Course Description
The history of Europe from 1789 to 1900, emphasizing political and social change, the spread of revolutionary ideas, and the rise of nation states.
Athena Title
19TH CENT EUROPE
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course aims to acquaint the student with the basic issues of nineteenth-century European history, emphasizing above all political and social transformations, and the reactions to these changes as they were expressed in European culture. Each of these topics will be approached using a variety of different materials, including documents from the period, literary sources, images, and recent works of history. The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
The French Revolution Romanticism and Reaction Nationalism Liberalism Industrialization Socialism The Revolutions of 1848 The Unification of Italy and Germany European Colonization and Imperial Culture Fin-de-Siecle Culture
Syllabus