HISTORY 112 K
Spring 2002
Calendar and Requirements
HONOR POLICY:� Cheating and plagiary, that is submitting another’s words and thoughts as your own, cannot and will not be tolerated in an institution devoted to the truth. Cf. Fishtales. �"A wise man never lies.” -Jesuit maxim.
TESTS: Use blue books for all tests.
First month: How the traditional and agrarian society of Europe underwent agricultural, transportational, social, national, and political revolutions. Method: analysis (understanding through dividing an unknown whole into knowable parts).
March 14 Covers lectures; Spielvogel, Western Civilization, Chapters 21, 22, 23; A.J.P. Taylor, Bismarck. (25 percent)
Second month: how the new nation states of Europe created stability at home while conquering non-industrial peoples and states in Africa and Asia and how the European stability was destroyed in the cataclysm of the First World War. Method: narrative (understanding through seeing cause and effect through chronology).
April 25 Covers lectures since previous test; Spielvogel, chapters 24, 25, 26 ; La Fore The Long Fuse(25 percent)
Third month: Totalitarianism and the [temporary] failure of democracy considered; the Second World War, in which Europe destroyed its power; the Cold War, end of European colonialism; end of totalitarianism. Method: synthesis:
May 15 Optional Paper: Students who believe themselves able to do better work on a paper than on a test may submit a paper in lieu of the optional test (see below). This paper must be approved in advance by the professor.� It must be five pages in length, double spaced printing, with one and one-half inch margins, using at least five books (it is not necessary to read the entire book; relevant chapters can be used) on the subject and one scholarly article on the subject, written in standard and correct English with appropriate footnotes. The rough draught must be turned in along with notes. Please consult with instructor.
May 17 Optional Test: von Laue, Why Lenin? Why Stalin? Why Gorbachev?. The grade on this test will replace a lower grade or it will not be counted. (25 percent.)
FINAL: May 20 All lectures; 27, 28, 29, 30 ; von Laue, Why Lenin? Why Stalin? Why Gorbachev?.(50 percent).
ffice Hours: F 2—4;W 1:30—2:30; T Th 10 —11:30 (Committee meetings and medical appointments excepted). Generally, I am here most of the day and,� if my door is open, come in and be welcomed.
CUTS: Students not on probation are permitted three hours of unexcused absence. I accepted level 1 and 2 medical excuses and athletic excuses. Unexcused absences above three hours and under nine hours will result in the loss of the benefit of the doubt in assessing the final grade.� More than nine hours of absence (25 percent of the lectures) excused or unexcused will result in failure for the course.Students who miss a test, if an excused absence, will be allowed a make-up test. Students who miss a test without an excuse will receive an F for that test.
ADD/DROP DATES February 19/ April 6
Scope of the course and my expectations
You are expected to form a firm grasp of the movements of European history and their significant details from the beginnings of the industrial revolution until the present. You should understand the social and political and intellectual impacts of the Industrial Revolution as well as the obvious economic changes. You should understand the importance of the rise of the nation-state and the difficulties where the nation is incongruent with the state. This issue is of lethal importance today in the Balkans. You should understand the origins and consequences of imperialism and totalitarianism. Included in this grasp will be knowledge of basic geographic features drawn from the maps in the classroom and in the textbook.
“Geography is Fate” - Herodotos
Your knowledge is to come from your synthesis of lectures, textbook, and assigned readings. You are to combine principal events, names, dates, and ideas into coherent essays for the tests and examinations. Test answer should therefore show not only that you have memorized facts (a necessary condition) but that you understand their relationships and context. Knowledge of geography and the primary sources quoted in the text book are important.
The tests will be essays, in which you must have a thesis (i.e. a statement of explanation to be proved), evidence to support your thesis (i.e. specific individuals or events or ideas with appropriate dates), arranged in a logical manner (argument).
No universal exists without a particular.
Test answers are to be written in standard, competent English and logically organized. If the instructor cannot understand what you are driving at, the fault is yours and the grade will suffer accordingly. You are responsible for making yourself understood.
Clarity, speed, humility, and courage, according to the English novelist Charles Williams, are the four virtues required for reading poetry aloud, and I believe they are required for the office of student as well.
NOTE:The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other Federal laws require Randolph-Macon College to provide a “reasonable accommodation” to any individual who advises of a physical, psychological, or learning disability. If you have a physical, psychological or learning disability that requires an accommodation, you must first register with the Office for Disability Support Services located in Mary Branch Dormitory. Please arrange a meeting with the course instructor to discuss your needs and how to register for support services.