Postgraduate Course: The Shadow of Versailles: Europe Between the Wars, 1918-1939 (PGHC11394)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides a comparative history of Europe from the conclusion of the First World War to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. |
| Course description |
This course examines the history of Europe from the close of the First World War to the outbreak of the Second World War. The history of interwar Europe will be a familiar story to many students. The course, however, seeks to offer a new perspective on the years 1918-1939 by taking a thematic approach in order to enable a comparative history of the continent as a whole, rather than concentrating on individual national histories. This enables students to more fully contextualise the major developments in European history during this period. The course will look to cover the legacy of the Great War, the survival and failure of democracy, the formation and fate of the 'Versailles system', the causes and consequences of the Great Depression, the establishment and nature of anti-democratic regimes, changes to interwar society and culture and the origins of the Second World War.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge concerning a comparative history of Europe between 1918 and 1939
- Demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay an ability to analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship, primary source materials concerning, and conceptual discussions about the comparative history of Europe between 1918 and 1939
- Demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay, an ability to understand and apply specialised research or professional skills, techniques and practices considered in the course
- Demonstrate the ability to develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in seminars and in written assessment by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course
- Demonstrate in seminar discussions, forum posts and written assessment originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy
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Reading List
Ivan T. Berend, Decades of Crisis: Central and Eastern Europe Before World War II (1998)
Patricia Calvin, The Great Depression in Europe, 1929-1939 (2000)
E.H. Carr, The Twenty Years' Crisis (1981)
Patrick O. Cohrs, The Unfinished Peace After World War I: America, Britain and the Stabilisation of Europe, 1919-1932 (2006)
Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age (1989)
Angela Kershaw & Angela Kimyongur (eds.), Women in Europe Between the Wars: Politics, Culture and Society (2007)
Martin Kitchen, Europe Between the Wars: A Political History (2007)
Mark Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century (1998)
Joseph Rothschild, East Central Europe Between the Two World Wars (1974)
Zara Steiner, The Lights that Failed: European International History, 1918-1933 (2005)
Zara Steiner, The Triumph of the Dark: European International History, 1933-1939 (2011) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The study of the past gives students a unique understanding of the past 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 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
- understanding ethical dimensions of research and their relevance for human relationships today
- 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 design and execute pieces of written work and to present them suitably, as evidenced by the final assessment essay of 3,000 words |
| Keywords | Shadow Versailles |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr David Kaufman
Tel: (0131 6)51 3857
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: |
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