HIST 3710 - World War II in Europe

(HA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits. Student option grading.

J. Weiss.

The Second World War remains the single most important set of events shaping the contemporary world. The course deals with both the events of World War II as they shaped European and world history and the way those events were remembered and commemorated in postwar years. Lectures, screenings, and readings will examine: the role of wartime political leaders and military commanders; the experience of war and occupation for soldiers and civilians, including Resistance movements and collaborators; Nazi genocide; intellectual and cultural changes during the war, including the impact on literature and philosophy; strategic questions about the origins and conduct of the war; the concluding phases involving the Nuremberg Trials, the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, and the launching of the Cold War; and the representation of the war in subsequent films, literature, and political culture. (HNU)