History of Modern Europe History 3326 1 Some opening notes… • Yes, I know about the strikes going on • I will do what I can to be flexible • If you need to miss class, it’s best if you can let me know • You don’t need to tell me *why* you’re missing class • NOTE: your grade won’t *directly* suffer from missing class, though missing class will make it harder to know what’s going on • You do need to do the work 2 The most important thing I will tell you today: • If you need help, go get it. • There are people who can help you. • First step, if you don’t know others: CU counselling centre: • https://www2.osa.cuhk.edu.hk/wacc/en-GB/our-services/seekingcounselling#c • If you know people who need help, walk with them to the counselling centre and wait with them • You do not need to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders 3 [transition to actual class content] 4 “Modern Europe” – some basic background • This class will cover the period from ~1800 until 1991 • Which, is probably still too much for one semester, but here goes… • And it is worthwhile to look at both of these centuries together 5 Traditional divisions of European history • Ancient/Medieval/Modern/Contemporary • Modern: Early Modern v Late Modern • But, I’m skipping the “early modern” part b/c otherwise I’d mostly just be redoing 1002 • I’m also skipping the content covered by my French Revolution class • It’s still a lot to cover, so: try not to lose the forest for the trees 6 Phrase of the day/ 英文詞語 • Lose the forest for the trees, can’t see the forest for the trees, etc. • To become so caught up in the details that you miss the big picture 7 What I’ll talk about today • Quick overview of the period • The themes of the course • The requirements of the course • The logistics: readings, assignments, etc. 8 The Long, but in our case Less Long, Nineteenth Century • Historians of Europe/Atlantic World talk about a “Long Nineteenth Century” that starts in 1789 and ends in 1914. • In general, it makes sense to talk about that period as one unit • The impacts of the “dual revolution” and the reshaping of a Europe which emerged a very different place than the one which existed in the 1780s • We’ll be starting closer to the year 1800, or even 1815 9 Less Long th 19 Century, cont. • The start: the aftermath of the French Revolution and the spread of industrialization • An awareness of the newness of European society at the time • The weakness of monarchies; the rise of mass culture • A society where life was different than it had been for earlier generations • Previous: an expectation of continuity, or at least relative continuity • C19: an expectation of change, and perhaps of progress 10 Modernity knew it was modern • This is one of the key aspects of “modernity,” which I think was more true of the 19th century than it was of the early modern periods • People at the time were convinced that they were living in a time of new possibilities • People were also convinced that they were living in a time which no longer had the old certainties • Excitement but also loss 11 The question of optimism in the nineteenth century • If things were not as they were before, that led to the basic question: were they now better, or worse? • And if they were worse, could they be made to be better? • Could ideas and political movements make the world better? • Could technology and industry make the world better? 12 The Time of the “isms” • Hence a variety of movements during the nineteenth century all aimed, in one way or another, at making the world a better place • Liberalism • Utilitarianism, its quirky offshoot • Chartism • Artistic movements like romanticism and impressionism • Socialism, and especially Marxism • All were attempts to reshape the world, and to open up the world of possibilities • Some were more successful than others 13 The rise of nationalism and imperialism • This was a time when Europe remade not only its own map, but the maps of much of Asia and Africa as well • This was when Hong Kong became a British colony • Also when Britain and France became major empires • Germany and Italy became nations • Russia began its slow emergence 14 The end of the optimism • 1914-1918: more slaughter than ever before • A real turning point in European history. Very little emerged unchanged. • This is why we talk about the two uneven centuries 15 The Short Twentieth Century • Some version of 1914-1991 • World Wars I,II and the Cold War • Post-Cold War Europe: “Contemporary Europe,” as opposed to “Modern” • So, these two “centuries” will be the focus of the class this semester 16 Special note on 1914-1945 • This might be the worst period in European history • 1348-1451, the time of the Black Death, is the other possibility here • A period of unprecedented slaughter, cruelty and hardship • Also a period which saw the rise of totalitarian states in much (and eventually most) of Europe • So, that portion of the course can be depressing. 17 What we learn from 1914-1945 • We learn how brutal human beings can be • We learn that there are times when people have to fight back • We learn that totalitarian systems can inflict an enormous amount of pain, suffering, and death, but that in the end, they are not what people want, or who people want to live • Though part of that story would be continued in cold war Europe, which would stay under totalitarian rule for another 4+ decades 18 The Cold War World • Post-1945: Harder and harder to talk about “Europe,” since it’s so much more linked to the rest of the world • NATO • Many of the most interesting developments for European powers – especially France and England – was the disintegration of their overseas empires 19 The Cold War as Lived History • By this point, a huge change between me, and all of you: I grew up during the Cold War • A world divided into two • A Europe divided into two • The end of the cold war had a larger effect on the