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History of Europe, 1800 to the Present

Purpose of Course  showclose

Course Information  showclose

Welcome to HIST202.  Below, please find some general information on the course and its requirements.
 
Course Designer: Christa Dierksheide
 
Primary Resources: This course is comprised of a range of different free, online materials.  However, the course makes primary use of the following materials:

• John Merriman, European Civilization 1648-1945 (Yale University: Yale Open Courses), http://oyc.yale.edu (Accessed November 11, 2010).  License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0. The original version can be found here.

This course features a number of Khan Academy™ videos. Khan Academy™ has a library of over 3,000 videos covering a range of topics (math, physics, chemistry, finance, history and more), plus over 300 practice exercises. All Khan Academy™ materials are available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

Learning Outcomes  showclose

Course Requirements  showclose

• Unit 1
• Unit 2
• Unit 3
• Unit 4
• Unit 5
• Unit 6
• Unit 7
• Unit 8
• Unit 9
• Unit 10
• Final Exam
• All Units

Unit Outline show close

Unit 1: A Revolution in Industry  

Although industrialization in Britain began in the eighteenth century, it was not until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 that its impact became apparent in the continent; but by 1850, industrialization permeated all of Europe.  The development of steam power fueled the creation of railroads, new cities, and a new factory system.  These advancements revolutionized Europe, reconfiguring the structure of society and the nature of the economy.  Europe advanced rapidly during this period, but it did so at a cost:  the factory system cheapened the labor value of workers, factory conditions were often horrible, and a rift between the working class and factory owners began to develop.

In this unit, we will see how industrialization changed the face of Europe in the nineteenth century, noting that different countries experienced the industrial age through varying terms and to different extents.

Unit 1 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 1 Learning Outcomes   show close


1.1 Industrial Revolution in Great Britain  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 8: Industrial Revolutions”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 8: Industrial Revolutions” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  HTML, Adobe Flash, Mp3 or QuickTime
  iTunes U
   
  Instructions:  Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture.  This video lecture will give you a sense of the complex causes and varying outcomes of the Industrial Revolution in England and on the Continent.  Dr. Merriman suggests that there were several Industrial “Revolutions” that were a direct consequence of urbanization and the “proletarianization” of rural workers. 
   
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• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Industrial Revolution in Britain”; Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: “Lecture 17: The Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England”; Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute: Joseph A. Montagna’s “The Industrial Revolution”

  Links: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Industrial Revolution in Britain” (HTML); Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: “Lecture 17: The Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England” (HTML); Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute: Joseph A. Montagna’s “The Industrial Revolution” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  These readings cover the entirety of subunit 1.1, but will be supplemented by additional readings below as well.  Please read Dr. Gates’ article in its entirety.  This reading will provide you with a good overview of the origins and features of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.  Then, read Dr. Kreis’s lecture on the Industrial Revolution in England, will help you to understand the causes of the industrialization of England.  Finally, read Montagna’s article “The Industrial Revolution” in its entirety.  This article will give you a sense of the many innovations and changes that characterized the Industrial Revolution.
   
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1.1.1 Eighteenth-century Origins  

1.1.2 The First Factories  

1.1.3 The Energy Problem and the Steam Engine  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of William Radcliffe’s “On Power Looms, 1828”

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of William Radcliffe’s “On Power Looms, 1828” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage linked above.  In this 1828 treatise, the textile manufacturer William Radcliffe describes the transformation of the English textile industry after the introduction of steam power.  Radcliffe asserts that steam-powered looms had wide-ranging social and economic consequences.
   
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1.1.4 Railroads  

• Web Media: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s “Spread of Railways in Europe”

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s “Spread of Railways in Europe” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please study these tables and graphs in order to get a sense of the rapid expansion of railways throughout Europe in the 1800s.
   
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1.1.5 Mining  

• Reading: The Economic History Association’s “Child Labor during the British Industrial Revolution”

  Link: The Economic History Association’s “Child Labor during the British Industrial Revolution” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read this text in its entirety.  Pay special attention to how the British government responded to child labor.
   
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• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of “Women Miners in the English Coal Pits”

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of “Women Miners in the English Coal Pits”(HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage.  In these two selections originally from Great Britain’s Parliamentary Papers,several female miners testify before Parliament about the horrible working conditions in coal mines in the 1800s. 
   
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1.2 Industrialization in Continental Europe  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Industrialization in Continental Europe”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Industrialization in Continental Europe” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage in order to get a good overview of the process of industrialization in continental Europe.  Please note this text will cover concepts outlined in subunits 1.2.1-1.2.3.
   
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1.2.1 National Variations  

1.2.2 Challenges of Industrialization  

1.2.3 Agents of Industry  

1.3 Capital and Labor  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Capitalism and the Working Class”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates Jr.’s “Capitalism and the Working Class” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  This reading also covers subunits 1.3.1-1.3.2.  Please read the entire webpage in order to understand the impact of the Industrial Revolution on social classes and labor patterns.
   
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1.3.1 Factory Owners  

1.3.2 Factory Workers  

1.3.3 Working Conditions  

• Reading: The Victorian Web: Laura Del Col’s version of the Sadler Committee’s “The Life of the Industrial Worker in Nineteenth Century England”

  Link: The Victorian Web: Laura Del Col’s version of the Sadler Committee’s “The Life of the Industrial Worker in Nineteenth Century England” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage.  In 1832, the British MP (Member of Parliament), Michael Sadler, formed the Sadler Committee in the House of Commons to investigate the horrible working conditions in British textile factories.  The inquiry resulted in an 1833 law that limited the working hours of women and children in factories.
   
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1.3.4 The Early Labor Movement  

• Reading: Washington State University: Professor Paul Brians’ “Introduction to 19th-Century Socialism”

  Link: Washington State University: Professor Paul Brians’ “Introduction to 19^th-Century Socialism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read this article in its entirety.  Pay special attention to the efforts of capitalist to suppress all labor movements.
   
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Unit 2: An Emerging Urban Society  

The industrial age resulted in a profound population shift from rural areas to cities.  Millions of people relocated to burgeoning industrial towns to take up work in large factories that manufactured textiles imported from America, Africa, or India.  The transition from an agricultural lifestyle to an urban one resulted in widespread social change throughout Europe.  Women and children began working in factories, affecting marriage patterns and family structure.  The rise of the new factory system created a stark divide between the middle and working classes.  Explosive population growth in cities led to unsanitary conditions and prevalent disease.  As a result of this population shift, the 19^th century witnessed a rapid expansion of scientific knowledge and an increasing emphasis on realism—the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation—in literature.

In this unit, we will study the urbanization of the industrial age as a crucible for social change and identify various literary and scientific advancements.

Unit 2 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 2 Learning Outcomes   show close


2.1 Challenges of Urbanization  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 12: Nineteenth-Century Cities”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 12: Nineteenth-Century Cities” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  HTML, Adobe Flash, Mp3 or QuickTime
  iTunes U
   
  Instructions:  Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture in its entirety.  Please note this lecture covers material outlined in the sub-subunits 2.1.1-2.1.3.  In this video lecture, Dr. Merriman discusses why and how nineteenth-century European cities represented the intersection of urban development, capitalism, and the state.
   
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• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Urban Life on the Eve of the Twentieth Century”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Urban Life on the Eve of the Twentieth Century” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage linked here to get a sense of the challenges and problems faced by an increasingly urban European society.  Please note that this reading covers material outlined in the sub-subunits 2.1.1-2.1.3.
   
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2.1.1 Industry and the Growth of Cities  

• Reading: The University of North Carolina at Pembroke: Robert Brown’s “London in the Nineteenth Century”

  Link: The University of North Carolina at Pembroke: Robert Brown’s “London in the Nineteenth Century” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire lecture to get a sense of the “world city” of industrial London.
   
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2.1.2 Public Health and the Bacterial Revolution  

• Reading: Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Louis Pasteur’s “Extension of the Germ Theory”

  Link:  Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of Louis Pasteur’s “Extension of the Germ Theory” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage.  In this 1880 text, the French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur links his “Germ Theory” to the development of certain diseases.  Pasteur successfully proved that the growth of bacteria was due to biogenesis, not “spontaneous generation,” as Aristotle had theorized.  Pasteur then linked the growth of bacteria to a number of human diseases, such as puerperal fever.
   
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2.1.3 Urban Planning  

2.2 Social Classes  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Rich, Poor, and Middle Class Life”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Rich, Poor, and Middle Class Life” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage for an overview of the various social classes that comprised European cities.  Please note that this reading covers material outlined in subunits 2.2.1-2.2.3.
   
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2.2.1 Structure  

2.2.2 The Middle Classes  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Charles W. Colby’s (ed.) “The Peterloo Massacre, 1819”

  Link:  Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of Charles W. Colby’s (ed.) “The Peterloo Massacre, 1819” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage.  In this text, an observer describes the violence unleashed between the Lancashire militia and Manchester radicals who had come to listen to a speech given by the reformer Henry Hunt.  The deadly event, known as Peterloo, was one of the defining moments of England’s reform era—with aristocratic and conservative Tories pitted against middle-class radicals.
   
