Syllabus: B421/H509 (Subject to change)

War and Society II: The Second World War: Fall 2002

MW 9:30-10:45: Cavanaugh CA 221

 

Professor Kevin Cramer                                                                                                    Cavanaugh 504B

317-278-7744              Mon/Weds: 3-5

kcramer@iupui.edu                                                                                                              and by appointment

 

Required Texts

  1. R.A.C. Parker, The Second World War: A Short History, revised ed., (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001). Background text.
  2. Loyd E. Lee, ed., World War II: Crucible of the Contemporary World: Commentary and Readings (New York and London, M.E. Sharpe, 1991). Anthology of current scholarly perspectives, questions, and debates.

If you do not already own one you are strongly encouraged to buy a scholarly style manual, such as Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

 

Course Description

The end of World War II in 1945 terminated a 350-year-old era in world history: an epoch distinguished by the economic and military rivalry between the European powers, imperial domination and competition, the global hegemony of European culture and values, and the destructive and genocidal aspirations of aggressive nationalism. The war left as its legacy the potential of even greater global destruction and destabilization in the Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Another consequence was the emergence of the idea of the “Third World” as a result of the bankruptcy and collapse of the old European empires. The war also made American military and economic power and cultural influence the foundations of globalization. Some of the issues left unresolved at the end of the war have been decided, notably in the collapse of Soviet communism, the reunification of Germany, and the emergence of the European Union. Other issues, such as Balkan and eastern European nationalism, the democratization of the developing world, and the global aspirations of the capitalist economic system, remain sources of instability and conflict. This course does not focus exclusively on military history. It will also examine the origins of the war, the war’s impact on economic, social, and cultural life, and the war’s enduring legacy for a world that continues to grapple with problems of globalization, the international balance of power, terrorism, and genocide.

 

Course Objectives

The aim of this course is to place the war in the context of international relations and history; to understand the aims and strategies of the combatants; to examine the impact of the war on societies, culture, families, soldiers, and victims; to understand the war’s impact on economic and social policy; and to understand the place of the war in modern memory. The course is also designed to further develop and improve the skills required by the university's "Principles of Undergraduate Learning” (for details and further information on the PUL go to www.iupui.edu/~history/principlesundergradlearning.htm). Lectures and exams will introduce you to facts, concepts, themes, and terms that will allow you to understand the importance of this event while giving you the historical context for a better understanding of how the war continues to resonate in our world sixty years later. The term paper assignment, based on readings of primary sources and current secondary literature, will enable you to develop your reflective, critical, and analytical abilities while requiring you to become familiar with library resources and research techniques. In-class participation and discussion will enable you to sharpen your communication skills as well as your capability to efficiently and spontaneously summarize, categorize, interpret, and evaluate information. This part of the course also allows you to make a vital and necessary contribution to how topics and issues are brought into focus in each class.

 

Course Requirements

1.        Final Exam (25%)

  1. Mid-Term Test (20%)
  2. Term Paper with Annotated Bibliography (20%). Important Note: Students in the graduate section (H509) are required to submit a longer research paper (further details TBA).
  3. Participation in six discussion sessions (15%)
  4. Five map quizzes (20%)

 

Grading System and Policy

Final grades in this course will be calculated with the four-point grading system used by the Registrar, e.g., A (4), A- (3.7), B+ (3.3) and so on. Tests, quizzes, and other course work will be graded on the traditional 100-point scale (and then converted for the final grade). An A-range grade evaluates work that goes substantially beyond the formal outlines of the assignment by showing marked originality, creativity, and strength of argument, organization, and conception. A B-range grade evaluates work that fulfills the assignment with noticeable, but not thorough, attention paid to these ideas. Such work might also include flawed reasoning and organization as well as stylistic problems (sentence structure, spelling, vocabulary, use of scholarly conventions, etc.).  A C-range grade evaluates work of genuine effort that largely fulfills the assignment but displays substantial weaknesses in several of the above areas. D-range work is evaluated as meeting the bare minimums of the assignment in a perfunctory fashion. Obviously, an F grade indicates complete failure to fulfill the assignment.

