History 3389: THE WORLD AT WAR, 1939-1945. Dr. G. N. Green, Spring 2011, UH 08, 5:30-6:50, T Th. Office UH 351. Hrs: TTh 2-3, 5-5:30 or by appointment. E-mail: . Required books for course: Michael Lyons, World War II, 5th edition; James Hornfischer, Ship of Ghosts; & Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge too Far.
My goal is to teach you to think critically about World War II. Upon completion of the course you should be able to:
1. formulate the origins of World War II
2. summarize German and Japanese successes, 1939-1942
3. compare the turning points of the war on the Eastern, Western & Pacific fronts
4. evaluate the costs and effects of the war
There will be two tests and a final exam, all comprised of multiple choice questions &/or essay questions from the readings and class notes. Each of the two tests, the final exam, and the term paper counts 25% of your grade. Bring a scantron 882 or 882E to each test & to the quiz on Feb.1
The term paper shall consist of at least 10 numbered pages of hard copy text with 6 scholarly sources or more, no more than a third of which should come from brief internet, essays, newspapers, encyclopedias, or other sources known for brevity. Wikipedia is not a valid source. Sources should be cited on the average of about one endnote per paragraph; an endnote may contain more than one source. Such citations are not just for material being quoted. The MLA style for endnotes (with authors & page numbers in parentheses within the text) is the simplest, with each note referring to a source in the alphabetized bibliography of scholarly books and articles in the back of the paper. The Chicago Manual of Style is also acceptable; APA Style is NOT. Every item in the bib. should be cited in the paper. The double-spaced paper, written in your own words, may deal with any aspect of the war, causes, battlefront or homefront, or any neutral nation or colony trying to avoid the conflict or any nation or colony involved in the war, or a campaign, a battle, diplomacy, wartime elections, hardships at home, a biography, etc. If the paper is submitted by March 24, I will critique it & you may resubmit it as late as May 3 along with the revised paper for a higher grade. Otherwise all papers due Apr. 7.
Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including dismissal from the course and the University. Dishonesty includes cheating, plagiarism, collusion, submitting the same term paper for another course, and taking an exam for another student. Class attendance is vital & is you miss ANY class, you WILL fall behind. UTA does not drop students for excessive absences--dropping a class is a student’s responsibility. If you require an accommodation based on disability, please confer with me during the first week of the semester. Also call Office of Student Success Programs, 817-272-6107.
Student Support Services Available: The University of Texas at Arlington provides a variety of resources and programs designed to help students develop academic skills, deal with personal situations, and better understand concepts and information related to their courses. These resources include tutoring, major-based learning centers, developmental education, advising and mentoring, personal counseling, and federally funded programs. For individualized referrals to resources for any reason, students may contact the Maverick Resource Hotline at 817-272-6107 or visit www.uta.edu/resources <http://www.uta.edu/resources> for more information.
The first test is c. Feb. 17, over the notes from the origins and early years of the war & Lyons, chaps. 1- 9.
I. THE ORIGINS OF WORLD WAR II
A. World War I
B. Treaty of Versailles & Political Realignments
C. Rise of the Dictators
D. Road to War, 1930s--the Far East & Europe
II. THE AXIS ASSAULT
A. Blitzkreig & Sitzkreig
B. War in the Atlantic--Graf Spee, Britain’s lifeline
C. Scandinavian Fronts--German & Soviet Aggression
D. Fall of France, 1940
E. The Battle of Britain
F. Mediterranean Fronts--Italy marches, the desert war, the Balkans, Crete
The second test is c. Mr. 31, from the notes on U. S. & the coming war, global war, & its turning points in 1942-1943, & Lyons, chaps. 10, 12-17 and Ship of Ghosts. Early term papers due Mr. 24, ALL Papers due Apr. 7.
III. THE WAR BECOMES GLOBAL
A. The U. S. and the Gathering Storm
B. Operation Barbarossa, 1941—Lebensraum
C. America Enters the War--Pearl Harbor
D. Japanese Conquests, Dec. 1941-May 1942
IV. THE TIDE TURNS, 1942-1943
A. Pacific & Far East--Guadalcanal, Coral Sea, New Guinea, Midway, China-Burma-India theater, Tarawa
B. Eastern Front--German drives on Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk
C. Mediterranean Front--El Alamein, Operation Torch, Casablanca summit
Term papers due Apr. 7, critiqued papers May 3. The final exam is Tue., May 10, 5:30 to 7:30, covering the notes on the tide turning, home fronts, holocaust, & allied victory and from Lyons, chaps. 11, 17-Aftermath and A Bridge too Far.
V. THE TIDE TURNS, 1942-1943
A. Mediterranean—Sicily, Italy, Cairo & Tehran conferences
B. The Atlantic-British Theater--the U-boat war & European bombing
VI. THE HOME FRONTS & THE HOLOCAUST
VII. TRIUMPH OF THE ALLIES, 1944-1945
A. The Search for Super Weapons
B. Mediterranean Front--The Road to Rome
C. Western Front--D Day, Falaise, the air war, Operation Market-Garden, Battle of the Bulge
D. Eastern Front--Red Army drives to Berlin
E. Pacific War & Far East--Saipan, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, China-Burma-India front
F. Yalta Conference & German Collapse
G. Operations Crossbow, Overcast, & Trinity
VIII. THE WAR’S LONG SHADOW
A. The Cost in lives & treasure
B. Treatment of Defeated Nations
C. U.S. Abandons Isolationism—U.N., Bretton Woods
D. Decline of Colonial Empires
E. Holocaust, Israel, & Middle East
F. The Cold War—Marshall Plan, NATO, Containment, Politics
G. Atomic Age
H. Science, Technology, & the U.S. Government—Vannevar Bush
I. Political Ripples—domestic Cold War politics
J. The “Greatest Generation” and the generation gap
Sample paragraph from a paper:
Turner could not resist exercising active command over troops ashore, just as he did aboard ship. During the struggle for Guadalcanal, Turner not only brought Vandergrift his reinforcements, but also insisted on a voice in where those reinforcements should be deployed. On two occasions he came close to landing marine reinforcements at points which would have put them in disastrous tactical positions. Throughout the first weeks of the campaign, when the marines were barely clinging to possession of Henderson Field, he urged Vandergrift to take the offensive. (Isely & Crowl, 153-159; Millett, 370-371)
Sample bibliography from same paper:
Bernstein, Barton. “The Perils and Politics of Surrender: Ending the War with Japan and Avoiding the Third Atomic Bomb.” Pacific Historical Review, 35 (1977): 1-28.
_____. “Roosevelt, Truman, and the Atomic Bomb, 1941-1945.” Political Science Quarterly, 90 (1975): 59-80.
Eichelberger, Robert. Our Jungle Road to Tokyo. New York: Viking, 1950.
Isely, Jeter and Crowl, Philip. The U.S. Marines and Amphibious War. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1951.
Miller, John. “Crisis on Guadalcanal,” Military Affairs, 11 (Winter, 1947): 194-212.
Millett, Allan. Semper Fidelis. New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1991.
Spector, Ronald. Eagle Against the Sun. New York: Vintage, 1985.