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Office:
Hawthorn Hall 206A
(O) 980 6981
Email: dchenlin@iun.edu
Website:
www.iun.edu/~hisdcl
Office hours: TR 9:30-11:30, or by appt.
Preparation
questions for the first in-class test.
Preparation
questions for the second in-class test.
Purpose of
Course
This course covers major political, social, and economic
trends and events in Europe from 1600 to around World War II. It seeks to
examine the context and causes for these trends and events through looking
into modern day explanations in the text and original writings of people
who were participants in these trends and events. This
course also tries to trace our ways of thinking to historical trends and
events in Europe in the past five hundred years, from our ideas of
democracy, liberalism, nationalism, authoritarianism, to our ideas of
science and knowledge, among others.
This course fulfills the following requirements:
- For all majors, it counts as a course that fulfills IUN General Education Principle 2: Breadth of Learning: Cultural and Historical Studies.
- For College of Arts and Sciences majors, it can fulfill one of two requirements:
- COAS Group IIIC: Humanities, or
- COAS Group IV-A: cultures
What to
expect
This course emphasizes a close reading of our textbook
and document book. Since one of the goals of this class is to fine tune
critical reading skills, a close reading of the text-a practice variously
called textual analysis and hermeneutics, among others, helps greatly
toward that goal. You can see the difference in one semester. Each class
session consists of lecturing and Essay questions. Each week there is a
Essay question on an assigned questions. So always be prepared when you
come to class.
Books and Requirements
The following textbook is
available at the IUN bookstore.
Dennis Sherman and Joyce
Salisbury, The West in the World, v.2.
McGraw Hill, 4th edition, 2010.
This textbook has a web site
at http://www.mhhe.com/sherman3
where you can find chapter outlines, quizzes, and much else. Besides this
book, there are also required readings in primary sources that are
available online. The syllabus and lecture notes are available at my
website at http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl.
Method of
grading: all grades are
assigned in percentages, which will be tabulated at the end of the
semester and converted to letter grades. The conversion is as follows:
93-100: A; 90-92.9: A-; 85-89.9: B+; 80-84.9: B; 75-79.9: B-; 70-74.9: C+;
65-69.9: C; 60-64.9: C-; 55-59.9: D+; 50-54.9: D; 45-49.9: D-; 44 and
below: F.
- There are two in-class
tests and two take-home essays. The essays use built-in topics and are
to be 4-6 pages, typed and double-spaced.
- There are four quizzes
that use multiple-choice questions from the textbook's quiz bank at the
Student
edition, which can be found by chapter number.
- You are required to do
five essay questions from under the "class schedule", and turn them in
before class starts, via Oncourse Messages to me.
- To look up archaic and
unfamiliar words in your readings, you can use the Oxford Reference
Online, which, though, is accessible only when you are on campus.
The grade
distribution is as follows:
- Class attendance: 5 per cent (for
those who miss class two times or less in the semester. For those who miss
class more than four times, they receive 0 for their class
attendance.)
- Class participation: 10
per cent
- Four quizzes: 20 per cent
- Five essay question
assignments: 15 per cent
- Take-home essays: 10 per
cent each.
- In-class short answer
tests: 15 per cent each.
There is no extra credit for
this course. The emphasis is good, solid work in all the homework
assignments (which together account for 32 per cent of the final grade)
and careful preparation for each test. The grade distribution is spread
out among a wide range so that if you did not do well on one item, it
might be compensated for by better grades from other items.
Class
Schedule
Week 1 (May
16-May 22)
The page numbers are given for both the 3rd and 4th editions of the textbook. Page numbers for the 3rd edition are indicated with (3rd), and for the 4th edition are indicated with (4th).
May 17
Europe's political systems before the age of parliamentary
governments (or: what triggered the motivation for parliamentary
governments)
1. Introduction.
2. Royal absolutism in France. Sherman,
415-26 (4th); 405-17 (3rd). Online reading: Massacre of
St.Bartholomew's Day. The court of
Louis XIV, Louis
XIV's letter to the people of Marseilles. Lecture
notes.
