Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2015 - HIST 224 D100

Europe from the French Revolution to the First World War (3)

Class Number: 3569

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 11 – Aug 10, 2015: Mon, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

A survey of European history emphasizing the French Revolution, and Napoleonic Europe and first Industrial Revolution, liberalism and its opponents, agrarian conservatism, liberalism and conservatism, the Revolutions of 1848, the struggles for political unification, the second Industrial Revolution and the origins of the First World War. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

Europe’s Long 19th Century: The Fading of Empires and the Building of Nations

The political map of Europe changed dramatically in the years between 1800 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Old regimes faced spirited challenges from emerging nations. Revolutionary ideas challenged traditional claims to legitimacy. The outlines of this story are well known. Yet usually when this story is related, the focus is on Europe’s west. In contrast, this course will emphasize how the same developments unfolded in the large multiethnic empires that dominated most of the European landmass, and particularly the east and the southeast. These empires – the Habsburg, the Russian, and the Ottoman – all collapsed before the end of the First World War. They were weakened, and in the Ottoman case, substantially disintegrated during the preceding century and a half. And yet these empires experienced notable victories as well as setbacks, and for a time they were not too frail to resist and withstand the challenges of modernity. We will analyze how these empires, which had existed for centuries prior to their decline, responded to the mounting challenges of nationalism, liberalism, radicalism, industrialization, and globalization.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Grading

  • Tutorial participation 15%
  • First essay test 30%
  • Second essay test 30%
  • Essays & written exercises 25%
  • There will be two in-class examinations and four short written assignments (two in-class exercises and two take-home mini-essays). Each of the exams will be worth 30% of your grade. The short written exercises will account for another 25%. The last 15% of the course grade will be based on in-class and tutorial participation

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Robert Gildea, Barricades and Borders: Europe 1800-1914. Oxford UP, 2003.

Leo Tolstoy, Hadji Murat. 

Mark Mazower, The Balkans: A Short History. Modern Library, 2002.

Joseph Roth, The Emperor’s Tomb. Overlook Press, 2002.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS