Modern Europe
Hist 132
Winter 2012
Prof. Andrew Ross
Department of History
Kenyon College
Seitz House 3
E-mail: rossa@kenyon.edu
Office Hours: M 11-12, Tu 10-12, W 1-3 and by appointment
Course Website: https://www.andrewisraelross.com/teaching/past-courses/modern-europe
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. The course concludes a two-semester sequence in Early Modern and Modern European history.
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
- narrate an historical event in writing
- conduct basic historical research
- elaborate and critique historical arguments
Required Texts:
Breunig, Charles, and Matthew Levinger. The Revolutionary Era, 1789-1850. Third Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002.
Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Capital: 1848-1875. New York: Vintage, 1996.
Mazower, Mark. Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century. Vintage, 2000.
Brophy, James M, et al. Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations: From the Age of Exploration through Contemporary Times. Fourth Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009.
Kluger, Ruth. Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered. New York: The Feminist Press, 2003.
Please be sure to buy the correct edition of the texts by Breunig and Levinger and Brophy. Ebook versions are acceptable to use.
We will also watch two films in class; these are also considered required course texts and will be placed on reserve in the library.
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; these meetings may also include short written exercises and group work.
Course Requirements: Students are required to attend all classes, complete all readings, write a biography of one historical figure, maintain a class blog, and take four quizzes and a take-home final. Failure to complete any assignment will result in failing the entire course.
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.
Readings: All readings are due the day for which they are listed on the syllabus.
Biography: All students will research and write a short (2-4 page) biography of one author of any of the primary sources we will read this semester. Acceptable sources for this assignment include any “peer-reviewed” material and therefore do not include most online resources such as Wikipedia. You should come to our library session (January 27) prepared with at least two choices for this assignment.
Class blog: Choose a historical event of interest to you and locate a set of newspapers from that covers it. Set up a free blog at wordpress.com, using a pseudonym that will protect your privacy from search engines, but that you will be willing to share with your classmates and me. Your assignment is to use your newspaper to “blog history,” to narrate for a wide audience the event you chose.
There are a number of ways to approach the assignment. You could write as an historian interpreting the newspapers. You could also write from the perspective of a contemporary reader of those newspapers, as if you yourself were reporting on what was happening. Each entry should move forward in time, but you may choose how far (one day, one week, or one month). Just be sure to choose an event that is sufficiently narrow to cover in the time allotted and to give the reader a good sense of what your source actually says.
The class will be divided into two groups. The first will begin blogging in Week 5, the other in Week 6, and both will then blog an entry every other week. During weeks when you are not required to post a new entry you must comment on one of your classmates’ blogs by giving your own interpretation of the presented newspaper, asking a question, and otherwise engaging with what he or she said. I will do the same. Blog entries are due on Wednesdays by 5:00p; comments are due the next Friday by 5:00p. The goal is to promote interactivity as we procede through the assignment.
In total, you will complete five entries. The first four should be between 250 and 750 words and will directly respond to the assignment. The final entry should be between 500 and 1000 words and should reflect on what you learned by reading a historical newspaper. What limitations and benefits do newspapers offer the historian? How should we therefore use them to understand the past? Lastly, you may want to consider how the Internet is changing the ways in which writers interact with their audience. How does the ability to comment on others’ work immediately change the way we write?
For an example of blogging using historical newspapers, see Dr. Brett Holman’s blogging of “The Sudeten Crisis, 1938” at http://airminded.org/archives/sudeten-crisis/.
Quizzes: Rather than have a standard midterm and final, we will have four quizzes throughout the semester. Format will be a mix of map identification, short answer, and primary source identification. Your lowest quiz grade will not count towards your final grade (it will “drop”).
Take-home Final: A take-home final exam will be due at the end of our scheduled exam time. Format will be two short essays on themes from the entire course. The exam is open note and book.
Grade Breakdown:
Quizzes: 30%
Biography: 15%
Blog: 25%
Take Home Final: 20%
Attendance and Participation: 10%
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: 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.
Paperless Grading: In an effort to both save trees and improve the quality of my comments to you, your assignments 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 .pdf (preferable), .doc, and .docx. All papers not already in .pdf format will be converted 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.
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 http://aiross.wordpress.com/teaching/modern-europe-winter-2012. There you will find a copy of the syllabus, links to your blogs, and other resources relevant to the course. Nina Clements has also set up a library resources page for your class assignments at http://kenyon.libguides.com/hist132.
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. while in class. 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.