The site below Louis
XIV, the Sun King gives excellent introduction to Louis XIV and many
pictures of the Versailles Palace. A panoramic view of Versailles
Palace
Essay question 1: What is
shown in Figure 13.3? What image are this building and its lands designed
to convey? Also examine Figure 13.4; what perception do you receive of the
people in this painting?
May 19
1 . The English Revolution,
or, how a parliamentary system was reinforced against absolute kings.
Sherman, 433-444 (4th); 423-32 (3rd). Online reading:
True Law of
Free Monarchies King/queen
heals by touching. Execution of
Charles I. The following site is about Oliver Cromwell's life and
political career.Oliver Cromwell
website Notes. Optional reading: NPR: King James's Bible. NYTimes: Why the King James's Bible endures.
Essay question 2:
Discuss the different fates of the English and the French monarchs who
both wanted to be absolute kings. Do you think the English
revolution made a lasting change to English politics, why or why
not?
2. Locke and Hobbes. Online
reading: Hobbes:
Leviathan, and Locke:
Second treatise on government, chap.8.
Essay question 3: Name
some of the differences between Locke and Hobbes.
Notes.
Week 2 (May
23-29)
May 24
First quiz.
Intellectual changes that affected
people's political views: the emergence of the study of science and the
social sciences.
1. The Scientific
Revolution. Sherman, 452-464 (4th); 441-55 (3rd). Notes.
Students can take a virtual
tour of Florence's Museum of the History of Science, where they can read a
brief biography of Galileo and view his inventions, at:
http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/museo/b/egalilg.html
The
following site at Rice University shows Galileo's villa and maps from his
day:
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Catalog/Files/coprnics.html
Galileo's
condemnation for heresy and his abjuration (1633) are available at:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1630galileo.html
Essay
question 4: Many thinkers in the sixteenth century saw no contradiction in
studying areas we would consider pseudo-science, like alchemy, along with
real science. Examine Figure 14.2; discuss why this was so.
2. Newton and
Descartes. Online readings: Newton:
Mathematical Principles and Descartes:
Discourse on Method. Notes.
Essay
question 5:
"All cats meow. Fluffy is a cat. Therefore, Fluffy meows."
What kind of reasoning, discussed in this chapter, does this example
represent? Give your own example of it. Name the most eminent advocate of
such reasoning during this period. How useful would this kind of reasoning
be for science and philosophy? Do you know the other major kind of
reasoning? It would be illustrated by the following example: "Fluffy, a
cat, meows. Puff, a cat, meows. Daisy, a cat, meows. Therefore, all cats
meow." How reliable is this kind of reasoning? Do we use it today? In
which situations?
May 26
1. The emergence of the
social sciences as a method of social reform. Sherman, 464-73 (4th); 455-64 (3rd)d. Online
readings: Voltaire's
letters #6, on the Presbyterians, #9, on English government and #10 on
trade. Notes.
Essay
question 6: Voltaire had a saying that, loosely translated, meant, "Crush
the infamous thing!" What kinds of "infamous things" did Voltaire have in
mind? With what did he and other philosophes plan to "crush"
them?
2 . Montesquieu and Rousseau. Online readings: Rousseau,
Social Contract. Montesquieu:
Spirit of the laws. Notes.
Essay
question 7: Review the Biography of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Sherman,
460-1). What did Rousseau mean when he called himself a "man of
paradoxes"? Do you think Rousseau was an archetypal Enlightenment thinker?
Week
3 (May 30-June 5) A paradigmatic change:
the French Revolution and the overthrow of the ancien regime (or: the
major event that established the value of republicanism in
Europe)
May 31 2nd quiz
1. The ancien regime. Sherman,
chap.15. Notes.
Essay
question 8: Divide into two groups to debate this principle of Frederick
II of Prussia: "The fundamental rule of governments is the principle of
extending their territories."
2. The French Revolution and its
ramifications. Sherman, chap.15 and chap.16. Online reading: letter
of Marie Antoinette. Travels of
Arthur Young. Declaration of the
Rights of Man.. Robespierre,
Terror and Virtue.
