Contemporary History of Europe (20081)
Degree/study:Degree in Humanities
Year: 3rd-4th
Term:1st
Number of ECTS credits: 5 credits
Hours of studi dedication: 125 hours
Teaching language or languages: catalan
Teaching Staff: Xavier Casals
1. Presentation of the subject
The Contemporary History of Europe is a sum of continental conflicts and confluences, from the 19th-century nationalisms to the process of European unification. This course, however, will focus on the study and interpretation of the fundamental episodes in the European History of the 20th century, as well as of their presuppositions and consequences. The course will elaborate on how the 19th century culminates with the First World War, and how this conflict changed the continent and was the start of a series of conflicts of all kinds that are still unresolved.
2. Competences to be attained
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General competences |
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1) Achieving a high level of competence in the management and processing of information coming from a variety of sources. 2) Improving the interpretative, well-reasoned and well-documented analysis skills. 3) Presenting historical synthesis in a logical and coherent fashion. 4) Looking for explanations for the understanding of historical events and of their implications in the long term. |
3. Contents
Block 1: The End of the Old Order
- The Bonaparte inheritance
- The Old Nation States; Spain, France, the United Kingdom
- The new nations of the 19th century; Italy, Germany
Block 2: The Fall of the Multiethnic Empires
- First War: radical change in the map of Europe
- The reformulation of the Russian Empire
- The disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
- The LON faced to interwar Europe
Block 3: The Start of the Xenophobic Empires
- The democratic and social nationalism fiasco
- The contradiction of the colonial empires
- From the nation to fascism
- From socialism to the nation
Block 4: The Great Jolt
- The Second War; ideology and world map
- The end of nationalisms? The UN and bipolarity
- The search for the Welfare State: the end of the overseas empires and the invention of a European block in front of the Soviet block and of the North-American importance
Block 5: Nationalists again
- The Yugoslav Wars
- The fragmentation of the Soviet Union
- The European Union, a club of nation-states. Towards a new wave of nationalisms?
*The full version with the sections 4. Assessment, 5. Bibliography and teaching resources, 6. Methodology, and 7. Planning of activities is available in the original version
4. Assessment
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5. Bibliography and teaching resources
5.1. Basic bibliography
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5.2. Complementary bibliography
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5.3. Teaching resources
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6. Metodology
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7. Planning of activities
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