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Themes in European History

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Themes in European History Themes in European History The Revolutions of 1848 The Rise of the Dictators The Fall of Communism Humanities International Summer School Provisional Module Handbook, 2013 1 Themes in European History This module (class) lasts three weeks and consists of three themes, each of which lasts for one week and is worth a third of the mark for the module. Each theme is made up of a number of different kinds of assessments. ‘The Revolutions of 1848’ (Theme One), for example, this will consist of presentations and document analyses, but there will be blog reflections, presentation write-ups, in- class tests and a final presentation/project in the other themes. These will become your portfolio. Students will be awarded marks for each assessment, which will then be added together to create a mark for the theme; each theme is worth a third of the module and the final mark will be arrived at by averaging the marks for each theme. For example, a student receiving marks of 68% for Theme One, 58% for Theme Two and 63% for Theme Three, will receive a mark of 63% for the module (68+58+63=189/3 = 63) Although assessments may not carry many marks individually, all must be completed in order to pass the module. Presentations will be partly peer-marked, in other words, those students not presenting will be asked to grade those who are and these marks will be combined with those of the tutor to arrive at a final mark for the piece. Assessment Theme One: The Revolutions of 1848 (which runs for three days) will consist of three presentations worth 50% of the mark and three short document analyses, worth 50%. Theme Two: The Rise of the Dictators, will consist of two presentations (25%), two essays or blogs (25%) and two in-class tests (50%) Theme Three: The Fall of Communism: two presentations (25%), two presentation write-ups (25%), an in-class test (25%) and a final presentation/project (25%) Your assessments for each module will be combined to create your coursework portfolio and at the end of the Summer School you will have completed a portfolio for each module. Submission of coursework Coursework can be submitted daily, but all of Week One’s coursework must be submitted by 1pm on Monday of Week Two; Week Two’s coursework must be submitted by 1pm on Monday of Week Three and Week Three’s coursework by 10.00am on the Friday of that week (the last day of the Summer School). See Coursework Grid below. [We should look at electronic submission of everything and make use of blogs] Reading You will require the following books: Peter Browning, Revolutions and Nationalities: Europe, 1825-1890, Cambridge University Press, 2000. 2 Jonathan Sperber, The European Revolutions, 1848-1851, Cambridge University Press, 1984 (reprinted 1995). Stephen J. Lee, The European Dictatorships, Routledge, third edition, 2008. Timothy Garton Ash, The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of 1989 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague, New York: Random House, 1990 Info on library and electronic resources Rubric on US/UK grade equivalence Rubric on plagiarism Coursework Grid Theme Coursework Due Date Revolutions Presentation One In-class Presentation Two In-class Presentation Three In-class Document Analysis Monday, week two One Document Analysis Monday week two Two Document Analysis Monday week two Three Dictators Presentation One In-class Presentation Two In-class Essay/Blog On Monday, week three Essay/Blog Two Monday, week three In-class Test One In-class In-class Test Two In-class Communism Presentation One In-class Presentation Two In-class Presentation Write-up Friday, week three One Presentation Write-up Friday, week three One In-class test In-class Presentation/Project In-class 3 Theme One: The Revolutions of 1848 “There have been plenty of greater revolutions in the history of the modern world, and certainly plenty of more successful ones. Yet there has been none which spread more rapidly and widely, running like a brushfire across frontiers, countries and even oceans…By 2 March revolution had gained south-west Germany, by 6 March Bavaria, by 11 March Berlin, by 13 March Vienna and almost immediately Hungary, by 18 March Milan and therefore Italy (where an independent revolt was already in possession of Sicily). At the time the most rapid information service available to anyone (that of the Rothschild bank) could not carry the news from Paris to Vienna in less than five days. Within a matter of weeks no government was left standing in an area of Europe which is today occupied by all or part of ten states, not counting lesser repercussions in a number of others. Moreover, 1848 was the first potentially global revolution, whose direct influence may be detected in the 1848 insurrection in Pernambuco (Brazil) and a few years