Continental Europe 1870-1920: Grandeur and Decline

This is a one-term module covering the history of Continental Europe (i.e. excluding Britain and Ireland). It has been designed in conjunction with HI 2119 ?Continental Europe, 1917 to the present: Cataclysm and Renewal? (Hilary term, also 10 ECTS), so that taken in succession, the two modules provide an overall view of modern European history since the late 19th century and the foundations of contemporary Europe. However, each is a coherent unit on its own. It examines the evolution of a Europe that dominated the planet in the mid-19th century, and which stood at the zenith of colonial domination of the non-European world, to a continent in the 1920s that was shaken by the First World War and the redistribution of global power (to the USA, USSR and Japan). It also faced the first stirrings of anti-colonial independence movements. Together, the two modules enable you to gain a good understanding of the forces that have shaped contemporary Europe since the mid-19th century. Taken alone, each will introduce you to a vital period in Europe?s recent past and offer you insights into different kinds of history ? political, economic, social, and cultural.