Schedule

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

Week 1. Week of 8/18

Wed 8/20—Introduction to Europe in the Era of Total War

In Class:

  • Introductions
  • Europe 1900 to 1945
  • Syllabus – Explanation of the Course
  • Norman Angell vs. Filippo Marinetti

Quick Assignments AFTER CLASS

  • Complete the History 208 Student Questionnaire
  • Make sure you have a notebook for the class – a place to organize your notes on the reading and on classes
  • Make sure you have access to Kershaw
  • Make sure you can find our Moodle pages – and the readings folder

For more fun:

PART 1. SURVEY OF EUROPE 1900 to 1945 – FOLLOWING IAN KERSHAW

Week 2. Week of 8/25

Mon 8/25—Interpreting the 20th c. & Belle Epoque Europe

PREPARATION:

  • Read Syllabus Details – esp. Course Policies & Resources and How to Succeed – note any questions you have – I will ask you about these
  • Read Kershaw, Preface & Introduction, xxiii-xxvi, 1-7
  • Robert Paxton, Europe in the Twentieth Century, Ch. 1 (Europe 1914), pp. 1-38 – at our Moodle Readings Folder
    • A long reading – do not wait until Sunday night to start it!
    • This comes from  an excellent textbook by one of the best American historians of Europe, but it has a lot of detail. Don’t get bogged down. Take away the central themes and key examples that illuminate them and be ready to discuss.
    • Look forward to Friday’s assignment and you’ll see how this can come in handy.
  • Complete Quiz on Kershaw Introduction before class – a chance to test your understanding – not a graded assignment
  • I don’t have a quiz on Paxton – will have to add one sometime. What questions would you include? Important details that reveal a world…
  • Come to class with your reading notes and initial observations – put away phones and laptops and come ready to listen, think, and discuss

In Class:

  • Introductions
  • Historiography – Interpretations of the 20th c.
  • Introduction to Europe in 1900 – Ex. of the Ruhr Valley
  • Themes for the History of Pre-War Europe

Wed 8/27—A Tour of Europe, c. 1900 & the Road to War

Preparation:

  • Read Kershaw, Ch. 1, “On the Brink,” pp. 9-43
  • Complete Quiz on Kershaw Chapter 1 before class – ungraded as all of these short online reading quizzes will be

In Class:

  • Reading Quiz
  • Map of Europe in 1914 – and Map Quiz Study Guide – on Handout Page
    • Map quiz will be due by the end of next week – start studying!
  • Pre-War Europe – Small Groups
  • The Road to War
  • Handout roles for Monday’s World in 1900 Role Play

AFTER CLASS

  • Study the map of Europe in 1914
  • Prepare for World in 1900 Role Play

By Saturday—Short Prep Assignment #1 – World in 1900 

  • Short Assignment to Prepare for Class on Monday
  • Due Saturday at 4:00pm
  • You’ve been assigned a person living in Europe in 1900. In class on Monday, you will tell us about your life, your experience, your local view of the grand events of this history. And you’ll share your first thoughts at the coming of war in 1914, a conflict that would come in time to be known as the Great War
  • How to prepare? Look to our sources – Paxton and Kershaw – and ask AI for help (yes, this is allowed) or look to other sources online and off. Your aim: to learn what you can about how someone in this social position would view the world. Take notes and cite sources (book and page number or website). This is not a deep research assignment; feel free to draw on Wikipedia and web sources. Take notes in a short text document, save as pdf, and upload to Moodle. I expect that you will share with me 1/2 to one page of single spaced notes, with details on the sources of your information.
  • Upload to assignment on Moodle in pdf format
  • Come to class on Monday ready to tell your story without simply reading your notes.

