Spring 2006
History 102:
History of Modern Europe
Annemarie Sammartino
Rice Hall 311
Email: annemarie.sammartino@oberlin.edu
Office phone: 775-6572
Office Hours: Tuesday 10-12; Wednesday 2-3; and by appointment
Course Description:
History 102 is the second part of a two-semester survey of European history since the fall of Rome. Over the course of the semester, we will examine the most important events, institutions, and developments in Europe from the late 17th through the 20th century. While we will certainly engage with such crucial events as the French Revolution and the two World Wars, we will also examine longer-term trends such as the relationship between Europe and the rest of the world, and more elusive concepts such as the Zeitgeist or spirit of the age as it evolves over the course of the modern era. This course is intended as an introduction to a variety of historical methodologies and will combine approaches drawn from cultural, political, social, and intellectual history. As such, our readings will range from philosophical treatises to popular novels, and from scholarly articles to manifestos.
Assignments & Grading
Map Quizes (Best 3 out of 4) 15%
Attendance and Participation 15%
Mid-term Paper (5pp.) 20%
Final Paper (5pp.) 25%
Final Exam 25%
All written work must be turned in to receive credit for this course.
Attendance in class is mandatory. If you need to miss a class due to a medical or other emergency, you must provide adequate documentation (such as a doctor’s note) to avoid the absence penalty. If you come late to class, it will count as a one-half absence.
At four times during the semester, I will distribute a map of Europe. You will need to identify the year or period that this map dates from as well as identifying a few key features of the map. You will get credit for your best three out of four quizzes.
There will be two papers due during this class. The assignment for these papers will be handed out at least one week before the due date of the paper. The first paper will cover material from the first half of the course, while the second paper will cover material from the second half.
The Final exam will be an in-class short-answer, map and short essay exam covering subject matter from the entire class at the scheduled final exam time for this course.
All papers must be double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font with 1” margins. Page limits will be strictly enforced. Papers may not be turned in electronically but must instead be handed in in hard copy.
ALL late papers will be downgraded 1/3 of a grade for every twenty-four hour period that they are late (i.e. a paper due at 10am on Monday but turned in at 11am on Tuesday will lose 2/3 of a grade). If you miss or are late to class on the day that a paper is due, that paper is automatically counted as 1 day late in additional to any lateness penalty that would otherwise be assessed (i.e. a paper due at 10am on Friday but turned in at 2pm, while class was missed, will lose 2/3 of a grade).
All work for this class is governed by the honor code. You must write and sign the honor code pledge at the end of each assignment. If you have further questions, please go to: http://www.oberlin.edu/students/student_pages/honor_code.html.
You will have a total of four “screw-ups” to use over the course of the semester. A “screw-up” can allow you to take a 24 hour extension for a paper or it can be used to take an unexcused absence from class. So, for example, you could take a 48 hour extension on the paper and miss two classes. If you wish for one or several “screw-ups” to apply to a late paper, please indicate that on the first page of the paper when you (finally) turn it in.
Readings & Films
The following books are required and are available for purchase at the Oberlin College Bookstore:
Hunt, et al. Making of the West, vol. II, 2nd edition (New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (New York: Signet Classics, 1997)
Bram Stoker, Dracula (New York: Penguin, 1968)
Additional readings have either been placed on the blackboard site for this class (marked with a *) or are available elsewhere online (web address on syllabus).
We will also be watching two films for the class, both of which are also on reserve for this class. I will arrange a screening time for each film; if you cannot make this screening, it is your responsibility to watch the film on your own time.
Finally, you will be listening to the Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique (1830). A copy has been placed on reserve at the conservatory library, and I will also make the piece available on the blackboard site for the course as an mp3. If you choose to use the library copy, as there are sixty people between the two sections of this course, please make sure to give yourself plenty of time in advance to make sure that you get to listen to this piece before class.
Schedule of Lectures and Readings
February 6: Introduction: What’s so modern about modern Europe?
