Syllabus: H114 (Subject to Change)

History of Western Civilization II: Fall 2005

Section 3878

MW 9:30-10:45 (CA 215)

Professor Kevin Cramer Cavanaugh 503M

317-278-7744 Mon/Weds: 4-5:30

kcramer@iupui.edu and by appointment

Required Texts:

1. Judith C. Coffin and Robert C. Stacey, Western Civilizations: Their History and Culture: Volume II (15^th edition; W.W. Norton, 2005)

2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (Penguin Books, 1968)

3. Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (W.W. Norton, 1989)

4. Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (Penguin Books, 1992)

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 17^th 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, the emergence in the West of the social welfare state, and the “New World Order” that was presumed to have emerged with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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): 25%

2. Mid-Term Exam: 20%

3. Book Essay (format TBA): 25%

4. Participation in three book discussion sessions: 15%

5. General Participation Grade (includes submission of six “Document Response Papers): 15%

Grading System and Policy

Course work and your final grade will be graded on the standard 100-point scale. In areas of evaluation where the grade is not strictly calculable numerically (i.e., participation and response papers) the grade will be the highest within that range (i.e., a B+ will be calculated as an 89). 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. You are graded and evaluated according to my evaluation and judgment of your participation in class, your willingness to ask questions (there are no stupid questions), the quality of your preparation for, and fulfillment of, assignments, and your willingness to risk thinking analytically and originally. You are not graded for "effort" and merely showing up each day.

Course Policies

Timely notification of emergencies that force you to miss class, tests, and assignment due dates is required in order to make up tests and submit work assignments past deadline. Unavoidable absences and missed assignments are always negotiable; as a good faith gesture try to 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 fulfill assignments will be noted as part of your participation grade. Late submission (over 24 hours) of the book essay will be penalized a full letter grade; essays submitted between 24 and 48 hours past the due date will be penalized two full letter grades; essays submitted beyond 48 hours of the due date will not be accepted (unless there are extraordinary and documented circumstances that prevent timely submission). Late papers must be submitted as hard copies; I will not accept late papers via e-mail attachments (when submitting written work via e-mail always ask for confirmation of receipt; if you do not receive this confirmation, notify me immediately). If you are having problems fulfilling the requirements of the course contact me sooner rather than later. Jennifer Thompson in the Student Advocate Office is also available when you need help finding information or dealing with issues that affect your attendance and academic performance. The Student Advocate’s office is in UC 2002. Ms. Thompson can also be reached at 278-7594 and via email at stuadvoc@iupui.edu. The Student Advocate website can be found at http://www.life.edu/advocate.

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 scholarly citation conventions, and sloppy note taking can also be construed as plagiarism, even if it is unintentional. Cutting and pasting from web-based sources is plagiarism. The penalty for plagiarism is an automatic failing grade for the course. Please consult the IUPUI Campus Bulletin 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.jaguars.iupui.edu/handbook/2002/academicmisconduct.html.

Administrative Withdrawal

A basic requirement of this course is that you will actively engage with your peers and instructor during class and conscientiously prepare for and complete all assignments. If you miss more than half our class meetings within the first four weeks of the semester without contacting me, you will be administratively withdrawn from the class. Our class meets twice per week; thus if you miss more than four classes in the first four weeks, you may be withdrawn, which will make room for students on the waitlist. Administrative withdrawal may have academic, financial, and financial aid implications. Administrative withdrawal will take place after the full refund period, and if you are administratively withdrawn from the course you will not be eligible for a tuition refund.

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. Over three unexcused absences will adversely affect your overall participation grade.
• 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. Please study the maps and the questions accompanying them carefully. You need to become familiar with the where, as well as the who, what, when, and why.
• 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.
• As part of your preparation for each class you must submit (on the day of the discussion) a "Source Response Paper" answering a question (see the syllabus) dealing with a document or work of art in the assigned readings (these papers must be typed and be a minimum of two pages in length; they will be returned with comments and a grade). You must submit six of these response papers: three before the mid-term and three after. Failure to turn in these papers will lower your participation grade.
• The readings from the textbook for each week are intended to provide background information for that week’s lectures. Reading the textbook is not an adequate substitute for attending lecture. A significant amount of lecture material is only briefly covered in the textbook or not mentioned at all. You will find the lectures easier to understand if you read the assigned chapters in advance. The artworks and excerpts from historical documents and in each chapter must be studied 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.
• The test format consists of an identification/short answer section covering important terms, people, events, and ideas; a multiple-choice section covering factual information drawn primarily from the lectures; and an essay section answering a question (or questions) dealing with broad themes and issues. You will be provided with a test format and study guide well in advance of each test. The exams will also include extra-credit questions drawn from the slide presentations and documentaries.
• You can write your book essay on any one of the three assigned books (Rousseau, Freud, Borowski), but you must read all three and come prepared to the discussion session on each book. The format and topic options for the essay will be provided well in advance of the due date.

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 8/24): The Syllabus

Week Two

2. Lecture 1 (M 8/29): Absolute Monarchy and the Search for Stable Government

3. Lecture 2 (W 8/31): The Scientific Revolution

Textbook Readings: chapters 15 and 16.

Source Focus: Bossuet and Filmer (537); Galileo (582)

Source Response Questions: “Why would Bossuet and Filmer’s justification of royal authority be likely recognized as legitimate by those living under absolutist rule?” or “Why was Galileo’s explanation of how the planets moved a serious threat to the authority of the church?”

