Fall 1999
History 256
Professor: Caldwell
Office: Fondren 544
Office Hours: W 1-3
MWF 11:00-11:50
 

This course examines social, cultural, and political developments in Europe from 1890 to 1945. In the first part of the semester, we examine the era of imperialism leading up to World War One; the foundations of the modern welfare state; and the challenge to nineteenth century liberalism. In the next part, we discuss the changes in state structure, foreign policy, and political culture brought about during and after World War One, and in particular the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Finally, we spend the last weeks of the course examining the economic crisis of 1929, the rise of fascism in Germany, and Europe's entry into the Second World War. Throughout the semester, we will pay attention both to the challenges to constitutional democracy from Left and Right, and the development of a critical, "modernist" culture in intellectual circles and in everyday life.

The following books are required:

 Felix Gilbert and David Clay Large, The End of the European Era,4th ed. (New York: Norton, 1991).
 Eric Cahm, The Dreyfus Affair in French Society and Politics (Addison-Wesley, 1996)
 Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols/The Antichrist, tr., Hollingdale (New York: Penguin, 1990).
 R.J.W. Evans and Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann, The Coming of the First World War (New York: Oxford, 1988.
 Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford, 1994).
 John M. Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (New York: Viking/Penguin, 1995).
 Mikhail Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog (New York: Grove, 1987)
 Loren R. Graham, The Ghost of the Executed Engineer (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993).
 Martin Broszat, Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany (Providence: Berg, 1987).
 George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (New York: Harcourt-Brace, 1969).

All required reading is available on reserve at the Library.
All required reading that is not available from the campus store is available as an article on reserve in the library.

The following book has been ordered and is recommended for purchase:
 Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations,  6th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996)
 

Requirements: There is one library assignment, involving research tools and strategies, due on Nov. 24; four short papers (around 5 pages) on readings, based on questions handed out in advance; one midterm; a self-scheduled final exam; and a grade for participation in discussion section.

Library assignment (Nov. 24)        10%
Papers:                                           10%/each (40%)
Midterm (October 22)                    15%
Final exam:                                     25%
Discussion/participation:                10%

Remark on the Library Assignment: The purpose of the library assignment will be to acquaint you with the research skills necessary for historical research both in Rice’s library and by means of electronic search engines. I will ask you to give me a bibliography of works in English on a subject for the past fifteen years, using correct humanities-style citations as described in Turabian, A Manual for Writers (pp. 165 ff.), with an indication of whether these works are here at Rice and if not, where they are kept. I will provide you with more information on the assignment over the course of the semester.

Remark on the Papers: The papers may be on any one of the following class readings: Davin, Cahm, Nietzsche, Broszat, Keynes, Bulgakov, Graham, or Orwell. The papers will be due on week after the readings are discussed in class. You may answer the questions that are handed out in advance, or you may answer a question of your own choosing; if you do the latter, however, you should be sure that you have formulated a question that provides you with a clear thesis and allows you to develop a coherent and convincing argument.  All papers should be double-spaced and as free as possible of grammatical and spelling errors. In addition, you should cite the work you are discussing accurately, using either humanities or social science style citation. We will discuss what these are during the class. If you have any doubt about how to cite, please refer to Turabian’s Manual for Writers, which I have ordered for the class.  You may revise up to two of your papers. In neither case will a revision raise your final grade by more than 2/3 of a grade (e.g. from B to A-). In addition, revisions that simply incorporate the changes suggested by your professor are not acceptable; a good revision should take comments to heart and not only correct minor errors, but also rethink an essay as a whole. Revised papers should therefore be handed in with the original paper attached.
 

WEEK ONE

Aug. 30-Sept. 3: Introduction: Europe in 1890: Political and economic systems.

Readings: Gilbert/Large, The End of the European Era, 1-54; Anna Davin, "Imperialism and Motherhood," History Workshop 5 (1978), 9-65.

WEEK TWO

Sept. 8-10: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Parliamentarianism: the governments of France, England, Germany, and Russia before World War One.

Sept. 10: Discussion: **Cahm, The Dreyfus Affair in French Society and Politics**

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 54-100; Cahm, The Dreyfus Affair in French Society and Politics.

WEEK THREE

Sept. 13-17: The "fin-de-siècle" in Europe: development of the welfare state and cultural "modernism" and "decadence."

Sept. 17: Discussion: **Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols**

Reading: Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols.

WEEK FOUR

Sept. 20-24: Prewar Crises: The Russian Revolution of 1905, Workers' Movements in Germany, and Nationalities Crises in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Sept. 24: Discussion. **Revolution and Social Unrest in Russia and Germany**

Readings: Abraham Ascher, “Gapon and Bloody Sunday,” in The Revolution of 1905 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), I:74-101; Richard Evans, "'Red Wednesday' in Hamburg: Social Democrats, Police and Lumpenproletariat in the Suffrage Disturbances of 17 January 1906," from Rethinking German History: Nineteenth Century Germany and the Origins of the Third Reich (London: Allen and Unwinn, 1987), 248-290.

WEEK FIVE

Sept. 27-Oct. 1: The Coming of World War One

Oct. 1: Discussion., **The Coming of the First World War**

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 100-122; Evans and Pogge von Strandmann, The Coming of the First World War.

WEEK SIX

Oct. 4-8: Social and Political Transformation I: Britain and France in the Great War.

Oct. 8: Discussion, **research tools in the library**

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 122-135; Gerd Hardach, "Industrial Mobilization in 1914-1918: Production, Planning, and Ideology," in Patrick Fridenson, ed, The French Home Front 1914-1918 (Providence:: Berg, 1992), 57-88; Jenny Gould, “Women’s Military Services in First World War Britain,” in Behind the Lines: Gender and the Two World Wars (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), 114-25.

WEEK SEVEN

Oct. 11-15: Social and Political Transformation II: Germany, Russia, and the Coming of the Revolutions.

Oct. 15: Discussion: **Transformations of World War One**.

Readings: Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, 1-67; Gilbert/Large, 136-38; 144-53.

WEEK EIGHT

Oct. 20: The Challenge of the New World

             OCTOBER 22: IN-CLASS MIDTERM.

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 157-191.

WEEK NINE

Oct. 25-29: The Economic Consequences of the Peace.

Oct. 29: Discussion. **Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace**

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 192-210; Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1-225.

WEEK TEN

Nov. 1-5: Exhaustion and Exhilaration: The Roaring Twenties.

Nov. 5: Discussion: **Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog**

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 226-240; Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, 68-106, Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog.

WEEK ELEVEN

Nov. 8-12: The Origins of Stalinism and Fascism.

Nov. 12: Discussion. **Graham, The Ghost of the Executed Engineer**

Reading: Gilbert/Large, 210-221; Graham, The Ghost of the Executed Engineer; Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, 106-172.

WEEK TWELVE

Nov. 15-19: The Depression and the Nazi Seizure of Power.

Nov. 19: Discussion. **Broszat, Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany**

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 241-247; Broszat: Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany.

WEEK THIRTEEN

Nov. 22-24: The Thirties: Years of Depression and Political Turmoil.

Nov. 24: Library Assignment Due.

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 283-317; Begin Orwell, Homage to Catalonia.

WEEK FOURTEEN

Nov. 29-Dec. 3: The Second World War.

Dec. 3: Discussion. **Orwell, Homage to Catalonia**

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 318-339; Orwell, Homage to Catalonia.

WEEK FIFTEEN

Dec. 6-8: The Holocaust.

Readings: Gilbert/Large, 339-352.