HIS 216: Modern Europe Syllabus

HIS 216: MODERN EUROPE II

North Island College, Winter 2011

Meeting Times: Comox Valley Campus, Campbell River, Port Alberni: MW 8:30 - 9:50 a.m.

Meeting Place: DIS 205, CWG 211 and CEN 210

Instructor: Dan Hinman-Smith

Office: Village G6

Office Hours: Comox Valley Campus, Tuesday: Noon - 2:30 pm (or by appointment)

Office Phone: 250-334-5000, Extension 4024

Home Phone: 250-336-0238 (Do not hesitate to call with course-related questions)

Web-Site: http://www.misterdann.com/

E-Mail: dan.hinmansmith@nic.bc.ca

A Tentative Class Schedule

Week 1: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 19 -- The Age of Napoleon and the Triumph of Romanticism," Western Heritage, pp. 626-655.

Tuesday, January 4

a) Introduction

b) Cartoon Corner

Thursday, January 6

a) VIDEO -- "The French Revolution"

Week 2: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 20 -- The Conservative Order and the Challenges of Reform (1815-1832)," Western Heritage, pp. 656-687.

Tuesday, January 11

a) Finish VIDEO -- "The French Revolution"

b) DISCUSSION: French Revolution And Its Legacies

c) Lecture: The French Revolution

Reading Assignment:

Browse extensively in the French Revolution And Its Legacies Discussion Topic

Thursday, January 13

a) DISCUSSION: Napoleon And The Napoleonic Wars In The News

b) Start "From the Sublime to the Ridiculous": The Rise and Fall of Napoleon's Empire

Reading Assignment:

Browse extensively in the Napoleon And The Napoleonic Wars In The News Discussion Topic

Week 3: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 21 -- Economic Advance and Social Unrest (1830-1850)," Western Heritage, pp. 688-727.

Tuesday, January 20

a) DISCUSSION: Crimean War

b) VIDEO -- "Engines of Change" (Queen Victoria's Empire Series)

b) "Springtime Of Nations": Europe In The Post-Napoleonic Era

Reading Assignment:

Browse extensively in the Crimean War Discussion Topic

Handout Of THE "ISMS" JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT

Tuesday, January 18

a) Finish "From the Sublime to the Ridiculous": The Rise and Fall of Napoleon's Empire

b) DISCUSSION: The Communist Manifesto

Reading Assignment:
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "Manifesto of the Communist Party," 1848. [Note that there is an introduction and four separate sections]

Week 4: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 22 -- The Age of Nation-States," Western Heritage, pp. 730-759.

Tuesday, January 25

a) "Springtime Of Nations": Europe In The Post-Napoleonic Era

Thursday, January 27

a) Russia (1815-1914)

b) DISCUSSION: 19th Century Russian Culture

Reading Assignment:

Browse extensively in the 19th Century Russian Culture Discussion Topic

Week 5: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 23 -- The Building of European Supremacy: Society and Politics To World War I," Western Heritage, pp. 760-793.

Tuesday, February 1

a) VIDEO: "The Scramble For Africa" (Queen Victoria's Empire Series)

Listening Assignment

"The Crescent And The Cross," Part 4 [The Mahdi And General Gordon], BBC World Service (November 30, 2009).

Thursday, February 3

a) DISCUSSION: The ISMS (Bring your worksheets to class)

Reading Assignment:

Browse extensively in the Darwin Anniversaries Discussion Topic.
Browse extensively in the Suffragettes Discussion Topic.

Week 6: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 24 -- The Birth of Modern European Thought," Western Heritage, pp. 794-825.

Tuesday, February 8

a) A Place In The Sun: The New Imperialism

Reading Assignment

Martin Dugard, "Stanley Meets Livingston," Smithsonian (October 2003).

Thursday, February 10

a) DISCUSSION TOPIC: Christmas Truce

a) VIDEO: "1917: Killing Fields"

Reading Assignment:

Browse extensively in Christmas Truce Discussion Topic

Reading Break February 14 - February 18

Week 7: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 25 -- Imperialism, Alliances, and War," Western Heritage, pp. 826-875.

Tuesday, February 22

Thursday, February 24

a) "The Lights Are Going Out Across Europe": The Great War

Reading Assignment:
Eric Lawler, "His Name Meant 'Father Turk,' And That He Was," Smithsonian (March 1996).
Optional -- Browse in articles on BBC History World War I Homepage.

***Journal Due For Installment One Evaluation***

Week 8: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 26 -- Political Experiments of the 1920s," Western Heritage, pp. 876-905.

Tuesday, March 1

a) DISCUSSION TOPIC: Lenin's Body and The Romanovs' Bones

b) VIDEO: "1917: Red Flag"

Reading Assignment:
Browse extensively in Lenin's Body and The Romanovs' Bones Discussion Topic

Thursday, March 3

a) DISCUSSION: Stalin In The News

b) Russian Revolution And Stalin's Russia

Reading Assignment:
Browse extensively in the Stalin In The News Discussion Topic

Week 9: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 27 -- Europe and the Great Depression of the 1930s" Western Heritage, pp. 906-935.

Tuesday, March 8

a) Course Check-In And Assignment Set-up

b) VIDEO: "1933: The Master Race"

Optional Reading Assignment:

Browse in the Bloodlands Discussion Topic

Thursday, March 10: History Workshop #1

a) DISCUSSION TOPIC: Humanizing Hitler

b) STUDENT MINI-PRESENTATIONS: Nazi Propaganda

Research in the 1933-1945 NAZI SECTION of the . Find one interesting item to present to a small group in class and to use as the basis of a journal entry.

c) Discuss Toadstool, a Nazi-sponsored book that taught German children how to recognize the characteristics of the "poisonous mushroom" (ie. the Jew). Click on individual frames for enlarged images. Note also that many of the captions include links to stories from the book.

d) "For Whom The Bell Tolls": The Spanish Civil War

Reading Assignment:
Browse extensively in the Humanizing Hitler Discussion Topic
Read Toadstool, a Nazi-sponsored book that taught German children how to recognize the characteristics of the "poisonous mushroom" (ie. the Jew). Click on individual frames for enlarged images. Note also that many of the captions include links to stories from the book.

