Syllabus: H114 (Subject to Change)

History of Western Civilization II: Fall 2003

MW 11:00-12:15 (C401)/1:00-2:15 (C402): Cavanaugh CA221

 

Professor Kevin Cramer                                                                                      Cavanaugh 504M

317-278-7744                                                                                                         Mon/Weds: 3-5

kcramer@iupui.edu                                                                                              and by appointment

 

Required Texts:

1.        John P. McKay, Bennett D. Hill, and John Buckler, A History of Western Society: Volume II: From Absolutism to the Present, seventh edition (New York and Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003). Background text.

2.        Merry E. Wiesner, Julius R.  Ruff and William Bruce Wheeler, Discovering the Western Past: A Look at the Evidence, Vol. II: Since 1500, fifth edition (Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin, 2004). Anthology of primary sources.

 

Course Description

This course is intended to provide an introduction to the process of modernization and state formation in the western world during the two hundred and fifty years between the end of the European religious wars in the 17th century and the end of World War II and the beginnings of the Cold War. Framed by “big questions” and organized around major themes, the emphasis will be on the rise and eventual decline of European global dominance and influence and the interconnections between technological change, intellectual innovation, and the development of modern society. The problems associated with this development are explored in the study of evolving social, economic, and political systems and the various revolutions they inspired. Cultural, social, and ideological conflicts (as well as two world wars), as both causes and symptoms of this process of modernization, will also be examined. The course concludes with an examination of the decline of European power in the face of an “Americanized” global economic system after the end of World War II, the Soviet-American confrontation of the Cold War, and the emergence in the West of the social welfare state.

 

Course Objectives

The aim of this course is to increase your understanding of how the social, political, cultural, and economic foundations of your world were created. The course is also designed to provide you with an introduction to the skills required by the university's "Principles of Undergraduate Learning” (for details and further information on the PUL go to www.iupui.edu/~history/principlesundergradlearning.htm). Lectures and exams will introduce you to facts, concepts, themes, and terms that will allow you to understand the importance of this period while giving you the historical context for a better understanding of how your society and world works. The writing assignments, based on readings of primary sources, will enable you to develop your reflective, critical, and analytical abilities. In-class participation and discussion will enable you to sharpen your communication skills as well as your capability to efficiently and spontaneously summarize, categorize, interpret, and evaluate information. This part of the course also allows you to make a vital and necessary contribution to how topics and issues are brought into focus in each class.

 

Course Requirements

1.        Final Exam (Non-cumulative; 20%)

2.        Term Paper (Topics and format TBA; 20%)

3.        Mid-Term Exam (20%)

4.        Participation in five discussion sessions (15%)

5.        Introductory Test (10%)

6.        Three map quizzes (15%)

 

Grading System and Policy

Final grades in this course will be calculated with the grading system used by the Registrar, e.g., A (4), A- (3.7), B+ (3.3) and so on. Tests, quizzes, and other course work will be graded on the traditional 100-point scale (and then converted for the final grade). An A-range grade evaluates work that goes substantially beyond the formal outlines of the assignment by showing marked originality, creativity, and strength of argument, organization, and conception. A B-range grade evaluates work that fulfills the assignment with noticeable, but not thorough, attention paid to these ideas. Such work might also include flawed reasoning and organization as well as stylistic problems (sentence structure, spelling, vocabulary, use of scholarly conventions, etc.).  A C-range grade evaluates work of genuine effort that largely fulfills the assignment but displays substantial weaknesses in several of the above areas. D-range work is evaluated as meeting the bare minimums of the assignment in a perfunctory fashion. Obviously, an F grade indicates complete failure to fulfill the assignment.

 

Course Policies

Make up tests and quizzes will only be offered in emergencies (and given on the next class day) and when I am notified no later than the morning of the test or quiz class day. Keep me informed reasonably in advance of circumstances that will force you to miss lectures (via my office email or through Oncourse email). Lecture outlines, writing assignments, test reviews, film and slide notes, discussion questions and other important information and course material will be posted on Oncourse, so check it regularly. To log on or get help go to https://oncourse.iu.edu. All assignments must be completed for your final grade to be accurately calculated (an A+ on the introductory test, for example, does not give you the option of skipping the map quizzes). Failure to turn in assignments or take tests and quizzes will be noted as part of your participation grade. Late submission of the term paper will be penalized a third of a grade (e.g. B to B-) for papers not turned in on the due date, one full grade for the first week overdue, and two full grades for two weeks overdue. Unless there are extraordinary and documented circumstances that prevent timely submission, papers overdue by more than two weeks will not be accepted.

 

Academic Misconduct

Plagiarism is usually defined as the deliberate theft of someone else's work and passing it off as your own. But inattention, ignorance of citation conventions, and sloppy note taking can also be construed as plagiarism, even if it is unintentional. The penalties for plagiarism include an automatic failing grade for the assignment and the course. Please consult the IUPUI Campus Bulletin (2001-2002) for further guidelines and information on plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. For details and further information, also see “Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct” at www.hoosiers.iupui.edu/studcode.

