HISTORY 238

From Peace to War: An International History of Europe, 1815-1914

Please note: this is archived course information from 2017 for HISTORY 238.

Description

Spanning a century of global events, this course investigates the diplomatic, economic, political and cultural relations between European states, their governments and people from the Congress of Vienna that brought the Napoleonic Wars to an end to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

The Nineteenth Century was an era of profound change within and outside the European continent. This course reflects on some of those changes and asks questions about their impact on Europeans and on Europe’s place in the world. Above all, it re-evaluates the traditional historiography which argues that the “long” Nineteenth Century (1815 – 1914) was dominated by tension, crisis and war, ultimately leading to the outbreak of the First World War. Instead, it posits that the century was one in which Europeans exercised an extraordinary amount restraint towards each other, albeit not towards the rest of the world. As such, the course investigates themes of peace, war, stability, internationalism, humanitarianism, globalisation and international law and asks questions of nineteenth-century European imperialism, nationalism, industrialisation and revolution.

Availability 2017

Not taught in 2017

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Professor Maartje Abbenhuis

Points

HISTORY 238: 15 points

Prerequisites

15 points at Stage I in History and 30 points passed

Restrictions

HISTORY 338