Week 10: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 28 -- World War II," Western Heritage, pp. 938-977.

Tuesday, March 15

a) VIDEO: "War Of The Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin"

Thursday, March 17: History Workshop #2

a) STUDENT MINI-PRESENTATIONS: World War II Topics

Week 11: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 29 -- The Cold War Era and the Emergence of the New Europe," Western Heritage, pp. 978-1023.

Tuesday, March 22

a) STUDENT MINI-PRESENTATIONS: World War II Topics

Reading Assignment:
Daniel J. Goldhagen, "Ordinary Germans And The Holocaust."

Thursday March 24

a) VIDEO: "The Two Winstons"

Reading Assignment

Adam Gopnik, "Finest Hours: The Making Of Winston Churchill," New Yorker (August 30, 2010).

Week 12

Tuesday, March 29

a) "Arbeit Macht Frei": Morality After Auschwitz

Thursday, March 31

a) DISCUSSION TOPIC: 1989 20 Years Later

b) "An Iron Curtain Has Descended Across The Continent": The Cold War

Reading Assignment:

Browse extensively in the 1989 20 Years Later Discussion Topic

Week 13: Textbook Reading: Kagan et al., "Chapter 30 -- The West At the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century," Western Heritage, pp. 1024-1056.

Tuesday, April 5

a) Final Exam Intro

b) VIDEO -- "People Power"

Thursday, April 7: History Workshop #3

a) STUDENT MINI-PRESENTATIONS: Nations In The News Research

Week 14

Tuesday, April 12

a) DISCUSSION TOPIC: Balkan Wars Remembered

b) Old Europe/New Europe/United Europe: Whither Now?

Reading Assignment:

Browse extensively in the Balkan Wars Remembered Discussion Topic

Thursday, April 14: Final Exam Review

Week 15: JOURNAL DUE FINAL EXAM: April 26, 9:00 a.m.

Books

Donald Kagan et al., Western Heritage Since 1300, 9th edition (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007).

Optional Extra Book

Geert Mak, In Europe: Travels Through The Twentieth Century (New York: Pantheon, 2007). Interested students can receive extra credit for reading the Dutch journalist Geert Mak's attempt to come to terms with Europe's past century as part of a year-long project in 1999. Students should order a paperback copy of this book for class discussion much later in the term. Those students who doubt that they have the time or energy for this extra assignment should not feel under any pressure to order the book.

Evaluation

Textbook Survey Questions 10%

Journal Installment #1 20%

Journal Installment #2 20%

Overall Journal Grade 20%

Class Participation 10%

Final Exam 20%

a) The Journal (60%)

The student journal is the main assignment in this class. The purpose of the journal is to provide you the opportunity for frequent thoughtful, analytical, and personal commentary upon course—related material. The advantages of the journal, to my mind, are that it breaks work down into regular and manageable chunks, and that it enables you to seize hold of the curriculum in a way which reflects your own interests and style.

The journal will be graded in two installments. It will be due after Reading Break. This installment will count for 20% of the course grade. The journal will then again be due on the day of the Final Exam. This installment will include both a 20% grade for the second installment and a 20% grade for the journal in its entirety. I plan to set up brief one-on-one meetings early in the semester to discuss the journal. Please also e-mail me as frequently as you would like with questions and comments.

In order to give you a basic structure and to clearly communicate my expectations, I will specify certain mandated entries and suggest a format for reading responses. However, while it is required that all work in the journal be your own original writing, you are encouraged to be imaginative in your own investigation and analysis of European History.

The entries will, no doubt, vary in format, length and quality. Do not hesitate to take risks and to express your own opinions. It's fine if some entries read more like summary than analysis; it can be useful to put what you have learned from an article or a video into your own words. Other entries may make unexpected connections between the European past and issues that deeply concern you. Try, however, not to succumb to the temptation to write in an easy, stream—of—consciousness style. There is no inherent tension between analytical rigour and personal insight.

Include any printouts of particularly interesting internet material in an appendix to the journal. I will assume that everything in the body of the journal represents your own writing unless indicated otherwise.

b) Survey questions from Western Heritage (10%)

There is a web-site connected to our class text. At this site, each chapter is broken down into several different sections, including small multiple-choice tests. I have provided links to these each of these quizzes in the section of the web-site entitled "Readings And Questions."

The due date for Chapters 19 through 25 will be the same date as the First Journal due date. The due date for Chapters 26 through 30 will be the same date as the Final Exam. It is fine to submit these electronically as you complete these. Please read each chapter before completing the quizzes, but I will provide you with full credit for each chapter as long you complete each of the 5-10 mini-quizzes apiece.

The grade received for this component of the course will be based upon the number of Chapters completed:

A: 12 chapters

A-: 11 chapters

B+: 10 chapters

B: 9 chapters

B-: 8 chapters

C+: 7 chapters

C: 6 chapters

c) Class Participation (10%)

The class participation grade will be based upon attendance; pre-class preparation; and the willingness to contribute thoughtfully to full-class and small-group discussion.

d) Final Exam (20%)

The final exam will ask you to write mini-essays analyzing paired historical terms. A detailed preparation sheet will be handed out in advance. The class text will serve as a basic resource.

WELCOME TO THE COURSE