http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/world-war-ii Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:53:53 -0400 Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:53:53 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1920/propaganda-patriotism-and-perseverance-how-music-became-an-instrument-for-the-us-war-effort-during-the-second-world-war By Anastasiia Gordeeva - This article analyzes the role of musical works in the United States during World War II. It chronologically examines how the social and therapeutic functions of music evolved due to the developments of the war. This article uses the lyrics of wartime songs as a window through which to examine changes in public opinion during the course of the war. It thus demonstrates how music influences and is influenced by exogenous changes in society, notably during times of crisis. To this end, a selection of American songs from different periods of the Second World War are analysed and their lyrics are... Mon, 01 Nov 2021 11:13 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1920/propaganda-patriotism-and-perseverance-how-music-became-an-instrument-for-the-us-war-effort-during-the-second-world-war http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1877/inglorious-basterds-a-satirical-criticism-of-wwii-cinema-and-the-myth-of-the-american-war-hero By Nadine Hussein - This article explores the way in which Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds challenges the myth of the American hero and criticizes the glorification of war cinema by satirizing the viewer directly. The particular focus is on the subtly with which Tarantino creates a network of parallels and analogical relations which dissolve the distinction between hero and villain. This article also argues that Tarantino effectively manipulates the audience into confronting the self-aggrandization of the American collective memory of WWII and exposes the ease at which the viewer is propagandized. Tarantino... Tue, 16 Feb 2021 04:53 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1877/inglorious-basterds-a-satirical-criticism-of-wwii-cinema-and-the-myth-of-the-american-war-hero http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1779/the-everyday-as-empowering-violence-and-suburban-monotony-in-the-interwar-writing-of-george-orwell By Florence Ward - Rather than challenging these stereotypes, the few exceptions to this rule, Richards among them, have celebrated suburbia as a refuge from the world’s horrors. Richards’s version of suburbia, published while Britain was reeling from the destruction of the war, argues that suburbia is not just an architectural phenomenon but a way of life for the middle-men of England who wish to remain protected in its ‘oasis’ (36-9). In 1918, David Lloyd George promised “Homes fit for Heroes,” catering to the post-war appetite for security and stability. His promise instigated... Thu, 27 Feb 2020 08:41 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1779/the-everyday-as-empowering-violence-and-suburban-monotony-in-the-interwar-writing-of-george-orwell http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1627/hegemonic-overreach-in-the-british-empire-economic-distress-strategic-imperative-and-the-fall-of-singapore By Peter Bennett-Koufie - Since the end of the Second World War, scholars of British military history have busied themselves with attempts to explain the British defeat at Singapore to Japan in February 1942. Research reveals that there existed what Peden has called an “imbalance between limited military power and extensive commitments” in the interwar era.[1] Put simply, the economic and military resources at Britain’s disposal were incommensurate with the scale of effort required to adequately defend her empire. This raises the question of why such an imbalance existed. One prominent explanation is... Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:13 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1627/hegemonic-overreach-in-the-british-empire-economic-distress-strategic-imperative-and-the-fall-of-singapore http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1552/world-war-ii-in-the-united-states-colony-of-the-philippines-beyond-the-bataan-death-march-and-douglas-macarthur By Martha M. Helak - World War II ranks among the deadliest military conflicts in history. From 1939-1945, the estimated number of casualties worldwide exceeded 60 million.[1] The United States suffered military fatalities in excess of four hundred thousand, and the Philippines, an archipelago in Southeast Asia and an American colony from 1898 to1946, endured horrifying atrocities such as the Bataan Death March.[2] One hundred thousand Filipino civilians (the majority being women, children, and the elderly), were ultimately slaughtered by Japanese Marines during the sack of Manila.