HIST 265 - Europe in the Era of World War

The First and Second World Wars altered the political, social, economic, and cultural landscape of Europe in profound ways. This course explores those transformations from the perspective of humans who lived through the wars, but also through the eyes of subsequent generations of Europeans as they grappled with the ongoing reverberations of these two global conflicts. Over the course of the semester we will engage with a broad range of themes and questions. We will, for example, seek to understand the origins of totalitarianism in Europe and its relationship to imperialism. We will explore how the wars transfigured Europe’s place on the global stage. Finally, we will consider how both conflicts shifted understandings of gender, ignited anticolonial movements in Europe’s global empires, and laid the foundations for European integration. In order to engage these topics and to situate Europe within a broader global framework, we will explore a wide range of sources including films, art, memoirs, news, political speeches, and government documents. Class time will be devoted to short lectures, film screenings, in-depth discussion, and a range of collaborative hands-on activities-including some history detective work! Your writing for this class will take the form of three “choose-your-own-adventure” projects, short responses to our films and readings, and one in-class exam at the end of the semester. Can count towards “Race and Indigeneity,” or “Law and Social Justice,” or “Europe” or “Post-1800” fields. Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)