HISTORY 382: WESTERN EUROPE IN THE AGE OF THE SUPERPOWERS, 1945-1989 Semester: Spring 2014 Time: MWF 1:00-1:50 Place: Main 104 Professor: Dr. Clayton Whisnant Office: Main 105 Email: whisnantcj@wofford.edu Phone: x4550 Office Hours: MWF 2:00 2:50 Web Page: http://webs.wofford.edu/whisnantcj COURSE DESCRIPTION In this course, students will examine western Europe during an age in which the previous powers of Europe--Great Britain, France, and Germany--were quickly eclipsed by the appearance of two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. Course Goals We will begin with a look at the impact of World War II in Europe, which will include an examination of the social chaos of the late 1940s, the economic miracle of the 1950s, and, of course, the evolution of the Cold War in Europe. We will look at some of the major developments of the period in Western Europe: the process of decolonization, the growing fear of "Americanization," social changes that lead some scholars to postulate a new "postindustrial" society, and the changing values brought on in part by the commercialization of European culture. Finally, we will pay close attention to the efforts at integrating Western Europe as a
response to the influence of the two superpowers, while not ignoring the lingering forces of nationalism that still hampers this process. Course Objectives To meet the goals of the course, students will take two exams which will test their knowledge of a) key ideas, movements, and historical figures associated with the early modern era; b) important events and trends that helped to give shape to Europe between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries; and c) the cause & effect relationships that help to explain the flow of events from the Renaissance to the French Revolution. Students will also write two papers. short paper, in which they prove that they have read and grappled with one book dealing with a single dimension of the early modern period. Course s Relationship to Department Goals This course helps the history department reach its goals by covering the following dimensions of history widely perceived as crucial for a well-rounded view of the world: political developments; and socio-cultural issues of race & ethnicity, class, and gender. Students will also gain some exposure to how history is practiced by learning how history is interpreted, and assessing and critiquing arguments made by historians. Last, students will discuss issues that provide an important perspective on the contemporary world. Technology Skills Students will need some basic knowledge of web browsers in order to be able to find and utilize material on the on-line version of this syllabus. They will also need some basic working knowledge of using a computer word-processor in order to write the short paper in this class. Instructional Format This course will be largely a lecture-based course, with some time set aside for discussion of the text material.
TEXTS Robert Paxton, Europe in the Twentieth Century, 5th edition (Wadsworth, 2005). Raymond Betts, Decolonization (Routledge, 1998),. Hanna Schissler, ed. The Miracle Years: A Cultural History of West Germany 1949-1968 (Princeton University Press, 2001) On-Line Readings, available through the library s on-line reserve system. The readings listed under each day should be done before the assigned day. You need to bring a copy of the on-line readings to class. I will give you a point for every day you do so, with all the points added up at the end of the semester to constitute a quiz grade. GRADING Attendance 5% Participation 5% Quizzes 5% 2 short (5-6 pages) essays 20% each Midterm 10% 1 long (10-12 pages) essay 25% Final (non-cumulative) 10% ATTENDANCE POLICY Absences will be penalized by taking 10 points off the attendance grade. This means that you can safely skip class once and still have an A- for the attendance grade. After that, though, this portion of the grade will quickly decline. I reserve the right to forcibly withdraw someone who does not attend regularly. Excused absences, of course, will not count against the grade. Excused are those due to approved college-related activities (e.g. sporting events), documented illness, and family emergencies. Students have the responsibility to make up missed work.
LATE POLICY Students with a doctor s excuse (or another suitable excuse) can make up the exam up to a week after the exam date. There will be no make-up for quizzes. Paper should be handed in on time. If you know you will need a little extra time to complete a paper, you may ask for an extension; however, the request must come before the day that the paper is due. Otherwise, there will be a late-penalty of a letter grade per day the paper is late. OTHER REMARKS Electronic devices (iphones, laptops, ipads, etc.) are not to be used during class. All cell phones must be turned off at the beginning of class. Do not, of course, take phone calls during class. Please be on time. If you must arrive late or leave early, do so as quietly and unobtrusively as possible. Finally, all work must be yours. Plagiarism and cheating will be punished with an F for the assignment. Of course, all work must be yours. Plagiarism and cheating will be punished with an F for the assignment. Plagiarism, we should note, is defined in the following way according to the Wofford College honor code: (1) the verbatim repetition, without acknowledgement, of the writings of another author. (2) Borrowing without acknowledging the source. (3) Paraphrasing the thoughts of another writer without acknowledgement. (4) Allowing any other person or organization to prepare work which one then submits as his or her own. You should pay close attention to the third definition, especially when referring to ideas borrowing from a website. If you have any questions, check out my handout "Avoiding Plagiarism."
CLASS SCHEDULE Date Class Assignment Week 1 Feb 3 Introduction Feb 5 Europe after World War II Schissler, chs. 1 and 3 Paxton, ch. 13 Feb 7 The Origins of the Cold War The Outbreak of the Cold War in An Age of Conflict: Readings in Twentieth-Century European History, 3 rd edition, ed. Leslie Derfler and Patricia Kollander (Fort Worth: Harcourt College, 2002), 220-251. Week 2 Paxton, Ch. 14 Feb 10 The Cold War Antony Beever and Artemis Cooper, Paris after the Liberation, 1944-1949, rev. edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1994), 52-62, 272-284 Feb 12 Snow Day! No reading. Feb 14 Denazification Michael Kelly, Elizabeth Fallaize, and Anna Redehalgh, Reconstructions of the French Nation, in French Cultural Studies: An Introduction, eds. Jill Forbes and Michael Kelly (Oxford: Oxford University, 1995), 99-109. Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (New York: Penguin, 2005), 41-62.