Week 3. Week of 9/1

Mon 9/1—The Great War

Before Class:

  • Read Kershaw, Ch. 2, “The Great Disaster,” pp. 44-92
    • a long chapter that covers a lot of ground. Don’t wait until Sunday night to start reading
    • To be honest, there are some pieces you can skim. I won’t hold you accountable for mastering the history of the war. You’d like to take away:
      • a clear sense for the chronology of the war
      • the nature of combat
      • the different experiences in the east and the west
      • the story of Dzików
      • the involvement of non-European combatants
      • and the impact on government and institutions (in Russia in 1917, for example
    • Come to class with your notes on the reading – and any questions you have
  • Study the map of Europe in 1914
  • Be prepared to explain your story in 1900/1914

In Class:

  • 1900/1914 Role Play
  • Introduction to the First World War
    • The Course of the War – West & East
    • The Home Front – the Polish village of Dzików, for ex
    • The Bolshevik Revolution
    • Impact of the War – and Revolutionary Situations

For more fun:

Wed 9/3—The Great War 

PREPARATION:

  • Finish reading Kershaw, ch. 2, if you didn’t already
  • Read Susan Grayzel, “Liberating Women? Examining Gender, Morality and Sexuality in First World War Britain and France,” in Gail Braybon, ed., Evidence, History and the Great War: Historians and the Impact of 1914-18 (2008) – at our Moodle Readings Folder

In Class:

  • Verdun 1916, Today
  • The Impact of the War
  • Your experience of WWI?
  • Handout roles for Monday’s World War 1 Role Play

Thurs 9/4—Map Quiz of Europe in 1914

Online Map Quiz:

  • Complete the Map of Europe in 1914 Quiz – on Moodle
    • See the Map of Europe in 1914, Study Guide, and Blank Maps – on our Handouts page

By Saturday—Short Assignment #2 – World War 1 and its Aftermath

  • Short Assignment to Prepare for Class on Monday
  • Due Saturday at 4:00pm
  • You’ve been assigned a person living in Europe in 1914-1918. Tell us about your life, your experience, your view of this conflict. It is January 1919. The war is over now (maybe). What do you make of this world?
  • How to prepare? Look to our sources – Kershaw and Grayzel – and ask AI for help (yes, this is allowed) or look to other sources online and off. Your aim: to learn what you can about how someone in this social position would view the world. Take notes and cite sources (book and page number or website). This is not a deep research assignment; feel free to draw on Wikipedia and web sources. Take notes in a short text document, save as pdf, and upload to Moodle. I expect that you will share with me 1/2 to one page of single spaced notes, with details on the sources of your information.
  • Upload to assignment on Moodle in pdf format
  • Come to class on Monday ready to tell your story without simply reading your notes.

Week 4. Week of 9/8

Mon 9/8—The Postwar Settlement

Preparation:

  • Kershaw, Ch. 3, “Turbulent Peace,” pp. 93-148
    • Another long chapter. But note the structure. Each section tells an important story: postwar economic crisis, revolution and counter-revolution, the Russian Civil War, the results of the Paris Peace Conference, challenges to democracy in postwar Europe, the rise of fascism in Italy, the defense of democracy in Weimar.
    • You can skim the state by state summaries of “Fragile Democracy,” pp. 121-134, but take away the main message.
  • Complete Kershaw Ch. 3 Quiz before class (does not count for a grade)

In Class:

  • World War 1 Role Play
  • Intro to the 1920s – Postwar – and Periodization
    • The Paris Peace Conference and the Reordering of Europe
    • Fascist Italy
    • Weimar Germany
    • And note: the Russian Civil War, the fragility of democracy

For Fun

Wed 9/10—The 1920s

Read:

