Note:This course is not currently being taught by Dr. Anne Clendinning.
History 1205E: Europe Since 1500
September 2003-April 2004
Nipissing University, Department of History
Lecture Time: Monday 8.30 to 10.20,
Location: B 200
Instructor: Dr. A. Clendinning
Office: H316;
Ext: 4405;
Email: annec@nipissingu.ca
Office Hours: Monday: 11 am -1 pm; Wednesday 12 noon-1pm.
Or by appointment
This course explores the development of modern Europe and European culture from approximately 1500 to the late twentieth century. Course lectures, readings, tutorial work and written assignments will familiarize students with a number of important themes to be covered in this course, as well as introduce students to the nature of historical study. Europe Since 1500 includes the examination of the following topics: the renaissance and the reformation; the exploration of new worlds, territorial, commercial, scientific and industrial; monarchies and the formation of the modern European state; the enlightenment; nineteenth century liberalism, socialism, nationalism and imperialism; conflict and change in the twentieth century including Communism and Fascism; concluding with the European union.
Term one covers the period roughly 1500-1815; from the renaissance to the French revolutionary wars. The second term takes up the narrative in post-Napoleonic Europe and continues up to the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late twentieth century.
This is a full year six-credit course. Students will attend a weekly lecture, every Monday morning, 8.30-10.20, in Room B200. (with the exception of October 13). Students will also attend bi-weekly tutorial meetings, with either Dr. Hanks or Dr. Clendinning, depending on the section you are in. The tutorials will address a specific topic area based on the readings and assignments from the textbook and the study guide. It is important that you attend the tutorial meetings. This is where students will receive more individual instruction, will be able to ask any questions they may have about the lecture material and get some assistance with research and writing skills. In addition, the participation grade in this course is derived from the tutorial meetings. You must attend the tutorial section to which you have been assigned.
Since the development of the motion picture in the early 20 th century, filmmakers have mined the historical past for subject matter. In this course, we will also consider how history is represented in film, as fact, propaganda and pure entertainment. We will also consider how films themselves are historical documents. To this end, each term, students will watch two feature length films at scheduled viewing times, outside of the lecture and tutorial slots. Times and locations will be announced. The films and their relationship to the past will be the topic of tutorial discussions and written assignments, therefore it is mandatory that you attend the screenings.
Required Textbooks (available in the campus bookstore) the text and the study guide are sold in a package in the bookstore. You will need both. There are weekly reading assignments from the text; the study guide is used mainly in the tutorial meetings.
Required Judith G. Coffin, Robert C. Stacey, Robert E. Lerner, Standish Meacham (eds). Western Civilizations: Their History and Culture , vol. 2. New York and London: Norton and Company, 2002.
Stephen Wessley, Study Guide: Western Civilizations: Their History and Culture , vol. 2. New York and London: Norton and Company, 2002 Set: $81. 75
Recommended for History Students
Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History . Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. $18.25
Required in Term 2
Holger H. Herwig, The Outbreak of World War I , Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
Not yet available in the bookstore.
Recommended
Choice of Courseware documents for students doing essay topics 1 and 3. Not yet available in the bookstore.
Term 1: worth 35% of total course
| Written Assignment: | 10% |
| Film commentaries | 5% |
| Term one exam * | 20% |
* in class, Monday Nov. 24: students are responsible for all course material presented in the lectures, tutorials and films
Term 2: worth 65% of total course
| Essay | 15% |
| Film commentaries | 5% |
| Tutorial Participation | 15% |
| Final Exam * | 30% |
* Final exams are scheduled by the registrar and begin Monday April 5, 2004 and end on April 30, 2004. Until you know your final exam schedule, do not make travel arrangements or plans for that month. Instructors have no control over this. No exceptions.
NOTE: Tutorial groups meet on alternate weeks. There are no tutorial meetings in Week one, September 8-12.
Tutorial meetings will commence in Week 2, September 15-19
for Group 1: Sections: L100, L101, L102, L103
Tutorial meetings will commence in Week 3, September 22-26
for Group 2: Sections L272, L273, L274, L275
There are 5 scheduled tutorials per term for each student.
www.wwnorton.com/wciv
The companion site for our textbook, this is designed by the publisher as a reference and study guide for students.
It has quizzes, maps, animations and music clips.
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modbook.html
Modern History Sourcebook, coordinated by Mark Halsall at Fordham University, is an excellent resource for primary materials on-line.
It also contains numerous links to other academic sites and addresses a number of different subject areas.
Note that many of the documents are posted on the Modern History Sourcebook site, and these open up much faster than the ones
that are linked from other university sites. You may want to note this if your computer is a bit slow.
Each term, we are showing two films as part of the course content for History 1205E.
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
This film about the life of Sir Thomas More is set in the court of King Henry VIII at the time of the English reformation.
A motion picture classic, starring Orson Welles and Susannah York, this film won the Oscar for best picture in 1966.
Length: 120 minutes.
To be scheduled for the week September 29-October 3; tentatively October 2: afternoon and evening showings; exact screening location and times TBA.
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Starring Ryan O'Neal and directed by Stanley Kubrick, this is an adaptation of William Thackery's 18 th century novel about one
man's adventures in pre-Revolutionary Europe.
Length 183 minutes.
To be scheduled for the week November 3-7; tentatively Thursday November 6: afternoon and evening showings; exact screening location and times TBA
Students are asked to write a one-page commentary about each film. What were your impressions of this film? How does this film present the past; is it 'accurate'; why or why not? The commentaries are due in the tutorial class the week following each screening.
Document Analysis: All History 1205E students will write a document analysis of a primary source included in Wessley's Study Guide . Students may select any document from the list of assigned Term 1 tutorial readings. Intended as a means of helping students to understand how historians use primary sources in their research, this assignment gives students the opportunity to develop their writing skills for academic readers. Instructions for this assignment will be presented in the tutorial meetings, beginning in week 2.
Length: 4-5 pages, double-spaced, 12-point text.
Due date: Monday October 27 in the lecture.
Please ensure that you identify the tutorial section that you are in including the day, time and name of the instructor .
Comparative Essay: All History 1205E students will write an essay that considers a specific historical debate. Students will select one topic from the list of three that have been designed by the instructors. No substitutions. All three of the topics require the use of primary and secondary materials; the necessary sources for this assignment will be available in the bookstore and the library.
Due in late February 2004, exact date TBA.
Length: 8 pages, double-spaced, 12-point text.