The United States in World War II

Fall 2016David Hackett Fischer

MWTh 1-2

History 166

The United States in World War II

Syllabus

1.INTRODUCTION

(8/25): Introduction to the Course

reading: none

2.A NEW DARK AGE, 1914-35

(8/29): The Rise of European Totalitarianism and Asian Militarism

(8/31): The Crisis of Open Societies

(9/1): First Blood: Ethiopia (1935), Spain (1936), China (1937)

reading: Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking (New York, 1996), ix-xi, 35-139, 215-25

R.A.C. Parker, The Second World War, A Short History, v-vi, 1-20

3.THE COMING OF WAR, 1935-40

(9/5): No University Exercises; Labor Day

(9/7): Appeasement: Austria, Czechoslovakia

(9/8): Finland, Poland and the Fall of France

reading: Henry Ashby Turner, Hitler's Thirty Days, entire ;

R. A. C. Parker, The Second World War, A Short History, 21-43

David Kennedy, American People in WWII, 1-39

4. BRITAIN FIGHTS ALONE, 1940-41

(9/12): War at Sea: Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy : Fuhrer Prinzip and Nelson Touch (9/14): The Battle of Britain: RAF and Luftwaffe: A Clash of Cultures

(9/15): Churchill and FDR: Two Open Leaders: Style and Substance

reading: Parker, The Second World War, A Short History, 44-59; Kennedy, American

People in WWII, 40-74; Winston Churchill,The SecondWorld War,vol. II, Their Finest

Hour, 3-119, 161-77, 224-397

5. THE WIDENING WAR, 1941

(9/19): Britain’s Peripheral War: Greece, Middle East and Africa

(9/21): Barbarossa: Germany attacks the Soviet Union

(9/22): Pearl Harbor: Japan Attacks the United States

reading: Parker, The Second World War 60-85; Kennedy, American People in World War II, 74-109; Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin, vii-xix, 119-86, 379-408;

6. THE FALL OF FOUR EMPIRES

(9/25): French Indo-China, British Malaya, Dutch East Indies, Philippines

(9/27): Burma and India

(9/28): The War in China

reading: Parker, The Second World War, 86-94; Mark Peattie, Edward Drea and Hans Van de Ven, The Battle for China, 27-46

7. THE NARROW MARGIN IN THE PACIFIC, 1942

(10/3): no class; university holiday

(10/5): Seizing the Initiative:Tokyo, Coral Sea and Midway: U.S. & Japanese Navies

(10/6): Guadalcanal & New Guinea: Marines, Aussies,Kiwis, Japanese

reading: Kennedy, American People in WW2, 91-139; Hiroyuki Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, 290-322; Max Hastings, The Secret War, 134-173

8. CRISIS IN THE ATLANTIC AND ON THE EASTERN FRONT, 1942-43

(10/10): The Battle of the Atlantic and the Eastern Front

(10/12): no class; university holiday

(10/13): Africa, Pantelleria, Sicily, Italy

reading: Kennedy, American People in WW2, 140-189; Parker, The Second World War , 95-130, 177-195; Overy, Why the Allies Won, chap. 3

9.THE HOME FRONT, 1942-43

(10/17): no class; university holiday

(10/19): Arsenal ofDemocracy:The Economics of War

(10/20): John DeWitt, Delos Emmons, and JapaneseInternment

reading: Kennedy, American People in WW2, 190-243, 321-372; Parker, The Second World War , 131-150; Overy, Why the Allies Won, chaps, 6, 7, 8; Roger Daniels, Prisoners without Trial, 3-133

10.THE AIR WAR OVER EUROPE, 1939-45; THE ALLIES AND THE HOLOCAUST

(10/24): No class; university holiday

(10/26): Strategic Bombing and Air Supremacy: Ethics and Effectiveness

(10/27): The Allies and the Holocaust

reading: Kennedy, American People in WW2, 244-283; Parker, The Second World War ,

151-176; Overy, Why the Allies Won, chap.4; Randall Hansen, Fire and Fury, The Allied

Bombing of Germany, 169-88; 279-298;Robert N. Rosen, Saving the Jews: Franklin D.