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2.2.3 The Working Classes  

2.3 Family  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Changing European Family”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Changing European Family” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage in order to get a sense of the rapidly evolving nature of marriage, sex, the family, and child rearing in nineteenth century Europe.  Please note that this reading covers topics outlined in subunits 2.3.1-2.3.3.
   
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2.3.1 Marriage and Sex  

2.3.2 Gender Roles and Family Life  

2.3.3 Child Rearing  

2.4 Science and Thought  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Late Nineteenth Century Changes in Science and Thought”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Late Nineteenth Century Changes in Science and Thought” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage in order to get a sense of the innovations in the fields of science, social science, and literature during the Victorian era.  Please note that this reading covers material for all of the sections under subunit 2.4.
   
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2.4.1 Expansion of Scientific Knowledge  

2.4.2 Social Science and Evolution  

• Reading: TalkOrigins Archive’s version of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species

  Link: TalkOrigins Archive’s version of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage.  Darwin’s 1859 treatise, a seminal work of scientific literature, laid the foundation for the field of evolutionary biology.  Darwin theorizes that species evolve over generations through the process of natural selection.  This was a radical idea in a time when most scientists believed that species were unchanging parts of a hierarchy designed by God.
   
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2.4.3 Realism in Literature  

• Reading: University of Virginia: The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities’ “Realism and the Realist Novel”

  Link: University of Virginia: The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities’ “Realism and the Realist Novel” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read this webpage in its entirety and all embedded links in order to gain an insight into the realism that characterized the late nineteenth century literary landscape.
   
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Unit 3: War, Ideologies, and Upheavals, 1800-1856  

The nineteenth century saw drastic political changes that had been initiated by the Napoleonic Wars and the subsequent reorganization of the political map of Europe via the Congress of Vienna in 1815.  Interestingly, the Vienna Settlement was intended to restore stability to the European state system; however, the first half of the nineteenth century was characterized by widespread social and political unrest. The era later became known as the “Age of Revolutions.”  Still, different nation-states reacted in different ways to the revolutionary fervor that pervaded Europe.  Britain, Austria, and ultra-royalist France responded with conservative nationalism.  In Greece and Serbia, radical independence movements emerged.  In 1848, a revolution in France quickly spread throughout most of Europe, resulting in a bloody contest between nobles and the discontented middle and working classes. This unit ends with an analysis of the Crimean War and why it is considered to be the first “modern” war in history.

In this unit, we will see how Europe’s rejection of the eighteenth-century world and its Enlightenment ideals resulted in the rise of liberal nationalism, social unrest, and the emergence of Romanticism.

Unit 3 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 3 Learning Outcomes   show close


3.1 The Napoleonic Wars  

• Lecture: Yale University: Professor John Merriman’s “Lecture 7: Napoleon”

  Link: Yale University: Professor John Merriman’s “Lecture 7: Napoleon” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  HTML, Adobe Flash, Mp3 or QuickTime
  iTunes U
   
  Instructions: Please watch the entire 45-minute video lecture linked above.  The lecture will give you a sense of the reign of Napoleon as well as his impact upon France and Europe as a whole.
   
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• Web Media: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon and the Wars of the First and Second Coalitions”

  Link: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon and the Wars of the First and Second Coalitions” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 13 minutes), which discusses Napoleon’s early military campaigns.  The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon’s French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815.  As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution, they revolutionized European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly owing to the application of modern mass conscription.
   
  This web media should take 15 minutes to complete.
  
  Terms of Use: This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.  It is attributed to the Khan Academy.

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• Web Media: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon and the War of the Third Coalition”

  Link: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon and the War of the Third Coalition” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 22 minutes).  The War of the Third Coalition spanned from 1803 to 1806.  Under Napoleon I, it saw the defeat of an alliance of Austria, Portugal, Russia, and others by France and its client states.
   
  This web media and note-taking should take 30 minutes to complete.
   
  Terms of Use: This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.  It is attributed to the Khan Academy.

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• Web Media: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon and the War of the Fourth Coalition”

  Link: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon and the War of the Fourth Coalition” (YouTube)
  
  Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 16 minutes).  The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon’s French Empire was defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807.  Coalition partners included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
  
  This web media should take 15 minutes to complete.
   
  Terms of Use: This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.  It is attributed to the Khan Academy.

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• Web Media: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon’s Peninsular Campaigns”

  Link: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon’s Peninsular Campaigns” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 20 minutes).  The Peninsular War occurred between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula.
   
  This web media and note-taking should take 30 minutes to complete.
   
  Terms of Use: This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.  It is attributed to the Khan Academy.

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• Web Media: Khan Academy’s “French Invasion of Russia”

  Link: Khan Academy’s “French Invasion of Russia” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 17 minutes).  The French invasion of Russia in 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars.  It reduced the French invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe.  As a result, the reputation of Napoleon as an undefeated military genius was severely shaken.
   
  This web media should take 15 minutes to complete.
   
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• Web Media: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon Forced to Abdicate”

  Link: Khan Academy’s “Napoleon Forced to Abdicate” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: Please watch the above video (approx. 16 minutes).  In the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812–1814), a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile, thereby restoring the French monarchy under Louis XVIII.
   
  This web media should take 15 minutes to complete.
   
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3.2 Post-Napoleonic Europe  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Post-Napoleonic Europe”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Post-Napoleonic Europe” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  This reading covers subunits 3.2.1-3.2.2.  Please read the entire webpage in order to get a sense of the political landscape of Europe in the wake of Napoleon’s defeat.
   
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3.2.1 European Balance of Power  

3.2.2 Intervention and Repression  

3.2.3 Metternich and Conservatism  

• Reading: St. Mary’s University: Professor Wallace Mills’s “Conservatism”

  Link: St. Mary’s University: Professor Wallace Mills’s “Conservatism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read all of the lecture notes on Professor Mills’s webpage for an introduction to Count Metternich and the birth of modern conservatism.
   
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3.3 Radical Ideas and Early Socialism  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Liberalism, Nationalism, and Socialism”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Liberalism, Nationalism, and Socialism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  This reading also covers subunit 3.3.1.  Please read the entire webpage linked above to gain an understanding of liberalism, nationalism, and the beginnings of socialism.
   
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3.3.1 A Rejection of Old Ideas  

3.3.2 Liberalism  

• Reading: Bartleby’s version of John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty”

  Link: Bartleby’s version of John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage, including the other chapters.  This pamphlet, published in 1859, is one of Mill’s most famous expositions on liberalism in the nineteenth century.  Mill believes that conservatism threatens the liberties of individuals—only liberalism can safeguard against tyranny.
   
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3.3.3 Nationalism  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 13: Nationalism”

  Link: Yale University’s Dr. John Merriman, “Lecture 13: Nationalism” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  HTML, Adobe Flash, Mp3 or QuickTime
  iTunes U
   
  Instructions:  Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture linked above.  Dr. Merriman’s video lecture will give you a sense of the virulent nationalism (based on ethnicity and common language) that took hold across nineteenth century Europe.  
   
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• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Voltaire’s Patrie

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of Voltaire’s Patrie (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage linked above.  This entry, from Voltaire’s The Philosophical Dictionary,published in 1752, is an incisive attack on the provinciality of nationalism.  Through this anecdote, Voltaire shows the actual and intellectual limits of nationalism and instead advocates for cosmopolitanism.
   
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3.3.4 Socialism  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 14: Radicals”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 14: Radicals” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  HTML, Adobe Flash, Mp3 or QuickTime
  iTunes U
   
  Instructions:  Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture in order to get a sense of the two camps of socialists: reformists and revolutionaries.
   
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• Reading: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: “Lecture 21: The Utopian Socialists: Charles Fourier” and “Lecture 22: The Utopian Socialists: Robert Owen and Saint-Simon”

  Links: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide:Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: “Lecture 21: The Utopian Socialists: Charles Fourier” (HTML) and “Lecture 22: The Utopian Socialists: Robert Owen and Saint-Simon” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read both of Dr. Kreis’s lectures 21 and 22 linked above.  The first lecture will give you a sense of the advent of utopian socialism, particularly through the eyes of Charles Fourier.  The second lecture provides information on the socialist ideas of Robert Owen and Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon. 
   
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3.3.5 The Birth of Marxism  

• Reading: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: “Lecture 24: The Age of Ideologies: Reflections on Karl Marx”

  Link: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide:Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: “Lecture 24: The Age of Ideologies: Reflections on Karl Marx” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage to get a sense of Karl Marx and the birth of Marxism.
   
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3.4 The Romantic Movement  

• Reading: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: “Lecture 16: The Romantic Era” and HistoryDoctor.net: Dr Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Romanticism”

  Links: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide:Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: “Lecture 16: The Romantic Era” (HTML) and HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Romanticism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the both webpages in their entirety for an overview of Romanticism.  Gates’s article includes an interesting discussion of Romanticism’s influence on literature, art, and music, which is also covered in sections 3.4.2 and 3.4.3.
   
