Modern Europe
Hist 132
Spring 2013

Prof. Andrew Ross
Department of History
Kenyon College
Seitz House 3
E-mail: rossa@kenyon.edu
Office Hours: Tu-Th 1-3, W 2-3 and by appointment

Course Website: http://www.andrewisraelross.com/s12moderneurope

Course Description: This course is designed to introduce students to the history of modern European political, intellectual, social, and cultural history.  Beginning with the upheavals of the French Revolution, we trace the conflicts that have defined European political, cultural, and social life until the present day.  Topics covered include the industrial revolution, imperialism and colonialism, mass culture, World War I and II, and the Cold War.

Course Objectives: By the end of the semester, students will be able to:

• identify and understand key themes and concepts in European history
• understand and explain the relationship between intellectual, political and social trends
• critically analyze primary and secondary sources
• orally present historical research

Required Texts:

Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848.  New York: Vintage, 1996.
Mazower, Mark. Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century. New York: Vintage, 2000.
Brophy, James M, et al. Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations: From the Age of Exploration through Contemporary Times.  Fifth Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 20012.
Kluger, Ruth. Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered. New York: The Feminist Press, 2003.

All other readings will be available online or in class.

Please ensure you buy the correct edition of the primary source collection by Brophy et al.  Any edition of Hobsbawm is fine.  Ebook versions are acceptable as well.

Course Format: Class will meet three times a week.  Monday and Wednesday meetings will be a mix of discussion and lecture.  With some exceptions, Fridays will be devoted to a discussion of the week’s assigned readings and their relationship to the topic of the week; these meetings may also include short written exercises and group work.  All quizzes will also be held on Fridays.

Course Requirements: Students are required to attend all classes and complete all assignments.  Failure to complete any assignment will result in failing the entire course.

1      Attendance and Participation:  Attendance in class is a requirement in order to pass this course and role will be taken everyday.  You are permitted to miss three classes before your grade begins to suffer.  Active participation in class discussion is expected as well.

2      Readings:  All readings are due the day for which they are listed on the syllabus.  Most readings are due on Mondays and Wednesdays, but please note the exceptions below.

3.   Quizzes:  We will have four quizzes through the course of the semester.  Format will be a mix of map identification, short answer, primary source identification, and essay.  Primary source IDs require you to identify the title, author, approximate date, and significance of a quote from a primary source reading.  Your lowest quiz grade will not count towards your final grade, but you must take all four quizzes.

4.  Short Essay: You will complete two short (3-5 pages) essays in response to prompts provided by me.  Each essay will require you to address secondary source readings and will not necessitate outside reading.  One essay will address material from the first half of the course, the other from the second half.  You will have one week to write each essay.

5.  Group Oral Presentation: In the final week of class, groups of between three and four students will present their research on a single topic not covered by me during lectures. The topic may be a person, event, or idea; the only requirement is that it was not previously covered by me.  Each group should consult with me over e-mail or during office hours in order to choose an appropriate topic of research.  A handout of selected possible topics will be provided during the first week of class.

Each presentation must accomplish three tasks.  1) The group must describe the event, person or idea; 2) the group must discuss the ways in which historians have interpreted the topic and, in particular, any particular disagreements, debates, or significant moments in the historiography; and 3) the group must relate the topic to modern European history by stating its significance.

Each group member will receive two grades: one for the group as a whole, one for each individual’s contribution.  Each person in the group should therefore prepare to speak for about the same amount of time.  A grading rubric will be provided at the beginning of the semester.

Grade Breakdown:

Quizzes: 30%
Short Essays: 30%
Oral Presentation: 30%
Attendance and Participation: 10%

Paperless Grading:  In an effort to both save trees and improve the quality of my comments to you, your papers MUST be turned in electronically.  You will do so via e-mail, with a subject heading “Modern Europe Essay from YOUR NAME.”  Accepted file formats are .doc, and .docx. Depending on the assignment, I may convert your paper to .pdf prior to grading. I will e-mail you your paper directly after all assignments have been graded.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy.

Grade Appeals: There are no grade appeals!  I’m more than happy to talk to you about your grade and how you can improve your work (in fact, I highly encourage you to do so), but please do not ask me to change your grade.

Late Assignments:  All assignments are due in class the day they are listed on the syllabus.  Late assignments will be deducted one grade for each day late.  If I have not received your essay after four days you will automatically fail the assignment.  If I never receive an assignment you will fail the course.

