HIS 104 - Modern Europe and Its Critics (1)

The course will examine the fundamental events and processes in European politics, war, economics, culture, and society from the eighteenth century to the present. We will attempt to explain the origins of the contemporary world; how Europeans and the European world have arrived at where they are today. We will also strive to understand how Europeans lived and gave meaning to their lives in the “modern” era. The course is both topically and chronologically organized and emphasizes the common characteristics of European civilization rather than specific national histories. It traces threads of continuity while also examining the vast changes experienced by European society in the past 250 years. We will focus on particular cases that illustrate important patterns of change and conflict that have shaped the European world as we know it now. In doing so we will also examine how the idea of Western Civilization has changed over the centuries and what it means today in the early 21^st century. Not open to seniors without permission of the instructor. No alternate grade option.
(Humanities)