HIST E-1890 WORLD WAR AND SOCIETY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: WORLD WAR II

By any measure except duration and the arming of children, World War II remains the most total conflict of world history. It raged over three continents, wrought unparalleled destruction and those fighting in it -- on both sides -- targeted civilians to an unprecedented degree. It has been the only war to date in which atomic weapons were used. The deaths inflicted dwarf wartime casualties before or after. The violence of the War made it possible to carry out its largest genocidal project: the Nazi effort to exterminate the Jews of Europe. On the “home front,” World War II involved massive government direction of economies and societies even among countries that prided themselves on their liberal politics and free markets. States coordinated manpower to an extent not seen before or after. The war irreversibly undermined the European colonial empires and brought new nations into being. For the victors, the war was a righteous struggle and transformed aspirations for society. It has served as the base point of historical memory for two generations, and these collective memories still have a passionate effect on politics. But over the last half century, these memories have evolved and they, too, now have their own history. This course seeks to understand this huge event as a whole. It explores the origins of the war and its aftermath in the context of international relations. It presents the major strategic choices confronting the aggressor states as well as those attacked. It examines the war’s impact on societies and families, on soldiers, and on victims; and it tries to share the experiences and memories of those whom the war transformed. More urgently than most historical experiences, the war imposed painful choices as to resistance, acquiescence, or the use of violence. Section discussions examine how these choices presented themselves at the time, and the ways in which moral and historical judgment have evolved in retrospect. For many students, awareness of World War II comes from the movies and the televised series, “The World at War.” The war has lent itself repeatedly to cinema, mediocre and brilliant – but its history requires the student and the historian to reach beyond even the best movies. Where films focus on transformative personal experiences, understanding the Second World War as history also requires reconstructing how societies across the globe shaped each other’s collective experience. World War II demonstrates the need for systemic world history. Course readings include a diversity of material: military and diplomatic history, current reports and correspondence, memoirs and literature, some of which are included in the Sourcebook, available after about mid-September from the Harvard Coop (for on-line