Lecture and Seminar Timetable
Core Reading Schedule
Seminar questions may be accessed through Moodle (click hereLink opens in a new window). You will also find any additional preparatory tasks listed on Moodle. All seminar reading can be found on Talis.Link opens in a new window
In addition to seminar readings, you should read the core texts over the course of the year for essential background and context. You may choose to do so at the beginning of the year, or read along as we move through the course. Suggested chapters for each week are listed below.
There are a couple of physical copies in the library, but you can also access these texts through archive.org. You will need to create a free account to digitally borrow the texts.
Term |
Week |
Lecture and Seminar Topic |
|---|---|---|
Autumn Term |
1 |
Introductory week - No seminar but start reading! Core reading: Chapter 1, Blanning (ed.), John Roberts, ‘Revolution from Above and Below: European Politics from the French Revolution to the First World War’, pp.15-45 |
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2 |
Lecture: Revolutionary Wars and the changing shape of Europe Seminar: Writing the history of war Core reading: Sheehan, Prologue, ‘War and Peace in the Twentieth Century’, pp.xiii-xx |
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3 |
Lecture:Unification through War: The German Question Seminar:War and the nation state Core reading: Sheehan, Ch. 1 ‘“Without War, There Would Be No State”’, pp.3-21 |
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4 |
Lecture:The birth of industrial warfare Seminar:Technology and medicine in modern warfare Core reading: Chap. 2, Blanning (ed), Clive Trebilcock, ‘The Industrialization of Modern Europe, 1750-1914’, pp.46-75 |
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5 |
Lecture: Colonial warfare Seminar: Never Again? Pacifism after WWI"Small Wars" and the construction of "race" Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 3 ‘Europeans in a Violent World’, pp.42-65 |
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6 |
~ Reading Week: no lectures or seminars ~ |
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7 |
Lecture: Pacifism in the nineteenth century Seminar: Is war good for business? Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 3, ‘Pacifism and Militarism’, pp.22-41 |
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8 |
Lecture: The First World War and the totalization of warfare Seminar: How to fight on the Western Front (1914-1918) Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 4, ‘War and Revolution’, pp.69-91 |
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9 |
Lecture: Home fronts and social mobilization in WWI Seminar: Gender in wartime Core Reading: Blanning (ed.), Chap. 4, Pamela Pilbeam, ‘From Orders to Classes: European Society in the Nineteenth Century’, pp.101-125 |
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10 |
Lecture: Never Again? Pacifism after WWI Seminar: Remembering the First World War Reading: Blanning (ed.), Chap. 3, Hew Strachan, ‘Military Modernization, 1789-1918’, pp.76-100 |
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Spring Term |
11 |
Lecture: Regulating and preventing war (1899-1939) Seminar: The Humanitarian Impulse Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 5, ‘The Twenty-Year Truce’, pp.92-118 |
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12 |
Lecture: The Spanish Civil War Seminar: Fascisms and war Core Reading: Blanning (ed.), Chap. 6, Paul Preston, ‘The Great Civil War: European Politics, 1914-1945’, pp. 153-85 |
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13 |
Lecture: The Second World War: a "thirty years' war"? Seminar: Economic mobilization Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 6, ‘The Last European War’, pp.119-44 |
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14 |
Lecture: War and genocide in Europe (1915-1945) Seminar: Was the Holocaust an act of war? Core Reading: Blanning (ed.), Chap. 8, Richard Overy, ‘Warfare in Europe since 1918’, pp.214-33 |
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15 |
Lecture: Warfare and Welfare Seminar: Redefining Citizenship in Twentieth Century Europe |
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16 |
~ Reading Week: no lectures or seminars ~ |
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17 |
Lecture: From war to civil wars: resistance, collaboration, and the aftermath of WWII Seminar: Violence and the transition to peace Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 7, ‘The Foundations of the Postwar World’, pp.147-71 |
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18 |
Lecture: A Cold War? Seminar: The meaning of deterrence Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 8, ‘The Rise of the Civilian State’, pp.172-97 |
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19 |
Lecture: Wars of decolonization Seminar: The War of Algerian independence Core Reading: Chap. 9, Richard Bessel, ‘European Society in the Twentieth Century’, Blanning (ed.), pp.234-59 |
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20 |
Lecture: The dividends of peace Seminar: The Euromissiles crisis Core Reading: Chap. 11, David Reynolds, ‘Europe Divided and Reunited, 1945-1995’, Blanning (ed.), pp.282-306 |
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Summer Term |
21 |
Lecture: Yugoslavia and the return of war in Europe Seminar: Humanitarianism and Liberal interventionism Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 9, ‘Why Europe Will not Become a Superpower’ |
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22 |
Lecture: Transformations of war in Modern Europe Seminar: Military history, the history of war, and Modern Europe Core Reading: Sheehan, Epilogue |