WHY WE FIGHT: HISTORICAL CONFLICT IN FACT, FICTION AND

PREREQUISITE: ENGL1012 An intergrated study of the history and the stories, both historical and fictionalized, of wars, civil wars, revolutions – armed struggles between communities throughout the world. By exploring examples from both the historical recrod, including biography and autobiography, and the tales created about real events and/or realistic characters, such as in novels, short stories, film, and poetry, students will understnding more about who goes to war, why wars are fought, and the road toward peaces. This is vital because War is more than simply an absence of Peace, and in order to more fully carry out part of the University’s Mission Statement, “to promote justice and peace in a constantly changing global society,” we should learn more about what brings about, occurs during, and may bring to end such tragic strife. There will be four major sections to the course: 1)The leaders, from kings and presidents to lieutenants and NCOs; 2) The common soldiers or sailors, those who follow into battle and/or those who get caught up in it; 3) The causes for which they fought/fight, form high ideals to survival; and 4) A final section that exlores how the three previous issues are intertwined. Included in the course will be the rhetoric both of those who fought and those who told the stories, the methods and tools of warfare, the create and use of propaganda, and the differing views of history/reality from opposing sides in battle.