History A112 Origins of the Modern World, 1600-Present: Western Liberalism and its Discontents Spring Semester 2009 MW, 12:00-12:50 Tegler Auditorium

Dr. Mark Edward Ruff Department of History St. Louis University Office: Humanities Building #323 Office Hours: M: 1:30-3:30 (and by appointment) Telephone: 977-7140 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Teaching Assistants: David Parnell: [email protected] Joseph Reidy: [email protected] Frank Krajewski: [email protected]

Schedule of Discussion Sections:

201, Friday, 12:00-12:50, David Parnell 202, Friday, 12:00-12:50, Frank Krajewski 203, Friday, 12:00-12:50, Joe Reidy 204, Wednesday, 2:10-3:00, Frank Krajewski 205, Wednesday, 2:10-3:00, David Parnell 206, Wednesday, 2:30-3:20, Joe Reidy 207, Friday, 8:00-8:50, Joe Reidy 208, Thursday, 8:00-8:50, David Parnell 209, Thursday, 8:00-8:50, Joe Reidy 210, Thursday, 9:00-9:50, Frank Krajewski 211, Thursday, 2:10-3:00, David Parnell 212, Thursday, 2:10-3:00, Frank Krajewski

Course Description:

In response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, distraught Americans raised the question, “Why do they hate us?” Many commentators – and even the ringleaders - correctly saw the attacks on the World Trade Center as directed against a notable symbol of Western liberalism – against a corpus of ideas that includes beliefs in rationality, science, reason, economic freedom, religious tolerance and the right to express one’s individuality. Yet in maintaining that these challenges to the liberal West from religious extremists represented something qualitatively new, these commentators overlooked the fact that the ideals of Western liberalism came under fire almost from their moment of inception. For centuries, they have been the subject of assaults by conservatives, ultramontane Catholics, Communists, Fascists as well as radical Islamists. Making these critiques more trenchant, however, western liberal ideals often brought with them the seeds of their own destruction. From the French Revolution onwards, attempts to build the ideal state around these principles of anti-clericalism, rationality and reason became tainted by blood, violence and even genocide, as statesmen turned to force to carry out their ideas in the face of a recalcitrant public and perverted their own ideals.

This course will seek to address why Western liberal ideas of laissez-faire, religious tolerance and freedom of expression have often aroused such enmity. It will begin by looking at the origins of these ideals not only in the Scientific Revolution but in a reaction against the violence brought on by the wars of religion in the 16th and 17th centuries. A response to this era of upheaval, the Enlightenment of the 18th century introduced a secular, rational, anti-clerical and scientific outlook – but it arguably also led to the terror of the French Revolution. This course will look at the emergence of the liberal state and its offshoots – industrialization, nationalism and imperialism. It will examine the challenges to liberalism in the 19th and 20th centuries – conservatism, socialism, Fascism, and finally, in the second half of the 20th century, radical Islam.

Course Format: This course will consist of lectures on Monday and Wednesday that will be provided by the instructor. In addition, it will contain one discussion section per week held on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday by one of the three teaching assistants. The lectures will provide the larger narratives for the course, while the discussion sections will focus on analyzing primary sources. During both lectures and discussion sections, all blackberries, laptops, cell phones and ipods are to be turned off. If you wish to use a laptop, you must receive written permission beforehand from the instructor and/or teaching assistant. Those granted permission to use a laptop will sign a statement under which they agree to use the laptop only to take notice: those who use their computer for other purposes (IMing, web surfing) will have their letter grade dropped by one half of a letter grade.

Readings:

Dennis Sherman, The West in the World (custom edition): ISBN-13: 978-0-07- 733018-7 Susan Dunn, Sister Revolutions (excerpts) Primo Levy, Survival at Auschwitz Penguin Custom Editions, The Western World Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (excerpts) Montesquieu, The Persian Letters (excerpts) Documents to be sent via email

The Penguin Custom Edition, Marx and Montesquieu texts are available in a bundled packet at the Saint Louis University bookstore. Although we are using only certain pages from the Montesquieu and Marx texts, it was much more cost-effective to offer a bundled packet because of copyright restrictions. Grading:

Two four page papers: 40%, 20% each Midterm examination: 20% Final Examination: 20% 11 quizzes: 10% (1% each) Class participation: 10%

Papers:

You will be required to write two papers of four pages each. You will be assigned a topic approximately three weeks before the papers are due. Please note that you will be marked for style and grammar as well as content. For both papers, you are to use Times New Roman front, Size #12 with margins of one inch. Please note that papers will be graded not only for content but for style, organization and grammar. If a paper is turned in late, one letter grade will be deducted for each day that the paper has not been received. The only exceptions are documented medical emergencies and deaths in the family.

You are to submit a paper copy of your essay to your teaching assistant. In addition, you are to submit an electronic copy to the website, www.turnitin.com, which will compare your paper with those submitted by all other students and those already in its vast base. Specific information on turnitin.com will be provided on the sheet detailing these paper assignments.

Midterm

The midterm examination will take place on March 4. It will consist of a mixture of short identifications and essays. There will be no makeup examinations permitted, except for documented medical emergencies and deaths in the family.

Final examination:

Like the midterm, it will also consist of a mixture of short identifications and essays. This will take place on Friday, May 8 at 12:00 pm.

Quizzes:

You will be given eleven quizzes randomly throughout the semester on the day of your discussion sections. These will consist of a mixture of short identifications and brief essays. They will based both on the readings for the week and the content of the lectures. The lowest quiz grade will be dropped. No makeup quizzes will be permitted, except for pre-scheduled athletic events and signed doctors’ notes. If you are not in class by three minutes after the start of your discussion section, you will not be permitted to take the quiz. Class Participation:

This will comprise 10% of your grade, and will be based on a mixture of classroom participation, attendance and faithfulness in reading the required assignments. Attendance will be regularly taken in your weekly discussion sections.

Academic Honesty: This course will strictly uphold the college’s policy on academic honesty, which states that “students are expected to be honest in their academic work. The University reserves the right to penalize any student whose academic conduct is, in its judgment, detrimental to the University. Such conduct shall include cases of plagiarism, collusion, giving or receiving or offering or soliciting information on examinations, or the use of previously prepared material in examinations and quizzes.” This policy, which defines cheating, falsification, plagiarism, sabotage, and collusion, is to be found at the following web site: http://www.slu.edu/x12657.xml. All cases of academic dishonesty will be punished with a grade of a zero for the assignment.

ADA Statement: “Saint Louis University opens its programs and educational services to all qualified candidates without regard to their disability. All programs and services provided for students are done in a manner that does not discriminate based on disability. Individuals requiring accommodations for student programs should contact the Director of Student Life.” (College of Arts and Sciences Handbook, St. Louis University).

Schedule of Classes and Readings:

Week I: January 12, 14 Course Introduction The Reformation Readings: Sherman, 337-371

Week II: Jan. 21 The Spread of the Reformation Readings: The Western World, 1-22. Readings: Sherman, 372-438

Week III: Jan 26, 28 The Wars of Religion and the Scientific Revolution Readings: Galileo, letter to Queen Christina, available at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/galileo-tuscany.html Readings: Sherman, 441-452

Week IV: Feb. 2, 4 The Enlightenment The American and French Revolutions Readings: Montesquieu, The Persian Letters, Letters #24, 29, 35, 36, 37, 38, 46, 60. Readings: The Western World, 23-27 Readings: Sherman, 452-465

Week V: Feb. 9, 11 American and French Revolutions Readings: Susan Dunn, Sister Revolutions, 3-161, 209-215 Readings: Sherman, 462-532 (especially 503-532 – skim 462-502)

Week VI: Feb. 16, 18 Liberalism and Nationalism Readings: The Western World, pp. 28-38, 55-67 (to be used during the lectures on Monday and Wednesday) Readings: The Syllabus of Errors, available at http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9syll.htm Readings: Sherman, 565-593 February 16: Paper #1 Due

Week VII: Feb. 23, 25 Industrialization and Socialism Readings: Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (to be used during the lectures on Monday and Wednesday as well) Readings: The Western World, 39-54 Readings: Sherman, 535-612 (the readings for this week partially overlap with those for the previous week)

Week VIII: Mar. 2, 4 Social Darwinism March 4: Midterm examination Readings: Sherman, 658-664

Week IX: NO CLASS – Hooray!

Week X: Mar. 16, 18 Imperialism and World War I Readings: Cecil Rhodes (to be sent via email) Hymn: From Greenland’s Icy Mountains (to be sent via email) Jules Ferry, On French Colonial Expansion: available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1884ferry.html Program of the Pan-German League, available at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1890pangerman.html British Missionary Letter urging the Annexation of the South Sea Islands, available at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1883hebrides.html Readings: Sherman, 628-640, 673-692

Week XI: Mar. 23, 25 The Bolshevik Revolution and Stalinism Readings: Sherman, 692-698, 712-716 Readings: Lenin on the “Black Hundreds,” available at: http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/The_%27Black_Hundreds%27_Anti- Clerical_Campaign_/_Lenin_to_Molotov Readings: Stalin, on industrialization: http://artsci.shu.edu/reesp/documents/Stalin--industrialization.htm Readings: Stalin, on the purges: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1936purges.html Readings: Additional document to be emailed Week XII: Mar. 30, Apr. 1 Fascism Readings: Sherman, 701-712, 717-723 Documents on Nazism: to be emailed

Week XIII: Apr. 6, 8 (No sections this week) World War II Readings: The Treatment of the Conquered Peoples (to be sent via email) – to be used during the lecture Readings: Sherman, 727-749

Week XIV: Apr. 15 (No classes, April 13) Genocide Readings: Primo Levy, Survival at Auschwitz

Week: XV: Apr. 20, 22 The Cold War Film: Dr. Strangelove Readings: Sherman, 755-788

Week XVI: April 27, 29 Radical Islam April 27: Final Paper Due Readings: Sherman, 791-820 Readings: Osama Bin Laden, Declaration of War against the United States, available at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html Readings: Additional documents on Jihad (to be emailed)

Week XVII: May 4: Last day of Class May 8: Final Examination