World War II: 80th Anniversary – The Pacific Theater
Hybrid – Thursday 3:10 pm – 4:50 pm
Sept. 21, 28, Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26, Nov. 2, 9
In this new course we review the rise of the Japanese Empire in the 19th century and the resulting friction with the other ascendant imperialist power, the United States, over dominance in the world’s largest ocean. At the same time, the dominance of the European colonial powers is on the wane. The resulting global conflict is the outward expression of the changing nature of power militarily, politically, economically, socially and strategically. We analyze the decisive significance of oil, naval power and the control of natural resources. The concepts of the race war, the Japanese doctrine of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and the Island-Hopping Campaign are examined. The significance of the aircraft carrier, mobile warfare, the US submarine campaign and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are discussed.
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine in Monroe, Connecticut and is the historian for the Army Aviation Association of America. He is the author of six books including On History: A Treatise.