HIST 4570-401, Fall 2007        Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose/Dr. Günter Bischof
ED 103, TH 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Office: ED 128 (office tel: 280-3223, e-mail: gjbhi@mobiletel.com or gjbischo@uno.edu Office hours: TH 4 –5 pm


World War II

Course Texts

The following books have been assigned for course reading and are available for purchase in the UNO bookstore:

•    Williamson Murray/Allan R. Millett. A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War. Cambridge/MA: Harvard UP Pb 2001 (course textbook)

•    Norman Davis, Europe at War 1939-45: No Simple Victory. New York: Viking 2007 (course textbook)

•    Iris Chang. The Rape of Nanking. New York: Penguin Pb. 1997

•    Primo Levi. Survival at Auschwitz. New York: Touchstone Pb. 199

•    Jan. T. Gross. Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community of Jedwabne, Poland. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2003

•    Tim Kirk. Nazi Germany. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2007


Grading/Evaluation Policy

Midterm    1/3    (basic facts from lectures and readings)
Final         1/3    (basic comprehension and analysis of major themes)
Papers        1/3     (research, comprehension, analysis, and basic writing skills)

[Graduate Credit

Graduate Student who enroll in this class have to do additional research for their oral history paper (# 3) and write a 15-page paper! They are required to read at least 3 books relating to the subject matter of their interviewee’s experience.]

Attendance Policy:

Students have to attend ALL of Dr. Bischof’s class lectures; unexcused absences will result in one grade drop per unexcused absence

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is fundamental to the process of learning and evaluating academic performance. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the following: cheating, plagiarism, tempering with academic records and examinations, falsifying identity, and being accessory to acts of academic dishonesty. Refer to the UNO Judicial Code for further information. The Code is available online at http://www.uno.edu/~stlf/policy%20Manual/judicial_code_pts.htm.

Students with Disabilities

Students who qualify for services will receive the academic modifications for which they are legally entitled. It is the responsibility of the student to register with the Office of Disability Services (UC 260) each semester and follow their procedures for obtaining assistance.

Student Learning Objective

After successfully completing this course, students should be able to

•    Identify on a world map the major theaters of operation in this global war
•    Identify the major figures (politicians, generals, diplomats) of all major belligerents who drove the war’s events
•    Understand how the major theater of war related to each other
•    Have a basic understanding for what motivated the fighting soldiers in the field and how the brutality of war affects individuals for their entire lives
•    Comprehend the enormity of the Hitler’s genocidal regime, the brutality of Japanese militarism and how the victorious democratic nations too were increasingly drawn into unethical practices too during this destructive war (“war without mercy”)
•    Understand how the memories of World War II linger on powerfully– and affect individuals and nations -- to this day


Weekly Meeting and Assignment Schedule

The readings assigned for each individual class must be done before class meets; students will be asked to contribute to class discussions by being able to summarize the major themes and theses of each individual reading assignment. Murray/Millett and Davis serve as basic textbooks providing relevant factual detail of all major events.

Th Aug 23:   
Class Meets
Handing out Class Syllabus
Class readings: Murray/Millett, chs. 1 – 4
Ambrose Lecture 8
         
Th Aug 30:   
Origins of WW II - Pacific
Class readings: Murray/Millett, chs. 7-9
       
Th Sept 6   
The War in the Pacific
Class readings: Chang, Rape of Nanking (entire)
Ambrose Lecture 3

Th Sept 13   
Class Meets
The Nazi Revolution
Class readings: Murray/Millett, chs. 5-6
Kirk, Nazi Germany (entire)
Ambrose Lecture 1

        1st Paper due: Book review of Chang’s Rape of Nanking (2 pages):
        What did you learn about Japanese war crimes of this book? Was it a
        form of genocidal warfare?

Tue Sept 20   
The War in the European Theater (1942/43):
Battle of the Atlantic, North Africa and Italy
Class readings: Murray/Millett, ch. 10
Davis, Europe at War, ch. 1
Ambrose Lecture 4

Th Sept 27   
Class Meets
The War on the Eastern Front
Class readings: Murray/Millett, chs. 11, 14
Davis, Europe at War, ch. 2
Gross, Neighbors (entire)
Ambrose Lecture 2

Suggested home video viewing: see either Stalingrad (German movie 1994) or Enemies at the Gates (American movie 2001), or both and compare their different perspectives on the battle of Stalingrad


Th Oct  4    
D-Day: Normandy invasion
Class readings: Murray/Millett, ch. 15
 Ambrose Lectures 5 & 7 & 8

        Class Assignment: Visit National World War II Museum
        2nd Paper Due (3-4 pages): What did you learn from the Museum
        visit? How important is the National World War II Museum as a
        monumental “site” of American World II memory?


Th  Oct 11    Midterm Exam


Th Oct 18   
Home Fronts, Occupation, Resistance
Class Readings: Davis, Europe at War, ch. 5
Ambrose Lecture 9

Th Oct 25   
Class Meets
Dr Geoffrey Maggargee, U.S. Holocaust Museum
The Holocaust and the Wehrmacht’s Involvement in Nazi War Crimes
 Class Readings:  Levi, Auschwitz (entire)
             
Th Nov 1   
Total War & Air War
Class readings: Murray/Millett, ch. 12       
Ambrose lectures 10 & 11

Th Nov 8   
Class Meets
Guest Lecture: My Soldier’s Experience
Guest Lecture: Dr. Leon Standifer, Professor emeritus LSU
Class readings: Murray/Millett, ch. 16
Davis, Euroe at War, ch. 4

•    Suggested Background Reading: Leon C. Standifer, Not in Vain: A Rifleman Remembers World War II (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1993)


Th Nov 15   
The End of the War in Europe
Class readings: Davis, Europe at War, ch. 3
 Ambrose Lecture 12

•    2nd paper due -- Oral History (length: 7-10 pages): Conduct an interview with a person living through World War II (battlefield soldier or woman/man experiencing home front), or report on one of the “memory hall” sessions of the D-Day Museum conference (Oct. 5 – 9). What were his/her personal experiences during the war? What are his/her personal memories of the war today?   
Note: Use Standifer’s Not in Vain & guest lecture as background references and points of comparison as well as the oral histories recorded in the National World War II Museum


Th Nov 22   
End of World War II in the Pacific
Class readings: Murray/Millett, chs. 17-18
Ambrose Lectures 13 & 14

Th Nov 29   
Class Meets
End of the War, Legacies and Memories of WW II
Class readings: Murray/Millett, chs. 19-20
Davis, Europe at War, chs. 6-7
Ambrose Lecture 15

Th Dec 6, 8:00 pm (in ED 103)    Final Examination