Week 1: January 16 – January 20: Cracks in the “Old Regime”
Monday: Introductions and the Crisis of the Old Regime
Wednesday: The Origins of the French Revolution
Textbook: Breunig and Levinger: xiii-xv, 1-24
Primary Sources: Rousseau, The Social Contract (338-347); Arthur Young, Travels in France during the Years 1787, 1788, 1789 (377-380); Sieyès, “What is the Third Estate?” (383-385); “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” (391-392)
Friday: Radicalization and Reaction in the French Revolution
Textbook: Breunig and Levinger: 24-67
Primary Sources: “Address to the National Assembly in Favor of the Abolition of the Slave Trade” (394-396); “The Law of Suspects” (396-307); Olympe de Gouges, “Declaration of the Rights of Woman” (398-400); “Dissolution of Clubs and Popular Societies of Women” (400-401)
Week 2: January 23 – January 27: The French Revolution Continued
Monday: Napoleon’s Empire
Textbook: Breunig and Levinger, 68-124
Primary Sources: Al-Jabarti, Chronicle of the French Occupation (412-413); The Code Napoleon (416-418)
Wednesday: Discussion: The French Revolution, Napoleon and the Rights of Man
Friday: Library Resources Presentation by Nina Clements
Come to class with at least three possible authors for your biography and two possible topics for your blog.
NOTE: if you own a laptop, please bring it with you to class.
Week 3: January 30 – February 3: The Industrial Revolution
Monday: Industrialization and the Making of Capitalism
Textbook: Breunig and Levinger, 125-139; Hobsbawm, 29-68
Primary Sources: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (421-426); Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures (426-429); Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (430-432)
Wednesday: Social Change in the Wake of Industry
Textbook: Breunig and Levinger, 140-158; 211-223
Primary Sources: “Rules of a Factory in Berlin” (436-438); Richard Oastler, “Yorkshire Slavery” (461-463); Michael Ryan, Prostitution in London, with a Comparative View of that of Paris and New York (463-468)
Friday: Discussion, The Significance of the Industrial Revolution
Quiz 1: The French Revolution, Napoleon and Industrialization (Weeks 1-3). Click here for the map.
Week 4: February 6 – February 10: Ideologies of Reaction, Reform, and Revolution
Monday: The Conservative Ascendency
Textbook: Breunig and Levinger, 173-203, 223-248, 259-264
Primary Sources: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (481-486); Klemens von Metternich, “Letter to Neuman in London, Vienna, 24 June 1832” (486-488)
Wednesday: Liberalism and Socialism
Textbook: Breunig and Levinger, 158-172
Primary Sources: 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 (490-493); John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (498-499); Robert Owen, A New View of Society (447-449)
Friday: Discussion: Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism
Biographies Due by e-mail before class
Week 5: February 13 – February 17: Revolutions and Unifications
Monday: The Revolutions of 1848
Textbook: Breunig and Levinger, 266-296; Hobsbawm 9-28
Primary Sources: Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party (449-453); Adam Mickiewicz, The Books of the Polish Nation (536-538); “Frederick William IV Refuses the Throne” (Handout)
Wednesday: Italian and German Unification
Textbook: Breuni and Levingerg, 203-210, 249-258; Hobsbawm, 69-97
Primary Sources: Guiseppe Mazzini, The Duties of Man (544-548); Otto von Bismarck, Memoirs (548-551); Ernest Renan, “What is a Nation?” (556-559)
Group 1, Blog Entry 1 Due Before Class
Friday: Discussion: Forms of Nationalism
Group 2, Blog Comment 1 Due Before Class
Week 6: February 20 – February 24: Modern Industry, Mass Politics, and the Origins of World War I
Monday: Mass Culture
Textbook: Hobsbawm, 155-169; 208-250
Primary Sources: Emile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise (610-612); Emmeline Pankhurst, Why We Are Militant (639-642); Eduard Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism (623-626); Vladimir Lenin, Our Programme (626-629).
Wednesday: The Origins of World War I
Textbook: Hobsbawm, 98-115; Mazower, 3-40
Primary Source: Rosa Luxemburg, “The War and the Workers” – The Junius Pamphlet (Available online at http://h-net.org/~german/gtext/kaiserreich/lux.html).