Students can see several views of Paris in 1789
at:
http://www.mediaport.net/CyberScience/BDD/fich_037.en.html
Notes on
the Causes of the French Revolution: Images of
the French Revolution
Essay question
9: Imagine yourselves to be clergy; aristocrats; and middle
class and peasants. The scene is France, early in 1789. Discuss each
group's demands.
June
2
1. Notes on
the process and aftermath of the French Revolution
Essay question
10:
Why did the French revolution start with goals of liberty and
fraternity, but end up with the revolutionary leadership such as the
Girondins and the Jacobins deeply disagreeing with one another and among
themselves?
2. 19th Century Europe:
1.The Industrial Revolution
and its social impact. Sherman, chap.17. Notes.
Essay question 11: How did
the Industrial Revolution transform European lives?
Students can
explore 1827 London at the following site, with an online, clickable
version of Greenwood's map of the city:
http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/greenwood/home.html
At
the sites below, students can read about and see illustrations of the
flying shuttle, spinning jenny, and other innovations of
industrialization:
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TEXflying.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TEXjenny.htm
Week 4 (June 6-12)
First take-home paper due
from Oncourse email attachment by June 13. Paper topic: Imagine yourself
being an English traveling with Arthur Young in France in 1789. Based on a
comparison of the kings of England and France in the past two centuries
and the fate of the English kings in the English revolution, comment on
what is going on in France and predict what will happen in
France.
Note: You need to read Arthur Young's travelogue
carefully and identify which parts you want to use as your own
"observation" of France. Then, identify each of them followed by
careful explanation of why it is so (which Arthur Young does not really
do): go to Voltaire for comparisons with English politics, noble
privileges/taxation,/religion/trade, and go to earlier lectures on English
revolution and Louis XIV of France to see how the two political systems
became so different.
June
7 Reactions against the French
Revolution and the Industrial Revolution
1. In the wake of the
Industrial Revolution: the rise of socialism and Marxism. Sherman,
589-591 (4th); 578-9 (3rd). Online reading: Communist
Manifesto. Notes.
Essay
Homework 12: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
believed that class struggle and economic self-interest drove human
action. Describe their view of history and of the future. Do you agree
that these factors are the most important elements in understanding human
history? Why or why not?
2. The rise of Romanticism and
Liberalism. Sherman, 582-83(4th), 586-89 (4th); 570-71(3rd), 574-77 (3rd). Adam
Smith Wealth of Nations. David
Ricardo, The Iron Law of Wages. Notes.
Essay questions:
13. How did the Romantics
distinguish themselves from Enlightenment philosophy? What elements did
they contribute to economic liberalism?
14. Define
nineteenth-century economic liberalism. What do we mean by "liberalism"
today? Has its meaning changed
June
9
1. John Stuart Mill and
political liberalism. Sherman, 583(4th); 572(3rd). John Stuart Mill, On Liberty.
Essay question 15: Do you
agree with Mill's criticism of the representative government? What are
your expectations of our representative government?
2. First in-class
examination.
Week 5
(June 13-19)
June
14 Nationalism and Italian and German
unifications.3rd Quiz
1. Return of a conservative
political order and modern conservatism as a political theory. Sherman,
581-82 (4th); 591-92(4th); 565-91 (3rd). Edmund
Burke: Reflections on the French Revoultion. Notes.
Essay
question 16: Discuss what France, Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia-at
the Congress of Vienna wanted from the Congress of Vienna.
2. The rise of modern
nationalism and Italian unification. Sherman,583-86(4th), 610-11(4th);
596-8(3rd). Cavour on
Italian unification. Giuseppe Mazzini,
The Duties of
Man. Notes.
Essay
question:
In the period 1850-1870, what states would be more fearful of
and threatened by nationalism? Name two areas in Europe where nationalism
had strong appeal. Explain why these states or parts of states feared or
embraced nationalism. Hint: consider Map 19.3.
June
16
1. German unification. Sherman,
610-16 (4th); 598-603(3rd). Otto von
Biamarck. Description
of Bismarck. Notes.