Roosevelt and the Holocaust, chapters 4, 5,6,10, 13-22; Optional:David Wyman, The

Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, introduction and preface, 209-340

11. THE LIBERATION OF WESTERN EUROPE, 1944-45

(10/31): D-Day: Overlord and the Liberation of France

(11/2): Aachen, Hurtgen, the Battle of the Bulge

(11/3): The Defeat of Germany

reading: Kennedy, American People in WW2, 284-321; Parker, The Second World War , 177-223; Overy, Why the Allies Won, chap. 5

12.ASIA AND THE PACIFIC, 1943-44

(11/7): Amphibious Warfare: The Solomons, Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas

(11/9): The Fast Carriers: Santa Cruz to Leyte Gulf

(11/10): The Philippines: Strategy and Leadership in the Pacific

reading: Kennedy, American People in WW2, 373-426; Parker, The Second World War ,

224-242

13.VICTORY OVER JAPAN, 1945

(11/14): The Silent Service: Submarines against Japan

(11/16): Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Kamikazis

(11/17): Air Assault; Atomic Bombs; The Surrender of Japan

reading: Richard Frank, Downfall, ix-xi, 3-37, 83-163, 240-360; Parker, The Second World War , 224-243; Overy, Why the Allies Won, chap 9;

14. THE WAR BECOMES A REVOLUTION

(11/21): The cost of the War

(11/23-25) no classes, Thanksgiving holiday

reading: Kennedy, American People in WW2, 427-433; Parker, The Second World War

264-304

15. A NEW WORLD PROCESS

(11/28): The Reconstruction of Germany and Japan

(11/30): Visions of a New Order in Europeand Asia

(12/1): Visions of a New America

reading: John Dower, Embracing Defeat, introduction, 19-84, 203-253, 443-484,

525-64.

16.THE LEGACY OF WORLD WAR II

(12/5): World War II and the Cold War

(12/7): Conclusion

Reading: Parker, The Second World War, 250-264; Gaddis,We Now Know; Rethinking Cold War History, vi-ix, 1-112, 281-95.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Every student is expected to:

--attend classes, normally on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 1PM.

--do assigned readings each week

--complete a take-home midterm examination by Thursday, October 20

--complete a take-home final examination, on a date to be announced

--write one short (4 page) research paper from primary materials, after meeting with Mr.

Fischer to discuss topic, research, and writing. The paper is due on the last day of

instruction, December 7.

CRITERIA FOR COURSE GRADES:

Regular attendance and active participation in discussion groups, completion of midterm and final exams, and submission of a research paper are necessary conditions for a passing grade in the course. The mid-term grade will average results of the midterm exam (50 percent) with a grade for participation in discussion groups (50 percent).

The final grade will weigh the results of the final examination at 30 percent; midterm exam at 10 percent; paper at 30 percent; participation in discussion groups at 30 percent.

CONTACT:

Mr. Fischer can be reached by email at

or by phone at 508-358-2833; office hours in Golding 119 on M, W, 2-3:30 and by appointment.

Office hours and contact information for teaching fellows can are posted on the class LATTE page.

BOOK LIST (books marked with an asterisk (*) are available for purchase; all books are available on reserve in Goldfarb Library, and short assignments are accessible on Latte

Hiroyuki Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral (Tokyo, Kodahansha, 1979)

Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking (New York, Penguin, 1998)*

Winston Churchill, The Second World War (London, 1948-55), vol. II, Their Finest Hour

Roger Daniels, Prisoners without Trial (New York, Hill & Wang,1993)

John W. Dower, Embracing defeat (Norton, New Press, 1999)*

John Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (Oxford, 1997)*

Richard B. Frank, Downfall; The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire (Penguin, 1999)*

Max Hastings, The Secret War (New York, Harper Collins 2016)

Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas, The Wise Men (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1997)

David M. Kennedy, The American People in World War II (New York and Oxford, 1999, 2004)*

Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won (New York, Norton, 1995)*

R.A.C. Parker, The Second World War, A Short History (Oxford, 2001) *

Mark Peattie, Edward Drea and Hans Van de Ven, The Battle for China (Stanford, 2011) 27-46.

Robert N. Rosen, Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006)*

Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin,

Henry Ashby Turner, Hitler's Thirty Days (Reading, Addison-Wesley, 1996)*

David Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews (New York, New Press, 1984)