The course, situated at the intersection of military history and strategy, historical sociology, political economy, and international theory, will deepen students’ understanding of grand strategies, defined as ‘the calculated relationship of means to large ends’ (John L. Gaddis) in the context of providing external security of political communities and against the background of the development of warfare and the political and social effects of technological change. It will combine the study of both theory and strategic practice from the classical period to the 21st century.