World War II: A Military and Social History
Explore the defining conflict of the 20th century through 30 comprehensive lectures covering military campaigns, political decisions, and civilian experiences.
Course Overview (No. 810)
This 30-lecture series examines WWII’s global impact – from battlefield strategies to home front transformations – analyzing key turning points and enduring questions about history’s deadliest conflict.
Video Lectures
- The Origins of the Second World War (33 min)
Versailles Treaty’s role in creating conditions for global conflict. - Hitler’s Challenge to the International System, 1933-1936 (30 min)
Nazi Germany’s early foreign policy and dismantling of Versailles. - The Failure of the International System (32 min)
Why European powers failed to counter German aggression. - The Coming of War (32 min)
Munich Conference fallout and the Nazi-Soviet Pact. - Blitzkrieg (31 min)
Germany’s revolutionary military-economic strategy unveiled in Poland. - The German Offensive in the West (33 min)
Fall of France and the “miracle of Dunkirk.” - “Their Finest Hour” – Britain Alone (30 min)
Churchill’s leadership during invasion threats. - The Battle of Britain (30 min)
RAF’s decisive victory in the skies over England. - Hitler Moves East (30 min)
Ideological motivations behind Operation Barbarossa. - The Germans Before Moscow (30 min)
Winter halts the Nazi advance into Russia. - The War in Asia (31 min)
Japan’s imperial ambitions and invasion of China. - The Japanese Gamble (31 min)
Strategic calculations behind Pearl Harbor. - The Height of Japanese Power (31 min)
Japan’s rapid conquest of Southeast Asia. - Turning the Tide in the Pacific (30 min)
Midway and Guadalcanal as pivotal victories. - The War in North Africa (32 min)
Allied and Axis strategies in the Mediterranean. - War in the Mediterranean (30 min)
Sicily/Italy invasions and Anzio landings. - Stalingrad (29 min)
The Eastern Front’s decisive turning point. - Eisenhower and Operation Overlord (29 min)
Planning the D-Day invasion. - D-Day to Paris (29 min)
Normandy campaign and liberation of France. - Operation Market Garden and Battle of the Bulge (28 min)
Failed Rhine crossing and Hitler’s last western offensive. - Advance Across the Pacific (27 min)
MacArthur and Nimitz’s island-hopping strategy. - Leyte Gulf and the Philippines (26 min)
Decisive naval battle and kamikaze warfare. - Final Drive for Japan (32 min)
Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Tokyo firebombing. - War in the Air (34 min)
Strategic bombing’s moral and military impact. - Hitler’s New Order in Europe (36 min)
Evolution from anti-Semitism to Holocaust. - “The Man’s Army” (30 min)
Building America’s massive military force. - Daily Life in Wartime (32 min)
Home front transformations and challenges. - The Race for Berlin (31 min)
Final European campaigns and Hitler’s fall. - Truman and the Atomic Bomb (28 min)
Decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan. - The Costs of War (25 min)
Global aftermath and human toll assessed.

