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Angel
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| Posted: July 24 2009 at 9:36am | IP Logged
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How would you go about helping your 12/13 year old (who knows a crazy amount of history) to learn about "military strategy"? I asked for a list of stuff he wanted to learn about this year. Now I have to try to make it work. 
I'm not exactly sure where to start, though...
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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guitarnan
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| Posted: July 24 2009 at 9:51am | IP Logged
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I would have him read some books about the periods he's interested, create maps showing the battles he's studying, perhaps play some military strategy board games, attend talks at museums/battlefields, things like that.
(My son is just like yours, by the way!)
If you tell me what time periods he wants to study I'll have my military history buff dh recommend some books. If you're not sure, I think you could do an overview (Athens vs. Sparta, Alexander the Great, Roman Empire (a must! the Roman army was amazing!), medieval strategy and the development of modern weapons, wars of conquest, world wars, modern warfare - how does that sound?).
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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ekbell
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| Posted: July 27 2009 at 9:15pm | IP Logged
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This site may be helpful as you can search old history textbooks for wars and battles by date and name.
(the site-maintainers obviously have boys )
http://www.heritage-history.com
The description of the following books stated that they included discussion of strategy
The Story of the Great War by Roland G. Usher
and The Boy's Book of Battles by Eric Wood
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MaryM
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| Posted: July 28 2009 at 2:19am | IP Logged
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I was going to suggest finding local strategy wargamers in the area. For example one of the dad's in our local homeschool group is very interested in military wargaming and has lots of miniatures and set ups at his home. He has had gaming nights for interested father/son pairs. It is very detailed and involved and great for learning about historic military strategy.
There are lots of military strategy games out there as well. My brother was really into those growing up and my oldest son to some degree.
Companies with strategy games:
Avalon Hill is a well known commpany that produced many war strategy games for years. They are a division of some other company know and don't have the full line of games, but you can find old games around as well.
Chatham Hill have both paper and computer games of historic eras including quite a few of war and famous battles.
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Mary M. in Denver
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BlessedBGod
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| Posted: July 29 2009 at 9:33am | IP Logged
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I hate to suggest video games, but for my ds who doesn't like most video games this was a hit. The, "Age of the Empires" is an excellent way to get them to know the strategies of the wars. My ds was interested in the same things as your ds. I think it's a good way to make use of the video games. I mean, finally a way to use video games to our advantage. -BBG JMJ
From Wikipedia...... Age of Empires is a series of computer video games developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The first title of the series was Age of Empires, released in 1997. Since then, seven titles and three spin-offs have been released. The titles are historical real-time strategy games, and their gameplay revolves around two main game modes: random map and campaign. The games are set amidst historical events. Age of Empires focused on events in Europe and Asia, spanning from the Stone Age to the Classical period; the expansion game explored the formation and expansion of the Roman Empire. Age of Empires II was set in the Middle Ages, and its expansion was set in the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The subsequent three games of Age of Empires III explored the early modern period, when Europe was colonizing the Americas and several Asian nations were on the rise. A spin-off game, Age of Mythology, was set in the same period as the original Age of Empires, but focused on fictional elements of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology.
The Age of Empires series has been a commercial success, selling over 20 million copies.[1] The popularity and quality of the games has earned Ensemble Studios a strong reputation in real-time strategy gaming.
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DianaC
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 11:16am | IP Logged
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Angel,
My son is 19 and has for a number of years, had a keen interest in military history and strategy as well. I asked him for recommendations for a 12 year old boy (but I suggest you preview these recommendations) and here is a bit of his reply (if you'd like more information, he'd be glad to help):
There are numerous books on military strategy. Honestly though, you're better off with reading histories, that's the best way. Books dedicated to particular battles, or that chronograph the careers of particular generals, will be more beneficial (and in larger supply) than books on strategy. I'll give you some of those as well. You'll notice in all of this I focus on land conflict. If this kid is interested in naval history, I have a lot of different stuff as well.
Strategy:
On War - Von Clauswitz (basically the bible for war since 1850)
The Art of War - Sun Tzu
The Annotated Maxims of Napoleon -(can't remember the author)
Caesar's Commentaries -Caesar
*can't remember the exact title, but it's something like a short report on amphibious operations. It was published by USMC in the 1920s.
On Killing -Lt. Col Grossman (maybe not appropriate for a 12 year old. This book deals bluntly with the psychological effects of killing, and the ways to get a man to kill effectively. However, it is a good study of motivation and human behaviour, might be interesting for his father.)
Like I said before, you're going to be better off just studying the battles and generals directly. There is a lot more information there. Some battles / generals who I would particularly suggest are as follows. There are many other battles that are significant and deserving of study. However I tried to limit this to battles that exemplify key points, and not include some which, while significant, were of little strategic interest or redundant in their lessons.
Battles / Wars:
Thermopolie (Sparta w/ allies v. Persia) - also an excellent source of learning honour and duty
Cannae (Rome v. Carthage)
Battle for Carthage, third Punic war (Rome v. Carthage)
Pharsalus (Caesar v. Pompey)
First Crusade (Christian allies v. islamic forces) - crusades overall are an excellent example of the lack of western will to follow through with conquest, an important political issue when dealing with long term strategy
Siege of Taganrog (Allies v. Russia)
Fredericksburg (CSA v. USA)
Gettysburg (CSA v. USA)
Russo-Japanese War (Russia v. Japan) - short conflict, good example of the how organization and morale is key, "the good commander doesn't enter conflict until the battle is already won"
Gallipoli (ANZACs v. Turks)
Haitian conflict (USMC v. Haitian Insurrectionists)
Operation Market Garden (Allies v. Nazi Germany)
Operation Iceberg (USMC / USA v. Japan) - good example of amphib operations performed well
2nd Battle of Falujah (USMC v. Iraqi Insurgents) - good CQB combat ops
I'll also list some famous commanders who should be studied in detail. While some of the battles from these men are listed above, a study should be made of their entire careers. Their successes and failures are the best place to study military strategy. If this kid chooses to study nothing else, he should look to this list first.
Commanders:
Robert E. Lee (probably the most brilliant military commander the US has ever made)
Macarthur
Chesty Puller
Napoleon
Alexander the Great
Genghis Khan
Hannibal
Caesar
Pompey
Scipio Africanus
Patton
Cortes
Romell (the desert fox)
These are all good starting places. As this kid begins to study more, he will be able to find a wealth of information. Military strategy is extremely complex with many different schools of thought, and many different complex sub-issues, ranging from geographic to political. If you want more information give me a call. Also, I wouldn't mind talking to him about stuff if you would like me to. Obviously this is a topic near and dear to my heart, and I'd love to share what I know to help this kid get going.
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: military strategy for teens?
