PEARL HARBOR & HIROSHIMA: JAPAN, THE US & THE CRISIS IN ASIA

HISTORY 357

Background and history of World War II. Problems of peacemaking and international organizations; rise of Fascism, National Socialism, and Japanese imperialism; breaking the peace; World War II.

ASIAN/HISTORY 104

Survey of major cultural, social, political and economic developments in Japanese history from ancient to recent times.

HISTORY 855

Research seminar in Japanese history. Focus varies each year.

ASIAN/HISTORY 363

This course is intended to help students understand World War II from the perspective of Asia. The focus is not only on the American and Japanese roles in the war but also on lesser, often overlooked participants such as China, Korea, and Southeast Asia. The course will focus not only on the diplomatic, political, and military situation of wartime Asia, but also on perceptions and experiences of the war from those most heavily affected by it: those experiencing it on the ground. Understanding this war is critical for helping us understand contemporary Asia. The foundations of the Cold War and the post-Cold War world that we live in today were forged on battlefields in mainland China, Burma, small islands in the Pacific, and in the skies over the archipelago of Japan. In order to provide the background and understand the legacies, this course covers an extended time frame, beginning in the 19th century with the arrival of the West in Asia and continues into the 1950s.

HISTORY/INTLST 332

From the Boxer Rebellion, to the dropping of the atomic bombs, to the nuclear stand-off with North Korea, American foreign relations with East Asia during the 20th century were as consequential as they were controversial. Survey the issues and questions that alternately made allies and enemies of these nations: How did the quest for markets influence American policy towards China? How did European imperialism shape Japan's rise? Why did communism seem to offer a more compelling economic and political arrangement to China and North Korea? While squarely rooted in East Asia this course will also explore the questions that united and divided Americans over their nation's foreign policy. Through examining these questions, develop answers and construct their own narrative of the relationship between the United States and East Asia.