people who had been living “behind the Iron Curtain,” but don’t underestimate the impact it had on Western Europe (and the US) 20 Throughout all of this time… • Stories of inequality and the fight for a more equal world • Stories of repression and the fight for freedom • Stories of injustice and the fight for justice • And at a time when Hong Kong is going through its own struggles for freedom and its own struggles against authoritarianism, these are the stories I’m going to be highlighting 21 Now, some of the key parts of the course • (sorry to be so late finalizing all of this there’s been a lot of uncertainty. Also, I’m *hoping* my own schedule is more open after a few weeks) • We’ll be covering this period as much as we can, even if each century kind of deserves its own course • We’ll be mixing primary and secondary texts, • But: there is no one textbook for the course • All reading assignments will be available on-line, either as links or via blackboard 22 Assignments • 3 short quizzes @ 10 points each • At least one will include a map • You will not need to know every post-1991 state in Eastern Europe • Tutorial: 20 points • Research paper (~2000-2500 words): 30 points • Take-home final: 20 points 23 Topics week class topic 1 1Intro; theme of the course: repression, revolution, resistance 2 2industrialization, urbanization, and mass culture 3 3romanticism and early labor movements 4 41848 and the rise of marxism 5NO CLASS 6 5colonization 7 6ww1 8 7russian rev 9 8the rise of totalitarianism: stalin, mussolini, franco, hitler 10 9holocaust and post-war settlement 11 10decolonization 12 111968: Paris and Prague 13 121989-1991 24 Readings: general approach • Most weeks, there will be at least two readings • One will be a secondary source (and often, a fairly basic one) • Many of these will be from either Blanning’s The Oxford History of Europe, or the Blackwell Online European Companion • Available via the library’s website, though they may just be up on the web someplace • The other will be a primary source, or a collection of primary sources • These will also be on-line, often just as links to outside sources, though there might be occasional scans uploaded to blackboard 25 Why read the secondary texts? • In this course, *most* of the secondary texts are so that you can know what happened. • In other words, these are so that you can know the history of the events, but not necessarily the historiography of those events. • Example: next week’s assignment is The Industrialization of Modern Europe, 1750–1914 by Clive Trebilcock • I want you to learn about the history of industrialization; but beyond that, I don’t care about Trebilcock, or his interpretation 26 Why read the primary texts? • We’re reading the primary texts, because reading primary texts is what historians do • (Yes, I repeat this often) • The ability to interpret primary texts, and to put those texts into their historical context, is one of the most important skills for any historian, and the most important skill that is specific to historians • So we’ll be reading selections from a classic text on industrialization, by Engels, and I *do* want you to know what Engels has to say about industrialization 27 Quick note on possible other secondary sources • There are some I’d like to assign that are focused on interpretation, and there are some interpretations which I’d like you to be aware of • But, they won’t be the focus of this class most weeks • There is a basic question: how, as historians, do we figure out what happened, and why? • This is a matter of finding what evidence we can, and figuring out what that evidence is trying to tell us 28 Final story for the day: technology and the industrial revolution • I’ll end today’s class with a quick recount of one of the classic intepretations of industrialization: E. P. Thompson’s essay, “Time, Work, and Industrial Capitalism.” • EPT: an historian of the English Working Class during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries • So: how do you study this? What evidence do we have? 29 Studying industrialization • Basics: accounts at the time; growth of factories; growth of cities; building train lines; inventions, like the mechanical loom and the steam engine. • Thompson asked: what about the spread of clocks and watches? 30 Changes in time • Thompson’s argument: before industrialization, people didn’t care what “number” time it was. • Time was “concrete” • Linked to events, usually natural ones like sunrise/sunset, or the tides, and seasonal changes • There were clocks, and some watches, but they didn’t change much 31 “Abstract time” • With the rise of the factory, schedules became important, as did “clock time,” or “abstract time” • Factory owners invested heavily in building the factories and wanted to maximize the profits they got from it, so they made workers work long hours • Easier to do that if you can number the hours, time lunch breaks, etc. 32 Technology = oppression? • So for this first generation, the rise of “clock time” or “abstract time” meant longer working hours, less control over how they used their own time. • But the story didn’t end there. • EPT never lets the working class just be a passive victim • In the next generation of factory workers, a movement for the 10-hour workday. • They used the same technology – the clock – to fight for their own interests. And eventually they won 33 People bend the arc of history… • A quote from Martin Luther King, which Barack Obama often quoted: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” • But it’s not the arc that bends; it’s people, who bend toward, or away from, justice. • We’ll see people bending it both ways over the course of the semester • And we’ll ask, for today’s world: who is bending the arc, and which way are they bending it? 34 Reminder: take care of yourselves, take care of each other • If you need help from me, please ask. 35
