Seminar Week 12 – Revisionism and the History of WW II
What is revisionism? In its most broad sense revisionism in history refers to
challenging a dominant historical interpretation of a given time period or event and
replacing it with a new interpretation. As a broad example, historians before the
1950s and 1960s tended to focus on politics as the determining factor in history.
Since that time historians have turned to social and cultural history, and have thus
“revised” the view that historians have of, say, the Industrial Revolution, to take into
account a broader understanding of that era. So too with World War II. As every
year there are fewer and fewer veterans and people who experienced WW II alive,
historians ask new questions and see new ways of conceptualizing that period.
The stakes in revisionism of WW II are high, because they have strong implications
for current American foreign policy. Politicians, policy-makers and advisers do their
jobs with a particular understanding of the war that shapes the way they defend
their policies.
Here is a link to a video of the lecture upon which this week’s article is based:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DRR8QXyeOI (this link is to Part 1 of the
lecture; you can follow the links on the right in You Tube to watch parts 2 and 3).
Pay particular attention to the way that he introduced the live lecture, (left out of
the printed version) in which the author positions himself.
Discussion Questions:
How does the author describe his early learning about WW II? How does he
characterize the ‘story’ he learned about the war?
How does the author distinguish between the “Short Twentieth Century” and the
“Long Twentieth Century”? What are the main features of each interpretation? For
which interpretation does the author advocate?
What is at stake in the way that the author “revises” the dominant narrative of
American involvement in WW II?
What impact do the narratives we create about WW II have on the present?
At its base, is Bacevich’s argument about America’s involvement in WW II a
historical or political one? Can the two be separated?