At high energies, the properties of hadronic and nuclear interactions are determined by the dynamics of strong color fields. The physics of strong color fields is responsible for many of the phenomena observed at RHIC and is expected to describe both pp and AA collisions at the LHC. These lectures are intended as an elementary introduction into QCD and its behavior in the strong field limit.

PACS numbers: 12.38.--t, 12.38.Mh, 24.85.+p, 25.75.Nq