their classic 1986 book, “Thinking in Time.” It needs to be taken in, mulled over and discussed. Surveying the major wars of modern history, I would propose two general themes that have special relevance for today.

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