Jonathan Abel
US Army Command and General Staff College
Dr. Jonathan Abel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Military History at the US Army Command and General Staff College. In addition to teaching classes on wargaming and European, American, French, and Greek and Roman warfare, he coordinates the DMH podcasts Broad-Gauge Gossips and A Confused Heap of Facts, the History Masters of Military Arts and Sciences program, and the monthly DMH speaking series with the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. He is the author of several works on the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French army, including Guibert: Father of Napoleon's Grande Armée, Guibert's General Essay on Tactics, "The Prophet Guibert" in Napoleon and the Operational Art of War, "An Aspect of the Military Experience in the Age of Reason: The Evolution of the Combined-Arms Division in Old-Regime France" in The Changing Face of Old-Regime Warfare: Essays in Honor of Christopher Duffy, and "Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de Guibert" and "War and Memory in the Napoleonic Wars" for Oxford Bibliographies Online, among other works. He was the recipient of the CGSC 2023 Civilian Instructor of the Year award, and his book Guibert's General Essay on Tactics was awarded the 2023 Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award, Reference category. He is a proud Texan and a 2014 graduate of the Military History Center at the University of North Texas, where he studied early-modern and modern French military history under Dr. Michael Leggiere. He may be found @HistorianAbel on Twitter.
Undergraduate Syllabi
War & Social Change: The Military Revolution
This course will examine the changes in the European art and science of war from the advent of gunpowder c1400 to the American rebellion in the 1770s. It will illustrate the effects of these changes on demography, political institutions, industrial production, social structure, taxation patterns, and other areas. This will explain much of the development of the modern world and its institutions, through the lens of military history.
France’s Golden Age, 1615-1774
Between 1615 and 1774, France became the most powerful state in Europe, and consequently, in the world. This was the result of a Golden Age in France, as three subsequent kings centralized the state and built an absolute monarchy to administer it. This course will explore the reign of those three kings, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, and Louis XV. It will emphasize the political and military exploits of each along with exploring social, religious, economic, and diplomatic aspects of the period.
The French Way Of War
France has played a primary role in world military affairs from the time of the Roman Empire to the present. France’s origins in the fusion of Germanic and Gallo-Roman culture granted it a unique cultural background that enabled the Franks to develop a unique nation and state over the centuries. This produced the French military system that dominated the European continent by 1700, drove Napoleon to his conquests, and granted France an international empire. The World Wars destroyed this hegemony and forced France to reconsider its position in the world and in world military affairs. Today, France continues to chart the “third way” laid out by Charles de Gaulle, which combines with French history to comprise the uniquely “French Way of War.” This has important implications for the modern officer in joint and multinational operations, particularly those involving NATO and former French colonies.
Greek and Roman Warfare
This course will examine the major periods of Greek (Mycenaean, Dark Ages, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic) and Roman (Republic, Crisis of the First Century, Principate, High Empire, and Late Empire) military history to determine how each society produced the military institutions of the period, how those institutions manned, armed, armored, supplied, and maintained themselves in battle, what effects those institutions produced, and how those in turn changed their various societies. It will include battle analysis of important/major combats, for which the students will be responsible to present to the class. Successful students will analyze the social and political structures of each period and synthesize from them the ingredients each contributed to their militaries. This will inform similar such linkages in contemporary states, societies, and militaries.
graduate Syllabus
War And Social Change: The Military Revolution
This course will examine the changes in the European art and science of war from the advent of gunpowder c1400 to the American rebellion in the 1770s. It will illustrate the effects of these changes on demography, political institutions, industrial production, social structure, taxation patterns, and other areas. This will explain much of the development of the modern world and its institutions, through the lens of military history.
History through Wargaming: Case Studies in Decision Making
This course provides students the opportunity to examine historical decision making in a digital simulation environment, as well as to gain a better understanding of the evolution of tactics and the operational art. Students will make tactical- and operational-level decisions in order to discuss the ramifications of their choices. Ultimately, the course fosters a better understanding of decision-making.
To achieve the objectives stated above, students study the evolution of tactics and the operational art from the late medieval period through the modern era. Students will be presented with a different medium each week that is dedicated to a particular scenario and time period. They will run the simulation, either in teams or individually, and then they will assess the simulation and lessons learned via AARs.