 

Course Policies

Make up tests and quizzes will only be offered in emergencies (and given on the next class day) and when I am notified no later than the morning of the test or quiz class day. Keep me informed reasonably in advance of circumstances that will force you to miss lectures. Lecture outlines, writing assignments, test reviews, film and slide notes, discussion questions and other important information and course material will be posted on Oncourse, so check it regularly. To log on or get help go to https://oncourse.iu.edu. All assignments must be completed for your final grade to be accurately calculated (an A+ on the introductory test, for example, does not give you the option of skipping the map quizzes). Failure to turn in assignments or take tests and quizzes will be noted as part of your participation grade. Late submission of the term paper will be penalized a third of a grade (e.g. B to B-) for papers not turned in on the due date, one full grade for the first week overdue, and two full grades for two weeks overdue. Unless there are extraordinary and documented circumstances that prevent timely submission, papers overdue by more than two weeks will not be accepted.

 

Academic Misconduct

Plagiarism is usually defined as the deliberate theft of someone else's work and passing it off as your own. But inattention, ignorance of citation conventions, and sloppy note taking can also result in what can be construed as plagiarism, even if it is unintentional. Please consult the IUPUI Campus Bulletin (2001-2002) for further guidelines and information on plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. For details and further information, also see “Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct” at www.hoosiers.iupui.edu/studcode.

 

Other Important Information

 

Class Schedule and Readings

Week One

  1. Introduction (W 8/21): The Syllabus

 

Week Two

  1. Lecture 1 (M 8/26): The Treaty of Versailles
  2. Lecture 2 (W 8/28): Appeasement and the Approach of War

Readings: Parker, chapter 1; Lee, chapters 1-2.

Discussion Session 1 Questions posted on Oncourse; Map Quiz 1 announced

 

Labor Day Holiday: 9/2 (no class)

 

Week Three

  1. Discussion 1 (W 9/4): The Policy of Appeasement; Map Quiz 1

Readings: Source Module 1: “Appeasement”:

“The Treaty of Versailles: Part VIII. Reparation. Section 1. General Provisions. Articles 231-247”

http://history.acusd.edu/gen/text/versaillestreaty/ver231.html

Neville Chamberlain: “Peace in Our Time”

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs36.htm

Winston Churchill: “A Total and Unmitigated Defeat” (House of Commons, 10-4-38)

http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Munich.html

“The Hossbach Memorandum” (11-10-37)

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/document/hossbach.htm

 

Week Four

  1. Lecture 3 (M 9/9): World War I Resumed, 1939-1940
  2. Lecture 4 (W 9/11): Japanese Imperialism, 1936-1942

Readings: Parker, chapters 2-3, 5-6.

Discussion Session 2 Questions posted on Oncourse; Map Quiz 2 announced

 

Week Five

  1. Lecture 5 (M 9/16): Hitler’s Invades Russia: Operation Barbarossa, 1941
  2. Discussion 2 (W 9/18): War Aims and Strategies; Map Quiz 2

Readings: Parker, chapter 4; Lee, chapter 6; Source Module 2: “War Aims and Strategies”:

Winston Churchill: “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” (House of Commons, 6-4-40)

http://www.winstonchurchill.org/beaches.htm

“Japanese Imperial Policy Adopted at Imperial Conference, 2 July 1941”

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/Dip/IR-410702.html

Washington War Conference: “Memorandum by the U.S. and British Chiefs of Staff, 1-10-42)

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box1/t04g02.html

“Extract from the Commissar’s Order for Operation Barbarossa” (6-6-41)

http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/about_holocaust/documents/part3/doc170.html

The Nazi Slave Labor Program (excerpts from Nuremberg Prosecution Documents: “Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. 1, chap. X)

http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/document/DOCSLA1.HTM

 

Week Six

  1. Lecture 6 (M 9/23): Technological War
  2. Lecture 7 (W 9/25): The Turning Points: Midway, El Alamein, Stalingrad

Readings: Parker, chapter 7; Lee, chapters 9-10.

Discussion Session 3 Questions posted on Oncourse; Map Quiz 3 announced

 

Week Seven
  1. Lecture 8 (M 9/30): Mobilizing for Total War
  2. Discussion 3 (10/2): War and Social Change; Map Quiz 3

Readings: Parker, chapters 9-10; Lee, chapters 11-12; Source Module 3: “War and Social Change”:

“The Defense Program: A Handbook for Speakers” (U.S. Office for Emergency Management, 1941)

http://www.smu.edu/cul/ww2/pdf/defense.pdf

“What Uncle Sam Asks of You: General Orders for the Home Front” (Office of War Information, 1943)

http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/memory/highlights/Rationing/Rationing_8.html

Henry Wallace: “The Post War World”  (12-28-42)

http://ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1942/421228a.html

“Rosie the Riveter” (1942)

http://www.zapix.com/laurel/rosie.html

“Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy” (War Department circular, 4-27-46)

http://trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/desegregation/large/1946/daf15-1.htm

Notes for Film 1 posted on Oncourse

 

Week Eight

  1. Lecture 9  (M 10/7): The War of Ideas
  2. Film 1 (W 10/9): “The Propaganda Wars”

Readings:  Parker, chapter 11.

