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World War II

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"They Could Not Guard Against It": The Failed U.S. Policy Response To German Sabotage At Black Tom Island, Benjamin Smith May 2024

"They Could Not Guard Against It": The Failed U.S. Policy Response To German Sabotage At Black Tom Island, Benjamin Smith

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In the early morning hours of 31 July 1916, German agents successfully detonated a storage facility on an island in New York Harbor named Black Tom. The facility was filled with munitions meant for the Allied powers fighting against Germany in World War I. It was at that time the single most destructive subversive act ever perpetrated on U.S. soil. But it is not surprising that such an act occurred: the United States had no specialized counter-espionage agency and the area had relatively little protection. The remarkable thing is the miniscule amount of attention Black Tom, along with other instances …


"Across The Atlantic": How World War Ii Changed British Public Opinion Of Americ, Lexi Edgar May 2024

"Across The Atlantic": How World War Ii Changed British Public Opinion Of Americ, Lexi Edgar

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

It was July 4,1951. Exactly 175 years earlier, America had boldly proclaimed its independence from Great Britain and entered a fierce and desperate struggle to separate itself from the mother country. Yet on this day, reminiscent of the division of the two nations, Americans and Brits came together in London to celebrate their unity. They gathered to dedicate the Roll of Honor, a book containing the names of the 28,000 American soldiers who gave their lives in Great Britain during World War II.


All Those Who Shall Pass An Italian's Resistance & Nazi Occupation, Alexander Willis Apr 2024

All Those Who Shall Pass An Italian's Resistance & Nazi Occupation, Alexander Willis

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The song "Bella Ciao" was originally written as an anthem for the struggles of the 19th century Italian working class. Amidst the beginning of Italy's monumental wrestle against fascism (both from Italy's own government and Nazi forces), the words were changed to reflect the struggle of the resistance fighters, known as partisans. "Bella Ciao" was now a song mourning the loss of their beautiful Italy. It was not just a song of grief, but also a song of belligerent determination to resist.


The Men Who Could Speak Japanese: The Navy Japanese Language School At Boulder, Colorado (1942-1946) And The Legacy Of World War Ii Japanese-Language Officers, Katherine White Apr 2024

The Men Who Could Speak Japanese: The Navy Japanese Language School At Boulder, Colorado (1942-1946) And The Legacy Of World War Ii Japanese-Language Officers, Katherine White

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On their last day of class at the US Navy Japanese Language School (USNJLS or JLS), Captain Roger Pineau and his fellow classmates waited in a room on the second floor of the University of Colorado library. They had spent the last eleven months immersed in a rigorous study of the Japanese language, and today their teachers had promised a sample of what they would experience as Japanese-language officers in the Pacific War. The six students sat intently as their conversation sensei (teacher) entered the classroom, removed a Japanese newspaper from his briefcase, placed his pocket watch on the table, …


Changes In German Holocaust Memorials, Stephanie Bergeson Apr 2024

Changes In German Holocaust Memorials, Stephanie Bergeson

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Since World War II, Holocaust memorials have been built in many countries for a variety of reasons. Many memorials have been erected as places to remember and mourn the loss of those who were its victims. Some are built mainly to raise difficu lt but important moral and ethical questions in a world of increasing globalization and relativism. Others have been built to distance a country's association with the Holocaust and the Nazi government. Still others, as was the case with early Holocaust memorials in West Germany, were built in an attempt to forget or bury the past.


"American And British Spoken Here": American Servicemen In Cambridge, 1942-1945, Jordan Meservy Apr 2024

"American And British Spoken Here": American Servicemen In Cambridge, 1942-1945, Jordan Meservy

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

During the 1940s, troops from the United States of America marched through parts of the world they had never before imagined, such as the dry heat of North Africa, the humid climate of the South Pacific islands, and the snow-clad forests of Belgium. & the troops interacted with different cultures, they made a deep impression on these countries and were impacted in their turn, forming new international relationships. One such interaction took place between British citizens and American troops, as Great Britain became the staging ground for the invasion of Europe, a giant aircraft carrier of sorts for the men …


Friction And Fog: The Chaotic Nature Of Defeat For The B.E.F. In The Fall Of France, Carson Teuscher Apr 2024

Friction And Fog: The Chaotic Nature Of Defeat For The B.E.F. In The Fall Of France, Carson Teuscher

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Bursting from the thick Ardennes Forest on the morning of May 10, 1940, Hitler's Panzer armies pounded across the French countryside. Not only did his armies strike through what Marshal Petain had deemed the "Impenetrable Ardennes," in doing so German forces bypassed the Maginot Line, France's most formidable defenses. As they poured through the gap, other German armies simultaneously attacked Belgium, sweeping downward through the Low Countries to merge with the primary thrust towards Paris.