February 8: Absolute Monarchy
Hunt, Chapter 17, sections 1-2, pp. 622-636
February 10: The Glorious Revolution & Social Contract Theory
Hunt, Chapter 17, section 3, pp. 636-645
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651, excerpts):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/hobbes-lev13.html
John Locke, Second Treatise on Government (1690, excerpts):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1690locke-sel.html
English Bill of Rights (1689):
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1689billofrights.html
February 13: Everyday Life
Hunt, Chapter 18, section 2, pp. 676-683
February 15: The Atlantic World & Slavery
Hunt, Chapter 18, section 1, pp. 667-676
Olaudah Equiano, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Written by Himself" (1789):
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/equiano1/equiano1.html
February 17: The Enlightenment
Hunt, Chapter 19, pp. 707-743
Lecture: Natalie Zemon Davis, "Trickster Travels: A Sixteenth-Century Muslim Between Worlds," Noon, Friday, February 17, King 101
February 20: Enlightenment, pt. 2
Rousseau, The Social Contract
February 22: French Revolution, pt. 1
Hunt, Chapter 20, pp. 747-783
February 24:: The French Revolution, pt. 2 & Napoleon
Hunt, Chapter 21, sections 1-2, pp. 787-805
February 27: Revolutions & Rights
Declaration of the Rights of Man & Citizen:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm
Declaration of the Rights of Woman & Citizen:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1791degouge1.html
*Toussaint L’Ouventure, “Proclamation of 25 August 1973,” “Leter to the Minister of Marine, 13 April 1799,” “Letter to the Directory 28 October 1797,” “Letter to the Directory, 5 November, 1797,” and “Forced Labor Decree, 12 October 1800,” “Toussaint’s Dictatorial Decree, 25 November 1801” from Toussaint L'Ouverture, ed. George F. Tyson (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1973).
March 1: Metternich’s Europe
Hunt, Chapter 21, section 3, pp. 805-810
Metternich’s Political Confession (1820):
http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/2_A_P_Political_Testament.pdf
March 3: Industrialization
Hunt, Chapter 22, section 1-2, pp. 830-849
March 6: Nineteenth Century “Isms”: Liberalism
March 8: Nineteenth Century “Isms”: Romanticism
Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
March 10: 1848
Hunt, Chapter 22, section 4, pp. 858-869
March 13: Nineteenth Century “Isms”: Socialism
Marx, The Communist Manifesto:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/61
March 15: Urbanization
March 17: Nineteenth Century “Isms”: Nationalism
Hunt, Chapter 23, sections 1-2, pp. 873-891
MIDTERM PAPER DUE AT THE START OF CLASS
March 20: Nineteenth Century “Isms”: Imperialism
Hunt, Chapter 24, section 2, pp. 924-933 & Chapter 25, section 4, pp. 985-992
March 22: “The Other” & The Irrational: European Culture at the Fin-de-siècle
Bram Stoker, Dracula
March 24: NO CLASS
SPRING BREAK
April 3: The Origins of World War I
Hunt, Chapter 25, section 5, section 5, pp. 992-999
April 5: World War I on the Battlefield
Hunt, Chapter 26, section 1-2, pp. 1004-1020
April 7: World War I at Home
*Coetzee, World War I in European Society, selections.
April 10: Revolution, Versailles & The New European Order
Hunt, Chapter 26, section 3-5, pp. 1020-1043
April 12: The Social and Psychological Crises of the Interwar World
Nosferatu (1922), screening time/location tba
April 14: The Great Depression
Hunt, Chapter 27, section 1, pp. 1040-1055
April 17: Fascism & Nazism
Hunt, Chapter 27, section 2-3, pp. 1055-1069
April 19: World War II
Hunt, Chapter 27, sections 4-5, pp. 1069-1091
April 21: Holocaust
*Christopher Browning, "One Day in Jozefow: Initiation to Mass Murder" in David Crew, Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 (New York: Routledge: 2003): 300-315.
April 24: Stunde Null
Hunt, Chapter 28, section 1, pp. 1098-1108
Winston S. Churchill, "'Iron Curtain' Speech," (5 March 1946, excerpts)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/churchill-iron.html
April 26: Western Europe
Hunt, Chapter 28, sections 2 & 4, pp. 1108-1118 & 1125-1135
April 28: Eastern Europe
May 1: Decolonization
Hunt, Chapter 28, section 3, pp. 1118-1125
May 3: 1968
Hunt, Chapter 29, sections 1-3, 1140-1166
May 5: Immigration & the “New Europe”
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
May 8: 1989
Hunt, Chapter 29, section 4, pp. 1166-1179
FINAL PAPER DUE AT THE START OF CLASS
May 10: Yugoslavia
May 12: Final Discussion & Exam Review
FINAL EXAM, WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 7pm OR THURSDAY, MAY 18, 7pm (make sure to attend the exam for YOUR section)