ES 101.1 - European History

ES 101.1 - European History - Jana Duemmler

December 12, 2013

American University of Central Asia

European Studies Department

Spring Semester 2013

ES 101.1	European History
Time	Tuesday 14.10 Room 329 Thursday 14.10 Room 329 Make up classes to be agreed
Course Value	6 Credits

Instructor:	Jana Duemmler (M.A., University of Freiburg, Germany)
Office Hours:	Tuesday 12.00 – 14.00 and by agreement
E-mail:	jana.duemmler@gmail.com
Tel.:	0558-219991

Course description

History is the foundation of understanding the present world and at the same time open for interpretation and always seen from the viewpoint of the historian. The course is designed to give the first-year students insights into the major milestones of European history. At the same time students will practice to analyze historical sources critically and set sources in the timeframe of their production. At the end of the course students will gain the skills of understanding major themes and events, analyzing the evolution and interpretation of those events, and the ability to express those views in writing.

Teaching Method

The course has two intertwined teaching objectives:

To give First year students of European Studies sufficient background knowledge about the European History to understand the politics, economies, social and cultural structure of present Europe.
To enhance student´s scientific skills: their ability to critically analyze historical sources, and to write well founded historical essays and one longer thesis

In order to reach objective 1 we will use a holistic approach. Students will prepare presentations about a certain time focusing on its mode of subsistence, fashion, food, architecture, social order and religion without discussing minor political elements just yet. The presentation will serve as an introduction to a certain time – while later the teacher will enhance this knowledge in a lecture giving more specific information about important events, evolution from other times and influence on the present.

Students will than as a homework discuss a given historical source (predominately texts and pictures) using different available textbooks from the library thus practicing also their library skills. One of these discussions students are asked to develop into a coherent term paper with a minimum length of 7 pages where they also discuss the implementation of a certain event for present Europe.

Method of Assessment

Seminar participation (Fail or Pass)

a) Students are expected to attend classes, do all required assignments on time, and to participate in discussions.

b) PRESENCE IS ESSENTIAL If you are ill, provide immediately in the following lecture a certificate validated by AUCA infirmary. This is student’s own responsibility and this duty does not need reminding by instructor. Certificates presented only at the end of the course are not valid. If you miss more than 2 classes unexcused, it’ll lower your final grade by one half. In any case the absence of more than 5 classes excludes students automatically from the course with an “F” if absences are unjustified or “X” if the absences are justified by written evidence and if those absences take place before the deadline for X-Grade. Otherwise also 5 or more excused absences will result in “F”.

1 Oral presentation (20 %)

One presentation (20 min) is required from every student to give an introduction to a certain time. Students are asked to find information on mode of subsistence, fashion, food, architecture, social order and religion and present this information to fellow students using a variety of pictures, music and possibly short movie clips.

The presentations are graded using the following scale:

Make-up of Presentation	Max. 4 points
Knowledge of Subject	Max. 5 points
Explaining the subject to the audience	Max. 5 points
Structure and logic of Presentation	Max. 2 points
Manner of speaking, lexical and grammatical competence	Max. 2 points
Originality	Max. 2 points
Total	Max. 20 points

Evaluation of 2 Presentations (10%)

Every student is asked to evaluate 2 presentations of his fellow students. Students are asked to use for their evaluation the grading scale from above but additionally to the giving of points students are asked to explain their assessment in detail marking all positive and negative sides of a presentation.

Evaluation are graded. Points are given for well founded explanation (18 points) and structure of the evaluation (2 points).

10 analytical reports on historical sources (30%)

Every week students are asked to write a thorough analysis of an historical source (text, picture, caricature) using different textbooks from the library and their knowledge gained during this course as well as from other sources.

Students are asked to answer the following questions:

Describe the source: What is it?
Describe its background: Where is it from? What time? Why was it produced?
Describe what is shown
Answer a specific question for each source

All students should complete 10 written reports until the end of the semester, which means they can skip only one assignment. All reports have to be turned in within a week after receiving the assignment. Reports that are turned in later receive one lower grade for each day they are late. Reports that are turned in later than 7 weeks after the deadline will not be evaluated and receive automatically F. A rewriting of an report is not possible.