A Tale Of Two Conferences, Sierra Smith Mar 2024

A Tale Of Two Conferences, Sierra Smith

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In April 1945, the United States was in the thick of the Second World War. In Europe, Allied powers were on the offensive, slowly gaining back ground lost to the Axis while the war in the Pacific raged on. American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, representing the "Big Three" countries of the Allied powers, were in the midst of postwar reorganization negotiations and discussions. It was a crucial time for determining the balance of world power, including relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. At this critical moment, Roosevelt …


"Are They Our Enemies?" Delta Interaction With The Japanese-American Internment Camp At Topaz, Heather Pabst Mar 2024

"Are They Our Enemies?" Delta Interaction With The Japanese-American Internment Camp At Topaz, Heather Pabst

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In the small town of Delta, in the barren desert valley of central Utah, a rare phenomenon occurred during World War II. For the first time, fresh seafood was available in chis land-locked town. The entrepreneurs were the Hoshiyama brothers, internees of the Japanese-American internment camp located just sixteen miles outside of Delca. The wartime internment brought more than just fresh fish co Delea. le provided an economic boom, a new rival for high school sports, a venue for incerculcural exchange, and much more. Sadly, it also unearthed some of the intolerance of the town. In many aspects, the reaction …


American Censorship And The Cartoon During World War Ii, D. Mark Davis Mar 2024

American Censorship And The Cartoon During World War Ii, D. Mark Davis

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

WORLD WAR II was indeed a war of global proportions. It involved fifty-six countries, saw armed conflict on every continent except Antarctica, caused over three billion dollars in physical damage, and cost the lives of over fifty-five million people. However, in spite of the tremendous size and costs of World War II, this era is often remembered in America as a time when men felt honor in fighting and dying for their liberty, women went to work in a patriotic effort to support their nation, and freedom, liberty, and democracy overcame the evil and oppressive forces of fascism. Ironically, during …


The Mutation Of The Model Man: 1936-1945, Andrea Rassmussen Mar 2024

The Mutation Of The Model Man: 1936-1945, Andrea Rassmussen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Masculinity, or the ideal male model, differed significantly in the war years from the late 1930s. This evolution can be seen through articles in Coronet, in which the majority of stories had male heroes whose physical characteristics, personalities, and social graces all changed as the war started and progressed. The ideal man shifted from the Successful Businessman of the 30s to the Individualistic Team Player of the 40s. I chose these names because they encapsulate the contradiction that made up the model man of the war years. No more was the ideal a cutthroat businessman concerned with nothing except succeeding, …


The Transformation Of Utah From A Colony Of Wall Street To A Colony Of Washington, Thomas G. Alexander Mar 2024

The Transformation Of Utah From A Colony Of Wall Street To A Colony Of Washington, Thomas G. Alexander

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Ordinarily. American historians divide the years from 1929 through 1945 into two periods. The time from 1929 to about 1939 they generally label· The Great Depression." In most cases, the chapter on the depression tells the story of American domestic affairs during the 1930s with a slight bow to the severity of worldwide economic conditions. In the next chapter, covering the years 1939 to 1945, historians discuss World War II; to do chis, however, they have to return to the 1920s to deal with the foreign affurs they neglected in the previous chapter. In discussing World War II, historians say …


Angst Uber Alles: The Role Of Fear In Nazi German Governance, Jacob R. Mahlkuch Feb 2024

Angst Uber Alles: The Role Of Fear In Nazi German Governance, Jacob R. Mahlkuch

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

Lasting from 1933 to 1945, the Third Reich governed not only Germany but vast sections of continental Europe. One of its principal tools in administering its “1,000-year Reich,” was the application of terror and fear to create a climate of paranoia, and obedience to the Nazi Party. To do this, the Party did everything that it could to take over national life and discourse, other its enemies, and maintain fear through an arbitrary and often changing system of enforcement. This essay utilizes a mix of sources from first person accounts to historical fiction to analyze the systems and applications of …


The Stained Portrait Of The Victor Of Verdun: Philippe PéTain's Controversial Legacy, Hamza Elshakankiri Feb 2024

The Stained Portrait Of The Victor Of Verdun: Philippe PéTain's Controversial Legacy, Hamza Elshakankiri

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

The paper analyzes the public image of Marshal Philippe Petain during a critical point in French history—the year 1940. Beginning with Petain’s fame as the “Victor of Verdun” to his controversial role as the leader of Vichy France, the paper examines how Petain’s public image transformed from glowing into a tainted portrait.


