History 107, Modern Europe

Spring 2009- TF 3:00-4:15 - Denny 311

Prof. Karl D. Qualls   -   Office: Denny 307   (717) 245-1774 

Office hours: T 9:00-12:00

Dickinson College Disclaimer

I reserve the right to adjust any part of this syllabus, with reasonable prior notice, in order to accommodate the needs of the students.

Scope

Chronologically, this course will cover the late-eighteenth century to the present, and topically we will discuss politics, the role of the individual, social differentiation, science, philosophy, culture, nationality, gender, and more. Rather than merely studying dead white guys with power, we will spend much of our time studying the disenfranchised and how they helped create a "modern" world of greater inclusion in politics, the arts, and economics. Democracy, capitalism, mass produced popular culture, and more attention to status based on merit rather than on lineage are just a few of the markers of the "modern" period. While the "modern" system has brought great advances in quality of life, life expectancy, education, and more, the "modern" system has also led to great brutality and disenfranchisement. We will try to balance our understanding of this period and how the developments have come about.

Objectives

Any history class should serve at least three purposes: 1) to create a more informed human being who can speak intelligently on a wide range of topics, 2) to provide a lens through which to observe and interpret our current condition in the United States and within a larger global community, 3) to teach the life skills of thinking, writing, and communicating.

Our content objectives can be summarized and generalized as:

  1. to gain a basic familiarity with the major events and people that have shaped modern Europe
  2. to understand what life was like for the average European in this period
  3. to understand how various themes changed over time
Our skill objectives are: 
  1. to practice critical thinking
  2. to learn how to write and communicate more effectively (see my grading criteria for writing)

Requirements

The course requirements are weighted heavily to reading, understanding, and writing. The bulk of each student's grade will be derived from written evaluations of our readings and participation in discussions of them.  First, each student must keep an intellectual journal, and I will grade selections of them in the first few weeks to determine a grade (see below). If you choose to continue the journal for all readings, which I encourage, if done properly you will receive consideration for an upward revision of your final grade. For all non-journal writing, please focus on creating theses and arguments, using evidence, and crafting readable prose. Take time to find the precise combination of words that will allow you to communicate your thoughts most effectively to your readers. In order to help you strive to do your best work you will receive timely and copious comments. All study questions and assignments will be at the bottom of this page. All assignments are due at the beginning of class, and no late submissions will be accepted once class has started. Any deadline missed (even by a minute) will result in a 50 percent reduction in the grade for the assignment for each day or part day it is late. If any assignment is not submitted it will result in a failing grade for the course. Although this sounds harsh and unyielding, it allows me to evaluate all work equally. Even a minute more editing gives the late student an unfair advantage over the students who submit their work on time. Likewise, your timely attendance at all classes, except when absences are excusable and documented, is expected. Failure to appear and actively participate WILL affect your grade.

You must also practice civil discourse in communication with me and peers. Thus, the email beginning, "Yo, Prof." will be ignored. If you email me you should begin with a proper salutation, write in complete and grammatically correct sentences, and conclude with an appropriate sign-off. I will neither read nor respond to sloppy discourse. I prefer face-to-face conversations or phone calls. We can accomplish much more in direct communication. If I am unavailable, you may email. But plan ahead because I only check email once or twice a day at most. In class you are free to disagree, and in fact I encourage it, with me or your classmates. Your rebuttals, however, should be couched in reason and logic and critique the other person's ideas, not the person himself or herself.

Out of respect for me and your peers, please turn off cell phones. I will answer the calls and ask you to leave the classroom for the rest of the period.