Contacting Me:  The best way to get in touch with me is through e-mail.  Please allow 24 hours for a response; if you have not heard from me in that time, do not hesitate to send another note.  My office hours are at the top of this syllabus; if those times are not convenient for you I am happy to make other arrangements.  I hope you will all come by my office at some point during the semester.  Please check your Kenyon e-mail regularly and please keep apprised of materials available on the class website.

Online Resources: The course website can be found at https://www.andrewisraelross.com/s13moderneurope. There you will find a copy of the syllabus, announcements, and other resources relevant to the course, including PowerPoint slides.

Technology in the Classroom: Please feel free to use your laptops, netbooks or tablets for taking notes in class, but please refrain from checking your e-mail, Facebook, twitter, etc.  Also feel free to utilize e-book editions of class texts.  I must personally approve all recordings of class lectures.  Such approval will only be granted in exceptional circumstances.

Plagiarism and Academic Honesty:  All students must follow the College’s policies regarding academic honesty as outlined in the Kenyon College Catalog.  If you have any questions regarding this issue, please consult with me before submitting work.  All work for this class must be your own and completed specifically for this class and all materials consulted, paraphrased and quoted must be cited.

Disabilities:  If you have a hidden or visible disability that may require classroom or test accommodations, please see me privately as soon as possible during a scheduled office hour.  If you have not already done so, you must register with the Coordinator of Disability Services, Erin Salva, salvae@kenyon.edu, or x5145, who is the individual responsible for coordinating accommodations and services for students with disabilities.  All information and documentation of disabilities are strictly confidential.  No accommodations will be granted in this course without notification from the Office of Disability Services.

Course Schedule:

Week 1: January 14 – January 18: The Old Regime and the Origins of the French Revolution

Monday:  Introductions

Wednesday: The Old Regime
Secondary Readings: Hobsbawm, chapter 1
Primary Readings: Arthur Young, Travels in France During the Years 1787, 1788, 1789 (273-276)

Friday:  The Origins of the French Revolution
Secondary Reading: Hobsbawm, pages 73-89
Primary Readings: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (244-253); Abbé Emmanuel Sieyès, What is the Third Estate?(279-281); Third Estate of Dourdan, Grievance Petitions (282-285); National Assembly, Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (285-289)

Week 2: January 21 – January 25: The French Revolution and Napoleon

Monday: Radicalization and Reaction during the French Revolution
Secondary Reading: Hobsbawm, pages 89-100
Primary Readings: Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman (291-293); “Address to the National Assembly in Favor of the Abolition of the Slave Trade” (handout)

Wednesday:  Napoleon’s Empire
Secondary Reading: Hobsbawm, Chapter 4
Primary Readings: Al-Jabarti, Chronicle of the French Occupation, 1798 (293-297); The Code Napoleon (298-300)

Friday:  Discussion:  The Significance of the French Revolution

Week 3:  January 28 – February 1: The Industrial Revolution

Monday:  Industrialization
Secondary Readings: Hobsbawm, Chapter 2
Primary Readings: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (303-308); Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (308-311)

Wednesday: Social Change in the Wake of Industry
Secondary Readings: Hobsbawm, Chapters 10 and 11
Primary Readings: “Rules of a Factory in Berlin” (312-313); Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 (314-318)

Friday:  Quiz 1: The Dual Revolutions

Week 4:  February 4 – February 8: Ideologies of Reaction, Reform, and Revolution

Monday:  The Restoration
Secondary Reading: Hobsbawm, Chapters 5 and 6
Primary Readings: Benjamin Constant, The Principles of Politics (342-344);Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (345-348); Adam Mickiewicz, The Books of the Polish Nation (380-383).

Wednesday:  Liberalism and Socialism
Secondary Readings: Hobsbawm, Chapter 13
Primary Readings: Karl Marx and Frierich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party (322-326); William Wilberforce, An Appeal to the Religion, Justice, Humanity of the                                Inhabitants of the British Empire, in Behalf of the Negro Slaves in the West Indies (349-                                    351); John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (355-360)

Friday:  Discussion: Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism

Week 5:  February 11 – February 15: Revolutions and Unifications

Monday: The Revolutions of 1848
Secondary Reading: Hobsbawm, Chapters 7 and 16
Primary Readings: Francis Place, “The People’s Charter and National Petition” (334-336); Johann Gottfried Herder, “Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind” (374-377); Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Addresses to the German Nation (377-380).