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3.4.1 Romanticism Defined  

• Reading: CUNY-Brooklyn’s “Introduction to Romanticism”

  Link: CUNY-Brooklyn’s “Introduction to Romanticism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage.
   
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3.4.2 Romanticism in Literature  

• Reading: Schaffer Library of Drug Policy’s version of Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater

  Link: Schaffer Library of Drug Policy’s version of Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater (HTML)
   
  Also available in:
  ePub format on Google Books
  iBooks (free)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage linked above.  First published in 1821, this autobiography chronicles the laudanum (opium and alcohol) addiction of the British writer Thomas de Quincy.  The text is representative of the new Romantic Movement taking shape in Britain and elsewhere in Europe in the 1800s; de Quincey uses strong emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience.
   
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3.4.3 Romanticism in Art and Music  

• Reading: Connexions: Catherine Schmidt-Jones’s “The Music of the Romantic Era”

  Link: Connexions: Catherine Schmidt-Jones’s “The Music of the Romantic Era” (HTML)
   
  Also available in:
  PDF
   
  Instructions: Please read this article in its entirety for information on the historical development of Romanticism in music during this era, stemming from influences of classical music.
   
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• Web Media: Hanover College: Professor Frank Luttmer’s “Images of Romantic Art”

  Link:  Hanover College: Professor Frank Luttmer’s “Images of Romantic Art” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please click on the hyperlinks on the webpage to view all four paintings, which will give you a sense of the aesthetics of Romantic era art.
   
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3.5 Reforms and Revolutions  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Reform and Revolution”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry Gates, Jr.’s “Reform and Revolution” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage in order to get a sense of the reform movement in Great Britain and the revolutions in Greece and France during the 1820s and 1830s.
   
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3.5.1 Liberation in Greece  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of “The Treaty of London for Greek Independence”

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of “The Treaty of London for Greek Independence” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage.  In this treaty, Britain, France, and Russia agree to assist Greece in declaring independence from the Ottoman Turks.  When the treaty was enacted in 1827, Greece was faltering in a war against a powerful Ottoman-Egyptian alliance.
   
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3.5.2 Reform in Britain  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Thomas Babington Macaulay’s “Speech on the Reform Bill of 1832”

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of Thomas Babington Macaulay’s “Speech on the Reform Bill of 1832” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the excerpt of Macualay’s speech linked above.  In this speech, the Whig reformer Thomas Babington Macaulay lauds the recent passage of the Reform Bill in England, which extended the franchise to the middle class.  Prior to the introduction of this new legislation in 1832, most members of Parliament were elected undemocratically in what were commonly known as “rotten boroughs.”
   
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3.5.3 The Great Famine in Ireland  

• Reading: Web.archive.org: Liz Szabo’s “Interpreting the Irish Famine, 1846-1850”

  Link: Web.archive.org: Liz Szabo’s “Interpreting the Irish Famine, 1846-1850” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the introductory paragraphs.  Then, click on the hyperlinks titled “Photographs” and “Drawings and Prints” listed under “Resources.”  Finally, click on each hyperlink listed under “Reporting and Commentary on the Famine”: “Voices from Ireland,” “American and Irish-American Commentary,” and “English Views of the Famine.”  Please read each of these selections.
   
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3.5.4 Revolution of 1830 in France  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of François Guizot’s “Condition of the July Monarchy, 1830-1848”

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of François Guizot’s “Condition of the July Monarchy” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read all of the short excerpts of Guizot’s speeches on Fordham University’s webpage linked above.  These excerpts illustrate how the reinstated Bourbon monarchy opposed the liberalism of the French Revolution.  Guizot, who served as the king’s minister of public instruction, was an avid supporter of the aristocracy and the constitutional monarchy.
   
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3.6 The Revolutions of 1848  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Revolutions of 1848” and Eastern Michigan University: Jonathan Richard Hill’s “The Revolutions of 1848 in Germany, Italy, and France”

  Links: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Revolutions of 1848” (HTML) and Eastern Michigan University: Jonathan Richard Hill’s “The Revolutions of 1848 in Germany, Italy, and France” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: These readings cover subunits 3.6.1-3.6.3.  Please read the entire webpage on HistoryDoctor.net in order to get a good overview of the Revolutions of 1848—in France, the Austrian Empire, and Prussia.  Then, read the entire PDF to understand the different outcomes of the “liberal” revolutions of 1848 in each country.
   
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3.6.1 French Democratic Republic  

3.6.2 Austrian Empire in 1848  

3.6.3 Prussia and the Frankfurt Assembly  

3.6.4 Britain and 1848  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 11: Why No Revolution in 1848 in Britain”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 11: Why No Revolution in 1848 in Britain” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  HTML, Adobe Flash, Mp3 or QuickTime
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  Instructions: Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture.  In it, Dr. Merriman discusses why Britain, despite social tensions, did not see revolution in 1848, while many other European nations did.
   
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3.6.5 Italy, 1848-1849  

• Reading: Ohio State University’s “Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions”: “Peasant Agitation in Italy,” “Popular Participation, Italy, 1848-1849,” “War in Northern Italy,” and “Constitutions and Parliaments, Italy 1848-1849”

  Link: Ohio State University’s “Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions”: “Peasant Agitation in Italy,” (HTML) “Popular Participation, Italy, 1848-1849,” (HTML) “War in Northern Italy,” (HTML) and “Constitutions and Parliaments, Italy 1848-1849” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read these pages in their entirety.  Pay special attention to how the 1848 revolutions helped to create a unified Italy. 
   
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3.7 The Emergence of “Realpolitik” after 1848  

3.7.1 Realpolitik  

• Reading: Beyond Books: "2b. German Unification: The Age of Bismarck"

  Link: Beyond Books: "2b. German Unification: The Age of Bismarck" (HTML)

   

  Instructions: Please read this text in its entirety.  Remember that "Realpolitik" or "political realism" emphasized power and law over all other considerations.
  
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3.7.2 The Crimean War  

• Reading: Air University: Professor Richard A. Gabriel and Karen S. Metz’s “A Short History of Wars”: “Chapter 5 – The Emergence of Modern War”

  Link: Air University: Professor Richard A. Gabriel and Karen S. Metz’s “A Short History of Wars”: “Chapter 5 – The Emergence of Modern War” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the section on the Crimean War.  Pay attention to the reasons for which the Crimean War is considered one of the first modern wars in history. 
   
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• Reading: The National Archives’ Project “British Battles”: “The Crimean War,” “Before Balaklava,’” “The Battle of Balaklava,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and “After Balaklava”

  Link: The National Archives’ Project “British Battles”: “The Crimean War,” “Before Balaklava,’” “The Battle of Balaklava,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and “After Balaklava” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read these texts in their entirety.  Remember that the Crimean War was just an episode of the long-running contest between European powers for the control of the territories the declining Ottoman Empire (1828-1908).
   
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Unit 4: Age of Nationalism, 1850-1914  

Despite the widespread violence and chaos unleashed by the Revolutions of 1848, European nations implemented few reforms.  As a result, the revolutions were largely deemed failures.  However, the revolutionary moment did succeed in motivating many European leaders (most famously Bismarck of Prussia and Cavour of Italy) to create unified and bureaucratic nation-states.  The Concert of Europe—the balance of power among European countries that had been created in 1815—dissolved into independent states that were buttressed by fierce nationalistic sentiment and emerged in competition with one another.  By the 1870s, the European great power system had been transformed from a network of royalist states to a set of independent countries energized by a common commitment to liberal reform and a national identity.

In this unit, we will see how nationalism fueled the development of bureaucratic nation-states that emphasized homogeneity, unity, and distinctiveness.

Unit 4 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 4 Learning Outcomes   show close


4.1 France and Italy  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “France under Napoleon III and Nation Building in Italy”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “France under Napoleon III and Nation Building in Italy” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage in order to get a good sense of the emergence of two powerful nation-states: France and Italy.  Please note that this reading covers topics outlined in subunits 4.1.1-4.1.5.
   
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4.1.1 Nationalism: Liberal or Authoritarian?  

4.1.2 The Second Republic and Louis Napoleon  

4.1.3 Napoleon III’s Second Empire  

4.1.4 A Divided Italy  

4.1.5 Garibaldi and Cavour  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Giuseppe Mazzini’s “On Nationality, 1852”

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of Giuseppe Mazzini’s “On Nationality, 1852” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage.  Giuseppe Mazzini was one of the leading figures of liberal nationalism in Italy.  In this 1852 text, he argues that the creation of a democratic Italian state is crucial to Italy’s development and preservation within the competitive European system.
   
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4.2 German Unification  

• Reading: Colby College: Raffael Scheck’s “The Road to National Unification” and “The Second Empire until 1914;” and Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of “Documents of German Unification”

  Links: Colby College: Raffael Scheck’s “The Road to National Unification” and “The Second Empire until 1914” (HTML); and Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of “Documents of German Unification” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read each article linked above in its entirety.  Please note that these readings cover material in sections 4.2.1-4.2.4.  The first two readings by Prof. Scheck will provide a good overview of Bismarck’s plan to unify disparate German states.  The last reading, which is a collection of excerpted speeches and letters, will give you a sense of the growing push for German unification between 1848 and 1871.
   
