1. The calculus of variations: a historical perspective -- 2. The Pontryagin maximum principle: from necessary conditions to the construction of an optimal solution -- 3. Reachable sets of linear time-invariant systems: from convex sets to the bang-bang theorem -- 4. The high-order maximum principle: from approximations of reachable sets to high-order necessary conditions for optimality -- 5. The method of characteristics: a geometric approach to sufficient conditions for a local minimum -- 6. Synthesis of optimal controlled trajectories: from local to global solutions -- 7. Control-affine systems in low dimensions: from small-time reachable sets to time-optimal syntheses -- A: A review of some basic results from advanced calculus -- B: Ordinary differential equations -- C. An introduction to differentiable manifolds -- D: Some facts from real analysis