Book Essay Format and Discussion Questions for The Social Contract posted on Oncourse

Monday, September 5: No Class (Labor Day)

Wednesday, September 7: No Class (instructor at conference)

Week Three

4. Lecture 3 (M 9/12): The Enlightenment

5. Book Discussion 1 (W 1/26): Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract

Textbook Readings: chapter 17

Source Focus: Raynal (606)

Source Response Question: “In what ways did the Age of Discovery tend to reinforce the Enlightenment belief in progress?”

Week Four

6. Lecture 4 (M 9/19): The French Revolution

7. Lecture 5 (W 9/21): The Impact of the French Revolution

Textbook Readings: chapters 18 and 20

Source Focus: Declaration of the Rights of Man (641); de Gouges (642); Burke (646)

Source Response Questions: “What essential contradiction or hypocrisy does de Gouges identify in the Declaration of the Rights of Man?” or “Why does Burke find the whole idea of universal rights absurd?”

Slide Presentation 1 Notes posted on Oncourse

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 Five

8. Slide Presentation 1 (M 9/26): Romanticism

9. Lecture 6 (W 9/28): The Restoration of Pre-Revolutionary Europe

Textbook Readings: chapters 19 (668-683) and 21

Source Focus: Ure and Engels (674-675)

Source Response Questions: “ What essential transformation of pre-industrial daily life do both Ure and Engels acknowledge? Why does Ure praise it and Engels condemn it?”

Slide Presentation 2 Notes posted on Oncourse

Week Six

10. Lecture 7 (M 10/3): Nationalism and State Building

11. Slide Presentation 2 (W 10/5): Images and Symbols of Nationalism

Textbook Readings: chapter 21

Source Focus: Mazzini, the Political Creed of the National Society (758-759)

Source Response Question: “Why did Italian nationalists view a unified nation-state as the best means of fostering human happiness and prosperity?”

Mid-Term Format and Review Guide posted on Oncourse

Week Seven

12. Lecture 8 (M 10/10): Mass Society and Imperialism

13. Mid-Term Review (W 10/13)

Textbook Readings: chapter 19 (684-702); chapter 22; chapter 23 (816-830)

Source Focus: Kipling (807); Zola (822)

Source Response Questions: “Kipling’s poem advertises to non-European peoples the various benefits of western civilization. What are they?” or “Why is Zola convinced that consumer culture has become an irresistible force?”

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

Week Eight

14. Mid-Term Exam (M 10/7)

15. Lecture 9 (W 10/19): Modernity and the Critique of Progress

Textbook Readings: chapter 23 (831-856)

Source Focus: Drumont (832); Darwin (846)

Source Response Questions: “How did anti-Semitism serve as a catch-all expression of various anxieties about modern civilization?” or “How could an enlightened civilization apply Darwin’s theory to social and cultural development with a clear conscience?”

Week Nine

16. Lecture 10 (M 10/24): World War I

17. Documentary 1 (W 10/26): TBA

Textbook Readings: chapter 24 (860-881)

Source Focus: Brittain (879)

Source Response Question: “In Brittain’s view, how had the advances of modern civilization turned on their inventors?”

Discussion Questions for Civilization and Its Discontents posted on Oncourse

Week Ten

18. Lecture 11 (M 10/31): Peace and Revolution

19. Book Discussion 2 (W 11/2): Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

Textbook Readings: chapter 24 (882-893)

Source Focus: Map: Territorial Changes in Europe and the Near East after World War I (892)

Source Response Question: “Studying the map of post-1918 Europe, and comparing the territorial re-organization of Central Europe with that of the Middle East, is any contradiction of one of Wilson’s 14 Points evident?”

Slide Presentation 3 Notes posted on Oncourse

Week Eleven

20. Slide Presentation 3 (M 11/7): Weimar Culture

21. Lecture 12 (W 11/9): Democracy and Capitalism in Crisis

Textbook Readings: chapter 25

Source Focus: Goebbels (915)

Source Response Question: “In what ways does Goebbels’ definition of the nation differ from Mazzini’s?”

Week Twelve

22. Lecture 13 (M 11/14): World War II: 1936-1941

23. Lecture 14 (W 11/16): The Holocaust and Genocide

Textbook Readings: chapter 26 (930-955)

Source Focus: Map of German Expansion (938)

Source Response Question: “Studying the map of Nazi Germany’s expansion in central Europe after 1936, what hard geographical and territorial facts stood in the way of an effective response to Hitler’s moves after 1938?”

Discussion Questions for This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen posted on Oncourse

Week Thirteen

24. Book Discussion 3 (M 11/21): Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen

Thanksgiving Recess: No Class (11/23-11/27)

Week Fourteen

25. Paper Review and Film 2 (M 11/28)

26. Lecture 14 (W 11/30): World War II: 1941-1945

Textbook Readings: chapter 26 (956-967)

Source Focus: The Atomic Bomb (963-964)

Source Response Question: “Regarding the decision to drop the bomb, who was right, the scientists or President Truman?”

Week Fifteen

27. Lecture 15 (M 12/5): The Post-War Settlement and the Cold War; Book Essay Due

28. Lecture 16 (W 12/7): The New World Order and the End of History

Textbook Readings: chapters 27 and 28

Source Focus: Gandhi (993); Fanon (1004); Vaculik (1028)

Source Response Questions: “What is the argument in favor of Gandhi’s challenge to imperialism? Of Fanon’s?” or “According to Vaculik, how had Soviet Communism perverted the ideals of socialism?”

Final Exam Format and Review Guide posted on Oncourse

Week Sixteen

29. Last Class (M 12/12): Final Exam Review

FINAL EXAM: Friday, December 16, 8:00-10:00 CA 215