End Of The Patrol: Analysis Of The Blimp And Its Contributions To The Us Navy, 1941-1962, Spencer M. Benefiel Jan 2024

End Of The Patrol: Analysis Of The Blimp And Its Contributions To The Us Navy, 1941-1962, Spencer M. Benefiel

Channels: Where Disciplines Meet

From 1917 to 1962, the United States Navy was America’s main contributor to the use of lighter-than-air vehicles, from small observational kite-balloons to the massive infamous rigid airships like the ill-fated Shenandoah, Akron, and Macon. Most aviation histories cover the Navy’s rigid airships but ignore the post-rigid era, a period that began after the demise of the Hindenburg. This study serves to examine the Navy’s airship program in the subsequent two time periods: World War II and the post-war era. This study is based upon both qualitative and quantitative sources, most of which come from written …


Edvard Benes And His Policy To Expel Czechoslovakian Germans, Travis Mueller Dec 2023

Edvard Benes And His Policy To Expel Czechoslovakian Germans, Travis Mueller

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

At the end of World War II, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and the Czechoslovak Republic expelled fifteen million Germans from their homelands in Eastern and Central Europe. During the eviction to the occupied zones of Germany, two million Germans perished.1 Often brutally mistreated, these Germans suffered the wrath of a great European backlash against the Nazis. Nowhere was the expulsion more brutal than in the Czechoslovak Republic. The two nations' shared border and intertwined history made the expulsion of over three million Germans mainly from the Sudetenland-particularly severe.


The United States And The Need For An Improved Global Citizenship In The Twenty-First Century: How History Shaped Our Identity As A Nation, Karin Mika Dec 2023

The United States And The Need For An Improved Global Citizenship In The Twenty-First Century: How History Shaped Our Identity As A Nation, Karin Mika

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article describes how accidents of geography and history enabled the United States to become the global power that it has become. It examines how the extended warring in Europe during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth century allowed the United States to develop as a country without the repeated necessity of continually rebuilding, as was happening in Europe. The Article explores how the isolation of the United States enabled it to develop continuity in its initially experimental political system—a continuity that was never available to Europe. These factors enabled the United States to be in the position of being able to …


Time To Face The Music: Shostakovich’S 7th Symphony And The Siege Of Leningrad, Muhanna Al Lawati Apr 2023

Time To Face The Music: Shostakovich’S 7th Symphony And The Siege Of Leningrad, Muhanna Al Lawati

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

It was in his music that Shostakovich expressed his thoughts and feelings about the radically evolving political landscape of the 20th century. Bolshevism and Stalin’s subsequent inheritance of the USSR promulgated a refashion of the arts, forcing Shostakovich to be an instrument of the state in order to avoid being a victim. It was during Hitler’s Siege of Leningrad where Shostakovich, ironically, did not feel like a victim, but the custodian of a powerful weapon that dared to defy forces beyond his comprehension. In response to Hitler’s Bolshevik crusade, Shostakovich would launch an ideological crusade of his own, composed …


Creating A 1940s Costume: A Historical Investigation, Jennifer Mott Nov 2022

Creating A 1940s Costume: A Historical Investigation, Jennifer Mott

The Confluence

The purpose of this Art History research investigation was to create a costume from the 1940s by immersing myself in a time period when people often made their own clothing. This was done to better understand what it means to have a personal connection to the items I wear. Our experiences as consumers in the twenty-first century are vastly different than those belonging to the people that lived during the mid-twentieth century because almost all of our clothing is purchased from corporations and created by people that we will likely never meet. For this investigative study, I shopped for and …


Lost Between Worlds: Gay Men In World War Ii, Braydon Conell Oct 2022

Lost Between Worlds: Gay Men In World War Ii, Braydon Conell

Graduate Review

While some queer World War II soldiers, like Christine Jorgensen, returned from war to become pioneers in the field of gender and sexuality, not all had the same support and experience. Anti-sodomy laws had a long history in the United States and its military, but no specific provision barred homosexuals from service until World War II. At the center of this change was the transition from a policy considering homosexual acts as a crime to a psychiatrist-controlled policy that homosexuality was an illness that made gay men unfit to fight. For those not excluded, the threat of an other-than-dishonorable discharge, …


“She May Look Clean, But—”: Venereal Disease In The U.S. Military During World War Ii, Emma Lukin Sep 2022

“She May Look Clean, But—”: Venereal Disease In The U.S. Military During World War Ii, Emma Lukin

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.


Full Issue Sep 2022

Full Issue

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.