Group 2, Blog Entry 1 Due Before Class
Friday: Discussion: Class or Nation in the Run-up to WWI
Group 1, Blog Comment 1 Due Before Class
Week 7: February 26 – March 2: World War I
Monday: The “Great War”
Textbook: Gilbert and Large, The End of the European Era, 95-120 (Available online via Moodle)
Primary Sources: Henri Barbusse, Under Fire: The Story of a Squad (670-676); Ernst Jünger, The Storm of Steel (670-672); Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth (682-686); Leslie A. Davis, “Report” (686-687)
Wednesday: The Russian Revolution
Textbook: Gilbert and Large, The End of the European Era, 121-150 (Available online via Moodle)
Primary Sources: N. N. Sukhanov, The Russian Revolution 1917 (701-706); Petrograd Soviet, “Order Number One” (706-708); Alexandra Kollontai, Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman (709-712)
Group 1, Blog Entry 2 Due Before Class
Friday: Discussion: World War I and the Russian Revolution
Quiz 2: Nation and Class, War and Peace (Weeks 4-7)
Group 2, Blog Comment 2 Due Before Class
Spring Break: March 3 – March 18
Week 8: March 18 – March 23: Imperialism and Colonialism
Monday: The “New” Imperialism
Textbook: Hobsbawm 116-134; Mazower 41-75
Primary Sources: Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden,” 597-598; Friedrich Fabri, Does Germany Need Colonies (593-594); Edmund D. Morel, The Black Man’s Burden (599-603); Vladimir Lenin, Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism (604-607)
Wednesday: Racial Thinking in Europe
Textbook: Mazower, 76-103
Primary Sources: Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Foundations of the Nineteenth Century (595-597); Francis Galton, “Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope and Aims” (652-655); Herbert Spencer, Progress: Its Law and Cause (Available online at http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/spencer-darwin.asp); Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (727-731)
Group 2, Blog Entry 2 Due Before Class
Friday: Film Screening: The Grand Illusion (First Half)
Group 1, Blog Comment 2 Due Before Class
Week 9: March 26 – March 30: Turmoil Between the Wars
Monday: Stalin’s Russia
Textbook: Mazower, 104-130
Primary Sources: Daily Life Under Stalin (712-717); Varlam Shalamov, Kolyma Tales (717-720)
Wednesday: Fascism in the 1920s
Textbook: Mazower, 130-137
Primary Sources: Benito Mussolini, “Born of a Need for Action” (723-727); Constancia de la Mora, In Place of Splendor (750-754)
Group 1, Blog Entry 3 Due Before Class
Friday: Film Screening: The Grand Illusion (Second Half)
Group 2, Blog Comment 3 Due Before Class
Week 10: April 2 – April 6: Weimar Germany and the Rise of Hitler
Monday: The Rise and Fall of the Weimar Republic
Textbook: Wolfgang Benz, A Concise History of the Third Reich, 1-48 (Available on Moodle)
Primary Sources: The Versailles Treaty, 690-697; Tristan Tzara, Seven Dada Manifestos and Lampisteries (720-722); Elsa Herrmann, This is the New Woman (Handout); Albert Speer, On Joining the Nazi Movement (Handout)
Wednesday: Hitler’s Germany and the Origins of the Second World War
Textbook: Mazower, 138-154
Primary Source: Ruth Kluger, Still Alive, 9-60
Group 2, Blog Entry 3 Due Before Class
Friday: Discussion: The Grand Illusion and the Interwar Period
Quiz 3: Interwar Europe
Group 1, Blog Comment 3 Due Before Class
Week 11: April 9 – April 13: World War II
Monday: World War II
Textbook: Mazower, 155-181
Primary Source: Ruth Kluger, Still Alive, 61-131
Wednesday: Discussion: The Holocaust
Textbook: None
Primary Source: Ruth Kluger, Still Alive, 133-214
Group 1, Blog Entry 4 Due Before Class
Friday: No Class
Group 2, Blog Comment 4 Due Before Class
Week 12: April 16 – April 20: The Cold War and the End of European Empires
Monday: Postwar Europe
Textbook: Mazower, 182-211
Primary Sources: Charter of the United Nations (788-790); Winston Churchill, “The Sinews of Peace” (796-798)
Wednesday: Decolonization
Textbook: Mazower, 212-249
Primary Sources: Mahatma Gandhi, The Essential Writings (833-836); Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (837-841)
Group 2, Blog Entry 4 Due Before Class
Friday Discussion: The Beginning of the Cold War
Group 1, Blog Comment 4 Due Before Class
Week 13: April 23 – April 27: Red Flags and Velvet Revolutions
Monday: Postwar Communism
Textbook: Mazower, 250-285
Primary Sources: Nikita Khrushchev, “On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences” (802-807); Adam Michnik, “Letters from Prison” (815-818); Vaclav Havel, “The Power of the Powerless” (818-822); Mikhail Gorbachev, “On Restructuring the Party’s Personnel Policy” (822-827)
Wednesday: 1968 and After
Textbook: Mazower, 286-326
Primary Sources: French Students and Workers Unite in Protest (807-810); Simon de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (827-830); Ruhollah Khomeini, Islamic Government (845-847);
Group 1, Blog Entry 5 Due Before Class
Friday Discussion: Social Movements of the 1960s
Group 2, Blog Comment Due Before Class
Week 14: April 30 – May 4: A World Without Walls?
Monday: European Unification
Textbook: Mazower, 327-360
Primary Sources: Jean Monnet, Memoirs (798-801); Charles de Gaulle, “Le Grand ‘Non’” (Available online at http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1967-degaulle-non-uk.asp).
Wednesday: The End of the Cold War and Globalization
Textbook: Mazower, 361-403
Primary Sources: Sayyid Qutb, “Jihad in the Cause of Allah” (841-845); Tariq Ramadan, “Western Muslims and the Future of Islam” (848-851); José Bové, “The World is Not for Sale: Farmers against Junk Food” (876-879)
Group 2, Blog Entry 5 Due Before Class
Friday Discussion: Contemporary Europe
Group 1, Blog Comment 5 Due Before Class
Take Home Final Exam Due May 8, 10:30a