History 3450: Lectures & PowerPoints
History 3450
The United States & World War II
30 September 2010
I. The Nature of War
1. The Global Alliance (FDR’s grand strategy: focus on Europe, decision to launch North African campaign, Darlan Deal & backlash, El Alamein; war in East: Leningrad, Stalingrad, tensions between Hitler and general staff, increasing prominence of SS; Stalin demand for second front, Western reluctance: Allied invasion of Italy and collapse of Mussolini’s government)
2. The Home Front (mobilization of U.S. economy, role of women in industrial workforce; anti-racist rhetoric and effect on African-Americans—A. Philip Randolph & FEPC; path to internment—domestic pressures, anti-Japanese racism, Korematsu decision; political effects—anti-statist sympathies, GOP gains, Hayek & origins of modern conservatism)
II. The Progress of War
1. Diplomatic Controversies (revival of Wilsonianism, introduction of B2H2 resolution, tenuous nature of alliances—US and potential conflicts with UK, USSR, and Nationalist China: colonialism, “friendly states”; role of communists in postwar states; Teheran conference; fate of Poland—Katyn & diplomatic crisis)
2. War in Europe (war in West—D-Day landing, battle of Bulge, DeGaulle and Free French, bombing campaign—Dresden; war in the East—Red Army advance, Balkan state reversals; displacement of Wallace & 1944 election; Yalta Conference; race to Berlin and collapse of Nazi regime)
3. War in the Pacific (Singapore, Philippines, and early Japanese victories; Japanese difficulties in sustaining empire; FDR and island-hopping strategy; China and American imagination; MacArthur and liberation of Philippines; postwar issues—how to deal with colonial empires?; atomic weapons—Manhattan Project and U.S. government; FDR death; Truman and use of atomic bombs)
4. United States & the Holocaust (“resettlement” plans and path to “Final Solution”—SS and death camps; sympathy with Hitler—France and Vichy regime, puppet states—Croatia, Slovakia; controversy over role of Pope; FDR and American Jews; U.S. response—slowness of identification, dealing with Vichy, tardiness of creating WRB; separation of military from humanitarian missions—significance in Hungary; domestic anti-semitism—HUAC, nature of postwar immigration policy)
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History 3450
The U.S. & the Path to World War II
28 September 2010
II. The Road to War
1. The German Surge (invasion of rump Czecho-Slovakia & British reversal—“guarantees” to Yugoslavia, Poland, Romania; desultory negotiations with USSR; continued U.S. irrelevance—vague FDR appeal for peace; Nazi-Soviet pact, diplomatic realignment, invasion of Poland and start of World War II; collapse of Poland; Winter War & “Phoney War”; French confidence & German gamble through Ardennes; fall of France & significance of intelligence triumph)
2. The U.S. Response (Battle of Britain and Churchill leadership; indecision within Germany and decision to terminate air attack; Roosevelt-Churchill alliance: Lend-Lease, Selective Security Act, Destroyers-for-Bases, sharing of intelligence—“arsenal of democracy”; America First and battle over isolation; 1940 campaign & FDR decision for third term; tensions between domestic and international obligations; FDR constraints: public attitudes, uncertainty European situation, Constitution)
3. War in Asia (uncertainty and domestic divisions: Japan—military/civilian, Army/Navy; US—Japan hands/China hands; Vietnam and growing US-Japanese tensions; Japanese expansion southward and threats to British colonies in Southeast Asia & India; continued significance of U.S. role)
II. The Road to War
1. The Soviet Role (Stalin-Hitler alliance; warnings from West and NKVD–Lebensraum; Hitler to Balkans—Yugoslavia dismembered; Ustaše atrocities, 6-week delay; invasion of USSR—early German routs; Soviet implosion; failure of political leadership?; international expectations)
2. FDR & Presidential Power (North Atlantic—Argentia, Iceland, undeclared naval war; Western Hemisphere & U.S. guarantees; U.S. response: Lend-Lease, increasing pressure on Japan, German invasion USSR and globalization of U.S. policy; tightening of embargo and deterring an attack; domestic transformation—sympathy for Allies, continued non-interventionist sentiment?; America First and anti-semitism; path to Pearl Harbor and U.S. entrance into war; postwar conspiracy theories)
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History 3450
Depression Diplomacy
21 September 2010
I. The Depression & Its Effects
1. The Rise & Fall of Hoover (Hoover reputation; ease of triumph; setting a new image—Latin American tour, appointment of Stimson; causes of the Depression: instability in U.S. economy: protectionism, consumer spending, agricultural problems, poor regulation, esp. of Stock Market; market bubble and drying up of loans to Germany—rise of unemployment; crash and credit crunch—failure of Kreditanstalt in Austria; rise of exclusive trading blocs—Britain, France, U.S.; failure of Smoot-Hawley, 1930 election setback)