Notes for Film 2 posted on Oncourse

 

Week Nine

  1. Lecture 10 (M 10/14): Collaboration and Resistance
  2. Film 2 (W 10/16): “The Eye of Vichy”

Readings: Lee, chapters 3-4.

Mid-Term Review Guide posted on Oncourse

 

Week Ten

17.     Mid-Term Review (M 10/21)

  1. Mid-Term Test (W 10/23)

 

Week Eleven

  1. Lecture 11 (M 10/28): The Nazi “New Order” in Europe
  2. Lecture 12 (W 10/30): The Holocaust

Readings: Parker, chapter 17; Lee, chapter 5

Discussion Session 4 Questions and Notes for Film 3 posted on Oncourse

 

Week Twelve

  1. Discussion 4 (M 11/4): The Final Solution
  2. Film 3 (W 11/6): “Hell on Earth”

Readings:  Source Module 4: “The Final Solution”:

The Wannsee Protocol (1-2-42)

http://library.byu.edu/~rdh/eurodocs/germ/wanneng.html

Operational Situation Reports of the Special Action Units (Einsatzgrüppen)

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/situation_reports.html

Testimony of Otto Ohlendorf (Nuremberg, 1-3-46, pp. 315-354))

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/01-03-46.htm#ohlendorf

Leaflets of the White Rose Resistance Group (Munich, 1942-43)

http://www.jlrweb.com/whiterose/leaflets.html

Private and Political Testaments of Adolf Hitler, 4-29-45

http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1945/450429a.html

Paper Topics and Essay Writing Guide (including annotated bibliography format) posted on Oncourse; Map Quiz 4 announced

 

Week Thirteen

  1. Review Session (M 11/11): Paper Topics and How to Write a History Essay
  2. Lecture 13 (W 11/13): Coalition Warfare; Map Quiz 4

Readings: Parker, chapter 12.

 

Week Fourteen

  1. Lecture 14 (M11/18): The End of the War in Europe
  2. Lecture 15 (W 11/20): The End of the War in the Pacific; Annotated Bibliography due

Readings: Parker, chapters 13-14.

Discussion Session 5 Questions posted on Oncourse; Map Quiz 5 announced

 

Week Fifteen

  1. Discussion 5 (M 11/25): The Atomic Bomb; Map Quiz 5
Readings: Lee, chapters 15-16; Source Module 5: “The Atomic Bomb”:

       Albert Einstein’s letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, 8-2-39

      http://www.nuclearfiles.org/docs/1939/390802-einstein-roosevelt.html

      White House Meeting on Using the Atomic Bomb, 6-18-45

      http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/whitehouse_minutes.htm

      Petition to the President of the United States by Scientists, 7-17-45

      http://www.nuclearfiles.org/docs/1945/450717-petition.html

      Discussion Session 6 Questions posted on Oncourse

 

Thanksgiving Recess: 11/27-12/1 (no classes)

 

Week Sixteen

  1. Lecture 16 (M 12/2): The Postwar Settlement; TERM PAPER DUE
  2. Discussion 6 (W 12/4): The Problems of the Peace

Readings: Parker, chapters 15-16, 18; Lee, chapters 7, 14; Source Module 6: “The Problems of the Peace”:

The Atlantic Charter (August, 1941)

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/atlantic.htm

The Moscow Conference (October, 1943)

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/moscow.htm

The Yalta Conference (February, 1945)

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/yalta.htm

Conference at Bretton Woods (July, 1944)

http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1944/440722a.html

Agreement for Establishment of an International Military Tribunal for War Criminals

http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1945/450808c.html

Final Exam Review Guide posted on Oncourse

 

Week Seventeen

30.     Final Exam Review (M 12/9)

 

Final Exam Date

Friday, 12/13, 8:00-10:00, CA 221