Professors David A. Forsyth
and Randy H. Katz
Computer Science Division
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720-1776
Necessity drives invention. In this seminar, we will examine the interwined
historical development of information technology, broadly defined as computing,
communications, and signal processing, in the 20th Century within the
context of modern warfare and national defense. Topics include: cryptography/cryptanalysis
and the development of the computer; command and control systems and the
development of the Internet; the war of attrition and the development
of the mathematics of operations research; military communications and
the development of the cellular telephone system; precision munitions and
the development of the Global Positioning System. While we will endeavor
to explain these developments in technical terms at a tutorial level, our
main focus is to engage the students in the historical sweep of technical
development and innovation as driven by national needs, and whether this
represents a continuing framework for the 21st Century.
Room 380 Soda Hall, Wednesdays, 1-3 PM
2 Units, Pass/Fail based on attendance, seminar participation, a research
paper and a short oral report.
22 January 03
Seminar Introduction, Course Mechanics, and Getting Acquainted
- Discussion of Students' Background and Experience
- Why Study Warfare?
- Screening of "Saving Private Ryan"/Omaha Beach sequence
- Discussion of Universal Conscription vs. Volunteer Army
- Brief Introduction to the Naval Game: Early 20th Century Strategic Decision Making
29 January 03
- Theme: Naval Surface Warfare
- Some lessons learned are here
- Historical Examples
- German and British Naval Policy
- Naval Strategy for WWI
- The Threat of the Submarine
- Jutland
- Discussion Questions
- How Should Germany Build its Fleet, and What Should Britain Do?
- What can be Learned from 14-18, particularly Jutland?
- IT Issues
- Communications, Coordination, Intelligence, Tracking
5 February 03
- Theme: Naval Intelligence--Finding the Enemy, Hiding your Forces
- Some notes are here
- Discussion Questions:
- Is an "unbreakable" code possible?
- Is it possible to "hide" coded transmissions?
- How do you balance the need to communicate with the need to be invisible to easedropping?
- Technical Issues and the Role of IT: Cryptography, Cryptanalysis
- Heroic Codebreaking: Enigma, the Battle of the Atlantic, and the Development of the Computer
- Codebreaking in the Pacific: Intelligence successes at Midway
- Technology and the Battle of the Atlantic
- Airborne Radars, High Frequency Direction Finding
12 February 03
- Theme: Submarines and Commerce Raiding
- Notes and preparation questions are here
- Historical Examples
- Unrestricted U-boat Warfare in 1917-1918
- The Battle of the Atlantic
- Naval Strategy for WWI
- Discussion Questions
- Could Germany have Strangled Britain in 1917?
- How should Resources and Development Effort be Spent in the Battle of the Atlantic?
- How should the Allies Deal with a Submarine Threat to Commerce?
- IT Issues
- The hidden costs of communication
- Planning
- Traffic Analysis
- Tracking
- Operations Research examples
19 February 03
- Theme: The Technological Wars in the Air--The Defense
- Historical Examples
- Air Defense in 1917-1918
- Planning UK Air Defense in 1938-1940
- Planning US Air Defense, 1945-1960
- Discussion Questions
- How should the UK defend itself against aerial attack in 1917?
- How should the UK defend itself against aerial attack in 1939?
- How should Germany defend itself against aerial attack, 1939-1945?
- How should the US defend itself against aerial attack, 1945 onwards?
- IT Issues
- Detecting aircraft
- Tracking aircraft
- Coordinating responses
- Managing resources
26 February 03
- Theme: The Technological Wars in the Air--The Strategic Attack
- Historical Examples
- The Bombing war against Germany, 1939-1945
- The Bombing war against Britain, 1939-1945
- Discussion Questions
- What makes Bombing Difficult?
- How do we make Bombing more/less Effective?
- Who should get Large Aircraft?
- How can we make Air Defenses less Effective?
- IT Issues
- Planning
- Navigation
- Navigation countermeasures
- Assessing the effectiveness of bombing
5 March 03
- Theme: Emergence of Mobile Warfare and Combined Arms Operations
- Discussion Questions
- How are weapons controlled "over the horizon"?
- How are forces coordinated at a distance?
- How has dispersion on the battlefield changed in response to the lethality and precision of weapons?
- Technological Developments in Indirect Fire
- The critical importance of artillery in the World Wars
- The most lethal troops: Forward Observers
- Germany's development of the Blitzkrieg and the roots of its (initial) success
- Combined arms, effective command and control from the front
- Coordinated Air and Ground Forces: Fact or Fiction?
- Tooth to Tail: The Logistical War--Petrol, Food, Ammunition
- Technical Issues and the Role of IT:
- Radio Communications
- Logistical Planning
12 March 03
- Theme: The Post World War II Strategic World
- The Logic of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) and the TRIAD
- Strategic Air Defense: Whirlwind
- Technical Issues and the Role of IT
- High Performance Computing and Communications
- Communications, Command and Control
- ArpaNet/Internet and Decentralized Networks
19 March 03
- Theme: The Post World II World: The Global Interconnected Economy
- Global Technical Infrastructures
- Missle Defense Revisited: Cost vs. Technology Risk vs. Asymmetric Countermeasures
2 April 03
"Strategic Computing Initiative"
Pilot's Associate
Battle Fleet Management System
21st Century Soldier
9 April 03
GPS and Precision Location
Smart Bombs, Inertial Navigation
Technical Issues and the Role of IT: Computation, Integration, Global Infrastructure
16 April 03
- Theme: The Promise and Pitfalls of Overwhelming Technical Superiority
- Lessons from Post Vietnam Era
- Falklands War: Cheap Missiles versus Expensive Ships
- Somalia: Information Overload in Urban Warfare
- First Gulf War: The Bombing Offensive, The Exposed Battlefield
23 April 03
Future War: Information Technology and the War Against Terroism
Total Information Awareness: Challenge to Civil Liberaties?
FutureWar: From Domination of Space to Domination of Time--Information Warfare
Robot Wars, Nanotechnology
30 April 03
National Policies and National Cultures: Is there a Western Way of War?
Military and Commercial Technology: Who Pays for it, Who Does it?
What Distinguishes Military from Commercial Technology in the 21st Century?
7 May 03
Course Wrap-up, Summary, and Evaluation
I. C. B. Dear, M. R. D. Foot (Eds.), The Oxford Companion to World
War II, Oxford University Press, Paperback Edition, 2001.
Amazon.com
Link.
John Keegan, The Price of Admiralty: The Evolution of Naval Warfare,
Viking Press, New York, 1988.
Martin Van Creveld, Technology and War: From 2000 BC to the Present,
Free Press, New York, 1989.
MacGregor Knox, Williamson Murray, The Dynamics of Military Revolution:
1300-2050, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2001. (Particularly
Chapters 7-10).
Cohen's Corner, http://www.sais-jhu.edu/depts/strategic/cohen/index.htm
Enigma Web Page, http://www.geocities.com/thi58ya/enigma.html
Enigma Simulator, http://www.qufaro.demon.co.uk/emachines/enigma.htm
Frederick D. Parker, "Pearl Harbor Revisited: United States Navy Communications
Intelligence, 1924-1941," http://www.history.navy.mil/books/comint/index.html
Maurice Najman, "From space platforms to electronic warfare," Le
Monde, (Feb 1998), http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27a/055.html.