About Survey of European History, 1850s-1945
This course presents a survey of the political and cultural development of Europe from the fall of Napoleon to the fall of Hitler. At the core of this period is the political structures that govern the European peoples and their neighbors in the center of the European Continent. Themes include problems of unification and division, social adjustments to constitutional democracy and the rise of Fascism, rule over different ethnic groups and racism, social commentary in the arts and literature, economic and military competition between neighboring powers, and the German attempt to dominate the European continent in World War I and World War II. Themes Perennial themes include the origin and diffusion of Nation building and revolutions; the emergence and character of the major political thoughts and philosophical traditions; the frequent clash of systems of thought and how they expanded, spread, and were transformed; the rise and fall of states; technological innovations and the diffusion of technologies. High attention will be given to the different economic, political and social theories developed by different scholars. Their impact in the political upheavals that took place in this period will be our major theme.