  • Kershaw, Ch. 4, “Dancing on the Volcano,” pp. 149-196
    • Beautifully written and well-organized, but it would take some time to read every word. How to approach these 47 pages?
    • Pay close attention to Kershaw’s framing (in the intro and conclusion)
    • Take away a main point for each section
    • You might skim (just take away the main point) on the sections of “The Cultural Mirror” and the country by country survey of “Faltering Democracies”
    • You should be able to identify terms/names/concepts such as:
      • “roaring twenties”
      • Reichsmark, Dawes Plan, gold standard, General Strike of 1926
      • cars, radio, housing – the Karl Marx Hof
      • rural crisis of the 20s
      • the Soviet Model, Stlin/ Dzhugashvil, “Socialism in One Country,” Five Year Plan, collectivization of agriculture, de-Kulakization, Ukraine famine
      • Cultural pessimism, Weimar Culture, Oswald Spengler
      • Gustav Streseman, Treaty of Locarno, League of Nations, Brian-Kellogg Pact, Young Plan (and German referendum)
      • Interwar democracy, Czechoslovakia, Poland, French “Leagues”, Nazi party, President von Hindenburg, rule by decree
      • “dancing on the volcano” in 1929
  • Complete Kershaw Ch. 4 Quiz before class (does not count for a grade)

In Class:

  • The Roaring 20s – what kind of foundation for the future?
  • Good Times
  • The Soviet Alternative
  • Faltering Democracies
  • Other developments: roles for women, mass culture, modernism, etc.

To Share

Sun 9/14—Review Session

ONline:

  • Optional online review session
  • Sunday night at 8:00pm – Meeting online on Teams

Week 5. Week of 9/15

Mon 9/15—Exam #1 and Introduction to the 1930s and Beyond

Preparation

  • Prepare for Short Exam #1 – see Introduction & Format for format – and Exam #1 Study Guide for key themes and details (also in Word format) (**needs update**)
  • Be sure to bring your laptop to take exam
  • No other preparation necessary

IN CLASS:

  • Short Exam #1 – a thirty minute exam in class
  • Film as Entertainment, Film as Propaganda
  • Introduction to the 1930s and Beyond

FOR FUN

Wed 9/17—The Great Depression and the Nazi Seizure of Power

Read:

  • Kershaw, Ch. 5, “Gathering Shadows,” pp. 197-246
    • You can skim the sections on Central and Eastern Europe, “Fertile Ground for the Right,” pp. 241-245
  • Complete Kershaw Ch. 5 Quiz before class (does not count for a grade)

In CLASS:

  • First
    • Map of Interwar Europe – and Study Guide for Map Quiz #2
    • News from Europe
  • Introduction to the 1930s and Beyond
  • The Depression
  • Allure of Fascism
  • Nazi Seizure of Power – in two acts
  • Elsewhere in Europe
  • Handout Roles for Nazi Germany

Fri 9/19—Short Assignment #3 – Appeal of Fascism

  • Short Assignment to Prepare for Class on Monday
  • Due Friday at 4:00pm
  • You’ve been assigned a person living in Nazi Germany in the 1936. How do you view the rise of the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler?
  • Look to our sources – Kershaw – and ask AI for help (yes, this is part of the assignment) to learn what you can about how someone in this social position would view these times. Take notes and cite sources (book and page number or website). Put these in a short text document, save as pdf, and upload to Moodle
  • Come to class on Monday ready to tell your story without simply reading your notes.
  • Upload to assignment on Moodle in pdf format

More Examples

Week 6. Week of 9/22

Mon 9/22—Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism

Read:

  • Kershaw, Ch. 6, “Danger Zone,” pp. 247-294
    • There’s a lot here – as in all of these chapters
    • Read: Intro, The International Order Crumbles, (Skim Dictatorship), Dynamic Dictatorship: Ideology and Mass Mobilization, (Skim Stalinism, Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany), Dynamic Dictatorships in Comparison
    • You should come away with:
      • A sense for the decisions that brought Europe back to the edge of war
      • An understanding of Kershaw’s comparison of totalitarian (and would-be totalitarian states)
  • Complete Kershaw Ch. 6 Quiz before class (does not count for a grade)

In Class:

  • Discuss: Appeal of Nazism
  • Comparative Totalitarianism

Wed 9/24—The Rush to War

Read:

  • Kershaw, Ch. 7, “Towards the Abyss,” pp. 295-345
    • There’s a lot here – as in all of these chapters
    • Feel free to skim the sections on the French Popular Front, which I explained to you briefly, and on the Spanish Civil War, which we are going to talk about in detail in a few weeks.
    • You should come away with:
      • An understanding of the international crises (and maneuvering) that led to war
  • Complete Kershaw Ch. 7 Quiz before class (does not count for a grade)

In Class:

  • International Crises of the 1930s

Thurs 9/25—Map Quiz of Interwar Europe

Online Map Quiz:

  • Complete the Map of Interwar Quiz – on Moodle
  • See the Map of Interwar Europe, Study Guide, and Blank Maps – on our Handouts page

For fun:

Week 7. Week of 9/29

Mon 9/29—The Abyss

Read:

  • Kershaw, Ch. 8, “Hell on Earth”
    • Read the introduction, 346-348
    • You can skim the blow by blow account of the war, “A Continent in Flames,” 348-356
    • Read “The Bottomless Pit of Inhumanity,” 356-373
    • You can skim “Hell on Earth’s Many Meanings,” 373-403 – I’ll discuss some aspects of this section
    • Read “Lasting Meaning” and conclusion, 403-407
  • Complete the Kershaw Ch. 8 Quiz before class (does not count for a grade)
  • Complete the Practice Quiz on Moodle before class
    • Note that it will require downloading the Safe Exam Browser (and may require restarting your computer)
  • Please bring your laptop computer to class so we can test Moodle before Wednesday’s exam

For a Closer Look

  • “German Invasion of Poland” – at Britannica

Wed 10/1—Exam #2 and Introduction to Next Part of Our Course

Preparation

  • Prepare for Short Exam #2 – see Exam #2 Study Guide for key themes and details. The format will be the same as the first exam
  • Be sure to bring your laptop to take exam
  • No other preparation necessary

IN CLASS:

  • Short Exam #2 – a thirty minute exam in class
  • Reflections on Europe 1890-1945
  • Introduction to Research Paper Assignment & Next Part of Our Course

After the Exam

For a Closer Look

FALL BREAK 10/4 – 10/12

PART 2. CASE STUDIES — FOLLOWING WINTER, ORWELL, and YOUR OWN READING

Week 8. Week of 10/13

Mon 10/13—Research Papers & Reading History—The Memory of the Great War

Preparation:

  • Start work on your Research Papers
  • Jay Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning (Cambridge University Press, 1995)
    • We will spend some quality time in the next couple weeks with this classic historical monograph on the memory of WW1
    • The book is available online at Ebook Central. You will need to create an account if you don’t have one already, which may help you find other monographs. (As a backup I include a copy of the introduction in our Moodle readings folder)
    • Before class on Monday, read the introduction, pp. 1–11
    • Please come to class with a few notes on your reading

IN CLASS:

  • Welcome Back!
  • Talk Research Papers
  • How to read a secondary source
  • Introduction to Jay Winter and memory studies
  • Discuss Winter, Sites of Memory, Introduction

For FUn

  • Abel Gance, “J’Accuse” (1919) – “trailer” showing the return of the dead – at Mubi.com

AFTER CLASS:

  • Sign up for one chapter in Winter to read, discuss with your group, and prepare a presentation for next Monday
    • See Signup on Moodle – don’t be late – choice closes on Tuesday at midnight!

Wed 10/15—Research Papers & Reading History

Preparation:

  • Draft your Research Assignment #1 – Research Paper Proposal
    • Come to class with your outline or draft ready to discuss
    • You will need to know your topic and have identified some sources that you can use to examine it
  • No addl reading, but some questions for Winter
    • What is his topic?
    • What is his historical question?
    • What kind of history is he doing? What are his methods?
    • What is his argument about traditionalism and modernism?
    • According to Winter, what is different about the memory of war after WW2?

