Undergraduate Course: Themes in Modern European History (HIST08043)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides an introduction to the history of the modern Europe (c.1780-the present). Students will examine the history of the continent from both a thematic and chronological perspective. |
| Course description |
This course offers a wide-ranging survey of European History from the late eighteenth century to the present. The course has a dual function. It provides a basic grounding in Modern European History as a preparation for students who are intending to do Honours History courses. It also seeks to provide a self-contained survey of Modern European History that is both stimulating and informative for students taking the course as an outside subject or as part of an M.A. degree. Its prime purpose is to demonstrate how European society has evolved as a result of the interplay of major economic, social, political and cultural developments of the period c.1780 the present. A course with such a wide chronological and geographical span has to be rigorously selective, and in consequence the lecturers confine their attentions to those general developments that had a far-reaching influence on a major part of the European population.
This courses contextualises modern European history by providing a framework in which major historical processes can be understood. It moves back to a Eurocentric position from the thematic approach taken in the first year global history course Introduction to the Modern World. Although the structure of the course is broadly chronological, processes and themes will also be covered.
Tutorials will be organised according to the weekly themes outlined below:
Weekly themes: (subject to change)
Week 1 - Introduction: From Early Modern to Modern
Week 2 - The Age of Revolution
Week 3 - Mass Society
Week 4 - Fin de siècle Europe
Week 5 - The Great War
Week 6 - Revolutions & Peace Treaties
Week 7 - The Interwar Years
Week 8 - The Second World War
Week 9 - Cold War and Reconstruction
Week 10 - Postwar Europe
Week 11 - Contemporary European History
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass in any first level course achieved no later than August of the previous academic year. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 1 introductory level History course at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course.
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship.
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material.
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence.
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Robert Gildea, Barricades and Borders, Europe 1800-1914 (Oxford, 2003)
Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Revolution (London, 1962)
Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Capital (London, 1975)
Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Empire (London, 1987)
Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes (London, 1994)
Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (London, 2005)
Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949 (London, 2016)
Mark Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century (London, 1998)
Michael Rapport, Nineteenth Century Europe (Basingstoke, 2005)
Jonathan Sperber, Revolutionary Europe, 1780-1850 (Harlow, 2000)
Richard Vinen, A History In Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century (London, 2002)
Heinrich August Winkler, The Age of Catastrophe, 1914-1945 (New Haven, 2015)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Skills and abilities in research and enquiry
- ability to draw valid conclusions about the past
- ability to identify, define and analyse historical problems
- ability to select and apply a variety of critical approaches to problems informed by uneven evidence
- ability to exercise critical judgement in creating new understanding
- ability to extract key elements from complex information
- readiness and capacity to ask key questions and exercise rational enquiry
- ability critically to assess existing understanding and the limitations of knowledge and recognition of the need regularly to challenge/test knowledge
- ability to search for, evaluate and use information to develop knowledge and understanding
Skills and abilities in personal and intellectual autonomy
- openness to new ideas, methods and ways of thinking
- ability to identify processes and strategies for learning
- independence as a learner, with readiness to take responsibility for one¿s own learning, and commitment to continuous reflection, self-evaluation and self-improvement
- ability to make decisions on the basis of rigorous and independent thought
- ability to test, modify and strengthen one¿s own views through collaboration and debate
- intellectual curiosity
- ability to sustain intellectual interest
Skills and abilities in communication
- ability to make effective use of oral and written means convey understanding of historical issues and one¿s interpretation of them.
- ability to marshal argument lucidly and coherently
- ability to collaborate and to relate to others
- readiness to seek and value open feedback to inform genuine self-awareness
Skills and abilities in personal effectiveness
- ability to approach historical problems with academic rigour
- ability to manage and meet firm deadlines
- possession of the confidence to make decisions based on one¿s understanding and personal/intellectual autonomy
- ability to work effectively with others, capitalising on diversities of thinking, experience and skills
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| Keywords | TMEH |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr David Kaufman
Tel: (0131 6)51 3857
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Annabel Stobie
Tel: (0131 6)50 3783
Email: |
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