本课程将就各大国（英国、法国、德国及俄国）于十九世纪末至二十世纪中期争夺欧洲控制权所使用的不同大战略作比较研究。大战略是指为了达到安全目的的一系列政治与军事手段。我们将会查验两次大战发生前的战略发展与这些发展在两次大战中的影响。以下问题将会引导整个探究过程：大战略是什么及有什么重要性？本课程所选出的各种国家战略，受到了哪些循环因素的影响？如何判断大战略的好坏？采取不同的大战略会导致什么后果？课程的第二个主题是方法学。我们将会详加注意如何进行比较性历史个案研究。
This course will conduct a comparative study of the grand strategies of the great powers (Britain, France, Germany and Russia) competing for mastery of Europe from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Grand strategy is the collection of political and military means and ends with which a state attempts to achieve security. We will examine strategic developments in the years preceding World Wars I and II, and how those developments played themselves out in these wars. The following questions will guide the inquiry: What is grand strategy and what are its critical aspects? What recurring factors have exerted the greatest influence on the strategies of the states selected for study? How may the quality of a grand strategy be judged? What consequences seem to follow from grand strategies of different types? A second theme of the course is methodological. We will pay close attention to how comparative historical case studies are conducted.
