History 367/Global Studies 367

History 367/Global Studies 367: World War II is taught by a combination of print materials, television programs, and academic support. Academic support is provided in the form of telephone tutorials. The course is offered in both “grouped-study” and “individualized-study” modes: students opting for the “grouped-study” version will complete the course in one semester; those choosing the “individualized-study” mode may work at their own pace within a six-month contract.

History 367/Global Studies 367: World War II is a telecourse. Students must watch 26 programs in the Thames Television series, The World at War, which contains extensive documentary footage, retrospective interviews, and commentary by eminent historians. Students also work with print materials: two textbooks, The Penguin History of the Second World War by Peter Calvocoressi, Guy Wint and John Pritchard, and Hitler: A Study in Tyranny by Alan Bullock; a two-volume reader, World War II: Course Reader, which contains chapters from books and articles from journals containing more detailed information and expert analysis on various aspects of the war; a Study Guide, which elaborates on the television programs and relates them to the textbooks and the reader; and a Student Manual.

It is important to recognize that learning from television involves active listening and participation. This process is quite different from watching television for entertainment, which is a passive activity. You should therefore prepare for watching the television programs by reading the introductory material for each unit provided in the Study Guide. When watching the videos, you should take notes, marking down things you find particularly interesting or important, have questions about, or do not understand. In this way, you will get more out of the lectures.

Written work is another important component of History 367/Global Studies 367. Students are evaluated by means of an exercise, a research essay, and a final examination. To pass the course, a student must obtain a grade of 50% on the final examination as well as an overall grade of 50% or better. Details of these assessment mechanisms are provided in the Student Manual.

The course is divided into thirteen units. Although some units are larger than others, we recommend that you treat each unit as one week’s work, thereby completing the reading and viewing assignments in thirteen weeks. This will allow you plenty of time to work on your written assignments, and to prepare for the final examination. If you keep to this schedule, the course can be completed in under four months, approximately the same amount of time as a semester in a traditional university. Students receiving provincial government funding may in any case be constrained to complete the course in four months; other students have up to six months at their disposal (plus extensions, as necessary).

The following chart provides a summary of the unit structure of the course. History 367/Global Studies 367 was revised in 2005; prior to the revision the unit structure of the course was based on the TV series, The World at War. For the convenience of students who prefer to watch the TV programs in the order in which they are broadcast (or assembled on videocassettes), the old units, which correspond to videos, are given in brackets.

Unit 1: Sources of War in the West [old unit 1]
Penguin History of the Second World War, (Western Hemisphere), chapters 1–4
Video 1: A New Germany

Unit 2: Sources of War in the East [old unit 6a]
Penguin History, (Eastern Hemisphere), chapters 1–8
Video 6: Banzai

Unit 3: Expansion of the European War, 1939–40 [old units 2 & 3]
Penguin History, (Western Hemisphere), chapters 5–6
Video 2: Distant War, & video 3: France Falls

Unit 4: Expansion of the War in Asia, 1937–41 [old units 6b & 7]
Penguin History, (Eastern Hemisphere), chapters 9–15
Video 6: Banzai, & video 7: On Our Way

Unit 5: Britain at War [old units 4 & 15]
Penguin History, (Western Hemisphere), chapters 7, 8 & 20
Video 4: Alone, & video 15: Home Fires

Unit 6: Russia at War [old units 5, 9 & 11]
Penguin History, (Western Hemisphere), chapters 9 & 22
Video 5: Barbarossa, video 9: Stalingrad, & video 11: Red Star

Unit 7: Germany at War: The Fate of Occupied Europe [old units 16, 18 & 20]
Penguin History, (Western Hemisphere), chapters 11–15
Video 16: Inside the Reich, video 18: Occupation, & video 20: Genocide

Unit 8: In the Balance: The Western Theatre, 1941–43 [old units 8 & 13]
Penguin History, (Western Hemisphere), chapters 10 & 16–19
Video 8: Desert, & video 13: Tough Old Gut

Unit 9: War at Sea and War in the Air [old units 10 & 12]
Penguin History, (Western Hemisphere), chapters 21 & 23
Video 10: Wolf Pack, & video 12: Whirlwind

Unit 10: Japan at War: The Pacific Theatre, 1942–43 [old units 14 & 22]
Penguin History, (Eastern Hemisphere), chapters 16–23
Video 14: It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow, & video 22: Japan

Unit 11: The Defeat of Germany [old units 17, 19 & 21]
Penguin History, (Western Hemisphere), chapters 24–25
Video 17: Morning, video 19: Pincers, & video 21: Nemesis

Unit 12: The Defeat of Japan [old units 23 & 24]
Penguin History, (Eastern Hemisphere), chapters 24–25
Video 23: Pacific, & video 24: The Bomb

Unit 13: Looking Back and Looking Forward
Penguin History, (Western Hemisphere), Epilogue; and (Eastern Hemisphere), Epilogue
Video 25: Reckoning, & video 26: Remember