History of Europe, 1800 to the Present

Purpose of Course  showclose

This course will introduce you to the history of Europe from 1800 to present day.  You will learn about the major political, economic, and social changes that took place in Europe during this period.  This course is structured chronologically, with each unit focusing on a particular historical event or trend.  Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the Industrial Revolution, the First and Second World Wars, imperialism, and the Cold War.  By the end of this course, you will understand how nationalism, industrialization, and imperialism fueled the rise of European nation-states in the nineteenth century, as well as how world war and oppressive regimes devastated Europe during the 1900s.

Course Information  showclose

Welcome to HIST202.  Below, please find some general information on the course and its requirements.
Course Designer: Christa Dierksheide & Professor Concepcion Saenz-Cambra
Primary Resources: This course is comprised of a range of different free, online materials.  However, the course makes primary use of the following materials:

Khan Academy  
This course features a number of Khan Academy™ videos. Khan Academy™ has a library of over 3,000 videos covering a range of topics (math, physics, chemistry, finance, history and more), plus over 300 practice exercises. All Khan Academy™ materials are available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

Learning Outcomes  showclose

  • Think critically and analytically about European history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  • Identify and analyze the varying causes and effects of the Industrial Revolution in Europe.
  • Identify, describe, and analyze the development of a coherent set of ideologies in post-Napoleonic Europe: liberalism, socialism, Marxism, nationalism, and Romanticism.
  • Identify and describe the causes and effects of the era of reform and revolution in Europe in the 1820s and 1830s, as well as analyze the Revolutions of 1848.
  • Describe and analyze the effects of urbanization—expanding cities, rising public health risks, redefined social classes, the evolving nature of the family, and new developments in science and thought.
  • Identify the age of nationalism in Europe between 1850 and 1914. Students will analyze France’s Second Empire, Italy’s unification, Germany’s unification, and the modernization of Russia. Students will also be able to define the emergence of the modern nation-state during this period.
  • Identify the causes and characteristics of Europe’s “New Imperialism” of the late nineteenth century. Students will also be able to describe and analyze responses to this imperialism in Africa, India, the Middle East, and the Far East.
  • Assess how and why World War I erupted in 1914. Students will also be able to identify and describe the characteristics and impact of the Great War.
  • Identify and describe the Russian Revolution of 1917, including the fall of the Romanov dynasty and the Bolshevik Revolution.
  • Identify and describe the cultural and social problems that characterized post-WWI Europe. Students will be able to analyze Modernism, ethnic and economic problems in central and eastern Europe, and the Great Depression.
  • Identify and describe the rise of authoritarian regimes in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. Students will be able to analyze Stalinism, Fascism, and Nazism.
  • Identify and describe the causes and conflicts of World War II. Students will also be able to analyze, identify, and describe the Holocaust.
  • Analyze and explain the Cold War. Students will also be able to analyze, identify, and describe the collapse of Communism and the Soviet Union, as well as the end of the Cold War.
  • Identify and describe the post-WWII social transformations in Europe, including the rise of feminism, the rise of counterculture, and new developments in both science and technology.
  • Analyze and interpret primary source documents from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, using historical research methods.

Course Requirements  showclose

In order to take this course, you must:

√    Have access to a computer

√    Have continuous broadband internet access

√    Have the ability/permission to install plug-ins or software (e.g. Adobe Reader of Flash)

√    Have the ability to download and save files and documents to a computer

√    Have the ability to open Microsoft files and documents (.doc, .ppt, .xls, etc.)

√    Be competent in the English language

√    Have read the Saylor Student Handbook.

√    Have completed all courses listed in “The Core Program” of the History Discipline (HIST101 through HIST104)

Unit Outline show close