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4.2.1 Germany before Bismarck  

4.2.2 The Austro-Prussian War of 1866  

4.2.3 Bismarck and Parliament  

4.2.4 The Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871  

4.3 The Modernization of Russia  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Modernization of Russia”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Modernization of Russia” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  This reading covers subunits 4.3.1-4.3.2.  Please read the entire webpage in order to get a good overview of Russia’s social reforms, industrialization, and Revolution of 1905.
   
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4.3.1 The “Great Reforms”  

4.3.2 Industrialization of Russia  

4.3.3 The Revolution of 1905  

• Reading: Library of Congress Country Studies: “Revolution and Counterrevolution, 1905-07”

  Link: Library of Congress Country Studies: “Revolution and Counterrevolution, 1905-07” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire article to get a good overview of the various facets of the Russian Revolution of 1905.
   
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4.4 Nation-States, 1871-1914  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Modern Nation State”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Modern Nation State” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage linked above.  Please note that this reading discusses many specific modern nation-states as outlined in subunits 4.4.2-4.4.5.
   
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4.4.1 Characteristics  

• Reading: Towson University: Mike Lauletta’s “What Is a Nation-State?”

  Link:  Towson University: Mike Lauletta’s “What Is a Nation-State?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read this short selection in order5 to better understand the definitions of “nation,” “state,” and “nation-state.”
   
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4.4.2 The German Empire  

4.4.3 Republican France  

4.4.4 Great Britain and Ireland  

4.4.5 The Austro-Hungarian Empire  

4.4.6 The Jewish State  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Theodore Herzl’s “On the Jewish State, 1896”

  Link:  Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of Theodore Herzl’s “On the Jewish State, 1896” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage linked above.  In this 1896 pamphlet, Zionist leader Theodore Herzl calls for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.  At a time when Germany, France, and Britain were becoming powerful nation-states, Herzl and other Zionists advocated for a separate nation-state for European Jews.
   
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Unit 5: Europe and the World  

During the latter half of the nineteenth century, European powers (as well as Japan) held unprecedented colonial control over regions in Africa, China, and India.  Known as “New Imperialism,” this era was unlike other periods of international competition in that empire-building in the latter part of the 19^th century monopolized all aspects of European political, economic, and social life.

In this unit, we will see that colonization in the late 1800s was driven by several factors.  First, advancements in industry—electricity, mass-produced steel, petro-chemicals—helped fuel imperial pursuits.  Second, population pressure at home caused many Europeans to migrate to new imperial outposts.  Lastly, nationalism and increased competition among European states stimulated colonial expansion.  In Africa, for example, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy “scrambled” for colonial control.

Unit 5 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 5 Learning Outcomes   show close


5.1 Industrialization and the World Economy  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates’s “Industrialization and the World Economy”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Industrialization and the World Economy” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage, which presents expansion—particularly in Egypt and the Far East—as a byproduct of the industrial era.  Please note that this reading covers topics outlined in subunits 5.1.1-5.1.3.
   
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5.1.1 Impact of Industrialization  

5.1.2 The Opening of China and Japan  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Commissioner Lin’s “Letter to Queen Victoria, 1839”

  Link:  Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of Commissioner Lin’s “Letter to Queen Victoria, 1839” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage linked above.  In this text, the Chinese imperial commissioner indicts the opium trade, which was in large part fueled by British merchants who produced opium in India and then sold it in Chinese cities.  Lin calls on Queen Victoria herself to acknowledge the immoral nature of the opium traffic and requests that she curtail it.
   
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5.1.3 Europeans in Egypt  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of The Earl of Cromer’s “Why Britain Acquired Egypt in 1882”

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of The Earl of Cromer’s “Why Britain Acquired Egypt in 1882” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage.  In this 1908 text, the first British viceroy of Egypt explains the logic behind Britain’s occupation of Egypt.  Lord Cromer essentially asserts the necessity of British paternalistic rule in that country; he suggests that Egypt might have become an arena of civil war if Britain had not intervened.
   
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5.2 European Migration and Imperialism  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 15: Imperialists and Boy Scouts”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 15: Imperialists and Boy Scouts” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  HTML, Adobe Flash, Mp3 or QuickTime
  iTunes U
   
  Instructions:  Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture linked above.  This video lecture will help you to understand the main features of the “New Imperialism”: religious proselytizing, profit, and European imperial competition. 
   
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• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “European Migration and Imperialism”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “European Migration and Imperialism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage linked above.  This reading will give you a good sense of the European population explosion and political conflicts that spurred European migration.  It will also help you to understand the various aspects of the “New Imperialism” that characterized the late nineteenth century.
   
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5.2.1 The New Imperialism  

• Reading: Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden”

  Link: Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: To open the PDF file, click on the link that says “kipling1899.PDF.”  Please read the entirety of the linked poem.  In this famous 1899 poem, the British writer Rudyard Kipling urges the United States to colonize the Philippines, which had come under American control after the Spanish-American War.  Though often reviled today, the poem was representative of the nineteenth-century European aspiration to dominate the developing world.
   
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• Reading: Fordham University: Paul Halsall’s “Modern History Sourcebook: The Earl of Cromer: Why Britain Acquired Egypt in 1882, (1908)”

  Link: Fordham University: Paul Halsall’s “Modern History Sourcebook: The Earl of Cromer: Why Britain Acquired Egypt in 1882, (1908)” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: As you read, consider the following questions: What reasons does Cromer give for Britain’s presence in Egypt? What does Cromer see as problems in Egypt? How does Cromer describe those who govern Egypt? Why does Cromer disagree with the policy, “Egypt is for Egyptians?” Why is the intervention of Englishmen in Egypt preferable to intervention by other European powers?
   
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• Lecture: Open Yale Courses: Charles Keith’s “Lecture 12 - French Imperialism”

  Link: Open Yale Courses: Charles Keith’s “Lecture 12 - French Imperialism” (YouTube)
   
  Instructions: As you watch this lecture, consider the following questions: What was new about French colonialism in the period 1871-1914? What drove the “explosion” of the French empire in this period? How did economic motivations contribute to France’s expanding empire? What was the “colonial lobby?” In what ways was the empire represented in popular culture in France? What were the claims of the anti-colonialism movement? If you wish to read a transcript of this lecture, you may do so here.
   
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5.2.2 The Scramble for Africa  

• Reading: BBC’s “The Story of Africa: Africa & Europe (1800-1914)”

  Link:  BBC’s “The Story of Africa: Africa & Europe (1800-1914)” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the article, and pages liked on the right hand-side, in their entirety, and make sure you listed to “Africa on the Eve of Colonialism” and “Partition & Resistance” radio series presented by Hugh Quarshie by using the hyperlinks at the bottom of the article.  This reading will present the causes and implications of Europeans’ traumatic colonization of Africa.
   
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5.2.3 Imperialism in Asia  

• Reading: Northern Illinois University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies: Dr. Constance Wilson and Rey Ty’s “Colonialism and Nationalism in South East Asia”

  Link: Northern Illinois University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies: Dr. Constance Wilson and Rey Ty’s “Colonialism and Nationalism in South East Asia” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire article, which covers European colonization of Southeast Asia in the late 1800s.
   
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5.2.4 Critics of Imperialism  

• Reading: Edward Morel’s “The Black Man’s Burden”

  Link: Edward Morel’s “The Black Man’s Burden” (PDF)
   
  Instructions:  To open the PDF file, scroll down to November 4, and click on the link for Morel’s excerpts.  Please read the entire webpage.  In this famous 1903 treatise, Edward Morel, a British journalist in the Congo, rebuts Kipling’s praise of imperialism.  Morel charges that in the Belgian Congo, imperialism is only an exploitative “burden” for Africans.
   
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5.3 Responses to Western Imperialism  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Responses to European Imperialism”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Responses to European Imperialism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage in order to get a good overview of the responses to European imperialism in India, Japan, and China.
   
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5.3.1 India under British Control  

• Reading: University of California, Los Angeles: Dr. Vinay Lal’s “British India”

  Link: University of California, Los Angeles: Dr. Vinay Lal’s “British India” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read both pages of the article, paying special attention to Britain’s occupation of India in the late nineteenth century.  To access the second page, click on the hyperlink in “continued on page 2” at the bottom of the text on the first webpage.
   
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5.3.2 The Rise of Imperial Japan  

• Reading: Fordham University: Paul Halsall’s “Modern History Sourcebook: Lt. Tadayoshi Sakurai: The Attack upon Port Arthur, 1905”

  Link: Fordham University: Paul Halsall’s “Modern History Sourcebook: Lt. Tadayoshi Sakurai: The Attack upon Port Arthur, 1905” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: As you read, consider the following questions: How does Sakurai describe the atmosphere and spirit of the soldiers before going into battle? What images and motivations does Sakurai invoke?
  
