History 475: World War II
Dr. Phillip G. Payne
134 Doyle Hall
375-2460
http://web.sbu.edu/history/ppayne
Class Meeting:
The class meets MWF 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. I expect you to be on time and to attend class regularly.
Office Hours:
My office hours are MWF 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. However, I am generally around all day MWF. I can be contacted by e-mail.
Class Description:
The purpose of this course is to provide a general history of the Second World War from its origins to the aftermath of the war. To this end, the class will cover events beginning in the 1920s and 1930s and continuing through the early origins of the Cold War in the late 1940s. We will be discussing as many aspects of the war as possible, including military, diplomatic, social, and economic change that occurred.
Course Assignments:
Since this is an upper division history course I expect students to do all the required reading and to write several papers. In-class tests will be essay. We will have a midterm and a final. The following are the out-of-class assignments:
Assignment 1: A comparative review of Terkel’s “The Good War” and Bailey and Farber’s The First Strange Place. You should look at common themes and differences between the books. The paper should be 5 to 7 pages in length, double-spaced typed with proper citations.
Assignment 2: A review of Brinkley, The End of Reform OR Schaller, The American Occupation of Japan. This review will be due on the day the book is scheduled for discussion.
Assignment 3: You will be assigned a week where it will be your responsibility to write five questions for class discussion based on the material assigned that week. You will e-mail the questions before Wednesday, 8 a.m., of that week. I will then distribute the questions to the class via e-mail or my web page. Failure to get the questions to me by the deadline will result in an automatic loss of half the points.
Books:
Murray, Williamson and Allan Millett. A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War.
Terkel, Studs. “The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II.
Brinkley, Alan. The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War.
Schaller, Michael. The American Occupation of Japan: The Origins of the Cold War In Asia.
Bailey, Beth and David Farber. The First Strange Place: Race and Sex in World War II Hawaii.
Method of Determining Grade:
Comparative Book Review: 20%
Book Review 10%
Discussion facilitation 5%
Midterm: 30%
Final: 35%
93 – 100 A
90 – 92 A-
88 – 89 B+
83 – 87 B
80 – 82 B-
78 – 79 C+
73 – 77 C
70 – 72 C-
68 – 69 D+
63 – 67 D
60 – 62 D-
59 - F
Cheating:
If you are caught cheating you will receive at minimum a zero on the assignment with the possibility of further action including pursuing academic misconduct. What is cheating? Common sense will essentially answer this question for you, but cheating is any attempt to gain an unfair advantage in a class assignment. This can include, but is not limited to, copying, plagiarism, using another person’s work as your own, and the use of prohibited materials while completing an assignment. For more on plagiarism see the History Department writing guide on the department web page http://web.sbu.edu/history/writingguideintro.html
Class Schedule:
Week One: Week 1: Jan 14 to Jan 18
Monday, First Day of Class, Introduction
Wednesday The legacy of the Great War
Friday Discussion
Reading: Murray and Millett (hereafter M&M), chapters 1&2, pp. 1 - 43
Question: Was the Versailles peace simply an armistice
that allowed Europe to re-arm?
Week 2: Jan 21 to 25
Monday Appeasement
Wednesday Nazi-Soviet Pact, Invasion of Poland, Blitzkrieg
Friday Discussion
Readings: M&M, chapter 3, pp. 44 – 63
Why
would European leaders embrace appeasement?
What has appeasement meant historically since World War II?
Week 3: Jan 28 to Feb 1
Monday Great Depression in the United States
Wednesday Isolationism and the peace movement
Friday Discussion, Brinkley
Readings: M&M, chapters 4-5, pp. 64-109; Brinkley, End of Reform
Question: Why was the American public so reluctant to
re-arm in the face of aggression in Europe and Asia?
Week 4: Feb 4 to Feb 8
Monday American relations with Japan pre 1941
Wednesday Rise of militant Japan
Friday Discussion
Reading: M&M, chapters 6 & 7, pp. 110-168
Question: Compare the rise of Fascism in Europe with
the rise of militarism in Japan. Was the
Japanese government fascist?
Questions: Why would Hitler decide to invade the Soviet
Union? Why was France so easily
defeated?
Week 5: Feb 11 to Feb 13 (Wed)
Spring break begins Thursday, Feb 14
Monday Peal Harbor and Naval War, 1941
Wednesday First Examination
Week 6: Feb 18 to Feb. 22
Monday Selling the War
Wednesday Arsenal of Democracy
Friday Discussion
Readings:
Documentary Rosie the Riveter to be shown on SBU TV; M&M,
chapters 8 & 9, pp. 169 – 233.
Questions: Was women entering the industrial workforce a
watershed event?
Week 7: Feb 25 to Mar 1
Monday Prosperity
Wednesday Labor
Friday Discuss Terkel
Reading: M&M chapter 10; Terkel, “The Good War”
Week 8: March
4 to March 8
Monday The Holocaust
Wednesday Ethnicity, Race, and War
Friday Discussion
Readings: M&M,
chapters 11 & 12, pp. 262 – 335; Documentary Night and Fog to be shown on SBU TV.
Question: What was the origins and nature of the
Holocaust? What were the Nazi
justifications? What was the American
response?
Week 9: March
11 to March 15
Monday Industry and Government
Wednesday The War in the Pacific
Friday Discussion -- Comparative Book review due.
Readings: M&M, chapter 13, pp. 336-373; Bailey and Farber, First Strange Place.
Questions: How did the Asian war differ from the
European war? Was Japan justified in its
claims to be anti-imperialist?
Week 10: March 18 to March 22
Monday African-Americans and the Double V
Wednesday The War in Europe
Friday Discussion
Reading: M&M, chapter 14, pp. 374 – 410
Week 11: March
25 to March 27 (Wed) Easter break begins Thursday, March 28
Monday American Business
Wednesday Invasion of France
Reading: M&M, chapter 15, pp. 411 - 445
Week 12: April 3 (Wed) to April 5
Wednesday VE
Friday Diplomacy
Reading: M&M, chapter 16, pp. 446-483
Week 13: April 8 to April 12
Monday VJ
Wednesday Diplomacy
Friday Discussion
Reading: M&M, chapter 17, pp. 484 - 508
Question: What steps did the Big Three take to prevent
another world war? Did they avoid the
mistakes of the past? Learn the lessons
of history?
Week 14: April 15 to April 19
Monday The Atomic Bomb
Wednesday International
Friday Discussion
Reading: M&M, chapter 18, pp. 509 – 527
Question: What motives existed for the dropping of the
Atomic Bomb? Was conflict between the
U.S. and U.S.S.R. inevitable?
Week 15: April 22 to 26
Monday A New World Order
Wednesday Europe Made the American Way
Friday Discussion
Reading: M&M, chapter 19, pp. 527 – 554; Schaller, The American Occupation of Japan
Week 16: April 29 to May 1
Monday Origins of the Cold War
Wednesday Conversion to Peace
Friday Pax Americana or review
Reading: M&M, chapter 20, pp. 554 to the end
Question: Why aren’t you studying?