Essay
question 17: What was the role of Austria in Italian and German
unifications?
Mechanization of industry, demand
for market, and imperialism.
2. The nature of
imperialism. Sherman, chap.20(4th); 628-40(3rd). Rudyard Kipling,
The White Man's Burden. Notes.
Essay
question question 18: Discuss the views of the Comte de Gobineau and
Houston Stewart Chamberlain. What kinds of people do you think might be
prone to adopting these views? Do you see any connections between them and
nationalism?
Week 6
(June 20-26)
June
21 "Descending" into the 20th century:
war, revolution, and ultra-nationalism. 4th
quiz
1. The causes of World
War I. Sherman, 691-705(4th); 673-88(3rd). Zimmerman
telegram. Notes.
An
excellent starting point for students interested in World War I is the
following site, with many clickable maps, images, and texts:
http://www.worldwar1.com/
Students
can view one hundred paintings depicting World War I by artists of the era
at:
http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/visite.html
Hosted
by the BBC, the following site offers students audio and video sources on
World War I, including a 1984 interview with a man who, at the age of
fourteen, fought in the war:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1998/10/98/world_war_i/newsid_197000/197437.stm
To
learn more about the role of women in the Great War and on the war's
influence on women's issues, students can explore the text and images
at:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWwomen.htm
Essay
question 19: Draw up war tactics and strategies (refer to Map 22.3).
Include what each side hopes to avoid as it pursues the war.
2. Post WWI settlement and
the interwar years. Sherman, 705-10(4th); 689-92(3rd). Woodrow Wilson,
Fourteen Points. Notes.
Essay
question 20: Study Map 22.5. Identify the land taken from the losers of
World War I. What ethnic groups lived in these areas? Woodrow Wilson
advocated the idea of national self-determination as the basis for the
creation of states. Was this principle uniformly applied? Why or why
not?
June 23
The rise
of fascism and Nazism. Sherman, chap 23. Mussolini:
What Is Fascism? Hitler: The 25
Points. Speech
(1921) and Mein Kampf
A very
useful online guide to the film Schindler's List (see below) is available
at:
http://www.tulane.edu/~so-inst/slindex.html
A
collection of Nazi propaganda is available at:
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/
Examples
of leaflets dropped as propaganda may be found online at:
http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1915/propleaf.html
Notes on
Fascism
Essay question 21: Study Figure 23.6. Using this photograph
as your primary source, describe the nature of Mussolini's fascism. Then,
study Figure 23.11. Undertake the same exercise. Compare the images in
each picture. How are they alike and different?
Notes on
Nazism
Essay question 22:
Discuss how unemployed German army
veterans of World War I; middle-class women; socialists; wealthy
industrialists; professional army officers; Jewish shopkeepers; devout
Catholics, reacted to the Nazi party in the German diet election of
1932.
Week 7 (June 27-July 3)
Second take-home
paper due via Oncourse on June 28. Paper topic: Imagine yourself as an
American traveler in Germany and Italy during the 1930s, listening to the
speeches made by Hitler and Mussolini at big public gatherings. Try to
explain to the Americans what Hitler's Nazism and Mussolini's Fascism were
through a Essay question of their speeches' connections with and
departures from 19th century European thinking.
June
28
1. World War II and
the aftermath. Sherman, chap 24. Notes.
At
the following site, students can learn a great deal about the American
decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan:
http://www.dannen.com/decision/index.html
Details
about the effects of the bomb that fell on Hiroshima may be studied
at:
http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/index.html
Posters
and other visual resources on the Second World War are available at a
searchable and clickable database maintained by Northwestern
University:
http://www.library.nwu.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/
Essay
question 23:
Play the role of foreign policy advisers to President Harry
Truman in the late 1940s. Draw up a list of recommended actions and
statements addressing the greatest foreign policy concerns in
Europe.
2. Conclusion: Nationalism,
the European Union, and other patterns of European developments today. The
emergence of the new European Union. Conclusion
June 30. Second
in-class examination.
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