HISTORY 313: EUROPE 1914-45
Instructor: Katharine Kennedy
Office: 316 Buttrick
Phone: ext. 6239; (404) 289-5134 (home)
Office hours: M,W: 3:45-4:15; T,Th: 2:00-3:00; F: 11:30-12:00 and by arrangement. Please feel free to drop by whenever I am in my office.
This course concerns upheavals, wars, and economic crises that have reverberated in Europe and elsewhere throughout the century. The focus will be on public and private experience of war and peace, of Nazism and the Holocaust. These topics raise fundamental questions about economic relations, western culture, ethnicity, nationalism, gender, and politics. Recently, the harrowing events in Bosnia have provided a new lens through which to view the era of the two world wars.
This course will give students an opportunity to read, analyze, and discuss primary and secondary sources. In addition, each student will read and write about a subject of special interest to her and in the process hone her research skills. The study of Europe in the era of the world wars should give students an understanding of the causes and courses of the deadliest wars in modern times, as well as thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of German fascism and genocide. This knowledge, in turn, should strengthen students' understanding of contemporary European affairs. The goals of this course, then, are to enhance students' skills in reading, critical thinking, oral expression, research and writing, while increasing their knowledge and understanding of major historical developments in Europe in the era of world wars.
Required textbooks:
Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925, 1933. (Penguin Edition, 1994)
Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, 1992
Felix Gilbert and David Large, The End of the European Era, 1890 to the Present, 4th edition, 1991.
Carol Rittner and John Roth, eds., Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust, 1993.
Eugen Weber, The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s, 1994.
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9/9 |
M |
Introduction: A New Century | ||||
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9/11 |
W |
Society and Culture on the Eve of War | ||||
| Gilbert, 3-33; Brittain, 11-59 |
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| 9/16 | M | The Road to War: Crisis in Bosnia and the Balkans | ||||
| Gilbert, 101-121 Brittain, 59-100 | ||||||
| 9/18 | W | Fighting the Great War: Images of the Trenches | ||||
| Gilbert, 122-53; Brittain, 100-134 | ||||||
| 9/23 | M | Vera Brittain Remembers the Great War | ||||
| Brittain, 135-244 Written comments due on Brittain |
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| 9/25 | W | Peacemaking: A New Europe or Seeds of War? | ||||
| Gilbert, 157-91 | ||||||
| 9/30 | M | Research strategies | ||||
| Meet in the library for a session designed to help you exploit available resources to find the material that you need for your research project. | ||||||
| 10/2 | W | The Twenties: Politics and Economy after the War | ||||
| Gilbert, 192-211, 229-40 Weber, 3-25 |
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| 10/7 | M | The Interwar Years: Culture and Intellectual Life | ||||
| Weber, 182-236 Gilbert, 241-54 |
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| 10/9 | W | Depression and the Thirties: Weber's France | ||||
| Weber, 26-110, 257-282 written comments due on Weber |
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| 10/14 | M | Fascism: Italian Case | ||||
| Gilbert, 210-221 Bibliography and prospectus due |
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| 10/16 | W | Hitler and the Nazis | ||||
| Gilbert, 255-67 | ||||||
| 10/21 | M | MIDTERM EXAM | ||||
| 10/23 | W | The Nazis Come to Power | ||||
| Gilbert, 267-82 | ||||||
| 10/28 | M | "Triumph of the Will" and Nazi Propaganda Film | ||||
| 10/30 | W | Nazi Society: The Experience of Women | ||||
| Bock and Kaplan in Rittner/ Roth, pp. 161-186, 187-212 | ||||||
| 11/4 | M | The Origins of World War II: Hitler and the West | ||||
| Gilbert, 283-304 | ||||||
| 11/6 | W | The Origins of World War II: Czechoslovakia and Poland | ||||
| Gilbert, 304-311, 314-317 | ||||||
| 11/11 | M | The Ordeal of Total War | ||||
| Gilbert, 318-52 draft of paper due |
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| 11/13 | W | The War Against the Jews | ||||
| Rittner/Roth, 1-33; 151-53 | ||||||
| 11/18 | M | Discussion of paper drafts in small groups | ||||
| 11/20 | W | Voices from the Concentration Camps | ||||
| Rittner/Roth, 35-148 | ||||||
| 11/25 | M | Reports on student papers | ||||
| 11/26 | T | FINAL PAPERS DUE | ||||
| 11/27-12/1 | Thanksgiving Break | |||||
| 12/2 | M | Gender and the Holocaust | ||||
| Milton, Koonz in Rittner/Roth, pp. 213-49,287-308 | ||||||
| 12/4 | W | The Perpetrators: Ordinary Germany, Part 1 | ||||
| Browning, xv-xxii, 1-87 | ||||||
| 12/9 | M | The Perpetrators: Ordinary Germany, Part 2 | ||||
| Browning, 88-189 written comments due on Browning |
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| 12/11 | W | Auschwitz Revisited | ||||
| Video: Europa! Europa! (on reserve) | ||||||
Grading:
| final exam | 35% |
| midterm | 30% |
| paper | 20% |
| participation and written comments | 15% |
Grading scale:
| 90%-100% | A |
| 80%-89% | B |
| 70%-79% | C |
| 60%-69% | D |
| below 60% | F |
Assignments:
1. Paper: Each student will write a research paper that is 10-13 pages in length. Conferences will take place early in the semester to develop topics, and you should inform me of your tentative topic by September 25. A library session on September 30 will provide assistance with research, and you will submit a bibliography and a short prospectus explaining the purpose and scope of your project on October 14. In early November, conferences will take place to discuss the structure of your papers. Please bring an outline. A draft of your paper is due on November 11. Two or three other students will read the draft and the drafts will be the basis for discussion in small groups on November 18. Failure to submit a bibliography, an outline, and a draft at the appropriate times will result in the lowering of the final grade on the paper by as much as 1 2/3 letter grades. Final papers are due on November 26. To document your paper, please use the alternative MLA form (endnotes or footnotes). The paper should also include a bibliography. On November 25, each student will make a brief oral presentation explaining the scope and purpose of her project and summarizing her conclusions.
2. Written comments. You should write one to two pages in response to the assigned readings in Brittain, Weber, and Browning. These are due on the days indicated and will serve as a basis for discussion. The book comments should consider the author's purpose and point of view, the book's value to you as a student, and any other reactions that you might have. The grading of written comments will be with a check, check-plus, or check-minus.
3. Exams: Both the midterm exam and the final exam will come from a list of questions distributed in advance.
4. Class Participation: The class participation grade is based on contributions to class discussion, the assigned written comments, and attendance.
POLICY ON ABSENCES AND LATENESS
1. Students will be allowed to make-up the midterm exam only in cases of serious illness or crisis. If you must miss the midterm, call me as soon as possible to discuss your reasons for postponement and to arrange a make-up test.
2. The paper is due on November 26. Any student will, however, be granted a grace period without penalty until December 2 if she has contacted me by 3:00 on November 26 to discuss her situation. After the grace period, the usual college penalty of 1/3 letter grade per day will apply unless you have a serious illness or crisis. Requests for extensions beyond the grace period must be made by telephone or in person as soon as possible.
3. Written comments on the readings and attendance are both part of the class participation grade. Because the purpose of the written comments is to stimulate discussion, it is important that they be completed on time. Lateness without a compelling reason could lower your participation grade. Because one must be present and prepared in order to participate, attendance is a crucial part of that aspect of the grade. Excessive absence will result in the lowering of your participation grade. Students are expected to complete the assigned readings before each class.
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