1. CAUSES AND LESSONS: WW2 THE BIG PICTURE
The European theatre: WWI, part 2?
The Asian theatre: Linked, but somewhat unique
Why it is studied?
50 million people killed,
Targeting of civilians to an unprecedented level including with nuclear weapons
The efficacy of punishing states was raised
The need to establish international security institutions in finance, trade, and development
Genocide and international tribunals
Preventative Cold War: Deterrence and containment

2. WHAT SYSTEM-LEVEL ISSUES CAUSED WW2?
Why did France and Britain demand such harsh reparations after WWI?
Why the League of Nations’ fail to enforce “collective security” in Manchuria (1931)? The fatal flaw of requiring unanimity
Status discrepancies: Germany and especially Japan because of racism
Regional balancing and the US-China alliance: Attempts to balance of power against a rising Japan
Security dilemmas: Germany (Europe and Russia) and Japan (China, US)
The lack of powerful international economic and collective security institutions

3. WHAT SOCIETAL ISSUES CAUSED WW2?
Europe
The Treaty of Versailles, economic collapse everywhere , and the rise of Hitler’s party and its public support
Political choices and extremism in Germany: Fascism and communism
What role did European racism against other cultures and nationalism play in increasing the Japanese aggression? How did military victories over Russia, Korea, and China impact the sense of cultural nationalism and destiny?
Japan
How did the Great Depression impact the rise of the military in Japan? How did it impact the decision to seek raw materials through the invasion of China?
How did the structure and autonomy of military power in Japan’s semi-democracy impact war? How might have better civilian control impacted decision-making?
What role did the US’s isolationist politics ( ) play in WWII?

4. WHAT INDIVIDUAL ISSUES CAUSED WW2?
Europe
Was Hitler responsible? Would another leader have pursued the same policy?
Why did the British and French pursue a policy of appeasement in 1938 (Chamberlain?)
Why did the Americans work with the British when the public largely objected (FDR was critical)
Why did Stalin make a deal with the devil himself? (1939): Group think and the purges of those who questioned the strategy
Japan
Why didn’t the US see that Japan would see an oil embargo as a preemptive attack by the US? Any level of empathy would have caused US leaders to see that Japan wasn’t going to reverse course on expansion in its own back yard… But Roosevelt’s core beliefs made it happen
Prospect theory and its impact on thinking in the Japanese leadership… The US saw Japanese gains as temporary, but the Japanese didn’t see it that way
Why in the word did the Japanese hit a power that had the potential military strength of at least 7 times its own? Over-estimating one’s own ability and the false belief that a widow existed where the US would back-down since it hadn’t yet militarized

5. WHAT LESSONS DID WE TAKE AWAY FROM WW2?
American leadership: Supporting the new hegemon
Bipolarism: NATO and balancing the Russians
The UN (a great power concert this time with vetos)
The Non-Prolif Treaty
The Marshall Plan/World Bank, the IMF, and—over time—trade agreements
The EU
Genocide provisions and human rights