Course Description
Similar in purpose and method to HUM 2051, this course continues the interpretation of primary texts, emphasizing the Renaissance period, the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and the Modern Age.
Course Objectives
The student should leave the course with a firm understanding of how historical events continue to affect their own lives in the modern world.
- Establish a basic level of familiarity with major historical events from the Renaissance to the post-World War II world
- Establish a basic level of understanding about the cultural and social developments of Western Civilization, including art, literature, science and technology, and philosophy
- Develop a familiarity with some of the most significant literary readings of Western civilization and how these texts reflect challenges faced in history
Week 1
Lecture: The Renaissance
Lecture: The Reformation
Outcomes
- Explain the importance of why changes in artistic styles shaped and created a unique Renaissance mentality
- Illustrate how Renaissance princes sought to expand their power at the expense of traditional aristocratic elites
- Discuss and summarize how Luther, Calvin and Zwingli challenged the Roman Catholic Church
- Explain the process by which the Roman Catholic Church sought to maintain and regain its influence in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation
Week 2
Lecture: Absolutism in Europe
Lecture: Challenges of Constitutionalism
Outcomes
- Explain how religious disputes continued to shape and transform European politics
- Evaluate the limits of absolutism during the reign of Louis XIV
- Analyze the role of religion and party politics in the rise of constitutionalism in 17th century England
- Discuss the impact of absolutism and constitutionalism on other European nations during the 17th century
Week 3
Lecture: Political Change in 18th Century Europe
Lecture: The Enlightenment
Outcomes
- List and define the major issues of the early 18th century
- Examine the origins of the Enlightenment and the challenges faced by those seeking to advance its goals
- Evaluate how the Enlightenment impacted nobles, the emerging middle classes and the vast number of consumers in the lower classes
- Discuss how and why enlightened absolute monarchs chose to undertake reforms in the 18th century
Week 4
Lecture: The French Revolution
Lecture: Napoleonic Europe
Outcomes
- List and define the major issues of the early 18th century
- Examine the origins of the Enlightenment and the challenges faced by those seeking to advance its goals
- Evaluate how the Enlightenment impacted nobles, the emerging middle classes and the vast number of consumers in the lower classes
- Discuss how and why enlightened absolute monarchs chose to undertake reforms in the 18th century
- Discuss the origins of the French Revolution up to 1791
- Explain why the French Revolution became increasingly radical after the year 1791
- Summarize the process by which Napoleon both antagonized the rest of Europe while simultaneously transforming France
- Summarize how new ideologies were reflections of social and economic changes in the early 19th century
Week 5
Lecture: The Industrial Revolution
Lecture: New Ideologies
Outcomes
- Analyze how the Industrial Revolution transformed Europe in the first half of the 19th century
- Discuss reformers’ responses to the social crises brought about by industrialization and urbanization
- Determine the role of warfare in creating new nations
- Summarize the viewpoints of those opposed to the rise of the modern, industrial nation-state and discuss how these opponents sought to halt its expansion
Week 6
Lecture: Imperialism and its Challenges
Lecture: Nietzsche, Freud, and the Creation of the Modern World
Outcomes
- Define “New Imperialism” and discuss its effects on Europe and the world
- Explain how political and economic changes in the late 19th century continued to reshape Europe, laying the groundwork for the creation of the modern world
- Summarize how Modernism transformed art and the world of ideas
- Evaluate the major factors that lead to the outbreak of war in 1914
Week 7
Lecture: World War I
Lecture: The Communist Revolution
Outcomes
- Determine why the First World War could be called the “first total war”
- Explain how the war affected soldiers and civilians in Europe, both on the frontlines and on the home fronts
- Define the goals of the Communist Revolution and evaluate the Soviet Union’s attempts to achieve these goals
- Discuss why European leaders were unable to effectively deal with the political, social and economic problems they faced in postwar period
Week 8
Lecture: The Inter War Years
Lecture: World War II and the Coming Cold War
Outcomes
- Evaluate and discuss the economic and social importance of the Great Depression
- Summarize how Japan, Germany and Italy created the conditions that allowed the world to slide towards a new world war by 1939
- Identify the reasons for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party’s rise to power in postwar Germany
- Discuss how the Second World War permanently transformed the world
- Analyze the main events that led to the development of a cold war between the superpowers
The course description, objectives and learning outcomes are subject to change without notice based on enhancements made to the course. November 2011