IN CLASS:

  • War and its aftermath
  • Winter and memory studies
  • Research Papers

AFTER CLASS:

  • Submit your Research Assignment #1 – Research Paper Proposal
    • Submission due today (Wednesday night) by midnight
    • Upload to Moodle Assignment as pdf

Week 9. Week of 10/20

Mon 10/20—Reading History—Memory of War

Preparation:

  • We’ll continue our discussion of Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning – available online at Ebook Central.
  • Read one chapter per signup on Moodle
    • Meet with your group before class – after reading chapter and with time to prepare a presentation
    • Prepare to present the chapter to the rest of the class – with three or four powerpoint slides and a well-organized presentation of about 10 minutes
    • Upload presentation to Moodle before the start of class

In Class:

  • Groups will present their chapter to the rest of the class. What is the subject of the chapter? What evidence does it draw upon? What does it argue? What is interesting? What questions do you have?
  • Some tips: everyone should participate, carry a note card with a few talking points, speak to the class and not to the screen, say “Thank you” when your presentation is complete
  • Chap. 1, “Homecomings: The Return of the Dead”
    • ??
  • Chap. 2, “Communities in Mourning”
    • ??
  • Chap. 3, “Spiritualism and the ‘Lost Generation'”
    • ??
  • Chap. 4, “War Memorials and the Mourning Process”
    • ??
  • Chap. 5, “Mythologies of War: Films, Popular Religion, and the Business of the Sacred”
    • ??
  • Chap. 6, “The Apocalyptic imagination in art: from anticipation to allegory”
    • ??
  • Chap. 7, The Apocalyptic imagination in war literature”
    • ??
  • Chap. 8, “War poetry, romanticism, and the return of the sacred”
    • ??

Wed 10/22—Reading History—Memory of War

Preparation:

  • Read Winter, Conclusion

In Class:

  • Complete presentations
  • Discuss conclusion
  • Discuss Summary of Historical Monograph

Fri 10/24—Research Assignment #2 – Summary of Historical Monograph – Due

  • Details on Research Paper Assignment – on Handout Page
  • Extension if needed until Sunday noon (you don’t even need to ask)

Week 10. Week of 10/27

Mon 10/27—Primary Source—Orwell & the Spanish Civil War

Preparation:

  • Read Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (1938)
    • A pdf of the book in its original version is available in the Moodle Readings folder
    • This is a classic and you might want your own copy, available at a low price at many online bookstores. But note: there are many editions of Homage, and Orwell reorganized the chapters in later editions. The chapter numbers given below refer to the 1938 version and the pdf version.
    • Read the “Overview” on the Orwell Reading Guide on Handouts Page
    • Read Chapter 1 and 2 (arrival in Spain, decision to sign up, initial experience), pp. 1-11
  • Note: we’re going to spend some quality time with George Orwell reading much of his memoir of his experience in Spain during the Civil War. It is easy reading, but does require keeping track of many details and acronyms. See the Orwell Reading Guide on our Handouts page for help on this front. As you read, take some notes with key words, examples, quotations and bring these to class.

Wed 10/29—Primary Source—Orwell & the Spanish Civil War

Preparation:

  • Orwell, Homage to Catalonia,
    • Read Chap 3, pp. 11-18 and Chap. 5, 22-35. Note that Chapter Five is a run down on the political dynamics of Spain. In new editions it is printed as Appendix 1. Orwell says you can skip it – don’t.
    • Come to class with some notes and at least one important quotation from each of these TWO chapters written down in your notebook
  • Keep working on your research paper
    • Come to class with a pithy statement of your critical perspective on your research paper – ready to share with the class

Fri 10/31—Research Assignment #3—Historical Monograph Paper Due

  • Details on Research Paper Assignment – on Handout Page
  • Extension if needed until Sunday at noon

For More Fun:

  • Orwell in Spain – YouTube clip from BBC Four Documentary (note: not the real Orwell!)
  • Land and Freedom, dir. Ken Loach, 1995 drama from the UK, a poor quality version of an important film
  • Peasants of Aragon, – reading from Augustin Souchy’s book “With The Peasants Of Aragon” (1936) with visuals from The Spanish Earth, an anti-fascist film written by John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway from 1937 