Disability Statement

Requests for academic accommodations are to be made during the first three weeks of the semester (except for unusual circumstances) so that appropriate arrangements can be made.  Students are required to register with Academic Resource Services in the Advising Office located on the first floor of Biddle House (contact ext. 1080 or waybranj@dickinson.edu)to verify their eligibility for appropriate accommodations. Likewise, any conflicts with religious holidays must be pointed out to me by the end of the second week.
Academic Honesty

This course follows the College's policy on plagiarism as defined in Students Records, Rights, and Responsibilities and Proscriptions on Conduct. Please ask any questions in advance in order to avoid potential problems. Academic honesty is fundamental to the activities and principles of a college. All members of the academic community must be confident that each person's work has been responsibly and honorably acquired, developed, and presented. Any effort to gain an advantage not given to all students is dishonest whether or not the effort is successful. The academic community regards academic dishonesty as an extremely serious matter, with serious consequences. When in doubt about plagiarism, paraphrasing, quoting, or collaboration, consult the Student Handbook or ask me.

Grading

Intellectual Journal 10 percent
Document Analysis 25 percent
Midterm Exam 25 percent
Final Exam 25 percent
Participation 15 percent
Participation is attendance and active engagement in discussions.

Unless otherwise noted in class, all written work below a "C", except the final paper, must be rewritten within one week after I return them. Rewrites will continue until the papers represent "C" quality work.  The final grade for each assignment will be an average of all attempts, but not higher than a "C".  This, hopefully, will encourage the best possible work on the first attempt and reward students accordingly.  It should also ensure that by the end of the class each student should be well on her/his way to becoming a successful and effective writer.

You must keep all assignments and my comments and be prepared to send them to me at any time.

Reading List

Ash, The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague. ISBN 0679740481 REQUIRED
Blaisdell, Communist Manifesto and other Revolutionary Writings. ISBN 0486424650 REQUIRED
Orwell, Homage to Catalonia. ISBN 0141187379 REQUIRED
Levi, Survival in Auschwitz. ISBN: 0684826801 REQUIRED
Kishlansky, Civilization in the West, vol. C RECOMMENDED

I will also place a number of textbooks on modern Europe on reserve. You may, and should,read any of them to keep up with the general narrative of events if you do not purchase the optional Kishlansky text. In addition, all students should read and regularly consult Strunk's and White's classic Elements of Style eithe on-line or by purchasing the book (less that $5 most likely). I would dare say that few serious writers have concluded their careers without reading this pithy reference.

Important Dates

  • Spring Break: March 8-13
  • Roll Call Grades Due: March 5
  • Last Day to Withdraw: March 27
  • Classes End: May 1

 

Week 1: Early Modern Europe

Week 2: Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment

Week 3: The French Revolution

  • Tuesday: Read Blaisdell, pp. 63-66, 70-81.
  • Friday: Continued

Week 4: Nationalism and Nation-building

Week 5: The Industrial Revolution

Week 6: Consequences of Industrialization: Urbanization and Class-Consciousness

Week 7: The Rise of Liberalism

Week 8: Spring Break

Week 9: International Industrialization and Imperialism

Week 10: Victorian Values and Challenges to the Middle Class

Week 11: The First World War

  • Tuesday: No Class. I'll be in England
  • Friday: World War I

Week 12: Turmoil between the Wars

  • Tuesday: Versailles Treaty (read Articles 8-12, 18-23 42-45, 51, 80-81, 84, 87, 166, 119, 160, 168, 173, 181, 198, 227, 231-233, 427); Weimar, and the Great Depression
  • Friday: Fascism, Nazism, Bolshevism

Week 13: World War II, the Atrocities and the Aftermath

  • Tuesday:Discuss Orwell, Homage to Catalonia.
  • Friday: WW II. Levi, Survival in Auschwitz; UN Charter on Genocide

Week 14: The Postwar Years

  • Tuesday: Cold War. Churchill, "Sinews of Peace" (aka "Iron Curtain Speech), Stalin's response, Truman Doctrine, Brezhnev Doctrine
  • Friday: Challenges of the 1960s: Feminism, youth, de-colonization, etc.

Week 15: The Postwar Years, Part 2

Final Exam: 09:00, May 12