TTC Video - World War II: Up Close and Personal [Repost]

Step into the shoes of these remarkable men and women in World War II: Up Close and Personal. Your lecturer is Dr. Keith Huxen, a historian and project director at The Henry M. Jackson Foundation. In 24 engrossing lessons, Keith takes you into the story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things—bringing history to life through the flesh and blood of battles, the diplomatic skirmishes, or beleaguered civilians eking out their next meal while avoiding the dangers all around them.

From the Nazi’s propaganda machine to recruit German youth and the shocking Japanese invasion of China to the bloody Battle of the Bulge and the dropping of the atomic bombs, Keith traces the course of the war to give you a sense of its global scope but on a personal scale. While he touches on the big history, the alliances and strategies and dynamic weapons of war, history is the story of people. Each lesson zooms in through the eyes of soldiers, sailors, pilots, war correspondents, and citizens struggling to survive a war-torn world.

Whether you are looking to the icy front lines of Soviet Russia, the bombing campaigns against Britain, or the American submarines lurking beneath the choppy waters of the Pacific, everyday heroes you will meet include:

• Women searching for bread for their families during the 900-day siege of Leningrad;
• Warsaw Jews who were rounded up into a crowded ghetto before being shipped off to Treblinka or Auschwitz;
• British pilots who flew as the last desperate defenders against a German invasion;
• American infantrymen living in the lap of luxury before the swift fall of the Philippines;
• Members of the French Resistance conducting quiet efforts of sabotage against the Nazi occupation;
• Witnesses to the Rape of Nanjing;
• A Panzer tank commander driving through the blitzkrieg;
• Black pilots in the segregated American army; and many more.

You will also get to know the men, women, and children who were at places instantly recognizable today: Stalingrad, Hiroshima, and London. With its focus on the “felt life” of the war, World War II: Up Close and Personal is an absolute must-have for anyone interested in the story of our modern world.

Step into Battle from Sea to Sky

While World War I—the “Great War”—introduced the world to modern warfare of tanks, planes, and machine guns, the Second World War demonstrated the true power and terror of these technological innovations. Following the course of soldiers, sailors, and pilots, take a front-row seat to see new weapons of war in action, including:

• German Panzer Tanks: See how these beasts of land helped Germany rip across Poland and France in blitzkriegs. Keith takes you inside the strategic discussions of this new type of warfare, when the previous generation of military leaders was still committed to traditional “positional warfare.”
• British Spitfires: The Royal Air Force was one of the most iconic service groups from the war. Slide into the cockpit to witness astounding feats of flight, as well as the explosive dangers of battling in the sky.
• American Submarines: Plumb the depths of the oceans with an elite group of American sailors who operated a secret war in the close quarters of submarines. Imagine life operating in the dark for months on end.
• The Nuclear Age: The war may have started as a conflagration of nations in battle, but it ended with the fiery apotheosis of the Manhattan Project. Trace the development of this new weapon, which set the strategic stage for the world ever since.

Experience the Voices of Everyday Heroes

The stench of diesel, the groan of heavy machinery, the achy bones of a long march, and frozen fingertips: This is human history, the human experience. From the London Blitz to the Battle of the Bulge, Keith takes you into the war with the eye of a correspondent. Like James Michener, Vasily Grossman, or the many newspaper journalists, radio broadcasters, and photographers who covered the war in real time, this course gives you a sense of the “felt life” of the war.

In approaching this course, Keith draws on the diaries, letters, memoirs, and recollections of ordinary people to demonstrate what we at The Great Courses often call “the other side of history.” You will meet many of the iconic military leaders, but the focus is on everyday people such as:

• Margaret Sams, who was interned in Manila after the Japanese victory in the Philippines;
• Benjamin Davis Jr., a Tuskegee Airman pilot grappling with discrimination in the Army;
• Stephen Grady, a teenager in northern France who hid weapons for the Resistance; and
• Cornelius Bartholomew, who recalled the rigorous submarine training in New London, Connecticut.

A Humane Look at an Inhumane War

These everyday people are witnesses to humanity at both its most depraved and its most triumphant. Although every war has its share of crimes and carnage, the Second World War holds a unique place in our imaginations because of the unimaginable atrocities committed on a global scale and within living memory.

Consider the life of 15-year-old Mary Wattenberg, who kept a diary as Jews were rounded up in Warsaw. Her writings show the confusion and the daily struggle to survive—as well as the rumors of what was happening at the concentration camps.

Or consider Richard Sonnenfeldt, a private who was enlisted as a translator during the trial at Nuremberg—and who understood nuances of the testimony of Rudolf Hess but could not interject on behalf of the prosecution.

The daily life events, challenges, and choices ordinary people faced during the war may seem incomprehensible today, but their experiences have much to teach us about courage, justice, and the evils that lurk within the human heart. In capturing the personal side of war, World War II: Up Close and Personal humanizes inhumane events in a way that only the best histories are able to do—and it provides a way to understand the events that shaped our world today.