SOCS639Europe in the Age of Violence, 1914-1945Nathanael GreeneJune 27 - July 29, 2016
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Course Overview
We will study the history of Europe during a period of unprecedented conflict and nearly uninterrupted turmoil. Two world wars, revolutions, social and national antagonisms, ideological combat, racial hatreds, and extraordinary political leaders, such as Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Churchill, and de Gaulle, did much to determine the destinies of Europeans during these three decades. Very close attention will be given to: the origins, conduct, and multiple consequences of both world wars; the Russian Revolution of 1917, International Communism, and the Soviet Union; the power and appeal of dictatorship under Italian Fascism and German Nazism; and the decline and crises of democracy in Britain, France, and Spain. Our method is primarily social and political analysis, although we will give careful attention to economic and cultural issues and to insights offered by biographies of individual leaders.- Required Texts
Required Texts:
Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949
Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution
Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism
A. J. P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War
Recommended:
George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia
R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini
Eugen Weber, The Hollow Years
- Reading and Assignments
Readings
For several of the class sessions indicated below alternative choices are suggested. If you wish, you may substitute choices of your own for any of these required readings as long as they directly address the subjects at hand. You are urged to browse through the stacks in Olin Library and begin to acquire a working bibliography.
Although there is no textbook recommended for the course, you may wish to choose one from Olin Library. Among the reasonably solid texts are:
H. Stuart Hughes, Contemporary Europe: A History
Robert Paxton, Europe in the 20th Century
Mark Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century
Papers
Two course papers are required: the first, is due on Monday, July 18, at the beginning of class; the second is due on Friday, July 29, also at the beginning of class. Paper topics will be distributed prior to the due date, the first to be handed out on July 11, the second on July 20. Papers must be no more than five or six printed, double-spaced pages, exclusive of footnotes or endnotes. References should be carefully indicated in such notes.
There will be no examinations in this course. Participation in class discussions is expected, and will be taken into account in evaluating your work in the course.
- Course Schedule
Monday, June 27: Introduction: the promise of the 20th century
Wednesday, June 29: The Great War, 1914-1918: Origins and Consequences
Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949, Introduction and Chapters 1,2 and 3
Wednesday, July 6: Lenin and the Russian Revolution; Stalin, the Soviet Union, and International Communism
Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, chapters 1-6
Documents, “A Statement by Lenin”
Stalin’s Speech at Lenin’s Funeral and 1931 Speech.” and “A Comment by Citizen Andreyeva”
Monday, July 11: Italian Fascism: Mussolini’s Example
Documents, Benito Mussolini, “The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism,” Gabrielle d’Annunzio, “1915”
Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism, chapters 1 and 2, pages 58-64, sections of following chapters concerned with Mussolini and Italian Fascism, and chapter 8, or
R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini, chapters 5-11, chapters 1-4
Wednesday, July 13: Germany: the Weimar Republic, 1919-1933; Hitler’s Revolution, 1933-1939
Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism, sections in chapters 3 and 4, and chapters 5 and 6, or
Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949, Chapters 4-7
Excerpts from the film Triumph of the Will, to be shown in class
Monday, July 18: ***PAPER DUE *** France: the Hollow Years?
Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949, Chapter 7, or
Eugen Weber, The Hollow Years, chapters 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, or
Nathanael Greene, From Versailles to Vichy: The Third French Republic, 1919-1940 [Olin Library], or
Documents, “Léon Blum and the Popular Front in France,” “Program of the Popular Front in France,” “Jacques Doriot and Fascism in France”
Marc Bloch, The Strange Defeat [Olin Library]
Wednesday, July 20: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism, sections concerned with Spain, and, excerpts from the film To Die in Madrid, to be shown at the beginning of class, and at Olin Library, select and browse through one or more works on the Civil War.
Monday July 25: Origins of the Second World War: Chamberlain and daladier/Hitler and mussolini
You may choose from an array of exceptional memoirs from observers or participants, such as George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, or popular or academic studies, such as Paul Preston’s accounts and biography of General Franco, and Documents, “Manifesto of Generalissimo Franco, 17 July 1936,” General Millan Astray, “Long Live Death”J. P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War,
or
R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini, chapters 14 and 15,and
Documents, Neville Chamberlain, “In Search of Peace”
reread Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949, 322-345
Wednesday, July 27: The Second World War: Holocaust, Collaboration and Resistance
Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949, Chapter 8
or
R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini, chapters 16 and 17Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism, chapter 6,and
Jacques Chirac, excerpts from speech in 1995, and Philippe Pétain, excerpts from trial, 1945 [to be distributed] and
Documents, André Malraux, “When the French Lived in Darkness,” “The Fall of France and the Vichy Regime: Spinasse, Laval, Pétain, “ General de Gaulle, at the Liberation of Paris, 1944,” “Statements by Hiutler, Himmler, and Goebbels on the fate of the European Jews.”
Excerpts from the film “The Sorrow and the Pity,” to be shown at the beginning of class.
Friday, July 29: Europe in 1945 and Conclusions ***PAPER DUE***
Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949, Chapter 9
- Faculty Bio
Nathanael Greene (B.A. Brown University; M.A., Ph.D. Harvard University) is professor of history. He is author of Crisis and Decline: The French Socialist Party in the Popular Front Era (Cornell University Press); From Versailles to Vichy: The Third French Republic, 1919-1940 (Crowell); and is editor of Fascism: An Anthology (Crowell); and European Socialism Since World War I (Quadrangle Books). Click here for more information about Nathanael Greene.