Generalship: High Command in War
Examine what it means to command at the very highest levels of war with a former CENTCOM commander.
Sometime in the second half of the fifth century BCE, the Athenian general Thucydides wrote a history of the war between Athens and Sparta. He composed the work, he said, “not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time.” Ever since, statesmen and philosophers have turned to Thucydides’ History for instruction.
In this course we will consider what Thucydides can teach us about the permanent questions of political life: What are the origins of political order? What qualities constitute human excellence? What is war, and why do humans often long for it? We will also consider questions of especial relevance to our own time: How should democratic statesmen respond to plagues? Why does political order break down into factional strife? Under what conditions does a rising power make war “inevitable”? Students will read much of Thucydides’ History over the course of six sessions. By the end of this time we will gain some appreciation for why Thucydides’ masterpiece has proven to be a “possession for all time.”
Hugh Liebert on Thucydides
This course is offered by Humanities at Hertog. It takes place weekly on Tuesdays, via Zoom, from 6 PM to 8 PM ET. Fellows will receive a $150 stipend contingent upon participation in the course and completion of a brief response paper. All course materials will be provided.
Faculty
Hugh Liebert
Hugh Liebert is a Professor of American Politics in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where he teaches courses in political philosophy, American politics, and civil-military relations. He is the author of Plutarch’s Politics.
Hugh Liebert
Hugh Liebert is a Professor of American Politics in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where he teaches courses in political philosophy, American politics, and civil-military relations.
Dr. Liebert is the author of Plutarch’s Politics (2016, Cambridge University Press), which won the Delba Winthrop Award for Excellence in Political Science. He has also edited several volumes: Executive Power in Theory and Practice (2012, Palgrave Macmillan); Thinking Beyond Boundaries: Transnational Challenges to U.S. Foreign Policy (2014, Johns Hopkins University Press); American Grand Strategy and the Future of U.S. Landpower (2014, U.S. Army War College Press); What Is the Worst That Can Happen? The Politics and Policy of Crisis Management (2016, Sloan); and Confronting Inequality: Wealth, Rights, and Power (2016, Sloan). His articles have appeared in History of Political Thought, Review of Politics, and Armed Forces & Society.
He received his BA from Harvard University and his MA and PhD from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