For the Grading of analytical reports the following scale is used:

All Questions touched?	Pass or Fail
Correctness of Answers	Max. 5 points
Argumentation	Max. 5 points
Structure	Max. 3 points
Formal Correctness (References where needed, Works cited list)	Max. 5 points
Originality	Max. 2 points
Total	Max. 20 points

1 Final Exam (10%)

During Final Exam students are asked to reflect on questions that were discussed during the course. Examples of questions will be given in advance.

1 Term paper (30%)

Students are asked to develop one of their analytical reports into a longer term paper (7-10 pages) discussing the time of the source in more detail. The following questions should be answerd:

1.-3. As above in Reports (the already written report can be improved and reused)

4. Show how the events under discussion influenced modern Europe, give examples and use information given in different historical textbooks (use the library)

Deadline for the Term Paper is May 12^th.

For the Grading of term papers the following scale is used:

All Questions touched?	Pass or Fail
Use of minimum 3 different textbooks	Pass or Fail
Correctness of Answers	Max. 5 points
Argumentation	Max. 5 points
Structure	Max. 3 points
Formal Correctness (References where needed, Works cited list)	Max. 5 points
Originality	Max. 2 points
Total	Max. 20 points

Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated and will result in the failure of the whole course.

Grading will be done according to the table provided in AUCA regulations (A = excellent = 4.0 points). For our convenience points earned are translated into Letter Grades using the following scale:

20, 19 A

18 A-

17,16 B+

15 B

14 B-

13 C+

12 C

11 C-

10 D+

9 D

8 D-

Lower than 8 F

Useful Textbooks

Blockmans, Wim/Hoppenbrouwers, Peter: Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1550, New York 2007.

Davies, Norman: Europe. A History, New York 1998.

Dawson, Christopher: The Making of Europe, New York 1974.

Gloria, Fiero: Medieval Europe and the world beyond, New York 1998.

Harold, James: Europe Reborn. A History 1914-2000, Harlow 2003.

Hobsbawm, Eric: The Age of Extremes, London 2006.

McKay, John/Hill, Bennett/Buckler, John: A History of Western Society since 1300, 8^th edition, Boston 2006.

Rittsbergen, Peter: Europe. A Cultural History, 2^nd edition, London and New York 2006.

Smith, Julia: Europe after Rome. A new cultural history 500-1000, Oxford 2007.

Starr, Chester: Rise and Fall of the Ancient World, Chicago 1965.

You find a very good selection of appropriate Literature in the AUCA library; Please have a thorough look but please don’t take more than one home in order for your fellow students to also have something to look into.

Class schedule

Week 1 Introduction

Jan. 10: Introduction to the course, syllabus review, assignment of presentations

Week 2 The Ancient World and its influence on present Europe

Jan. 15, 17

Additional Class: Writing of first Report with the help of books from the library.

Week 3 The Early Middle Ages ca. 500-900: Charlemagne and the Franks

Jan. 22, 24 the feudal system, (Re)Christianization of Europe

Week 4 The High Middle Ages 900-1400: The Crusades, The Plague,

Jan. 29, 31: Reurbanization

Week 5 The Rennaissance ca. 1400-1600: Age of Discoveries in Time and Feb. 5, 7 Space, Reformation

Week 6 Absolute Monarchies ca. 1600-1780: Birth of the Modern State

Feb. 12, 14

Week 7 The French Revolution and its immediate aftermath: Napoleon

Feb. 19, 21: Bonaparte, Nationalism born in Europe

Week 8 19^th century I: Industrialization and Communism, Colonialism and

Mar. 26, 28 Racism

Spring Break

Week 9 19^th century II: Political Restoration vs. Civil Unrest, Revolution

Mar. 12,14 1848/1849

Week 10 19^th century III: 1850-1914 Age of Nationalism and Colonial

Mar. 19, 21 Empires

Week 11 The First World War 1914 - 1918

Mar 26, 28

Week 12 Interwar Periods: Golden Twenties, Communism in Reality, Great April 2, 4 Depression and the Rise of Fascism

Week 13 The Second World War 1939 - 1945

April 9,11

Week 14 The Remaking of Europe after 1945, The Cold War

April 16,18

Week 15 The Peaceful Revolution 1989/1990 and the Unifying of Europe

April 23, 25

Week 16 Final Exams

April 30 Recap of course (attendance is voluntary but strongly recommended)

May 2 Final Exams

Dates

May 2^nd Final Exam

May 12^th Term Papers are due

<< go to news list