HISTORY 281: WORLD WAR II
Syllabus
Dr. Mark Grimsley
Spring Quarter 1996
Texts
You may choose either of two main textbooks:
Gerhard A. Weinberg, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II.
(This is the standard work on the subject, based on the latest scholarship and written by one of the foremost historians in the field. If you already know something about World War Two and want a book you can consult for years to come, get this book. It's reasonably priced and you'll find it more satisfactory.)
Michael J. Lyons, World War II: A Short History, 2nd edition.
(This is a college textbook, written especially for undergraduate
courses like this, and the best choice if you have little previous knowledge
about World War Two.)
Both books are available at SBX. A World at Arms
is also readily available at most retail bookstores (Borders, Barnes &
Noble, Waldenbooks, etc.)
These works are also required and may be purchased at
SBX:
John Dower, War Without Mercy
Donald L. Niewyck (ed.), The Holocaust
Enrollment
All students must be officially enrolled in the course
by the end of the second full week of the quarter. No requests to add the
course will be approved by the department chair after that time. Enrolling
officially and on time is solely the responsibility of each student.
Make-up Exam Policy
If for any family or medical reason you find it absolutely
necessary to miss an examination, I want you to contact me in advance
if you want to take a make-up. Make-up exams are administered by the department
at certain scheduled times during the quarter. If you take a make-up, it
will be at one of these times.
Requirements
First mid-term (20%), second mid-term (30%) and a final
exam (50%).
NOTE: The lectures do not necessarily follow either the organization or the emphasis of the textbooks. For that reason, good attendance is vital. Dower's War Without Mercy will be tested on the second mid-term; Niewyck's The Holocaust on the final exam. The latter two works are not textbooks. Rather, they are intended to reinforce one of the major themes of the course, namely the centrality of ideology and racism in the Second World War.
HISTORY 281
MASTER SYLLABUS
WEEK 1.
Monday The First World War
Wednesday Origins of the Second World War - I.
Friday Origins of the Second World War - II.
WEEK 2.
Monday Outbreak
Wednesday The Fall of Western Europe
Friday Britain Alone
WEEK 3.
Monday The Battle of the Atlantic
Wednesday Barbarossa
Friday FIRST MID-TERM EXAMINATION
WEEK 4.
Monday Eastern Front, 1941-44
Wednesday Origins of the Pacific War
Friday NO CLASS
WEEK 5.
Monday Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal
Wednesday The Mediterranean Theater - I.
Friday The Mediterranean Theater - II.
WEEK 6.
Monday The Pacific War, 1943-1944
Wednesday Societies at War: The Democratic Experience
Friday Societies at War: The Totalitarian Experience
WEEK 7.
Monday Occupied Europe
Wednesday The Combined Bomber Offensive
Friday SECOND MID-TERM (covers War Without Mercy)
WEEK 8.
Monday OVERLORD
Wednesday The End of the War in Europe - I.
Friday The End of the War in Europe - II.
WEEK 9.
Monday The Holocaust - I.
Wednesday The Holocaust - II.
Friday The Pacific War, 1945
WEEK 10.
Monday MEMORIAL DAY; NO CLASS
Wednesday The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb
Friday The War's Place in History
FINAL EXAMINATION; WILL INCLUDE QUESTION ON THE HOLOCAUST.
Tuesday, June 4, 11:30 a.m. to 1:18 p.m.
OFFICE
363 Dulles Hall; phone: 292-1855.
OFFICE HOURS
Mondays, 12:30-1:30 p.m.; Thursdays, 9:30-10:30 a.m.; and
by appointment.
HOW TO SURVIVE HISTORY 281
A Guide for Undergraduates
Introduction
History 281 is an undergraduate survey designed to accommodate the massive and still growing interest in the largest, most catastrophic war of human history. The focus is chiefly on the strategic aspects of the struggle, but the course will also deal with the origins and outcomes of the conflict, wartime diplomacy, the impact of the war on the major civilian societies, the ideological dimensions of the conflict, the problem of moral judgment under the stress of war, and the Holocaust.
I assume that students will bring to History 281 a strong
commitment to attend the lectures and do the assigned reading. If you have
any doubts about your level of interest, I urge you to drop the course.
This is a matter of simple common sense. The course, after all, is a free
elective, so dropping it cannot harm your college program. On the other
hand, if you persist in taking it but then do poorly on the exams, the
resultant unhappy grade will be on your transcript forever.
Readings
You may choose either Gerhard Weinberg's A World at Arms or Michael J. Lyons' World War II: A Short History, depending on your level of interest and background. The Lyons book is best if you don't know much about the war or if you need a concise guide to the most important material. The Weinberg book is far richer and will suit you better if you already know something about the war and have a strong interest in it.
The other two books are not intended as textbooks. I selected them because they illuminate the darkest aspects of the Second World War. The conflict was, in many respects, profoundly influenced by ideology--ideology tinged with a strong streak of racism. The Nazis launched the invasion of the Soviet Union not only as an anti-Bolshevik crusade, but also with the conviction that their Russian enemies were racially inferior Slavs. The Japanese created their "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" on the assumption that they were superior to other Asians. The United States grossly underestimated the Japanese chiefly because Americans felt certain that the Japanese were a nation of myopic, monkey-like imitators. These ideological and racist elements made the Second World War even uglier and more violent than it would otherwise have been.
Office Hours
I encourage you to take full advantage of my office hours and those of the teaching associates. As a practical matter, you may want to visit them in preference to myself, since they will be grading your examinations.
