History 3415E: Modern Germany, 1815 to the Present

Course Description

This course analyzes the cataclysmic history of modern Germany. It examines the various forms taken by the conflict between liberalism and reaction in the first two thirds of the nineteenth century; the changes caused by industrialization; the political, economic, and cultural tensions of the Kaiserreich; the causes and consequences of the First World War; the reasons for the weakness of the Weimar Republic; the nature of Nazi rule; the different ways in which the two post-war German states transformed (or sought to transform) German society; and the challenges facing Germany in the post-unification era. The course focuses in particular on how the deep divisions in German society influenced political decisions and individual lives, and how these divisions changed over time.

Required Texts

Main Textbooks:

  • David Blackbourn, History of Germany 1780-1918: The Long Nineteenth Century. (2nd ed., Blackwell, 2003)
  • Mary Fulbrook, History of Germany, 1918-2000: A Divided Nation. (3rd ed., Blackwell, 2008).

Required Supplemental:

  • Helmut Walser Smith, A Butcher’s Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town. (Norton, 2002).
  • William Sheridan Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945. (Any edition, Franklin Watts).
  • Course Package

Optional Book:

  • Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History. (6th ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010).

Evaluation

Participation:               25%

First term paper:          20%

Mid-term exam:          15%

Second term paper:     25%

Final exam:                  15%

 

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General Information