History 3071/5071 Summer, 2004
World War II Mr. Bowling
Books:
John Keegan, The Second World War (New York, 1989).
Mark A. Stoler, Allies and Adversaries; The Joint Chiefs of
Staff, the Grand Alliance, and U.S. Strategy
in World
War II (Chapel
Hill, 2003).
Martin
Caiden, Samurai! (New York, 1957).
Mark
J. Rearden, Victory at Mortain; Stopping
Hitler’s
Panzer Counteroffensive
(Lawrence, 2002).
Michael
J. Neufeld and Michael Berenbaum, eds. The Bombing
of Auschwitz; Should the
Allies Have Attempted It?
(Lawrence,
2002).
David
P. Colley, Blood for Dignity; The Story
of the First
Integrated Combat Unit in the U.S. Army (New
York, 2003).
Requirements:
1. Attendance.
2. Participation.
3. Readings.
4. Oral reports, based on selections from the
textbook.
5.
Successful
completion of three examinations.
General
Statement of Purpose and Plan of Study:
To many, especially of the older generation, the Second World War is
referred to simply as "the war," "the Big One." At the center of the conflict were
its principal perpetrators: Germany under Hitler and the Japanese Empire, versus
the principal Allies: the United States under Roosevelt, the British Empire under
Churchill, and the Soviet Union under Stalin. The war had such an impact that the
next half-century became known as the "postwar era." Only now, with the end of
the Cold War, have we really begun to emerge from its shadow.
Topically, we shall follow proceed as follows:
background,
beginning with the settlement of the Great War
and
the problems thereby created;
the
accession to power of the expansionist dictators of
Germany
and Japan;
the
outbreak of actual conflict in the Far East and Europe;
the
course of the war itself, with greatest attention to the
military
events, the challenges of coalition warfare, and the
outcome.