 

Other Important Information

  • As participation in class discussions is part of your final grade, and lecture material not covered in the textbooks is tested on the exams, attendance is important (and it also effects your participation grade). For the same reasons tardiness and leaving class early will also be noted.
  • Lecture outlines will be posted on Oncourse no later than the day before the lecture.
  • Always bring your textbook to class. In-class discussion is not limited to the discussion sessions. You will need to refer to the textbook during lecture in order to examine and talk about primary sources, artwork, and maps related to the lecture topic.
  • Learning to take effective notes is a skill rewarded by heightened comprehension, increased retention of information, and good grades; the recording of lectures is therefore prohibited barring special circumstances.
  • For the five discussion sessions bring your primary source anthology Discovering the Western Past to class.
  • The readings from the textbook for each week are intended to provide background information for that week’s lectures. You will find the lectures easier to understand if you read the assigned chapters in advance. The primary sources in each chapter ("Listening to the Past") must be read as well. The readings from the source anthology are for that week’s discussion session (they must be read in advance). It is essential that you keep up with the readings. The tests will have material drawn from the textbook that will not always be discussed in class.

 

 

 

 

 

Class Schedule and Readings

 

Unit One: “How did the idea of democratic government based on individual rights evolve?” (Absolutism and Revolution, 1648-1815)

 

Week One

  1. Introduction (W 8/20): The Syllabus
Discussion Session 1 Questions posted on Oncourse

 

Week Two

  1. Lecture 1 (M 8/25): Absolute Monarchy and the Search for Stable Government
  2. Discussion Session 1 (W 8/27): “Staging Absolutism”

Readings: McKay, Hill, chapters 16-17; Wiesner and Ruff, 38-64.

 

Labor Day Holiday: 9/1 (no class)

 

Week Three

  1. Lecture 2 (W 9/3): The Scientific Revolution

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapter 18.

Introductory Test Review Guide posted on Oncourse

 

Week Four

  1. Lecture 3 (M 9/8): The Enlightenment
  2. Lecture 4 (W 9/10): The French Revolution

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapter 21.

Discussion Session 2 Questions posted on Oncourse.

 

Week Five

  1. Discussion Session 2 (M 9/15): "A Day in the French Revolution: July 14, 1789"
  2. Introductory Test (W 9/17)

Readings: Wiesner and Ruff, 116-142

Map Quiz 1 announced

 

Unit Two: “How did the nation emerge as the preeminent form of political, social, and economic organization?” (The Rise of the Nation-state, 1815-1918)

 

Week Six

  1. Lecture 5 (M 9/22): The Impact of the French Revolution
  2. Lecture 6 (W 9/24): The Restoration of Pre-Revolutionary Europe; Map Quiz 1

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapters 22-23.

Discussion Session 3 Questions posted on Oncourse.

 

Week Seven

  1. Discussion Session 3 (M 9/29): "Labor Old and New: The Impact of the Industrial Revolution"
  2. Lecture 7 (W 10/1): Nationalism and State Building

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapter 25; Wiesner and Ruff, 143-177.

 Mid-Term Review Guide and Slide Presentation 1 Guide posted on Oncourse; Map Quiz 2 announced

 

Week Eight

  1. Slide Presentation 1 (M 10/6): Images and Symbols of Nationalism
  2. Lecture 8 (W 10/8): Mass Society and Imperialism; Map Quiz 2

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapters 24, 26.

 

 

 

Week Nine

  1. Mid-Term Exam (M 10/13)
  2. Lecture 9 (W 10/15): Modernity and the Critique of “Progress”

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapter 28, pp. 921-929.

 

Unit Three: “How did radical ideologies lead to war, genocide, and political conflict?” (The Violent Twentieth Century, 1914-1961)

 

Week Ten

  1. Lecture 10 (M 10/20): World War I
  2. Film 1 (W 10/22): TBA

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapter 27, pp. 886-904.

Discussion Session 4 Questions and Paper Topics and Format posted on Oncourse

 

Week Eleven

  1. Lecture 11 (M 10/27): Peace and Revolution
  2. Discussion Session 4 (W 10/29): "World War I: Total War"

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapter 27, pp. 904-919; Wiesner and Ruff, pp. 298-334.

Slide Presentation 2 Guide posted on Oncourse; Map Quiz 3 announced

 

Week Twelve

21.     Slide Presentation 2 (M 11/3): "The Modern Vision and Art"; Map Quiz 3

  1. Lecture 12 (W 11/5): Democracy and Capitalism in Crisis

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapter 28, pp. 930-951, chapter 29, pp. 952-974.

Discussion Session 5 Questions posted on Oncourse

 

Week Thirteen

  1. Review Session (M 11/10): Paper Topics and How to Write a History Essay
  2. Film 2 (W 11/12): "Triumph of the Will"

 

Week Fourteen

  1. Discussion Session 5 (M 11/17): "Selling a Totalitarian System"; TERM PAPER DUE
  2. Lecture 13 (W 11/19): World War II

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapter 29, pp. 975-987; Wiesner and Ruff, pp. 335-364.

Final Exam Review posted on Oncourse

 

Week Fifteen

27.     Lecture 14 (M 11/24): The Holocaust and Genocide

 

Thanksgiving Recess: 11/26-11/30 (no classes)

 

Week Sixteen

  1. Film 3 (M 12/1): "The Final Solution"
  2. Lecture 15 (W 12/3): The Post-1945 Settlement and the Cold War

Readings: McKay, Hill: chapter 30.

 

Week Seventeen

30.     Last Class (M 12/8): Final Exam