Week 11. Week of 11/3

Mon 11/3—Primary Source—Orwell & the Spanish Civil War

Preparation:

  • Orwell, Homage to Catalonia
    • Skim Chapter 8, pp. 50-53 (“The days grew hotter and even the nights grew tolerably warm”)
    • Read Chapter 9, pp. 53-59 (“From Mandalay, in Upper Burma, you can travel by train to Maymyo”)
    • Come to class with a few notes and at least two quotations from each chapter in your notebook
    • Note: we’re skipping much of Orwell’s narrative in which he describes the fighting on the Aragon front
  • Keep working on your research paper
    • Bring your primary source to class and be ready to say a word about it.

Wed 11/5—Primary Source—Orwell & the Spanish Civil War

Read:

  • Orwell, Homage to Catalonia
    • Read Chapter 14, pp. 105-114 (“The worst of being wanted by the police in a town like Barcelona”)
    • Note: We’re skipping over much of the story again: Orwell’s return to the front and taking a bullet through the neck

In CLass

  • The Tools of Historical Thinking
  • Homage to Catalonia – the ending
  • Interpretations of Orwell in Spain

Fri 11/7—Research Assignment #4—Primary Source Summary Due

  • Details on Research Paper Assignment – on Handout Page
  • Extension if needed until Sunday at noon (you don’t even need to ask)

For more fun:

Week 12. Week of 11/10

Mon 11/10—Film Viewing / Discuss Research Papers

Preparation:

  • Work on your primary source paper
  • Answer film choice – see link on Moodle – by noon on Monday

IN CLASS:

  • Research Paper Check In
    • Where we are going
    • Primary source analysis
    • Plagiarism & Ethical Citation
  • We’ll watch the first half of our film – and talk about film as a source for history

LINKS FOR FILMS:

Wed 11/12—Film Viewing / Discuss Research Papers

Preparation

  • Work on your primary source paper

In Class:

  • We’ll watch the second half of our film – and talk about film as a source for history
  • Questions about primary source paper

Fri 11/14—Research Assignment #5 – Primary Source Analysis Paper – Due

  • Details on Research Paper Assignment – on Handout Page
  • Extension if needed until Sunday at noon (you don’t even need to ask)

Week 13. Week of 11/17

Mon 11/17—Alternative Sources & Research Papers

Preparation

  • Keep working on your research papers
    • Come to class with a one page outline that brings together secondary and primary sources – printed in two hard copies
    • Outline should include:
      • Working title of your paper
      • Statement of historical question
      • Historical monograph
        • Who is author? What is topic?
        • Argument of book
        • Your critical perspective
        • Evidence and analysis
          • 3-5 quotations or examples and a word about your analysis
      • Primary source
        • Description of your source (or corpus of sources)
        • Critical perspective
        • Evidence and analysis
          • 3-5 quotations or examples and a word about your analysis
      • Conclusion
        • A statement of significance. Why does this matter?
  • Review Study Guide for Exam #3 – on Handouts Page

In Class:

  • Discuss alternative sources for history of 20th c. Europe
  • Introduce and prepare for Exam #3
  • We’ll workshop our research papers

SOME ALTERNATIVE SOURCES:

  • The long life of colonialism – Adam Hochschild, “The Cruelties of Empire,” New York Review of Books (November 24, 2022) – review of Carolyne Elkins, Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire and J.P. Daughton, In the Forest of No Joy: The Congo-Océan Railroad and the Tragedy of French Colonialism – at NYBooks
  • Cultural History – Fin de Siècle Vienna, Weimar Berlin
    • For a fun video lecture that connects the fashions and images of Weimar Berlin with many recent appropriations – “The Weimar Republic” – at Ultimate Fashion History
  • History of Sexuality – Weimar sexualities, post WW1 sexualities, etc.
    • “Falling in Love Again,” from The Blue Angel – at YouTube
  • Visual Culture – The Art of Käthe Kollwitz, for ex
    • “Käthe Kollwitz” – at MOMA
    • Surrealism and Cinema – “Andalusian Dog” (1929) – at YouTube
  • History of Emotions
    • Lucy Noakes, “Introduction,” Dying for the nation: Death, grief and bereavement in Second World War Britain (2020) – at JSTOR
    • Bruce Cabanes, “Negotiating Intimacy in the Shadow of War (France, 1914–1920s),” French Politics, Culture, History (2013) – at JSTOR
  • The Dark Story of Eastern Europe – Anne Applebaum, “The Worst of the Madness,” (November 11, 2010), review of Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands, and Norman Naimark, Stalin’s Genocides (2010) – at NYBooks

Questions for Class Workshop

1. What is the topic of the paper? Is it clear?
2. Does the paper have a clear historical question?
3. A clear sense of context? Is there anything to add on context?
4. Clear presentation of historical monograph?
5. Clear critical perspective?
6. Clear presentation of primary source?
7. Clear critical perspective?
8. Clear statement of the significance of the topic?
9. Does the paper have an informative and appealing title?

Wed 11/19—Exam #3 – and Prep for Poster Session

Preparation

  • Prepare for Short Exam #3
  • Be sure to bring your laptop to take exam – note, you may want to restart your computer before the exam

IN CLASS:

  • Short Exam #3 – a thirty minute exam in class
  • Discuss next week’s poster session

Week 14. Week of 11/24

PART 3. OUR RESEARCH IN THE HISTORY OF TWENTIETH C. EUROPE

Mon 11/24—Class Poster Session

Preparation:

  • Print pages for your poster per the Poster Session Instructions – on Handouts Page
  • You’ll bring printed pages, I’ll bring the poster boards and tape or pushpins. You’ll prepare your poster at the start of class and we will do poster session in two parts
  • Dress professionally or semi-professionally (that means “business professional” or “business casual”)
  • Come ready to present your research paper with a one to two minute introduction and to answer questions
  • Note that your role as an audience member is an important one! You will visit your classmates posters, listen attentively, and ask questions

In Class:

  • Class Poster Session!
  • Preparation 2:00-2:15
  • Session 1 – 2:15-2:35
    • ??
  • Session 2 – 2:35-2:55
    • ??
  • Session 3 – 2:55-3:15
    • ??
  • Final comments and Clean Up 3:15

Wed 11/26—No Class! Happy Thanksgiving!

CONCLUSION

Week 15. Week of 12/1

Mon 12/1—Conclusions

Class PrepaRATION:

  • Let’s look back to where we began
    • Re-read Kershaw, Preface & Introduction, xxiii-xxvi, 1-7
    • Re-read Norman Angell, The Great Illusion (1913; orig. 1909), “Synopsis” from week 1 – at Moodle
    • Re-read Filippo Marinetti, “Futurist Manifesto” (1909) from week 1 – at Moodle

In class:

  • Back to Our Beginning – Week One
  • Look Forward – to Europe Today
  • What Are the Central Themes of this History?

Wed 12/3—Wrap Up and Celebration!

Class PrepaRATION:

  • No additional reading, but review the course schedule and your notes
  • Read through Final Exam Study Guide – on our Handouts page

In class:

  • Finish our conclusions
  • Answer questions about final paper
  • Prepare for final exam
  • Celebrate!

FINAL RESEARCH PAPER DUE—Friday, December 5, 2025 at midnight

Exam Week

FINAL EXAMINATION—Thursday, December 11, 2025 from 4:00-6:30pm

    • A comprehensive exam covering the entire semester. A chance to consolidate what you’ve learned and to demonstrate your mastery of the course material
    • See the Final Exam Study Guide – on our Handouts page
    • It will take place in our classroom. Bring your laptop