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• Reading: Fordham University: Paul Halsall’s “Modern History Sourcebook: Okuma: From Fifty Years of New Japan, 1907-08”

  Link: Fordham University: Paul Halsall’s “Modern History Sourcebook: Okuma: From Fifty Years of New Japan, 1907-08” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: As you read, consider the following questions: According to the author, in what ways and in what respects had Japan advanced in a half century? What enabled Japan to become a world power? How did Japan maintain its traditional identity despite the influence of foreign ideas, institutions, and exchange?
   
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5.3.3 Rebellion and Unrest in China  

• Reading: Columbia University’s Asia for Educators: “From Reform to Revolution, 1842-1911”

  Link:  Columbia University’s Asia for Educators: “From Reform to Revolution, 1842-1911” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire article to get a sense of China’s domestic response to pressures and problems created by Western imperial powers.
   
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Unit 6: The Great War  

In the late nineteenth century, a new alliance system developed in Europe.  In the 1890s, the Triple Alliance was formed between Austria, Germany, and Italy.  Meanwhile, Britain became an ally of Japan in 1902, formed the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904, and drew up a similar agreement with Russia in 1907.  In the early 1900s, these two alliances had a major focus: the Balkans.  Russia and Austria both vied for the region; a crisis broke out when an Austrian heir was assassinated at Sarajevo in June of 1914.  The Balkan calamity became the immediate cause of the Great War, a conflict that involved 30 countries and left over 30 million people dead.  Trench warfare in Europe and the use of modern weapons, such as the machine gun and poison gas, made World War I the deadliest in history.

In this unit, we will study the causes and effects of the Great War.  We will see that within five years (1914-1919), the European landscape changed completely; the German, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires were either crippled or totally destroyed by war’s end.

Unit 6 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 6 Learning Outcomes   show close


6.1 The Outbreak of War  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 16: The Coming of the Great War”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 16: The Coming of the Great War” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
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  Instructions: Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture linked above.  In this video, Dr. Merriman discusses the complex causes—cultural identities, nationalism, imperial competition—of the Great War. 
   
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• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Outbreak of World War One”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Outbreak of World War One” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage in order to get a good overview of the origins and causes of World War I.  Please note that this reading covers the material outlined in all sections for 6.1, including 6.1.1-6.1.3.
   
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6.1.1 The Bismarckian System of Alliances  

6.1.2 Rival Blocs  

6.1.3 The Beginning of War  

6.2 The Course of the War  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 17: War in the Trenches”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 17: War in the Trenches” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
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  Instructions:  Please watch the entire 50-minute video lecture for a discussion of the most conspicuous feature of World War I: trench warfare.
   
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• Reading: Collin County Community College: Prof. Kyle Wilkinson’s “Background to the War Nobody Won: World War I, 1914-1918”

  Links: Collin County Community College: Prof. Kyle Wilkinson’s “Background to the War Nobody Won: World War I, 1914-1918” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read Professor Wilkinson’s extensive article for a solid overview of the causes of World War I.  Please note that this reading will also cover the topics outlined in subunits 6.2.1-6.2.3.
   
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6.2.1 Western Front  

• Reading: Clinch Valley College's version of Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front"

  Link: Clinch Valley College's version of Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" (HMTL)
  
  Instructions: Please read the entire excerpt.  This 1929 novel, written by the German World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque, tells the story of the young German soldier Paul Bäumer, who experiences the horror and dislocation of trench warfare.  
  
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6.2.2 Eastern Front  

• Reading: University of Montana: Dr. David W. Tschanz’s “Typhus Fever on the Eastern Front in World War I”

  Link:  University of Montana: Dr. David W. Tschanz’s “Typhus Fever on the Eastern Front in World War I” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire article to get a sense of the deadly and devastating effect that typhus fever has on the Central Powers during World War I.
   
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6.2.3 Home Front  

• Reading: BBC’s British History In-depth: Professor Joanna Bourke’s “Women on the Home Front in World War One”

  Link: BBC’s British History In-depth: Professor Joanna Bourke’s “Women on the Home Front in World War One” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire article in order to get a sense of how World War I changed the position of women in the workforce.
   
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6.3 The Russian Revolution of 1917  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 19: The Romanovs and the Russian Revolution”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 19: The Romanovs and the Russian Revolution” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
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  Instructions: Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture linked above.  In this video lecture, Dr. Merriman discusses the downfall of the Romanov dynasty and the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.
   
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• Reading: Library of Congress Country Studies: “Revolutions and Civil War and The February Revolution,” “The Period of Dual Power and The Bolshevik Revolution,” and “Civil War and War Communism”

  Links: Library of Congress Country Studies: “Revolutions and Civil War and The February Revolution,” “The Period of Dual Power and The Bolshevik Revolution,” and “Civil War and War Communism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read each article linked above in its entirety.  Please note these readings cover topics outlined in subunits 6.3.1-6.3.4. These readings provide a comprehensive overview of the Russian Revolution, from the fall of the Tsar, to the creation of a provisional government in Russia, to the rise of Lenin and Trotsky, and to the triumph of communism.
   
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6.3.1 Fall of Imperial Russia  

6.3.2 A Provisional Government  

6.3.3 Lenin and Trotsky  

• Reading: Fordham University: Professor Paul Halsall’s version of V.I. Lenin’s “What Is to Be Done, 1902”

  Link: Fordham University: Professor Paul Halsall’s version of V.I. Lenin’s “What Is to Be Done, 1902” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage.  In this 1902 treatise, Lenin grapples with Marxist revolutionary ideology.  While Marx had theorized that the proletarian revolution would lead to ultimate freedom for the masses, Lenin thought differently.  In fact, in this piece, Lenin outlines a very different view of freedom.
   
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6.3.4 Dictatorship and Civil War  

6.4 Peace Settlement, 1918-1919  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Peace Settlement”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Peace Settlement” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage in order to get a good overview of the end of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles.  Please note that this reading covers material for 6.4.1-6.4.3.
   
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6.4.1 The End of the War  

6.4.2 Revolution  

6.4.3 Treaty of Versailles  

• Reading: “Treaty of Versailles”

  Link: “Treaty of Versailles” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage linked above.  To open the file, click on “View transcript (PDF)” on the left side of the webpage.  This 1919 treaty contained several provisions, the most controversial of which required Germany to accept sole responsibility for the war—to disarm, maker territorial concessions, and pay reparations.  The Treaty of Versailles is widely considered to be a major cause of World War II.
   
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Unit 7: Age of Anxiety  
The 1919 Treaty of Versailles was intended to repair a war-weary Europe, but it actually became the leading cause of conflict in the postwar era.  Germany was humiliated by the reparations demanded by the Entente powers.  The newly established eastern European states did not accept the boundaries created for them.  The European world was so shaken by the war that many efforts at stabilization or organization were met with skepticism or violence.  In order to make sense of the new postwar landscape, writers, scientists, religious leaders, and philosophers developed new theories and ideas that were radically different from those that had dominated Europe before the war.

In this unit, we will study the literature, social science, and empirical philosophy that emerged out of the skeptical worldview fomented by the Great War.  We will also consider how the problematic Treaty of Versailles and the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 created an era of instability and confusion.
Unit 7 Time Advisory   show close

Unit 7 Learning Outcomes   show close

7.1 Uncertainty in Modern Thought  
• Reading: Harvard University: Prof. Ernest R. May’s “The Age of Anxiety, 1919-1939;” Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 8: The Age of Anxiety: Europe in the 1920s”

  Links: Harvard University: Prof. Ernest R. May’s “The Age of Anxiety, 1919-1939” (HTML); Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 8: The Age of Anxiety: Europe in the 1920s” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read each webpage linked above in its entirety.  The first reading by Professor May will introduce you to the 1920s and 1930s, the so-called “Age of Anxiety.”  The second reading (by Dr. Kreis) will give you a sense of the range of intellectual and cultural reactions to World War I. 
   
  Please note that these readings cover the topics outlined in subunits 7.1.1-7.1.5.
   
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7.1.1 Modernism  
• Reading: CUNY, The College of Staten Island: Professor Catherine Lavender’s “Modernism—A Working Definition”

  Link: CUNY, The College of Staten Island: Professor Catherine Lavender’s “Modernism—A Working Definition” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read this entry.
   
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7.1.2 Revival of Christianity  
7.1.3 The New Physics  
7.1.4 Freudian Psychology  
7.1.5 Literature  
• Reading: Bartelby.com’s version of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

  Link: Bartleby.com’s version of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: One of T.S. Eliot’s earliest and most famous poems, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” it details the introspection of a narrator who examines the emptiness and soulless quality of the bleak social world surrounding him.  Eliot’s poem is a clear rejection of optimistic and solipsistic Victorian literature; the poem centers upon an alienated individual trying to make sense of a fragmented society.  Please read this poem in its entirety.
   