[3] By March of 1945, this cosmopolitan... Tue, 07 Mar 2017 05:03 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1552/world-war-ii-in-the-united-states-colony-of-the-philippines-beyond-the-bataan-death-march-and-douglas-macarthur http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1502/first-language-attrition-in-german-jewish-refugees-of-the-nazi-dictatorship-the-impact-of-age-and-attitude-on-language-loss By Christian David Zeitz - First language attrition (L1) studies are a comparably young and theoretically unspecified field of research in bilingualism. Young, because the first scientifically acclaimed, related article, Andersen’s “Determining the linguistic attributes of language attrition,” was only published in 1982. (For comparison, Lennenberg’s monograph Biological foundations of language, widely cited in second language acquisition (SLA) studies, was published as early as 1967.) Theoretically unspecified, because most studies concerned with L1 attrition offer a well-derived discussion of data... Fri, 02 Dec 2016 10:46 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1502/first-language-attrition-in-german-jewish-refugees-of-the-nazi-dictatorship-the-impact-of-age-and-attitude-on-language-loss http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1363/unrecognized-potential-media-framing-of-hitlers-rise-to-power-1930-1933 By Katherine Blunt - In 1930, Adolph Hitler had been absent from American media coverage for nearly five years. Following his release from prison in 1924, he received only brief and infrequent mentions in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor, papers that had carried hundreds of articles about him when he tried and failed to overthrow the Bavarian government the previous year. But in 1930, just three years before he would be appointed chancellor, Hitler once again attracted the attention of the American press as his popularity rose amid the most devastating economic downtown in... Wed, 18 Nov 2015 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1363/unrecognized-potential-media-framing-of-hitlers-rise-to-power-1930-1933 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1278/did-stalin-plan-to-attack-hitler-in-1941-the-historiographical-controversy-surrounding-the-origins-of-the-nazi-soviet-war By Christopher J. Kshyk - The controversy surrounding the origins of the Nazi-Soviet War in 1941, namely over the issue of whether or not Stalin intended to launch an offensive against Nazi Germany that year, has produced a contentious debate between revisionist (i.e. those who believe that Stalin was preparing for an offensive) and orthodox historians (i.e. those who reject the notion of a soviet offensive in 1941). First popularized by Victor Suvorov, the ensuing debate between orthodox and revisionist historians over Stalin’s intentions in 1941 has produced an abundance of scholarly literature, and it is the purpose... Tue, 03 Nov 2015 07:51 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1278/did-stalin-plan-to-attack-hitler-in-1941-the-historiographical-controversy-surrounding-the-origins-of-the-nazi-soviet-war http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1005/murakamis-hard-boiled-wonderland-as-a-commentary-on-the-holocaust By Molly E. Meadows - One of the clearest indicators of this work’s allegorical representation of the Holocaust is Murakami’s careful use of vagueness. Holocaust literature is both a delicate and powerful subject for many to read, but the confines of writing such literature are perhaps even more uncomfortable. As some observers note, writers of Holocaust literature can be torn between the desire to create deep characters out of the perpetrators and the fear that in so doing, readers might find unintended shreds of sympathy for true villains. Jeremy Metz suggests that the pressure of this ethical dilemma... Thu, 05 Mar 2015 08:38 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1005/murakamis-hard-boiled-wonderland-as-a-commentary-on-the-holocaust http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1001/the-double-victory-campaign-and-the-black-press-a-conservative-approach-to-victory-at-home-and-abroad By Haley D. O'Shaughnessy - During World War II, the black press and several prominent black leaders called for a “Double V” victory against fascism abroad and against Jim Crow at home. With such a slogan, many historians regarded this campaign as the groundwork for the black revolts that characterized the civil rights movement. While there is ample evidence that the readers of the black press were receptive to a more militant approach, black newspapers themselves undertook a conservative effort to channel black militancy into nationalistic ends. By seeking government concessions rather than supporting militant... Wed, 18 Feb 2015 11:29 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1001/the-double-victory-campaign-and-the-black-press-a-conservative-approach-to-victory-at-home-and-abroad http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/947/the-holocaust-in-romania-the-extermination-and-protection-of-the-jews-under-antonescus-regime By Christopher J. Kshyk - As such, Antonescu’s policies of ethnic cleansing were carried out independently, though with the approval, of Hitler’s Third Reich, making Romania’s persecution of Jews a distinct chapter in the history of the Holocaust. Yet, these atrocities were largely confined to the areas of present day South-West Ukraine, namely Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and Transnistria, which Romania conquered from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941. These massacres were largely an outgrowth of an ingrained suspicion of ethnic minorities, a tradition of anti-Semitism among ethnic Romanians,... Mon, 15 Dec 2014 03:23 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/947/the-holocaust-in-romania-the-extermination-and-protection-of-the-jews-under-antonescus-regime http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1187/realism-versus-idealism-at-nuremburg-the-creation-of-the-court By Emma Campbell-Mohn - The creation of the Nuremberg Court following World War II exemplified international cooperation, particularly between the Great Powers: the United States, France, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. Expounding the benefits of justice and the rule of law, the Nuremberg Trials are often viewed as the pinnacle of Wilsonian idealism. However, further examination reveals the actions of the Roosevelt administration were not derived from a united Cabinet seeking to realize broad principles of humanitarian justice and equality. Instead of being a unified decision based on these values, the reasoning... Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1187/realism-versus-idealism-at-nuremburg-the-creation-of-the-court http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/797/overcoming-modernity-in-yukio-mishima By Joseph Verbovszky - Following the disaster of the Second World War, these issues of Modernity confronted Japanese culture; issues that the now recently fallen Imperial government had attempted to overcome through the welding together of eastern and western sensibilities in the form of the Empire of Japan. Even before this, the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods had themselves severely Westernized Japan. That dream however, now lay amid the smoldering ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, most of Japan accepted the new American domination of their society. A few, however, including some writers and intellectuals... Wed, 20 Nov 2013 04:02 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/797/overcoming-modernity-in-yukio-mishima http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/580/the-legacy-of-international-cooperation-at-the-nuremberg-trials By Melissa S. McHugh - The trial itself commenced on November 21, 1945 and continued until October 1, 1946. Twelve smaller trials were held subsequently between 1946 and 1949, but they were not prosecuted jointly by the Allied powers but rather only by the American prosecution under the direction of Telford Taylor, who had worked on Robert Jackson’s staff during the first trial. Allied powers had been negotiating the fate of the Nazi leaders since the first meeting of American President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin in Tehran, Iran. As the war... Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:06 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/580/the-legacy-of-international-cooperation-at-the-nuremberg-trials http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/535/nuclear-weapons-testing-in-the-united-states-sacrificing-health-for-national-defense By Christopher Millson - As WWII ended, and the Cold War began, America began to strengthen its national defense against the Soviet Union. Alliances were created resulting in the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The United States began to create an arsenal of nuclear weapons in order to protect the freedom of its citizens, and the freedom of the world. But freedom from communism would come with a price for the American people, and they would become victims of the United States government’s most lethal form of national defense, nuclear weapons. Despite early public support, victims of the tests eventually reacted... Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:20 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/535/nuclear-weapons-testing-in-the-united-states-sacrificing-health-for-national-defense http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/406/britain-can-take-it-rethinking-british-morale-in-1940 By Craig Stewart-Hunter - The bombardment, or Blitz, of British cities by the Luftwaffe between September 1940 and May 1941, has been idolized and ‘mythologized’ in the popular memory and imagery as one of Britain’s finest moments of togetherness and national unity. The raids by the German Luftwaffe were mainly concentrated on British urban industrial cities and ports, killing approximately 66,000 civilians (amount killed by end of war through bombing)[3], from all walks of life. Clausewitz argued that the population's ‘involvement determined the intensity with which the war would be waged,&rsquo... Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:47 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/406/britain-can-take-it-rethinking-british-morale-in-1940 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/358/retelling-the-stories-of-the-holocaust-in-shoah-and-maus-distorted-images-of-a-monstrous-past By Jeremy S. Page - An artist, especially one who works with the visual media, is bound to come across obstacles in his creation of a work that represents or recollects images of the Shoah (i.e., the Holocaust). Precisely how does one represent an almost industrial genocide on such an enormous scale? Shoah and Maus take two very different approaches in their attempt to represent the experience of the death camps, and Maus in particular is a deliberate distortion of the image, but in retelling the stories, the testimonies, experienced by survivors of the camps using such deliberate artifice, both texts are capable... Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:46 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/358/retelling-the-stories-of-the-holocaust-in-shoah-and-maus-distorted-images-of-a-monstrous-past http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/339/wartime-rationing-during-world-war-ii-and-the-effect-of-public-opinion-in-great-britain-and-austria By Sujay Kulshrestha - During World War II, a key aspect of almost every country’s wartime strategy focused heavily on limiting domestic consumption. One method governments employed to enforce control was to forcibly reduce their citizens’ consumption through the implementation of rationing, a tactic that allowed governments to equally apportion a certain amount of a particular resource to many people, rather than allowing a free-for-all atmosphere when resources were limited. An Economic Intelligence Service of the League of Nations publication from 1942 details the importance of rationing during wartime... Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/339/wartime-rationing-during-world-war-ii-and-the-effect-of-public-opinion-in-great-britain-and-austria http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/317/fascism-a-political-ideology-of-the-past By Katharine A. Mackel - Fascism cannot adapt to, and exist under, certain prominent, contemporary conditions. Specifically, it cannot adapt to the strong democracies in which extreme right parties operate, nor to the ideology of radical Islamic groups. This paper begins by defining fascism. It then notes a few conditions that enable fascism to exist, and applies these conditions to post-World War I Italy and Germany to demonstrate how fascism rose in those countries. The paper then discusses extreme right parties in Europe and whether they are fascist. In doing so, it compares the parties’ ideologies to fascist... Fri, 05 Nov 2010 10:25 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/317/fascism-a-political-ideology-of-the-past http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1671/the-white-rose-movement-conscience-in-silent-nazi-germany By Ryan A. Piccirillo - The morality of every person dictates the innate wrongness of genocide, and yet the world stood by as the Nazis sent millions to the gas chambers during the Holocaust. Historians and social scientists often attribute this moral failure to the blissfully feigned ignorance of the German people, enveloped in a blanket of fear propagated by the Nazi regime, and the indifference and prejudice of other nations. Total inaction was a remarkable failure of the human conscience, but a few brave college students in Munich proved to the world that conscientiousness still existed in the Fatherland. It is for... Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1671/the-white-rose-movement-conscience-in-silent-nazi-germany http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/206/hitlers-use-of-film-in-germany-leading-up-to-and-during-world-war-ii By William K. Boland - Lang’s masterpiece focuses on an oppressed lower class that rises to rebellion through the inspiration of one individual. Riefenstahl’s Triumph des Willens, however, is a propaganda piece about German society fighting outside international oppression and rebuilding itself to a world power under the guidance of “their hero,” Adolph Hitler. When compared to one another, Triumph des Willens is easily seen as a propaganda reinvention of Metropolis through the eyes of Hitler, envisioning himself as the hero of his people but really representing every ideal the original Metropolis... Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:04 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/206/hitlers-use-of-film-in-germany-leading-up-to-and-during-world-war-ii http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/145/the-ugly-truth-an-exploration-of-postwar-representations-of-the-holocaust-through-the-obscene By Brian Richards - It is safe to presume Bartov’s segment title is a clever throwback to Sigmund Freud’s famous work Civilization and Its Discontents, but it nonetheless serves as a fitting introduction to his subsequent analysis. Bartov writes of the intellectual post-war struggle to see whether or not one can even represent the Holocaust. It is undoubtedly a huge challenge for a variety of reasons Bartov explores throughout his entire essay, and this challenge therefore inspires a great deal of discontent from intellectuals and survivors alike (though no one should realistically equate their perspectives... Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:14 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/145/the-ugly-truth-an-exploration-of-postwar-representations-of-the-holocaust-through-the-obscene http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/136/conspiracy-did-fdr-deceive-the-american-people-in-a-push-for-war By Mallary A. Silva - “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy…” is one of the most recognized speeches in United States history.[1] Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke firmly and directly on December 8, 1941 of a Japanese “premeditated” attack on American soil. He called for war with hopes of “victory” and “triumph.”[2] His direct and solid tone quickly ascended into a fervent promise to secure American lives from the “treachery” of Pearl Harbor.[3] The House of Representatives acknowledged the will of the American people with... Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:39 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/136/conspiracy-did-fdr-deceive-the-american-people-in-a-push-for-war http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/2/america-in-the-post-war-period By David Pierce - The end of World War II was not just the end of a war, but also the beginning of a tense and dynamic period that affected society on all levels. This “postwar” period, as it became known, shaped the world as we know it today; likewise, the period was shaped itself both by the war that had preceded it, and the powerful forces that surrounded it. As the energy of fundamentally different ideologies—Communism and Democracy—collided with advances in science such as the nuclear bomb, a dangerous environment ensued that created an atmosphere of paranoia throughout the world and... Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:59 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/2/america-in-the-post-war-period