Undergraduate Course: East Central Europe 1800-2000: Between Empires and Nation States (HIST10393)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course examines main political and social developments in East Central Europe from absolutism to the collapse of state socialism in an international perspective. |
| Course description |
The modern history of East Central Europe can be seen as a struggle between colonization and decolonization. The empires of the Habsburgs, the Romanovs, and the Hohenzollerns ruled over the entire region until the end of the First World War, when new sovereign nation states emerged. Soviet and Nazi occupation during the Second World War destroyed these states and their multi-ethnic character. While most of the interwar states were re-established after 1945, the countries behind the 'Iron curtain' where subordinated to Moscow.
The course includes topics such as: Imagining Eastern Europe; Civilizing mission and reaction; 1848 and the appearance of nationalism ; a comparison of Habsburg, Hohenzollern and Romanov imperial rule; The First World War and Revolutions in East Central Europe; state building and nation building in the interwar years; the Second World War at and behind the Eastern Front; Stalinism and state socialism in East Central Europe; Protest and Revolution in the 1960-1980ies.
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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 or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503780). |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- understand the modern history of East Central Europe and the impact of political and social breaks and changes in a global context;
- apply recent approaches in cultural and social study of nationalism;
- challenge national historical narratives with a European perspective;
- demonstrate theoretical knowledge on imperial rule and colonial ambitions in modern Europe;
- arrive at independent, well-argued, well-documented and properly referenced conclusions in his/her coursework essays;
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Reading List
1. Larry Wolff: Inventing Eastern Europe. The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment, Stanford 1994.
2. Joseph Rothschild and Nancy M. Wingfield: Return to Diversity. A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War II, New York 2000,
3. Joshua Sanborn: Imperial Apocalypse. The Great War and the Destruction of the Russian Empire, Oxford 2014.
4. Anne Applebaum: Iron Curtain. The Crushing of Eastern Europe, London 2012.
5. Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius: War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity and German Occupation in World War I, Cambridge 2000.
6. Timothy Snyder: Bloodlands. Europe between Stalin and Hitler, London 2010.
7. Pieter M. Judson: Exclusive Revolutionaries: Liberal Politics, Social Experience, and National
Identity in the Austrian Empire, 1848-1914, Ann Arbor 1996.
8. Donald Bloxham: The Final Solution: A Genocide, Oxford 2009.
9. Dominic Lieven: Empire: The Russian Empire and Its Rivals, New Haven 2002.
10. Stephen Kotkin: Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment, New York 2010.
11. Dominic Lieven: Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace, New York 2009.
12. Robin Okey: The Habsburg Monarchy, C. 1765-1918: From Enlightenment to Eclipse, London 2000. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The study of the past gives students a unique understanding of the present that will enable them to succeed in a broad range of careers. The transferable skills gained from this course include:
- understanding of complex issues and how to draw valid conclusions from the past;
- ability to analyse the origins and development of current political and historiographical questions;
- a command of bibliographical and library- and/or IT-based online and offline research skills;
- a range of skills in reading and textual analysis;
- ability to question and problematize evidence; considering the relationship between evidence and interpretation;
- ability to marshal arguments lucidly, coherently and concisely, both orally and in writing;
- ability to deliver a paper or a presentation in front of peer audiences;
- ability to analyse primary sources;
- ability to design and execute pieces of written work and to present them suitably, as evidenced by the assessment essay of 3,000 words. |
| Keywords | East Central Europe |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Tim Buchen
Tel: (0131 6)50 9110
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Annabel Stobie
Tel: (0131 6)50 3783
Email: |
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