World War II: Up Close and Personal - Keith Huxen, The Great Courses

Category: History
Language: English
Keywords: History Military Wars & Conflicts World War II

Written by Keith Huxen, The Great Courses
Read by Professor Keith Huxen
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps

World War II was one of the defining moments in modern history, a global conflagration that transformed the world through battles, shifting alliances, and horrors unlike anything in recorded history. The story is often told as a series of great campaigns by famous generals, dramatic turning points, and cataclysmic combat. But what about the millions of ordinary people - the citizens and soldiers whose names none of us know but whose impact rippled through every aspect of the war?

From the icy front lines of Soviet Russia to the bombing campaigns against Britain to the American submarines lurking beneath the choppy waters of the Pacific, step into the shoes of remarkable everyday 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, which supports the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. 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.

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. While he touches on the alliances and strategies and dynamic weapons of war, history is the story of people. Each lesson zooms in for a view through the eyes of soldiers, sailors, pilots, war correspondents, and citizens struggling to survive a war-torn world.

Meet witnesses to the Rape of Nanjing, see what it was like to drive a Panzer tank during a blitzkrieg, or to be a Black pilot in a segregated American Army. With its focus on the “felt life” of the war, this course is an absolute must-have for anyone interested in the story of our modern world.

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