History 216: Europe, 1618–1939: From the Thirty Years’ War to the Age of Dictators surveys the most significant political, economic, social, religious, and intellectual trends in European history from the end of the sixteenth century to the 1930s. The course aims to provide both a description and an explanation of the forces that shaped the modern world, including the development of the nation state, military conflict, the intellectual movements of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, industrialization, urbanization, nationalism, the spread of European industry, commerce, and culture to both the New World and the continents of Africa and Asia, and the development of new forms of government in the early twentieth century. The course also prepares students for further studies in history by emphasizing critical reading and essay writing skills.
Supplementary Readings |
Halsall, Paul, ed. 2006. Internet Medieval Sourcebook. New York: Fordham Center for Medieval Studies.
Online collection of translated primary sources. |
Southgate, Beverley. History: What & Why? Ancient, Modern and Postmodern Perspectives. London: Routledge, 1996. |