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7.2 Modern Art and Music  
• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Modern Art and Music” and Corcoran Gallery of Art’s “Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914-1939”

  Links: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Modern Art and Music” (HTML) and Corcoran Gallery of Art’s “Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914-1939” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire HistoryDoctor.net webpage in order to get a good overview of the characteristics of Modern art and music.  Then, please click on the hyperlinks in the table of contents on the left side of the webpage, and read all five sections: “Modernism,” “Utopia,” “The Machine and Mass Production,” “Nature and the Healthy Body,” and “National Modernisms and Identity.”  Please note these readings cover topics in sections 7.2.1-7.2.3.
   
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7.2.1 Architecture and Design  
7.2.2 Painting  
7.2.3 Music  
7.3 The Search for Peace and Stability  
• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Search for Peace and Stability”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Search for Peace and Stability” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage in order to get a sense of the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles, resentment in Germany, the aftermath of the communist revolution in Russia, and a growing global economic crisis.  Please note that this reading addresses the topics outlines in sections 7.3.1-7.3.3.
   
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7.3.1 Consequences of the Versailles Treaty  
7.3.2 Germany  
7.3.3 Eastern Europe  
• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 20: Successor States of Eastern Europe”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 20: Successor States of Eastern Europe” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
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  Instructions:  Please watch the entire 50-minute lecture linked above.  In it, Dr. Merriman explains how World War I set the stage for division and ethnic violence in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1920s.
   
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7.4 The Great Depression  
• Reading: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Prof. Cary Nelson’s “About the Great Depression,” “The Depression in the United States – An Overview,” “About The Dust Bowl,” and “A Depression Photo Essay”

  Links: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Prof. Cary Nelson’s “About the Great Depression,” “The Depression in the United States – An Overview,” “About The Dust Bowl,” and “A Depression Photo Essay” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: These readings cover the entirety of subunit 7.4, but will be supplemented by additional readings below as well.  Please read Prof. Nelson’s entire article for a good overview of the Great Depression; pay special attention to the causes and responses to the Great Depression.
   
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7.4.1 The Global Economic Crisis  
7.4.2 Mass Unemployment  
• Reading: Clinch Valley College’s version of an excerpt from George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier

  Link: Clinch Valley College’s version of an excerpt from George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire entry.  This 1937 non-fiction work details the economically depressed areas of northern England.  Here, Orwell describes misery of the ubiquitous industrial slums.
   
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• Lecture: Library of Congress: “Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’ in the Farm Security Administration Collection: An Overview”

  Link:  Library of Congress: “Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’ in the Farm Security Administration Collection: An Overview” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the text, and then click on each of the photographs on the right-hand side of the webpage.
   
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7.4.3 Responses to the Depression  
Unit 8: Dictatorships and the Second World War  

World War I had mobilized centralized state power on an unprecedented scale.  Such an incredible exertion of power had seemed necessary in order to muster all available state resources in an atmosphere of “total war.”  But this trend of centralized power continued in postwar Europe, and when combined with fervent nationalism, led to the rise of several totalitarian or authoritarian regimes.  Stalin’s Russia, Franco’s Spain, Mussolini’s Fascist Italy, and Hitler’s Nazi Germany all used oppressive rule to restore order and prosperity to nations wracked by war.  It was the alliance of these three regimes that eventually resulted in the outbreak of World War II in 1939.  Hitler’s invasion of Poland and France ignited a war that would last five years, span five continents, and claim millions of lives. 

In this unit, we will see that the aggressive, totalitarian nationalism of the 1920s and early 1930s was fueled by the economic downturn of the Great Depression, social unrest, and an uncertain political landscape.  In particular, we will study how Adolf Hitler garnered the support of a disenchanted Germany and built his “racially-pure” Nazi state.  We will also examine the military battles of the war as well as what many believe to be the greatest tragedy of the twentieth century— the Holocaust.

Unit 8 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 8 Learning Outcomes   show close


8.1 Authoritarian States  

• Reading: Professor John Warwick’s “Authoritarianism vs. Liberal Democracy in the Inter-war Period” Blog Entry; Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 9: The Age of Anxiety: Europe in the 1920s”; HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Rise of the Totalitarian States”

  Links: Professor John Warwick’s “Authoritarianism vs. Liberal Democracy in the Inter-war Period” (HTML) Blog Entry; Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide:Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 9: The Age of Anxiety: Europe in the 1920s” (HTML); HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Rise of the Totalitarian States”(HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read Professor Warwick’s entire blog entry titled “Authoritarianism vs. Liberal Democracy in the Inter-war Period.”  Then, read Dr. Kreis’s lecture 9 on “The Age of Anxiety” in its entirety.  Finally, peruse Dr. Gates’s article on the “Rise of the Totalitarian States.”  Please note that these readings cover topics outlined for 8.1.1 and 8.1.2.
  The first reading by Professor Warwick will help you gain a sense of how the post-WWI era gave birth to emergent liberal democratic and totalitarian ideologies.  The second reading (by Dr. Kreis) discusses how anti-democratic ideologies grew out of the unresolved problems of World War I.  Lastly, the article by Dr. Gates provides an overview of the emergence of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Poland during the 1930s.  You will also get a sense of how “conservative authoritarianism” differed from “radical totalitarianism.”
   
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8.1.1 Conservative Authoritarianism  

8.1.2 Radical Totalitarian Dictatorships  

• Reading: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 10: The Age of Totalitarianism: Stalin and Hitler”

  Link: Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide:Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 10: The Age of Totalitarianism: Stalin and Hitler” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage to get sense of the origins and features of radical totalitarianism.
   
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8.2 Stalin’s Soviet Union  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 21: Stalinism”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman’s “Lecture 21: Stalinism” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  HTML, Adobe Flash, Mp3 or QuickTime
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  Instructions: Please watch the entire 50-minute video lecture linked above.  In this video lecture, Dr. Merriman discusses how and why Josef Stalin’s Soviet State emerged as such a bureaucratic and ruthless power.
   
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• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Soviet Union under Stalin”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Soviet Union under Stalin” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the entire webpage in order to get a sense of Stalin’s Five Year Plan, his influence on Soviet society, and his brutal Great Purges.  Please note that this reading covers topics outlined in subunits 8.2.1-8.2.4.
   
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8.2.1 From Lenin to Stalin  

8.2.2 The Five Year Plan  

8.2.3 Soviet Society  

8.2.4 Stalinist Terror and the Great Purges  

• Reading: Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of “Stalin’s Purges”

  Link: Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of “Stalin’s Purges” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage.  This Soviet textbook entry offers an “official explanation,” or legitimization, of Joseph Stalin’s “purges” in 1936.  Sensing that opposition to his rule and policies was rising, Stalin ordered the widespread police surveillance, executions, and purges of the Communist Party and the Red Army, as well as persecution and repression of suspected opponents.
   
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8.3 Mussolini and Fascism in Italy  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage in order to get a good overview of the emergence of Fascism in Italy under Benito Mussolini.  Please note that this reading covers topics outlined in subunits 8.3.1-8.3.3.
   
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8.3.1 Fascism Defined  

• Reading: Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Benito Mussolini's “What Is Fascism?”

  Link: Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of Benito Mussolini's “What Is Fascism?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage for Mussolini's definition of fascism.  In this 1932 encyclopedia entry, Benito Mussolini asserts that in a Fascist regime, the absolute authority is the state.  This is the polar opposite of the absolute authority allotted to the “people” in democratic regimes.
   
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8.3.2 The Fascist Seizure of Power  

8.3.3 The Fascist State  

8.4 The Spanish Civil War and General Franco’s Dictatorship  

• Reading: History World International’s “The Spanish Civil War”

  Link: History World International’s “The Spanish Civil War” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage for an overview of the Spanish Civil War, and General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.  Please note that this reading covers topics outlined in subunits 8.4.1-8.4.2.
   
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• Reading: University of Pennsylvania: Professor Al Filreis’ “The Spanish Civil War”

  Link: University of Pennsylvania: Professor Al Filreis’ “The Spanish Civil War” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the sections title “The Spanish Civil War” and “Abraham Lincoln Brigade” by clicking on the provided links.  Please note that this reading covers topics outlined in subunits 8.4.1-8.4.2.
   
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8.4.1 The Spanish Civil War  

8.4.2 From the Spanish Civil War to World War II  

8.4.3 Spain under Franco  

• Reading: Library of Congress Country Studies: Eric Solsten’s (ed.) Spain: A Country Study: “The Franco Years”

  Link: Library of Congress Country Studies: Eric Solsten’s (ed.) Spain: A Country Study: “The Franco Years” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entirety of this page.  Pay special attention to how even though he received help from the Fascists during the Civil War, later he tried to distance himself from fascist ideology.
            
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8.5 Hitler and Nazism in Germany  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman's “Lecture 22: Fascists”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman's “Lecture 22: Fascists” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
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  Instructions: Please watch the entire 50-minute video lecture linked above.  Please note that this material covers sections 8.4.1. and 8.4.2.  The lecture suggests that Hitler was far from an exceptional leader in inter-war Europe.  Dr. Merriman also emphasizes Nazism’s context in a post-WWI climate of instability and resentment.
   
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• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Hitler and National Socialism”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Hitler and National Socialism” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage in order to get a good overview of Hitler’s National Socialism and the development of the Nazi state.  Please note that this reading covers concepts in 8.5.1 and 8.5.2.
   
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8.5.1 National Socialism and Adolf Hitler  

• Reading: Hanover College’s version of Adolf Hitler's “Speech of April 12, 1921”

  Link: Hanover College’s version of Adolf Hitler's “Speech of April 12, 1921” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire speech.  Adolf Hitler was an incredibly persuasive and charismatic speaker.  His speeches, including this one given in 1921, capitalized on the growing resentment and oppression felt by the German people in the post-WWI period.
   
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8.5.2 The Nazi State and Society  

8.6 World War II  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman's “Lecture 23: Collaboration and Resistance in World War II”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman's “Lecture 23: Collaboration and Resistance in World War II” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
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  iTunes U
   
  Instructions: Please watch the entire 50-minute video lecture linked above.  Please note this lecture covers topics in sections 8.6.1-8.6.5.  This video lecture will help you to understand that World War II’s liberalism versus totalitarianism was far from true.  Instead, many Nazi-occupied countries willingly “collaborated” with the Nazis in persecuting Jews, communists, and “others.” 
   
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• Reading: Library of Congress Country Studies: “The Consolidation of Power and Foreign Policy” and “The Outbreak of World War II and Total mobilization, Resistance, and the Holocaust, ” and “Defeat”

  Link: Library of Congress Country Studies: “The Consolidation of Power and Foreign Policy” and “The Outbreak of World War II and Total Mobilization, Resistance, and the Holocaust,” and “Defeat” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read these articles in their entirety for a good overview of the Second World War, including the pre-war period of aggression and appeasement, the expansion of Hitler’s Nazi empire, as well as the chronology of the war.  Please note that these readings cover topics in sections 8.6.1-8.6.5.
   
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8.6.1 Aggression and Appeasement, 1933-1939  

8.6.2 Hitler’s Empire, 1939-1942  

8.6.3 The Holocaust  

• Reading: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's “The Holocaust”; Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Hermann Friedrich Graebe's Account of Holocaust Mass Shooting

  Links: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's “The Holocaust” (HTML); Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Hermann Friedrich Graebe's “Account of Holocaust Mass Shooting” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: First, please read the entire article introducing the Holocaust on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's webpage.  You may want to optionally continue reading by clicking on the hyperlinks under the “Related articles” section.  Note that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum aims to educate people about the mass genocide and discrimination of the Holocaust, as well as to promote human dignity. 
  Then, please read Graebe's first-person account of a Holocaust Mass Shooting.  This is a first-person account of the mass death of Jews at Dubno, Ukraine in 1942.  About 5,000 Jews in this region were “marked for liquidation” by the Nazis, and the speaker, a Ukrainian engineer, estimates that approximately 1,500 were shot daily and then buried in mass graves.  The account, though disturbing, shows the well-organized extermination procedures that the SS, an elite Nazi paramilitary unit, had started to use by the third year of World War II.
   
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• Web Media: Yale University Library: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies' “Testimony Excerpts: Christa M.”

  Link: Yale University Library: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies' “Testimony Excerpts: Christa M.” (HTML)
   
  Also available in:
  Quicktime (video)
  Quicktime (audio)
   
  Instructions: Please read the short excerpt in its entirety.  Then, download the video or audio testimony by clicking on the hyperlink titled “Download video” or “Download audio.”  Please listen to Christa M.’s account of her encounter with Dachau prisoners in 1945.
   
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8.6.4 The Grand Alliance  

8.6.5 The Changing Tide of Battle, 1939-1945  

• Reading: Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Vyacheslav Molotov's “Reaction to the German Invasion of 1941”

  Link: Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s version of Vyacheslav Molotov's “Reaction to the German Invasion of 1941” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire excerpt of Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov’s broadcast to the Soviet people.  In this 1941 radio address, Molotov reacts to Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, calling for expulsion of Hitler’s troops and Soviet victory.
   
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Unit 9: Cold War Conflicts and Social Transformations, 1945-1985  

By 1945, a second world war and European global domination were over.  This created a power vacuum, and the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) moved from reluctant wartime allies to deadly adversaries.  In this East versus West contest, Communist USSR and Soviet-controlled eastern Europe were pitted against the democratic United States and western Europe.  Although these two factions never clashed on the battlefield, the conflict was evident in military coalitions, a nuclear arms race, espionage, proxy wars, propaganda, and technological competition, such as the Space Race.  For these reasons, the forty year period following World War II is known as the “Cold War.”

The Cold War continued to dominate global politics for decades and was a direct cause of the Korean War (1950-1953), the Vietnam War (1959-1975), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), and the Soviet War in Afghanistan (1979-1989).  But in the late 1980s, the United States increased diplomatic, economic, and military pressures on the USSR, resulting in Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s introduction of the liberal reforms of perestroika (“reconstruction”) and glasnost (“openness”).  However, these Communist reforms weakened the bonds that held the Soviet Union together.  In 1989, revolutions staged in Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania successfully overthrew Communism, leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In this unit, we will study the clash between democracy and Communism between 1945 and 1985, and we will examine the lasting social, economic, and political consequences of the Cold War conflict.

Unit 9 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 9 Learning Outcomes   show close


9.1 The Cold War  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Cold War”

  Link: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Cold War” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage in order to get a good overview of origins and characteristics of the Cold War.
   
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9.1.1 Origins of the Cold War  

• Reading: Suffolk Community College: History Department’s “The Cold War” and Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 14: The Origins of the Cold War”

  Links: Suffolk Community College: History Department’s “The Cold War” (HTML) and Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 14: The Origins of the Cold War” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: First, please read Suffolk Community Colleges's entire article to get a good overview of the Cold War.  Then, read the entire lecture by Dr. Kreis to get sense of the causes of the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States and its allies.  Please note that these readings cover subunit 9.1.2.
   
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• Reading: Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s versions of Winston Churchill's “Iron Curtain Speech” and Josef Stalin's “Reply to Churchill”

  Links: Fordham University's Modern History Sourcebook:Paul Halsall’s versions of Winston Churchill's “Iron Curtain Speech” (HTML)and Josef Stalin's “Reply to Churchill” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the excerpts from Churchill's speech and Stalin's reply to Churchill linked above.  In the 1946 excerpt from an interview with Josef Stalin, Stalin defends and legitimizes the expansion of Communism in postwar eastern Europe as a response to Churchill's speech.  Stalin argues that the proliferation of Communism will enhance security and protect peoples.
   
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9.1.2 Western Economic Recovery  

9.1.3 The Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc  

• Reading: Library of Congress Country Studies: “The Prague Spring, 1968”

  Link: Library of Congress Country Studies: “The Prague Spring, 1968” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read this text in its entirety for an overview of the turbulent relationship between the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe.
   
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9.1.4 Communism in the Far East  

• Reading: Wheeling Jesuit University: Classroom of the Future Project’s “The Korean War”

  Link: Wheeling Jesuit University: Classroom of the Future Project’s “The Korean War” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire article to get a good overview of the Korean War, the first military clash of the Cold War.
   
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9.2 Postwar Social Transformations  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Social Transformation in Europe after World War II” and Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 15: 1968: The Year of the Barricades”

  Links: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “Social Transformation in Europe after World War II (HTML)and Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide:Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 15: 1968: The Year of the Barricades” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read both resources linked here in their entirety.  The first reading presents innovations in science and technology, a changing social structure, and new roles for youth and women in the postwar era.  Dr. Kreis's lecture 15 will give you a sense of transformation of European society in the 1950s and 1960s.
  Please note these readings will cover topics in sections 9.2.1-9.2.3. 
   
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9.2.1 Science and Technology  

9.2.2 Class Structure  

9.2.3 New Roles for Youth and Women  

• Reading: College of Staten Island: Professor Catherine Lavender’s “The New Woman” and Marxist.org’s version of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex: “Introduction: Woman as Other”

  Links: College of Staten Island: Professor Catherine Lavender’s “The New Woman” (HTML) and Marxist.org’s version of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex: “Introduction: Woman as Other” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read both texts linked above in their entirety.  By reading Professor Lavender’s article, you will learn a broad overview about the twentieth century feminist movement.  Written in 1949, de Beauvoir's text was the definitive declaration of women’s independence.  De Beauvoir, a French philosopher, argues that women throughout history have been defined as the “other” sex.  She insists on the reality of sexual difference, but she also argues that it is immoral to use that difference to exploit women. Her well-known phrase, “one is not born but becomes a woman,” introduces what is now known as the sex-gender distinction.
   
   
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9.3 The Cold War and Decolonization  

• Lecture: Library of Congress: Dr. Dane Kennedy’s “Decolonization and Disorder”

  Link: Library of Congress: Dr. Dane Kennedy’s “Decolonization and Disorder” (RealPlayer)
   
  Instructions: Please watch the entire 77-minute video lecture.  To open the file, click on “Launch video in a new player.”  This will open the file in RealPlayer. This lecture will help you to understand the complex factors that caused the collapse of the European empires in Africa and Asia, from the 18^th century through the 20^th century.
   
