Livestream Registration for The Global Legacies of World War II

Whenever we teach history, we want to teach more than just “what happened.” We want to teach skills like assessing change and continuity, causation, and thinking about effects. This lecture will address these historical skills in the context of the Second World War.

Register

Many historians think of the 1914–1945 period as one historical time period. This lecture will explore how Europe and the world got rebuilt after the great cataclysm of the First World War. Decisions made in 1919 did not make the Second World War inevitable, but they set the conditions for what followed.

Register

We normally think of the First World War as a European event, but it had dramatic effects in Asia as well. The balance of power changed in Japan’s favor and domestic chaos in China expanded. The European empires grew weaker, making Japan even more powerful.

Register

Contrary to what we sometimes teach, the United States was not ignoring Europe in the 1930s. “Isolation” meant not ignoring the outside world but avoiding any treaties or obligations like the League of Nations that might limit American sovereignty.

Register

Once WWII began, the United States and its partners had to begin the process of thinking about what they wanted the postwar world to look like. President Roosevelt’s decision in early 1942 to demand “unconditional surrender” from its enemy set the conditions for the rest of the war. 

Register

Unlike the war in Asia, America’s war in the European theater required repeated compromises and discussions with allies like the Soviet Union, Britain, and Canada. This lecture will use the case study of the most famous military operation, Operation Overlord (D-Day)

Register

This lecture will look at the American war in Asia. Since we are in San Diego, it will have a focus on the Navy’s Central Pacific strategy.

Register

Winning a war, the adage goes, is easier than winning the peace. This lecture will look at the end of the war and the astonishingly complex world it created. We will look at the Potsdam conference where the British, Americans, and Soviets reshaped the world.

Register

The end of the war almost immediately led to further conflict from Malaya to Korea to China to Indochina (Vietnam). The Chinese Civil War in particular had massive repercussions that we are still feeling today.

Register

The American diplomat George Kennan warned in early 1946 that while the West saw the Second World War as a great victory, the Russians saw it differently. The war, he warned, would increase the paranoia and fear inside the Soviet system. While the United States and Europe would seek peace, the Soviets would prepare for another round of war. We can see the origins of the Cold War and even Putin’s worldview in the legacies of the Second World War. 

Register