HIST 3566, War and ImperialismProf. David Hamlin
Class:Office: DE 614; ext 3996
Office Hours:
The European continent rose to peaks of world influence with the emergence of industrialization and the nation-state. These developments would, however, ultimately rip apart Europe and leave it a pawn in the struggle of two states on the fringes of the traditional European balance of power. This course will examine the search for security, prosperity, and hegemony among the European powers from the consolidation of the German and Italian nation states to the Second World War – roughly the 1870s to 1945. The course revolves around three crucial lines of inquiry: the impact of the Anglo-German rivalry; the interaction between economics and politics; and the ways in which international order were imagined. There will also be considerable primary documentation. The ample availability of primary documents allows the course to emphasize analytical skills and research in ways that other courses might not.
As a hybrid online and classroom course, we will have a number of peculiarities to the course. The course will alternate between classroom and online iterations. The classroom meetings are intended to sketch overarching themes and trends, as well as to review past work. The online portion will function, in effect, like a lab. Primary documents related to the previous classroom discussion will be posted on the course Blackboard page. Students will be divided into groups; each group will be responsible for one set of primary documents. The intention is to have students discuss the documents and how they relate to the themes and trends discussed. To that end, individual students will post one paragraph reactions to the readings to a course blog. These are intended to be starting points for student discussions, and will not be graded. Students will then (after the blog post) collaborate with the other members of their group on a wiki paper examining the significance of the groups primary documents. That analytical paper must be completed before the following in-class meeting. Collaboration may take place in person, on the phone or via electronic communications like email or WebEx. During the days designated for online projects, the instructor will be available through email to answer questions and give guidance to students. The beginning of the in-class meetings will be an effort to compare and contrast the different analyses of the groups.
Student academic progress will be assessed in several fashions. The primary assessment are the wiki analytical papers. These will be in the vicinity of three pages long and will be graded largely on analytical sophistication, use of themes from class meetings, and evidentiary support. The group grade for the paper may be modified for individuals within the group if the instructor determines by tracking wiki changes that one individual is failing to contribute, or alternatively if one individual is doing the bulk of the work. The blog posts are not graded, but are mandatory. Failure to post will result in that individual student being assessed 1/3 grade penalty on the grade earned on the group project. Thus, for example the group project may earn a grade of B+, but a student who did not post on the blog and contributed very little to the group project might end up with an individual grade of B-. There will also be a final research project of 8-10 pages. Students may choose their topic in consultation with the instructor. Students are expected to post drafts of their final papers on the final Tuesday of class. Students will also be expected to provide constructive criticism for the drafts of two other students. Students will then have two days to revise their final papers, which will be due the last day of class.
In recognition of the compressed nature of the summer semester and the primary document assignments, reading assignments will be comparatively light. Readings will be assigned for in-class meetings. They will be drawn from two short books:
McDonough, Origins of the First and Second World Wars
Berghahn, Europe in the Era of Two World Wars
Food Policy: Beverages are acceptable but please do not bring food to class.
Academic Integrity: Fordham University has no place for academic dishonesty. Cheating and plagiarism will result in an F for the assignment and a report to the Deans. Information on Fordham policy on academic integrity is available at: fordham.edu/info/25380/undergraduate_academic_integrity_policy
Accommodations: Arrangements for students with disabilities will be made in consultation with the Disabilities Office.
Schedule:
W May 31Introduction, Imperialism and Imperial Rivalry
Globalization and Empire
Informal Empire
Imperial Scramble
Th June 1 – Online Module 1
Document Review. Group responsible for Wiki report on
Fashoda
East Asia
South Africa
Portuguese Empire
M June 5 Rise and Fall of the Bismarckian System in Europe
Reading: McDonough, 3-13
Berghahn, 1-6
Bismarck and Realpolitik
Stability by Isolating France
Problem of Balkan Rivalry
Bismarck’s view of Russia
Dismissing Bismarck and the Franco-Russian Alliance
Tu June 6 Online Module 2
Document Review. Group responsible for Wiki report on
Bismarck Memoirs
Holstein, Russia and the Fall of Bismarck
Caprivi, Waldersee and the end of the Reinsurance Treaty
Norman Angell
W June 7 Anglo-German Rivalry, Britain’s Global Challenges and the Ententes
Reading: McDonough, 24-39
Berghahn, 7-25
Germany’s Naval Construction Program
Implications of Global Rivalry for Britain and First Political Moves
Entente Cordiale and Debates about
Russo-Japanese War
Anglo-Russian Entente
Th June 8 Online – Module 3
Document Review. Group responsible for Wiki report on
British and German Naval Construction
Entente Cordiale
Impact of Russo-Japanese War
Anglo-Russian Entente
M June 12 Balkan War, International Tensions and the Origins of WWI
Reading: Berghahn, 26-32
Re-orienting Russian Foreign Policy
Bosnian Crisis
Balkan Wars
Arms Race
Tu June 13 Online - Module 4
Document Review. Group responsible for Wiki report on
Balkan Wars
Perceptions of Russian Power
Haldane Mission
July Crisis
W June 14 World War I, War Aims, and Versailles
Reading: Berghahn, 33-47
Military History of War
Economic Warfare
Aims of the War
1916 and Peace
Radicalization
Exhaustion and Peace
Th June 15 Online – Module 5
Document Review. Group responsible for Wiki report on
International Law and WWI
Treaty of Versailles
M June 19 Reconstructing Order
Reading: Berghahn, 47-81
McDonough, 43-67
League of Nations
Collective Security
Enforcement Crises
Dawes and Locarno
Tu June 20 Online – Module 6
Wiki on League of Nations and Critics
Mazower
Schmitt
W June21 Nazism and Global Challenges to British Power
Reading: Berghahn, 82-99
McDonough, 69-78, 83-86, 90-111
Great Depression and Rise of Nazis
Ideas of “Traditional Conservatives”
Adolf Hitler’s Foreign Policy Ideas
Rearmament and Shifting European Balance
Th June 22 Online - Module 7
Document Review. Group responsible for Wiki report on
Hitler’s Second Book
Italy, Ethiopia and Containing Germany
Nazi Germany and Eastern Europe
Spain and the European Order
M June 26 Appeasement and the Run Up to War
Reading: Berghahn, 99-113
British Global Challenges
British Strategic Thinking
Munich
Danzig/Gdansk
Tu June 27 Online – Module
Post own papers. Must offer critique of two other papers
W June 28 WW II
Reading: Berghahn,113-141
European War
Germany’s World War
America’s World War
Final Paper Due June 29 – Email to