HIST 388-01, WWII in the Pacific, Fall 2010

Abstract

During WWII, as Hitler and the Nazi regime conquered Europe, Japan was committing its own atrocities as it forged a Pacific empire. The Japanese attack on US territory at Pearl Harbor in 1941 provoked the US to enter the conflict, and hostilities only concluded years later when Japanese civilians became the first (and to date only) victims of atomic warfare. What role did Japanese traditional culture play in the war and how did the two enemies become Cold War allies? This course explores the origins of the Pacific War and the legacy that still haunts the peoples of Asia.