2. The Fall of the Weimar Republic (decline of “Weimar coalition”; Bruning appointment and deflationary program; 1930 election and rise of extremes; Hitler and Nazi ideology–bases of appeal: demagoguery, nationalism, anti-semitism, right-wing populism; 1932 and creation of “negative majority”; rise of political violence; Hitler to power—Reichstag fire, banning of KPD, Enabling Law and death of German democracy)
3. The Fall of the Versailles System (Japan and 1920s world—Washington Treaties and Wilsonianism in East Asia; common front and Chinese nationalism—emergence of KMT; economic downturn and Japanese politics—growth of militarism; Manchurian Incident and League response—failure of Lytton Commission; Japanese withdrawal; U.S., Stimson, and FDR)
II. A New Deal?
1. FDR and World Affairs (FDR background: Wilsonian or realist?; political freedom of action; bureaucratic strategies—Welles, Hull, & State Department rivalry; domestic focus—London Economic Conference & repudiation of cooperation with UK/France; European events—German rearmament; origins of appeasement: German-UK naval pact, German-Poland non-aggression; Austrian coup and formation of Stresa Front)
2. FDR Strategizing (Latin America and freedom to maneuver; Good Neighbor Policy and three strands of internationalism—Hull, Welles, Gruening; domestic pressures—Nye Committee and first Neutrality Act;)
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History 3450
The Peace Progressives & U.S. Foreign Policy
16 September 2010
I. Wilsonianism after Wilson?
1. Foreign Policy and the 1920 Election (death of TR; divisions in GOP—Lowden, Johnson, Wood; emergence of Harding and “association of nations”; Democratic repudiation of Wilson—Cox/FDR ticket; Haiti in the campaign—FDR gaffe, NAACP lobbying; final result)
2. The Washington Conference (aftermath of Russian intervention; the vacuum with Wilson’s departure; Borah and pressure for disarmament; postwar turbulence East Asia: Shantung, Yap, Anglo-Japanese alliance; the aggressiveness of Hughes; broadening Washington agenda; the Washington Treaties: 4-, 5-, and 9- power treaties; the implications)
3. Internationalism by Other Means (postwar Europe: French alliances, debt diplomacy—Ruhr invasion, Dawes Plan; Locarno and Stresseman; US cultural and financial expansion; contradictions: role of USSR, economic nationalism—tariff and foreign debt, formal political commitments—World Court, Chemical Weapons treaty; alternatives—Kellogg-Briand, London Naval Treaty)
II. The Crossroads of Empire
1. The Erosion of the Progressive Consensus (Fall Committee and more aggressive conservative response; dealing with WW leftovers: Haiti, Dominican Republic, the King Amendment, and the emergence of the peace progressives; anti-imperialism as a progressive cause: NAACP, WILPF, FOR, WPP)
2. The Battle Joined (Mexico and Article 27; administration response: international law as bludgeon; congressional challenge—Wheeler, Borah, and articulation of anti-imperialism; battle for public opinion; Senate checkmate)
3. Nicaragua and the Anti-Imperialist Moment (background US-Nicaraguan relations; carryover from Mexican fight; Coolidge and breakdown of Tipitapa accords; the emergence of Sandino; Blaine Amendment and legislative tactics; Havana Conference and international pressure; battle for public opinion: The Nation, FOR, WILPF; Nicaragua in 1928 campaign; Dill Amendment and winding down of occupation)
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History 3450
The League of Nations Controversy
7 September 2010
I. War, the Postwar World, and the Contradictions of Wilsonianism
1. U.S. and World War I (difficulties of mobilization; Wilson and war aims—the Fourteen Points address; mobilization of AEF; tipping the military scales; Wilson and the Western Allies; collapse of Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire; uncertainty of victory)
2. Wilson and the Postwar World (1918 elections and personal setback?; Paris Peace delegation; international pressures—France, England, Japan; the first Versailles Treaty—controversies: Shantung, reparations, Article X, Monroe Doctrine, Armenia; domestic pressures—Round Robin, cracks in progressive base; forced concessions and Article XXI)
3. The US and the Russian Revolution (Wilson, Lenin, and the competition for international reform sentiment; the Bolsheviks and WWI; the decision to intervene—European interests, fear of Japan, importance of Czechs, anti-communism; the effects of intervention—hardening of anti-radical sentiment; confrontation with Congress; disillusion of progressives—Johnson, Robins; origins of the Cold War?)