Week 3 Paxton, ch. 15 Feb 17 Feb 19 Feb 21 Economic Planning and Integration and Europe The Economic Miracle The Construction of the Welfare State Mark Gilbert, European Integration: A Concise History (New York and Toronto: Rowman and Littlefield, 2012), 33-59. Paxton, ch. 17 J. Robert Wegs and Robert Ladrech, Europe Since 1945: A Concise History, 5 th edition (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 45-59 William I. Hitchcock, The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent, 1945-2002 (New York and London: Doubleday Press, 2002), 40-68. Feb 24 Feb 26 The Social Order of the 1950s Postwar Youth Culture Get Paper Topic #1 Peter Leese, Britain Since 1945 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 13-28. Week 4 Schissler, Ch. 2 Robert Moeller, "Reconstructing the Family in Reconstruction Germany: Women and Social Policy in the Federal Republic, 1949-1955," in West Germany under Construction: Politics, Society, and Culture in the Adenauer Era, ed. Robert Moeller (Ann Arbor: Michigan University, 1997), 109-133. Ute Poiger, Jazz, Rock, and Rebels: Cold War Politics and American Culture in a Divided Germany (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London:
University of California, 2000), 71-105 Feb 28 Mar 3 Mar 5 Mar 7 Adjusting to a New World: Britain, 1945-1963 Week 5 France during the Fourth Republic No reading Get First Paper Topic Intellectual Currents of Postwar Europe Postindustrial Society Steven Stark, Meet the Beatles: A Cultural History of the Band that Shook Youth, Gender, and the World (New York: Harper Collins, 2005), 39-89 Charles More, Britain in the Twentieth Century (London: Longman, 2006), 151-176. Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism, in Existentialism from Dostoyevsky to Sartre, ed. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Plume, 1975), 287-311. Paxton, Ch. 18 Mar 10 Americanization Mar 12 Americanization, cont. Week 6 Richard Pells, Not Like Us: How Europeans Have Loved, Hated, and Transformed American Culture since World War II (New York: Basic Books, 1997), 235-62, 278-324 Victoria de Grazia, Irresistible Empire: America's Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2005), 376-457 Mar 14 Midterm Exam Handout: Dates to Know (First Exam) Study Week 7 Mar 17 The Algerian War Mar 19 The Algerian War, cont. Film: Battle of Algiers John Ruedy, Modern Algeria (Bloomington: Indiana University, 2005), 156-194. Todd Shepard, The Invention of Decolonization:
The Algerian War and the Remaking of France (Ithica: Cornell, 2006), 55-100. Mar 21 Decolonization Betts, Decolonization, 1-47. Week 8 First Paper due Mar 24 Decolonization, cont Betts, 48-100. Mar 26 The European Community Mar 28 De Gaulle and the Fifth Republic Mark Gilbert, European Integration: A Concise History (New York and Toronto: Rowman and Littlefield, 2012), 61-87 Charles Williams, The Last Great Frenchman: A Life of General De Gaulle (New York: Wiley, 1997), 408-424, 431-444. Week 9 reserve: Mar 31 Britain during the Wilson Years Peter Clarke, Hope and Glory: Britain 1900-1990 (New York: Penguin Books, 1996), 283-318. Apr 2 Youth Culture and Student Protest in the 1960s Handout: The New Left Nick Thomas, "The Vietnam Campaign" from Protest Movements in 1960s West Germany: A Social History of Dissent and Democracy (Oxford and New York: Berg, 2003), 69-85. Apr 4 The May Events of 1968 Handout: Challenge to Cold-War Consensus Jean Lacouture, DeGaulle: The Ruler, 1945-1970, trans. Alan Sheridan (New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company, 1991), 527-558. Apr 7 Spring Break Apr 9 Spring Break Apr 11 Spring Break Week 10
Week 11 Apr 14 Sexuality in Postwar Europe Apr 16 Germany in the 1960s Apr 18 Catch-Up Anna Clark, Desire: A History of European Sexuality (New York and London: Routledge, 2008), 198-221. Schissler, Epilogue Second Paper Due Week 12 Apr 21 Britain during the 1970s Philip Ziegler, Edward Heath: The Authorised Biography (London: Harper Press, 2010), 318-353. Alwyn Turner, Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s (London: Aurum Press, 2008), 3-25. Paxton, Ch. 19 Apr 23 The 1970s: Recessions, Inflation, and Labor Unrest Alwyn Turner, Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s (London: Aurum Press, 2008), 77-90. Apr 25 The Expansion of the EC Paxton, Ch. 20 Week 13 Apr 28 Willy Brandt & Ostpolitik Barbara Marshall, Willy Brandt: A Political Biography (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997), 66-96 Apr 30 May 2 Helmut Schmidt: Terrorism & Detente France after de Gaulle Jonathan Carr, Helmut Schmidt: Helmsman of Germany (New York: St. Martin s Press, 1985), 109-155. No reading
May 5 Thatcher s Britain Week 14 Hugo Young, The Iron Lady: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1989), 223-246. Alwyn Turner, Rejoice! Rejoice! Britain in the 1980s (London: Aurum Press, 2010), 96-122. May 7 Mitterand s France Ronald Tiersky, Francois Mitterand: The Last French President (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000),???. May 9 Helmut Kohl s Germany Final Paper Due Final Exam: Thursday, December 13, 2-5 PM Study Guide for Final