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Curriculum

The Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) Archives contains curriculum for the Command and General Staff College from it's first academic year to the present. Most of the curriculum materials are not available in a digital format, but many of the catalogs, programs of instruction or schedules are available. Many times, those documents are enough to give a good overview of the course and the doctrine, priorities and policies of the time.

This guide includes the catalogs, etc. that are available digitally from 1919-1950. The annual reports are also linked and they typically included a course overview and schedule. Lastly, some misc. curriculum studies, lectures, course materials, and reports are linked. This guide is not exhaustive of what is available either digitally or in hardcopy, but is just a place to get started for early 20th century PME.

School for Infantry and Cavalry annual Reports
Infantry and Cavalry School Lectures: 1898-1910 As part of its ongoing preservation efforts, the Combined Arms Research Library has digitized lectures given at the School for Infantry and Cavalry (now the Command and General Staff College) from 1898-1910. The lectures are interesting statements of Army doctrine in the time frame before World War I. Some of the lectures were given by young Captains and Majors who later became better known, including Douglas MacArthur and William "Billy" Mitchell. They are listed below by topic.

Miscellaneous materials available through CARL's digital library.

After action report.-1956 This is an after action report drawn up by Garrison Davidson upon his departure from CGSC addressing two potential problems with regard to the College mission that gave him concern. The first involves the College instructional mission, and the other concerns its related mission to develop doctrine for the combined arms and services. It was written to offer to assist future commandants in their planning for the College. Headings include the curriculum, doctrine, faculty organization, student body, special projects, history and tradition of the Command and General Staff College and Fort Leavenworth, and major post projects.
Analysis of the curricula of the Regular Course, CGSC, 2 Nov. 51. This document details the analysis of the curricula of the Regular Course, Command and General Staff College, to determine criteria for preparation of a program of instruction that accomplishes the mission of the college. This analysis contains brief summaries of actions taken, number and hour totals of the course according to type of instruction, number and hours of new subjects and subjects requiring revision, implementation of analysis of curriculum, study of college mission, course statistics, percentages of total instruction by general subject and by method of instruction, etc.
Army service schools, instruction in equitation.-1917 It is the aim of the course in Equitation at The Army Service Schools to give the officers the physical exercise called for in General Orders, No. 148, War Department, 1910; to begin their instruction in the training of an officer's mount; to instill a general interest and pleasure in riding and horsemanship; to give each officer a good seat, good hands; and to teach him to ride across country with ease, grace and confidence, taking the ordinary obstacles met with in the field or on the Officers' Russian Ride Course. The following extracts taken from War Department publications and from various pamphlets issued by the Mounted Service Schools, are published for the information and guidance of officers attending the Equitation classes
Assistant commandant's file : Curriculum Board reports, 1948-49 program. Reports listing curriculum proposals and revisions to the Associate Course for the years 1948 and 1949.
Brief account of the evolution of the Regular Course at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. This document includes timeframes/dates, duration of the course, curriculum focus, class size and composition, and outside influences/impetus for change.
Committee report: student evaluation policy, Command and General Staff College.-1955 This document was created to study the complete overall evaluation program (student evaluation policy) for CGSC and make appropriate recommendations.
Desirability of introducing more military history into the CGSC curriculum to best accomplish the school mission. - 1957 Seeks to determine the level of military knowledge (to include military history) appropriate to CGSC candidates and the steps necessary to obtain this level, in order to raise the competence of the officer corps. Examines the desirability of introducing more military history into the CGSC curriculum to best accomplish the school mission.
Final recommendations of the Commandant U.S. Army Command and General Staff College on the report of the Educational Survey Commission, 1957. Shortly after assumption of command, 9 July 1956, I instituted a study of the overall functioning of the College. As a result a completely revised and rewritten curriculum for the 1957-58 Course, placing greater emphasis on developing student reasoning and problem-solving ability, will reflect corrective action on approximately 75 percent of the Commission's recommendations. – Lionel C. McGarr
Letter, the curriculum of the Command and General Staff College., 1954. Contains a request for additional students, notes on workload and projects which should not have been assigned to CGSC. It also includes information on programs that add to the workload and proposed program courses.
Observation on instruction at the Command and General Staff College, 1941-1951. This paper discusses the mission of the CGSC and how it is being fulfilled by evaluating if the CGSC is adequately doing its share to implement the policy of rotating staff and command assignments, in the planning of instructional units and in the student assignments in maneuvers, and classroom discussions of doctrine and military history.
Observation on instruction at the Command and General Staff College, 1948-1951. This paper discusses the mission of the CGSC and how it is being fulfilled by evaluating if the CGSC is adequately doing its share to implement the policy of rotating staff and command assignments, in the planning of instructional units and in the student assignments in maneuvers, and classroom discussions of doctrine and military history.
on the frontier-preparing leaders...yesterday, today, and tomorrow: CGSC, 1981-2006. Forward by David H. Petraeus: For 125 years, Fort Leavenworth has been the crossroads for the officer corps of the United States Army. It is at the Command and General Staff College that field grade officers receive an educational experience that prepares them for the rest of their careers of service to the Army and the nation. As this fine study points out, the past 25 years have seen great changes at the College in response to the changing needs of the Army and the nation as we have passed from the shadow of the Vietnam through the end of the Cold War and moved on into the Global War on Terror. During this time, the College has superbly prepared thousands of officers for duty as field grade commanders and staff officers, as well as advanced the professional development of officers from the Army's sister services and nations throughout the world. It has also played a central role in shaping the doctrines and procedures the Army employs to defend the nation. Today we are seeing CGSC go above and beyond its motto, Ad bellum pace parati--"In peace, prepare for war"--in line with a recognition that the operating environment today and in the decades to come is a new frontier in America's military history. Contemporary events remind us that it is not just during the relative calm of peace that intellectual preparation for war should take place.
Proceedings of a Board of Officers, Command and Staff College, Ft Leavenworth, Kansas, 12 Apr 48. Report of two board meeting proceedings conducted to examine the exercise in amphibious operations conducted in the San Diego area in November 1947, to prepare a plan for similar exercises for the academic year 1948-49, and to be included in the curriculum.
Report of the Educational Survey Commission, Command and General Staff College.-1956 Report of the joint civilian-military Educational Survey Commission which was formed to make an independent review of the present methods of planning, conducting and administering the instruction at the Command and General Staff College.
Report of the Education Survey Commission, Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.-1956 Report of the joint civilian-military Educational Survey Commission which was formed to make an independent review of the present methods of planning, conducting and administering the instruction at the Command and General Staff College.

