HS211 – Fall 2020 SYLLABUS
INSTRUCTOR: DARIO BIOCCA, EMAIL: [email protected]
Week 1. The “Great” War
a. Europe on the eve of WWI
b. The legacy of imperialism
Readings: Folder 1
Week 2. The Bolshevic revolution
a. The 1917 uprising
b. Russia into Soviet Union
Readings: Folder 2
Week 3. The cult of the Duce
a. The rise of Italian fascism
b. The new propaganda machine
Readings: Folder 3
Week 4. Nazi Germany
a. Biography of Adolf Hitler and Herman Goering
b. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
Readings: Folder 4
Week 5. The Evil Empire
Josif Stalin and the Moscow “purges”
a. East-West relations
Readings: Folder 5
Week 6. The Spanish civil war
a. Biography of Francisco Franco
b. A preview of WWII
Readings: Folder 6
Week 7, Review session and midterm exam
Readings: Key—words and open questions
Week 8. Class discussion
a. 20th century European historians
b. Past and present of interdisciplinary studies
Readings: Folder 8
Week 9. Vichy France and the Jews
a. Strange defeat and D-Day
b. From the Wannsee conference to Auschwitz-Birkenau
Readings: Folder 9
Week 10. The fall of European empires
a. India, Africa and the Middle East
b. The establishment of the State of Israel
Readings: Folder 10
Week 11, The cold war years
a. Nuclear weapons and the Berlin crisis
b. Peace movements and the fate of Soviet intellectuals
Readings: Folder 11
Week 12. The European Union
a. Economic integration
b. Political integration
Readings: Folder 12
Week 13. April 14-16 May 68
a. The Paris uprising and the Berkeley riots
b. The Red Brigades (Italy), Red Army Faction (Germany) and the IRA (Northern Irland)
Readings: Folder 13
Week 14. Europe and the Jihad
a. The Munich massacre
b. The Bataclan attack
Readings: Folder 14
Week 15. Europe and the world
a. Europe in the eyes of Europeans
b. Europe in the eyes of Americans
(Review session for final exam)
Readings: Folder 15
Readings assignments are posted on Moodle and can be downloaded. Please watch videos and other material posted week by week.
Students who wish to use a reference text on the history of Europe and the world in the 20th century can find a variety of sources in the library. One suggested readings (also available in paperback and ebook) is: