Download 281 The Pacific War, 1937-1945: It`s Causes and Legacy

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,
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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.
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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.