At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:

Describe the characteristics of international crises;

Explain the rational decision-making model and how decisions 
made during crises might deviate from it;

Discuss the actors, issues, dynamics, and outcomes of numerous 
historical crises, including World War I, World War II, the 
Wars of Italian and German Unification, and the Crimean War 
(among others);

Identify some factors that distinguish the crises that escalate 
to war from those that do not;

Explain why decision-makers might be drawn into war, even when 
they did not want it to occur;

Describe why decision-makers might prefer war as a means to 
obtain their foreign policy goals;

Evaluate the decision-making process during crises to identify 
points at which: a) war could have been avoided (and if so, 
why), b) war could have occurred, but did not (and if not, why 
not);

Appreciate the difficulties of making decisions during crisis 
scenarios;

Develop her/his own perspective on the dynamics of 
international crises.

I.	Introduction
II.	Foreign Policy Decision-Making
III.	Background: Peace, Norms, and the Concert of Europe
IV.	International Crises
a.	The Eastern Crisis
b.	The Crimean War
c.	Wars of German Unification
d.	Wars of Italian Unification
e.	Franco-Prussian War
f.	Russo-Japanese War
g.	First & Second Moroccan Crises
V.	World Wars and Related Crises
a.	World War I: Background and July 1914
b.	World War II: Background, Munich 1938, Outbreak of War
c.	Crises in the Aftermath of World War II
VI.	Identifying Patterns in Crises
a.	War through Alliances
b.	War through Domestic Politics
c.	What Have We Learned?