European History

Socio-economic and intellectual roots of modern anti-Semitism, evolution of Nazi policy, genocide, responses of Axis and Allied governments, and responses of the Jews.

Political, socio-economic, and cultural history of modern France from 1815 to the present day, with emphasis placed on French politics and self-identity.

Britain in 1914 was the wealthiest society in the world, with the largest empire the world has ever known. Yet this society was riven by class inequality and social and gender upheaval at home, while facing threats from overseas rivals and anticolonial agitation. In this course, we will explore how global war and economic upheaval produced cultural crisis and change; struggles over power and resources among different social groups; and changing understandings of government's responsibility for human welfare. We will also address impacts on the family and gender, as well as Britain's changing relations with the continent of Europe, its empire, and the wider world.

Industrialization has been one of the most significant processes of the past millennium, and its effects remain controversial today. The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the mid-1700s and eventually spread to encompass the globe. In this course we will examine the unique preconditions, the unprecedented rise and decline, and the lasting effects of the first industrial revolution and the first industrial society, modern Britain. We will explore the characteristics distinguishing “modern” industrial societies; how economic upheaval produced struggles over political power among different social groups; and how understandings of government’s legitimate responsibilities and the state’s role in economic systems changed over time. We will also address impacts on the family and gender, and on relations between the state and individuals, as well as Britain’s changing relations with the continent of Europe, its empire, and the wider world.

This course aims at a broad analysis of the enthralling history and legacies of the Tudor and Stuart dynasties that ruled England from 1458 to 1714. The objective is to understand how in a quarter century the radical political and religious events, and figures, transformed the social, political and religious structures of England, giving birth to the foundation of England as a united kingdom, and significant world power. The course begins by focusing on the Tudors with emphasis on Henry VIII and the English Reformation, the return to Catholicism under Mary Tudor, the creation of a new Anglican Church under Elizabeth I and its unforeseen consequences. From there, it explores the Stuarts, with attention to the catastrophic English Revolution culminating in the public execution of King Charles I in 1649, and the rise of the English republic that ended with the restoration of monarchy in 1660. The course then reflects on the transformation of the English state following the elite coup d’etat of 1688, the Glorious Revolution, a fundamental watershed that cleared the way for a constitutional monarchy, parliamentary sovereignty, and religious toleration in England.

The political, social, economic and cultural history of Germany from the late Middle Ages to about 1800.

This course is a survey of the history of early modern Ireland, starting in the 15th century and ending with the Union between England and Ireland in 1801. Students will develop an understanding of the problems and divisions that beset Ireland in this period and that have shaped its future until this day. The particular problems of political interaction, colonization, and the state formation as well as the contentious nature of religious developments in early modern Ireland will be addressed.

Survey of Irish history from the Union in 1800 to the present; the course will emphasize the political, cultural, and religious bases of Irish history.

In this course we will consider the choices Europeans faced and the paths they took after the second World War, including the loss of empire and the stresses of the Cold War, the construction of welfare states and the European Union, and the rise and fall of Eastern European socialisms and their aftermath.

European powers' competition for empire intensified in the late nineteenth century, producing twentieth century wars that spread from Europe to span the globe, shaped by and reshaping domestic politics, international relations, gender expectations and social and cultural forms.