Course Description
Introduces students to one of the darkest chapters in humanity’s story, the Second World War, covering its course, nature, and consequences.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to complete in-depth additional readings in addition to those assigned in the syllabus for each class. The additional readings will amount to the page equivalent of one book per week. For evaluation, the graduate students will submit a bibliographical essay or other paper by mid-semester and one research essay at the end. The research paper should be built on primary and secondary sources, preferably from local archives, library databases, and/or oral interviews.
Athena Title
History of World War II
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in HIST 4399, HIST 4400 or HIST 6399, HIST 6400
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- At the end of the semester, students should be able to assess the causes, experiences, and consequences of the Second World War.
- At the end of the semester, students should be able to describe how policies, events, strategies, and historical processes occurring in one country impacted those in the others.
- At the end of the semester, students should be able to interrogate the multifaceted and complex impacts of warfare beyond the battlefield.
- At the end of the semester, students should understand the social construction of knowledge and how historians apply the social construction of knowledge to their research methods in efforts to avoid biases in the writing of history.
Topical Outline
- Part I: The Deepening Abyss, 1918-1939
1. The Criminals of Versailles
2. The Rise of Fascism
3. Authoritarianism in Asia
4. Depression and Disaster
5. The 2nd Sino-Japanese War
6. “Peace in Our Time”
- Part II: The War in Europe, 1939-1945
7. The Nazi Juggernaut
8. Britain Stands Alone
9. Barbarossa and Race War
10. “Not One Step Back”: Stalingrad and the Turning of the Tide
11. Tightening the Noose: North Africa and Italy
12. “The Eyes of the World are upon You”: D-Day and the Invasion of France
13. The End of Nazi Germany
- Part III: The Pacific War, 1937-1945
14. Infamy
15. Island Hopping
16. “I Have Returned”
17. The End of Imperial Japan
- Part IV: A Colder World, 1945-1950
18. The Holocaust (Part I and II)
19. Inferno
20. Reckoning