II. Battle for the League
1. The Rejection of Versailles (the Lodge reservations; the irreconcilables; the mild reservationists; WW and failure to lead public opinion; refusal to compromise; key issues: Article X, Article XI, Shantung; swing around the circle; WW stroke and Senate rejection; international response)
2. The Postwar Drift (Fall and anti-radical mood; 1919 crisis and possibility of military action against Mexico; anti-interventionist coalition; battle for US public opinion; Haiti, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica)
3. Foreign Policy and the 1920 Election (death of TR; divisions in GOP—Lowden, Johnson, Wood; emergence of Harding and “association of nations”; Democratic repudiation of Wilson—Cox/FDR ticket; Haiti in the campaign—FDR gaffe, NAACP lobbying; final result)
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History 3450
U.S. and World War I
2 September 2010
I. Outbreak of War
1. Europe and the Conflict (shifting alliances; naval arms races; provocations: 2nd Moroccan Crisis; role of Serbia; first and second Balkan Wars; firming of alliance system and development of Schlieffen Plan; mobilization & use-it-or-lose-it philosophy; Ferdinand assassination, “blank check,” and European lurch to war; invasion of Belgium; Russian setbacks in East; failure of Schlieffen Plan; race to sea and origins of trench warfare; movement toward “total war”)
2. The Wilsonian Response (diplomatic structure: Bryan and weak pacifism, arbitration; Col. House and forerunner to national security advisor; Wilson personal background; “neutral in thought as well as in deed”; impossibility—response to loans to Allies, submarine warfare; Lusitania sinking—Bryan resignation, practical effects)
3. Beyond the Conflict (Wilson and the Mexican Revolution—promotion of democracy, decision to intervene, Norris resistance, Mexican disgust; consolidating the U.S. sphere of influence—Haitian intervention, Dominican intervention; how to reconcile with Wilsonian idealism?; foreign policy and Wilson re-election—“he kept us out of war”: peace progressive endorsements and importance of German, Scandinavian vote)
II. War and the Contradictions of Wilsonianism
1. The Issues (the preparedness debate: Plattsburgers, progressivism, and military efficiency, peace progressives and traditional anti-militarism, Wilson and bureaucratic pressure, domestic pressure groups—AUAM, WILPF; war aims: concept of league of nations, LEP vs. progressive internationalists, US as revolutionary power, significance of Wilson—Peace without Victory, transnational coalition)
2. Decision for War (changing context of European events: difficulties among France and Italy, February Revolution in Russia; German government and decision for unrestricted submarine warfare; strains of victory—Zimmerman Telegram, armed ship bill, war atmosphere and collapse of progressivism; war vote)
3. The War at Home (decision for war—did alternatives exist?; nature of US involvement; the military and US society; key decisions—draft, war finance, civil liberties, economic policy; Wilson and his cabinet—Burleson, Gregory; the La Follette case; Wilson, a divided progressive movement, and the Sedition/Espionage Acts)
4. U.S. and World War I (difficulties of mobilization; Wilson and war aims—the Fourteen Points address; mobilization of AEF; tipping the military scales; Wilson and the Western Allies; collapse of Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire; uncertainty of victory)
3450–wwi Powerpoint
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History 3450
Progressivism & Foreign Affairs (1902-13)
31 August 2010
I. TR & the World
1. Roosevelt’s Era (increasing European instability: end of “splendid isolation,” Anglo-German naval race; Franco-Russian alliance and 1905 realignment; East Asia: emergence of Japan—Taiwan, Russo-Japanese war, Korea; problems of Chinese nationalism; Latin America: Caribbean Basin instability, Brazil, Argentina, and new internationalism)
