HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE II

COURSE DESCRIPTION

History 216 is offered as an introduction to the most significant trends in European history from the end of the French Revolution to the present. It is not meant to be a comprehensive survey in which you are taught "all you need to know" but is designed to highlight several important issues loosely organized within a chronological framework.  We will be dealing with broad themes: the development of the concept of nationalism and the emergence of new nation-states; the rise of Europe to a position of global dominance; the connections between ideologies and social forces; revolution; explanations for the "total war" that so influenced the last century and the world we live in today; the relationship between past events and collective memories of those events.  But we will also try to bring history back down to the personal level. How did people create meaning in their own lives? How did they shape their world, and how, in turn, were they shaped by events, by social structure, and by other people? We will approach such questions through a mixture of lecture presentation, class discussion, reading, student research, slide shows, and video.

By the end of this course you should be able to:

    1. Account for the rise of and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte and place his empire within the broader context of the French Revolution.

    2. Describe the origins of the Industrial Revolution and assess its effects on Europe and the World.

    3. Discuss the intensification of nationalism in the 19th century, including the unification of Italy and Germany.

    4. Analyze the origins, impact, and interrelationships of such major philosophies as conservatism, liberalism, positivism, socialism, communism, anarchism, Darwinism, and feminism.

    5. Examine the development and significance of modern European imperialism.

    6. Outline the causes and consequences of World War I.

    7. Assess the importance of the Russian Revolution, using Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin not only as reference points but also as entryways to explore that revolution's core issues.

    8. Discuss Fascism in interwar Europe, including the rise to power of Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany.

    9. Analyze the causes, course, and significance of World War II.

    10. Explain the role of Europe in the Cold War, and link discussion of the process of decolonization to post-WWII bipolar conflict between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.

    11. Assess the reasons for and consequences of the break-up of the Soviet Union.

    12. Place the current movement for European unity within broad historical context.

    13. Think more critically both about the complex connections between the past, the present, and the future, and about the ways in which history is constructed, written, and reinterpreted.