Postgraduate Course: Making War, Making Peace: European International History, 1914-1945 (PGHC11370)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides an introduction to the advanced study of a crucial period of international history. The course will focus on the period from the July Crisis of 1914 to the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945. The course is structured around historically and historiographically significant themes. Each class session will address a particular theme or interpretative issue that has generated significant controversy in recent scholarship. In addition to analysing the motivations and reasoning of the key decision-makers, the aim of the course will be to focus on such issues as the decline and development of international state systems, the relationship between domestic politics, diplomacy and international economics, the relationship between long- and short-term planning, the decision-making process during periods of international crisis, and the process of peacemaking. International history, and in particular, the emergence of Europe from the cataclysm of the First World War and its return to mass warfare at the end of the 1930s, is a prominent theme. The course will examine the historiographical debates that have raged since the period itself, and employ archival and other documentary material to evaluate them on the basis of their evidential strengths and weaknesses. |
| Course description |
Not entered
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able to:
- demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of some of the most important issues and themes connected to the international history of Europe between 1914 and 1945;
- independently identify and pursue research topics in this period of international history;
- exhibit an understanding for different conceptual approaches for the study of history;
- analyse and contextualise primary source material;
- arrive at independent, well-argued, well-documented and properly referenced conclusions in their coursework essay;
demonstrate their skills in group discussion, collaborative exercises (such as with wikis or group essays) and oral presentations;
demonstrate their written skills, their analytical and theoretical skills in coursework;
- demonstrate their ability to reflect on the reading & research they have undertaken and provide feedback for their peers.
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Reading List
Manfred F. Boemeke, Gerald D. Feldman & Elisabeth Glaser (eds.), The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years (1998)
E.H. Carr, The Twenty Years' Crisis: 1919-1939 (1939)
Alan Cassells, Ideology and International Relations in the Modern World (1996)
Ralph B.A. Dimuccio, 'The Study of Appeasement in International Relations: Polemics, Paradigms, and Problems', Journal of Peace Research, 35, no. 2 (Mar., 1998), pp. 245-259
Colin Elman & Miriam Fendius Elman (eds.), Bridges and Boundaries: Historians, Political Scientists, and the Study of International Relations (2001)
Carole Fink, Defending the Rights of Others: the Great Powers, the Jews and International Minority Protection, 1878-1938 (2005)
Patrick Finney, Remembering the Road to World War Two: International History, National Identity and Collective Memory (2010)
F.H. Hinsley, Power and the Pursuit of Peace: Theory and Practice in the History of Relations Between States (1963)
D.B. Kaufman, 'This Troublesome Question': Poles, Jews and the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 (2012)
Ian Kershaw, 'Wars and Political Violence in Twentieth-Century Europe', Contemporary European History, 14, 1 (2005), pp. 107-123
Ernest R. May (ed.), Knowing One¿s Enemies: Intelligence Assessments Before the Two World Wars (1984)
Ernest R. May, Richard Rosecrance & Zara Steiner (eds.), History and Neorealism (2010)
Arno J. Mayer, Politics and Diplomacy of Peacemaking: Revolution and Counter-Revolution at Versailles (1968)
Mark Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century (1998)
Frank McDonough (ed.), The Origins of the Second World War: An International Perspective (2011)
Richard J. Overy, Why the Allies Won (1995)
Adrian Preston (ed.), General Staffs and Diplomacy before the Second World War (1978)
Zara Steiner, The Lights that Failed: European International History, 1918-1933 (2005)
Zara Steiner, The Triumph of the Dark: European International History, 1933-1939 (2011)
David Stevenson, The First World War and International Politics (1988)
Marc Trachtenberg, The Craft of International History: A Guide to Method (2006)
Richard Vinen, A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century (2002)
D.C. Watt, Personalities and Politics: Studies in the Formulation of British Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century (1965)
In addition to the above, numerous e-books will be available to students through the databases 'Cambridge Histories Online', 'Cambridge Books Online' & 'Oxford Scholarship Online'. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | War Peace European International History |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr David Kaufman
Tel: (0131 6)51 3857
Email: D.Kaufman@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk |
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