later in remote Colombia. In a sense it was the paradigm of the kind of ‘world revolution’ of which rebels were henceforth to dream, and which at rare moments, such as in the aftermath of great wars, they thought they could recognize. In fact such simultaneous continent-wide or world-wide explosions are extremely rare. In Europe 1848 is the only one which affected both the ‘developed’ and the backward parts of the continent. It was both the most widespread and the least successful of such revolutions. Within six months of its outbreak its universal defeat was safely predictable, within eighteen months all but one of the regimes it overthrew had been restored, and the exception (the French Republic) was putting as much distance as it could between itself and the insurrection to which it owed its existence.” Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital, 1848-1875 This theme will examine the revolutions which swept Europe in 1848, concentrating particularly on the experiences of Germany, Italy and France and analysing the long and short term impacts of the revolutions. Using the documents below and background reading, we will examine how and why revolution came to Italy, France and Germany in 1848, assess the underlying reasons and analyse the consequences for each country and Europe as a whole. The set texts for this theme are Peter Browning’s Revolutions and Nationalities: Europe, 1825-1890, Cambridge University Press, 2000. This is a brief overview of the key issues and includes many of the primary documents we will be examining. The second book students should purchase is Jonathan Sperber, The European Revolutions, 1848-1851, Cambridge University Press, 1984 (reprinted 1995). This is a much more detailed and comprehensive text. You should be able to pick up both quite cheaply via Amazon. Students should consider the following overarching questions: What were the underlying causes of discontent in Europe? Was each country affected by the same problems? How important was the concept of nationalism to each revolution? 4 What were the positive and negative consequences in each country affected by the upheaval of 1848? Where the revolutions successful? Structure and Format Each day will consist of a lecture, an in-class discussion of primary documents and a group presentation. Assessments will consist of the group presentation and a document analysis. Your day will look like this: Lecture 9.00-10.00 Primary Source Workshop 10.00-11.00 Student Presentations 11.00-12.00 Students will be divided into groups and each group will offer a fifteen minute presentation Assessment One: The presentation is part of the assessment and students will be graded according to their analysis, research and presentation skills. Each member of the group will receive the same grade. (50%) Assessment Two: Write a 500 word analysis of one of the documents discussed in class. Using secondary reading, you will examine the document in its historical context and offer an assessment of importance, noting its influence, the motivation of the writer and the nature of the source (50%) Day One: Introduction and Italy Lecture 9.00-10.00 Europe 1800-1830; the Springtime of the Peoples; 1848 in Italy: Garibaldi and il Risorgimento Primary Source Workshop 10.00-11.00 Document One: Mazzini’s Statement of Principles, 1831 Document Two: Giuseppe La Farina, Palermo, Sicily, 12 January 1848 Document Three: The Proclamation of Charles Albert, King of Piedmont, 23 March 1848 Document Four: The Papal Allocution, 29 April 1848 Source: Browning, Revolutions and Nationalities, 2000 Presentations 11.00-12.00 Day Two: France Lecture 9.00-10.00 5 France, the ‘Campagne des Banquets’ and the Second Republic Primary Source Workshop 10.00-11.00 Document One: Proclamation by the provisional government In the name of the French people: A reactionary and oligarchical government has just been overthrown by the heroism of the people of Paris. That government has fled, leaving behind it a trail of blood that forbids it ever to retrace its steps. The blood of the people has flowed as in July; but this time this noble people shall not be deceived. It has won a national and popular government in accord with the rights, the progress, and the will of this great and generous nation. A provisional government, the result of pressing necessity and ratified by the voice of the people and of the deputies of the departments, in the session of February 24, is for the moment invested with the task of assuring and organizing the national victory. It is composed of Messieurs Dupont (de l'Eure), Lamartine, Cremieux, Arago (of the Institute), Ledru-Rollin, Garnier-Pages, Marie, Armand Marrast, Louis Blanc, Ferdinand Flocon, and Albert (a workingman). These citizens have not hesitated a moment to accept the patriotic commission which is imposed upon them by the pressure of necessity.
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