Examinations
The mid-term and final are divided into two main parts: "identifications" and essays.
1. Identifications
Identification questions call upon the student to identify and give the significance of a given term. The identification portion of the answer should define the term and/or discuss its important features. The significance portion should link the term to one or more of the larger conceptual issues raised in the course. Example:
Barbarossa - Operational code-name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. It inaugurated the largest land campaign of the Second World War. Significance: Barbarossa called for the destruction of the Soviet army in a single summer campaign and largely ignored logistical factors. In this respect it was typical of the German emphasis on operational prowess to the neglect of sound strategy. The planning for Barbarossa also reflected the racial and ideolological nature of Hitler's regime and foreclosed any political effort to undermine the Soviet regime.
Many students might suppose that the first two sentences of the response offer both a satisfactory identification of the term and an adequate appraisal of its significance. But calling Barbarossa "the largest land campaign of the Second World War," while true, only testifies to the term's importance. The final three sentences introduce the pertinent conceptual issues and thus place the term within a larger context. That larger context, essentially, defines the term's significance.
Note that the entire answer required only five sentences, no more. A good ID answer should be as brief as possible. All too frequently students indulge in an overkill of the ID responses that takes precious time from the essay question. Each ID represents 12.5% of your grade; the essay counts for 50%.
Geography is vital to understanding military history. Therefore, every exam contains a map on which the student is asked to pinpoint (within reason) the location of several strategic places. However, the student is also asked to identify and give the significance of those places. In other words, map IDs should be treated just like regular IDs.
It should be noted that the maps provided on the test sheets are topographical maps of Europe, not political maps. Thus you will need to locate strategic places with reference to terrain features (mountains, oceans, rivers), not political boundaries.
3. Essay
The identification portion of the test is concerned primarily with the student's understanding of the facts. By contrast, the essay is more concerned with the student's grasp of the overarching concepts and how these concepts organize and give meaning to the facts themselves. Students frequently assume that the essay is just another way for them to demonstrate what they know about the material that has been presented in class. This leads them to do a "memory dump," which can have unpleasant consequences and usually does, because an essay is intended to test your ability to think analytically and to explain your analysis on paper. This involves, in turn:
a. an ability to write clearly, so that the reader is not baffled by misspellings, grammatical faults, run-on sentences, etc.;
b. an ability to articulate a thesis; in other words, to orient the reader to the question that will be answered and to explain why the question is important;
c. an ability to prioritize. What issues are most important in answering the question? What is the most logical order in which to present them? What examples most clearly illustrate these critical issues?
d. an ability to avoid the irrelevant: everything you write should relate directly and explicitly to the question posed;
e. an ability to write an essay that is proportional to the time allowed for its completion. If you have 20 minutes to complete an essay, you must tailor your depth of coverage so that you cover the whole question in 20 minutes, without omitting important points or overemphasizing one point to the detriment of another.
MILITARY TERMS MADE EASY
Although History 281 is not a course designed for military specialists, it does require an understanding of a certain basic military vocabulary. This short glossary should help orient you to some of the most important terms. HOWEVER, IF YOU EVER HEAR A TERM USED IN CLASS WHICH YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND, ASK!
Strategy has to do with issues that bear on the ultimate aims of a belligerent nation. The key question can usually be expressed in this way: We wish to achieve a certain objective. How can we best use our available resources to do so? These issues incorporate both political decisions and high-level military decisions. Examples:
a. The Anglo-American decision in 1941 to concentrate on defeating Germany first.
b. The American decision to create a wartime Army of only ninety divisions--in the expectation that this would permit the greater mobilization of U.S. industrial resources.
c. The American decision in 1941-1942 to undertake unrestricted
submarine warfare against Japan.
Operations deal with the large-scale employment of military forces in order to achieve the goals of strategy. Examples:
a. Strategically in 1941 Germany sought to destroy the Soviet Union in a single, quick campaign. The operational response to this requirement was a massive armored offensive along three main axes, aimed at shattering the Soviet Army in the span of a few months.
b. In 1944 the British and Americans sought to open a major second front in western Europe with the intention of breaking the power of the German armed forces, and, by entering Germany, to crush the heart of Nazi power. The Normandy invasion was the operational first step toward this goal.
Tactics refers to the deployment of weapons systems in order to win battles and thus attain operational success. Examples:
a. The Germn Navy's use of "wolf packs" as a means to overwhelm the Allied convoy system.
b. The Soviet penchant (developed in 1942-1943) for permitting the Germans to attack, then counterattacking the enemy's spearheads once they had pierced the front lines, in order to wear down German strength and prepare the way for a major operational counterstroke.
Military Organizations
Although it is not necessary to know in detail how military forces are organized, it is very helpful to have at least a general idea of the main land unit designations and their relation to one another:
Company: about 100-200 men.
Battalion: a group of several companies; usually about 600-900 men.
Regiment: a group of two or more battalions; usually about 1,500 men.
Brigade: a group of two or more regiments; usually about 3,000 men.
Division: a group of two or more brigades; usually about 6,000-20,000 men.
Corps: a group of two or more divisions; usually about 20,000-50,000 men.
Army: a group of two more corps; usually 50,000-100,000 men.
Army Group: a group of two or more armies; usually 300,000-750,000 men.
Bear in mind that the exact size and relationship of military units varies from time period to time period, nation to nation, and even from one service branch to another.