2. Roosevelt’s Agenda (background & foreign policy philosophy; historical reputation—“Big Stick” comment, Panama Canal reality; alternatives to intervention—Venezuela, Dominican Republic and customs receivership, TR and Russo-Japanese War)
3. Limitations of American Power (constitutional and partisan limitations; Algeciras and continued power of Washington’s Farewell Address; Bosnia crisis and U.S. non-role in Balkans; relative paucity of U.S. military power; limitations in U.S. diplomatic personnel)
II. Taft & American Power Hemispheric Affairs
1. Taft & TR: Similarities/Differences (Taft as TR’s protégé?: appointed positions vs. background in electoral politics; significance of law in personal belief system vs. willingness to be extemporaneous; personality differences; competence vs. incompetence; differences in competence of key advisors)
2. Dollar Diplomacy’s Difficulties (Taft’s Manchurian gambit—implementing the Open Door?; international response—China and U.S. as ally, economic power and protectorates in East Asia; demise of scheme; Nicaragua and difficulties in d.d. theory—how to attract investment given limitations of government authority; U.S. occupation—political tensions, from Zelaya to Diaz, role of Miskito Coast; Mexican Revolution and U.S. dilemmas—international machinations)
3. Politics & Ideology in the Taft Years (international law in the pre-WWI era; significance of Elihu Root, John Bassett Moore; arbitration treaties with Britain and France; Angell and economic internationalism; left-wing opposition—peace progressives and imperialism, LaFollette, Norris; Henry Cabot Lodge and conservative intellectualism; foreign policy and the 1912 presidential election)
3450–tr-wht Powerpoint
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History 3450
Introduction: U.S. and World Affairs until 1890
26 August 2010
I. Course Structure
1. Requirements
2. Structure
II. Time Periods
1. International Relations and the Path to Independence (U.S. and Western Hemisphere—Utrecht and a colonial international order? race, religion, economic ties, intellectual exchange; Euroecentric world: France and Britain as superpowers; tensions between realism & idealism: US independence and importance of international assistance, independence, the Treaty of Paris, and post-independence trade disruptions; the constitutional structure)
2. Party Politics & Foreign Policy (early debates: anti-militarist attitudes, professionalization of the diplomatic corps; domestic politics and US foreign policy: debate over Jay’s treaty, the First Party system and the Navy, Jefferson and presidential power—Barbary Wars, LA Purchase, origins of Monroe Doctrine, US and independence of Latin America)
3. Slavery & Expansion (turning inward and strains on party system; JQ Adams, Haiti, and gag rule debate; Tyler and Texas; Polk’s expansionism—presidential power and Mexican War, Caribbean agenda and realpolitik vision, congressional revolt—Wilmot Proviso, Giddings and Whigs, use of appropriations power, shelving of Polk treaties; 1850s disputes—Ostend Manifesto, filibustering, Buchanan and executive ambitions, triumph of Congress)
4. Civil War and Beyond (commerce and the Northeastern economy; role of East Asia and Middle East: United States as counterpoint to Britain; openings to Turkey, Persia, Egypt, China; limits of US involvement and interest; missionaries and US foreign policy; post-Civil War: sectional divisions and constitutional debates; emergence of Congress and turn inwards; U.S. irrelevancy and European imperialism; debates over tariffs and trade; cracking of anti-expansionist consensus)
5. Embracing Imperialism (election of 1896 and emergence of Republican majority; new arguments for imperialism—imitating the great powers, East Asian scramble for power, need to address trade deficit, Social Darwininism and new cultural theories; onset of war; growth of presidential power; transformation of international environment; Philippines war and collapse of imperialist consensus)
KC Johnson 