The Myth Of The Crocodile Dundee: The “White Australian” And The Racialization Of Australian Citizenship From 1901-1958, Ariel Norris Aug 2022

The Myth Of The Crocodile Dundee: The “White Australian” And The Racialization Of Australian Citizenship From 1901-1958, Ariel Norris

Madison Historical Review

Influenced by a misleading national identity known as the myth of the white Australian citizen, during the first half of the twentieth century, the Australian government systematically excluded non-white participants from Australian society, culture, and national identity, by denying “undesirable” immigrants entry to the country, excluding migrants and Aboriginal populations from the benefits of citizenship, and ignoring the issues minorities faced within the nation. In order to contextualize the impact of the myth of the white Australian citizen and demonstrate its influence on the nation’s non-white inhabitants, this paper will survey three key legislative decisions and two influential eras: the …


Tomorrow’S Wars And The Media, Alexander G. Lovelace May 2022

Tomorrow’S Wars And The Media, Alexander G. Lovelace

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Distilling lessons from the author’s book, The Media Offensive: How the Press and Public Opinion Shaped Allied Strategy during World War II, this article provides applicable suggestions for the US military today. As in World War II, the press is both a weapon and a possible vulnerability in modern warfare. Consequently, this article offers practical suggestions for how the press can be used by public affairs officers, commanders, and policymakers to achieve victory in coming conflicts.


Visions For Japanese Society: An Examination Of Japanese Postwar Occupation Period Film, Kaitlin Smith, Michael Gibbs Jan 2022

Visions For Japanese Society: An Examination Of Japanese Postwar Occupation Period Film, Kaitlin Smith, Michael Gibbs

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

By following the films of directors Akira Kurosawa ( 黒澤明), Yasujiro Ozu ( 小津安二郎), Masaki Kobayashi (小林正樹), and Shohei Imamura (今村昌平) around occupation period Japan, unified visions for Japanese society are formed as it transitions from wartime into the postwar era. Each of these films conveys a sense of rapid change in society, external pressures and foreign influence, a daily struggle, and immediate postwar suffering. Not only can these films be seen across a wide variety of styles, but they also each approach these issues with immediacy and show tentative outlooks for how Japan functioned and felt for most people …


Panorama, 1944, Of The 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment, Company F, South Caroliniana Library Jan 2022

Panorama, 1944, Of The 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment, Company F, South Caroliniana Library

The South Caroliniana Library Report of Acquisitions

No abstract provided.


Political Procrastination: Swiss Neutrality And World War Ii, Maria Ott Jan 2022

Political Procrastination: Swiss Neutrality And World War Ii, Maria Ott

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Among the various facts about World War II that have become practically common knowledge, the neutral response of Switzerland stands out as particularly well-known. In recent years, this renowned reaction has been scrutinized, with many accusing Switzerland of at best problematic indifference to the affairs of the world during this time and at worst near collaboration with Axis powers, particularly Nazi Germany. Though the nation cannot boast an entirely clean ethical record when it comes to its involvement in the wartime economics, these accusations seem exaggerated. The tradition of neutrality held by Switzerland for decades and its vulnerable position at …


Realizing A Green New Deal: Lessons From World War Ii, Martin Hart-Landsberg Oct 2021

Realizing A Green New Deal: Lessons From World War Ii, Martin Hart-Landsberg

Class, Race and Corporate Power

Many activists in the United States are working to build a movement for a Green New Deal transformation of the economy in order to tackle both global warming and the country’s worsening economic and social problems. To this point, Green New Deal advocates have been far more interested in discussing the programs to be included than in how to achieve the desired transformation. Helpfully, we have the experience of World War II to provide some guideposts. This paper begins by highlighting the enormity and speed of the US economy’s wartime transformation from civilian to military production. Then, it describes the …


Reframing The Sacred: Valkyrie And The Basis Of Resistance, William S. Skiles Oct 2021

Reframing The Sacred: Valkyrie And The Basis Of Resistance, William S. Skiles

Journal of Religion & Film

The film Valkyrie (2008) is a thriller that explores the religious basis of the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in the last year of the Second World War. While the political motivations are clearly stated in exposition and dialogue, the religious motivations are shown through a series of images, symbols, and dramatic uses of the word “sacred” (heilig and its derivatives). The filmmakers focus on Colonel von Stauffenberg’s struggle against the Nazi conception of the sacred, revealing his Christian sense of the sacred as a basis for his resistance. The religious elements in the film provide …


Mom-In-Chief: The Financial And Emotional Demands Of Motherhood On Housewives Of Servicemen During World War Ii, Abigail Caldwell Oct 2021

Mom-In-Chief: The Financial And Emotional Demands Of Motherhood On Housewives Of Servicemen During World War Ii, Abigail Caldwell

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

This essay analyzes letters by white, American stay-at-home mothers with husbands in the service during World War II. It uses articles published during the war to compare the expectations for moms to their lived experiences and explores how motherhood shaped their wartime lives. Many scholars have studied women during WWII, but most focus on those who entered the work force. This essay takes a closer look at the women who stayed home with their children and what that looked like compared to the media’s portrayals. The mothers’ letters capture the financial and emotional hardships caused by war, separation, motherhood, and …