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History 281
The Pacific War, 1937-1945: Its Causes and Legacy
W. Miles Fletcher
Description: An examination of the origins of the Pacific War, the course of this bitter and momentous conflict, and its complex legacy for both Asia and the United States.
Justification: This course fills a major gap in the offerings of the Department of History. The department currently offers one course on World War Two, History 73 “The U.S. in World War II,” but this course will differ from History 73 by focusing on the Pacific Theater and related developments in Asia, including the rise of tensions in the early twentieth century that led to Japan’s war in China in 1937, Japan’s decision to wage war against the Anglo-American powers in 1941, the ideology and implementation of the Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere, the strategy and tactics of the war, the home front in Japan, and the impact of the Pacific War on Japan, China, and nations in Southeast Asia. In other words, the course will examine the Pacific War within the context of the history of Japan and of Asia as well as the United States.
One example of the different perspective of the course is the selection of 1937 as the starting date for the Pacific War. Whereas Americans typically view the Pacific War as beginning with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japanese more commonly perceive the conflict as starting with its war in China four years earlier. To the Japanese, the dating of the war—whether it started in 1941, 1937, or 1931 with the Manchurian Incident—are controversial points, as is the very name of the war. All of these contentious issues will be covered in the course.
Draft Outline
Assignments: two mid-term essay examinations or short papers, a 10-page term paper on a topic of the student’s choice, and a final examination.
Reading: Although this will be a lecture course for 50 students or so, there will be scheduled discussions on the reading at least every two weeks, preferably for most weeks during the semester. The reading will focus on several paperback books and a coursepack. Among the books will be a half dozen of such works as: Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking (1997); Theodore and Haruko Cook, Japan at War: An Oral History (1992); John Dower, War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (1986); John Dower, Japan in War and Peace (1993); John Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II (1999); Richard Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire (1999). Akira Iriye, ed., Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War: A Brief History with Documents and Essays (1999); Richard Kim, Lost Names: Scenes from a Boyhood in Japanese Occupied Korea (1970, 1988); William Manchester, Goodbye Darkness (1980) (an American remembrance of the Pacific War); Ronald Spector, Eagle against the Sun: the American War with Japan (1985); Michio Takeyama, Harp of Burma (1966) (a novel); E.B. Sledge, With the Old Breed, at Peleliu and Okinawa (1981); Yuki Tanaka, Japan’s Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution during World War II and the U.S. Occupation (2002); and J. Samuel Walker, Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan (1997).
Schedule
Week 1 Background, 1890-1920: American expansion into the Pacific, Western imperialism in Asia, the beginning of Japanese imperialism, political turmoil in China, the start of Japanese immigration to the U.S.
Week 2 Attempts to Reconcile Goals, Cooperative Diplomacy, 1920-1930: The Washington Conference of 1921-22, democratic developments in Japan, the U.S. & isolationism, trends in the Japanese military, the start of civil war in China, tensions over the issue of Japanese immigration to the U.S., the London Naval Conference of 1930.
Week 3 The Rise of Tensions, 1931-1937: The Manchurian Incident of 1931, the American reaction to Japanese expansion in China, military developments in Japan and the United States, political developments in Japan, the impact of the Great Depression and trade barriers, the start of the China War in 1937.
Week 4 The Road to War, 1937-1941: Japan’s aims in China, the Rape of Nanking, American and British responses to the China War, Soviet-Japan clashes in China and Mongolia, intensive U.S.-Japan negotiations in 1940-41, U.S. relations with England and China.
Week 5 The Attack on Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Advance: Japanese Planning for the Pearl Harbor attack, American preparations for war, the execution of the attack and its impact, the “back door to war” theory, the fall of Singapore, Japan’s seizure of the Philippines.
Week 6 The Early Fighting, 1942: The Doolittle Raid on Japan, The Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway, the Battle of Guadalcanal, U.S. aid to China (The Flying Tigers, etc.)
Week 7 The Japanese Empire: colonial policies in Korea and Taiwan, Japanese rule in Manchukuo, the ideology of the Greater East Asian Coprosperity Sphere, establishing a new government in China, Japanese rule in Indonesia and Burma.
Week 8 The Home Fronts: war mobilization in Japan—political changes, economic mobilization, the impact of mobilization on society, economic strains in Japan—and the war’s impact on the U.S., the internment of Japanese-Americans, the issue of racism in the war.
Week 9 Japan on the Defensive, 1943-1944: The American Offensive—Tarawa, Peleliu, Saipan, MacArthur’s advance in New Guinea, recapturing the Philippines, the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
Week 10: The Other Fronts: The war in China, the role of the Chinese Communist Party, and the battle for Burma.
Week 11 The End of the War, 1945: strategic bombing of Japanese cities, political maneuvers within the Japanese government toward an end of the war, the development of the atomic bomb in the United States, the debate over options against Japan, Japanese efforts toward peace, the American decision to use atomic bombs, the Japanese surrender.
Week 12 The Legacy of the War in Japan, China, Korea, and Southeast Asia, 1945-1955: the Allied occupation of Japan, economic recovery, the War Crimes Trials, the resumption of the Chinese civil war, the division of Korea, the independence of Southeast Asian nations.
Week 13 The War Remembered—Japan: trends in views of the Pacific War, the controversies over history textbooks, views toward the use of the atomic bombs, dealing with war memories in Asia, the issue of the “comfort women.”
Week 14 The War Remembered—The United States: the impact of the Pacific War on attitudes toward national security after 1945, views of the use of the atomic bomb, attitudes toward nuclear weapons, remembrances of the war, the controversy over the “Enola Gay” exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum in 1995.