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9.4 The Collapse of Communism  

• Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe” and Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 16: 1989: The Walls Came Tumbling Down”

  Links: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s “The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe” (HTML) and Dr. Steven Kreis’s The History Guide:Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe: “Lecture 16: 1989: The Walls Came Tumbling Down” (HTML)
   
  Instructions:  Please read the both webpages in their entirety.  The first reading, “The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, discusses the collapse of Communist in Eastern Europe and the downfall of the Soviet Union.  The second reading, Dr. Kreis's lecture 16, examines the Khrushchev and Gorbachev eras as well as the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union.
  Please note these readings cover topics for all of subunit 9.4.
   
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9.4.1 The Gorbachev Era  

• Reading: Library of Congress Country Studies: “The Gorbachev Era,” “Gorbachev’s First Year and New Thinking: Foreign Policy under Gorbachev,” “Gorbachev’s Reform Dilemma,” “Nationality Ferment,” and “The August Coup and Its Aftermath”

  Link: Library of Congress Country Studies: “The Gorbachev Era,” “Gorbachev’s First Year and New Thinking: Foreign Policy under Gorbachev,” “Gorbachev’s Reform Dilemma,” “Nationality Ferment,” and “The August Coup and Its Aftermath” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage to get a good overview of the policies and rule of Mikhail Gorbachev.
   
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9.4.2 Revolutions of 1989  

• Reading: George Mason University: Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media’s “1989 Revolutions of Eastern Europe”

  Link: George Mason University: Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media’s “1989 Revolutions of Eastern Europe” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the entire webpage for a brief overview of the outbreak of revolutions in the Soviet bloc countries in 1989.
   
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9.4.3. Collapse of the Soviet Union  

• Lecture: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman's “Lecture 24: The Collapse of Communism and Global Challenges”

  Link: Yale University: Dr. John Merriman's “Lecture 24: The Collapse of Communism and Global Challenges” (YouTube)
   
  Also available in:
  HTML, Adobe Flash, Mp3 or QuickTime
  iTunes U
   
  Instructions: Please watch the entire 50-minute video lecture.  This lecture will help you to understand the complex factors that caused the collapse of the Soviet Union: nationalism in Eastern bloc countries, economic depression, and democratic opposition movements.
   
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9.4.4 The Legacy of the Cold War  

• Reading: FORA.TV: Dr. Melvyn Leffler's “Cold War Legacies and Contemporary Dilemmas” Lecture

  Link:  FORA.TV: Dr. Melvyn Leffler's “Cold War Legacies and Contemporary Dilemmas” Lecture (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Please watch Chapters 2 through 26 of this lecture (approximately 70 minutes).  You may click on the hyperlink for each chapter listed under “Watch the full program,” or you may click on “Watch the full program,” fast-forwarding through the first 2 minutes and 11 seconds of the Chatauqua Institution's introduction for Dr. Leffler.
  This lecture, held at a conference hosted by Chautauqua Institution, will give you an excellent overview of Cold War policies in the 1970s and 1980s, and it will help you to understand the legacy of the conflict in a post-Soviet world.  
   
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• Lecture: iTunes U: George Mason University: Professor T. Mills Kelly’s “History 312: Breakup of Yugoslavia”

  Link: iTunes U: George Mason University: Professor T. Mills Kelly’s “History 312: Breakup of Yugoslavia” (iTunes U audio)
   
  Instructions: Listen to this audio lecture, in which Professor T. Mills Kelly of George Mason University discusses the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.  He focuses on mass dissatisfaction with the Communist and post-Communist political regimes in Yugoslavia and efforts by ethnic nationalists to resolve centuries of political and cultural tension in the region through military force.  Kelly goes into great detail about the breakup of Yugoslavia and explains the motivations of different ethnic groups involved in the decade-long conflict.
   
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• Reading: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs’ The Berlin Wall 20 Years Later: Professor Robert J. Leiber’s “A Contested Future”

  Link: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs’ The Berlin Wall 20 Years Later: Professor Robert J. Leiber’s “A Contested Future”(PDF)
   
  Instructions: Click on the “Link to Resources” link at the bottom of the page to open the PDF file.  Read pages 13 through 20 in the PDF file.
   
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Unit 10: The European Integration  

In 1946, Winston Churchill called for a “United States of Europe” in a speech given at University of Zurich, but it was not until 1950 that the formation of an integrated Europe began to develop when France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg joined together to try to find ways to prevent another world war.  In these early days of European integration, the focus was on common trade policies for coal, steel, and agriculture.  Thus, the first Europe-wide organization was dubbed the European Coal and Steel Community.  As this collective grew and expanded, it transformed first into the European Economic Community (1957) and then into the European Union (1993).

This unit emphasizes various aspects of the European integration process and covers the time period between the end of World War I in 1919 and the creation of the European Union.  In this unit, students will analyze European integration as a historical process and will be asked to think critically about various aspects of more recent European politics (Law, Political Science, Economics and Economic History, etc).  We will conclude by reflecting on the future of European Union.

Unit 10 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 10 Learning Outcomes   show close


10.1 History of the European Integration  

• Lecture: iTunes U: Bethel University: Professor Christopher Gehrz’s “The Search for a Third Way”

  Link: iTunes U: Bethel University: Professor Christopher Gehrz’s “The Search for a Third Way” (iTunes U audio)
   
  Instructions: Listen to the linked audio lecture.  In this lecture, Professor Christopher Gehrz focuses on the efforts of various European nations to rebuild and reorganize their economies and societies following World War II.  He discusses western European efforts to pursue a “Third Way” between the Cold War policies of the United States and the Society Union.  He also addresses various Western European attempts to create democratic public welfare states and socialist economies.  He concludes by tracing the development of the European Economic Community and other initiatives dedicated to unifying Europe economically and socially, and discussing Soviet reactions to mounting dissatisfaction in Communist Eastern Europe.
   
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• Reading: Europa’s “The History of the European Union”

  Link: Europa’s “The History of the European Union” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read this text and all embedded links in their entirety.  Please note that this reading covers material outlined in the sub-subunits 10.1.1-10.1.5.
   
  Note on the Text: Europa is the official website of the European Union.  This site is maintained by the Communication department of the European Commission on behalf of the European institutions.
   
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10.1.1 Robert Schuman and the European Coal and Steel Community  

10.1.2 The European Economic and Atomic Energy Communities  

10.1.3 The Stockholm Convention and the European Free Trade Association  

10.1.4 The Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam  

10.1.5 The Schengen Agreements  

10.2 Institutions of the European Union  

• Reading: Europa’s “EU Institutions and Other Bodies”

  Link: Europa’s “EU Institutions and Other Bodies” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read this text and all embedded links in their entirety.  Please pay special attention to the section on the EU’s decision-making process.  Europa is the official website of the European Union.  This site is maintained by the Communication department of the European Commission on behalf of the European institutions.
   
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10.3 The Economic and Monetary Union  

• Reading: Europa’s “Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the Euro”

  Link: Europa’s “Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the Euro” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read this text and all embedded links in their entirety.  Europa is the official website of the European Union.  This site is maintained by the Communication department of the European Commission on behalf of the European institutions.
   
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• Reading: The University of Iowa Center for International Finance and Development’s “What Is the European Monetary Union?”

  Link: The University of Iowa Center for International Finance and Development’s “What Is the European Monetary Union?” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read this text and all embedded links in their entirety.  Pay special attention to the section “Criticisms of the EMU.”  This text is maintained by the UICIFD, a student-driven project founded and directed by Professor Enrique Carrasco, that aims at helping readers understand the world of international finance and development.
   
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10.4 The Future of the Union  

• Reading: GlobalChange: Dr. Patrick Dixon’s “The Future of the European Union”

  Link: GlobalChange: Dr. Patrick Dixon’s “The Future of the European Union” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read this text and all embedded links in their entirety.  Dr. Patrick Dixos is considered in the media as “Europe’s leading Futurist,” and an authority on global trends.
   
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• Reading: Europa: Benita Ferrero-Waldner’s “The Future of the European Union: Managing Globalization”

  Link: Europa: Benita Ferrero-Waldner’s “The Future of the European Union: Managing Globalization” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please read the text version of a speech given by Ferrero-Waldner–the European Commissioner for Trade and European Neighbourhood Policy from 2009 to 2010– at the Bucerius Summer School, on August 31, 2007.  Remember it is a primary source, and it should be treated as such.  When evaluating a primary source, remember that the author usually has an “axe to grind,” or some personal motive for writing that may not be immediately obvious.  Thus, ask yourself the following questions: What is the author saying?  And why is he saying it?
   
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Final Exam  

• Final Exam: The Saylor Foundation's "HIST202 Final Exam"

  Link: The Saylor Foundation's "HIST202 Final Exam"
  
  Instructions: You must be logged into your Saylor Foundation School account in order to access this exam.  If you do not yet have an account, you will be able to create one, free of charge, after clicking the link.

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