Wednesday: Italian and German Unification
Secondary Reading: Breuilly, John.  “Theories of Nationalism and the Critical Approach to German History.”  In Imperial Germany Revisited: Continuing Debates and New Perspectives.  Edited by Sven Olivier Müller and Cornelius Torp.  Oxford, UK: Bergahn Books, 2011.
Primary Readings: Guiseppe Mazzini, Duties of Man (384-387); Ernst Renan, What is a Nation? (391-394)

Friday:  Discussion: Nationalism

Week 6:  February 18 – February 22: The Fin de Siècle

Monday:  Mass Culture, Militancy, and the Social
Secondary Reading: Walkowitz, Judith.  “Contested Terrain: New Social Actors.”  In City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Primary Readings: Eduard Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism (423-425); Vladimir Lenin, Our Programme (426-428); Emmeline Pankhurst, Why We are Militant (442-446).

Wednesday: The New Imperialism:
Secondary Reading: Conklin, Alice.  “The Setting: The Idea of the Civilizing Mission in 1895 and the Creation of the Government General.”  In A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895-1930.  Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.

Friday:  Quiz 2: Ideologies of Class and Nation

First Essay Prompt Handed Out

Week 7:  February 25 – March 1: World War I

Monday: The Origins of World War I
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Preface and Chapter 1
Primary Readings: None

Wednesday:  The Great War
Secondary Reading: None
Primary Readings: “The Trench Poets of the First World War” (469-470); ¨Press Reports from the Front,” (472-474); Ernst Jünger, The Storm of Steel: From the Diary of a German Storm-Troop Officer on the Western Front (475-478); Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth (478-483); “The Versailles Treaty” (483-489).

Friday: Discussion: The World at War

First Essay Due

Spring Break: March 3 – March 17

Week 8:  March 18 – March 22: The Russian Revolution

Monday: The October Revolution
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 2
Primary Reading: N.N. Sukhanov, The Rusian Revolution 1917 (493-497); Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, “Order Number One, 1 March 1917” (498-499)

Wednesday:  Stalin’s Russia
Secondary Reading: None
Primary Reading: Alexandra Kollontai, The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman (501-505).“Daily Life under Stalin,” (504-509).

Friday:  Discussion: The Aftermath of World War I
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 3

Week 9:  March 25 – March 29: Turmoil Between the Wars

Monday:  Italian Fascism
Secondary Reading: Mazower: Chapter 4
Primary Reading: Benito Mussolini, “Born of a Need for Action” (509-512); Ruth Kluger, Forward and Part 1 (first half)

Wednesday:  Weimar and the Rise of Hitler
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 5 (pages 138-154)
Primary Source Reading: Ruth Kluger, Part 1 (finish) and Part 2 (first half)

Friday: Quiz 3: World War I and After

Week 10:  April 1 – April 5: WWII and Holocaust

Monday: World War II
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 5 (Finish)
Primary Reading: Ruth Kluger, Part 2 (finish) and Part 3 (first half)

Wednesday: Discussion: The Holocaust
Secondary Reading: None
Primary Reading: Ruth Kluger, Part 3 (finish) and Part 4

Friday: No Class

Week 11:  April 8 – April 12: Postwar Europe

Monday: Postwar Europe
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 6
Primary Reading: “The Atlantic Charter and Third World Nationalism” (531-534); “Charter of the United Nations” (548-549); “Aerial Bombardment” (550-553)

Wednesday:  Decolonization
Secondary Reading: None
Primary Reading: Mahatma Gandhi, The Essential Writings (580-584); Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (584-588).

Friday:  Discussion: The Beginning of the Cold War
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 7
Primary Reading: Winston Churchill, “The Sinews of Peace” (555-557)

Week 12:  April 15 – April 19: Cold War

Monday: Postwar Communism
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 8
Primary Reading: Nikita Krushchev, “On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences”  (557-561).

Wednesday: 1968 and After
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 9
Primary Reading: “French Students and Workers Unite in Protest” (562-565); Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (574-577)

Friday: Quiz 4: World War II and Postwar Europe

Second Essay Prompt Handed Out

Week 13:  April 22 – 26: A World Without Walls?

Monday: European Unification
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 10
Primary Reading: None

Wednesday: The End of the Cold War and Globalization
Secondary Reading: None
Primary Reading: Vaclav Havel, The Power of the Powerless (565-569); Mikhail Gorbachev, “On Restructuring the Party’s Personnel Policy,” (569-575); Nicolas Sarkozy, “Speech at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal, July 26, 2007” (590-593); Achille Mbembe, “Nicolas Sarkozy’s Africa” (593-596).

Friday: Discussion: Wrap Up and Review
Secondary Reading: Mazower, Chapter 11 and Epilogue

Second Essay Due

Week 14:  April 29 – May 3: Presentations