Required textbooks for 1926-1927 In order to prevent prospective students providing themselves with the wrong texts or wrong edition of texts, they are informed that the following text books will be used in the Command and General Staff School during the school year, 1926-1927.

Review of the curriculum.-1954 The subject of this document is the scope and arrangement of the curriculum of the C&GS College.
Skinner report.-1955 This document contains memorandums, organizational charts, disposition forms, and the report of the Skinner committee regarding the reorganization of the United States Command and General Staff College (the proposed reorganization of the CGSC staff and faculty.
Staff study mission; Command and General Staff College.-1951 Considerations of the curricula of the Army War College and the Command and General Staff College as to whether the educations meets the Army educational requirements, and the problems involved in the implementation of the Eddy Board directive.
Study on examination program for 1953-54 Regular Course, 15 April 1953. This document announces the Commandant's policies for the conduct of the 1953-54 Examination Program as represented by the recommendations contained in a subject study. This directive is in the form of a faculty memorandum. Its goal was to analyze the then currently employed CGSC Regular Course student Examination Program to determine what should be the purpose and design thereof.
Survey of the educational program of the Command and Staff College : report and recommendations on program no. PR-4097.-1947 This report is a product of a commission of psychological and educational consultants who surveyed the College and reported on organization, curriculum, instruction, instructors, students, methods of evaluation, use of civilians, and staff training.
Tactical air support in CGSC curriculum.-1955 This document is used to help determine whether CGSC instruction concerning tactical air support is accurate and realistic. The conclusion given was the time allotted and scope of air-ground instruction contained in the college curriculum at the time of the study was appropriate.
Antitank defense (tentative) - 1936