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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2014/2015
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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology)

Postgraduate Course: The Shadow of Versailles: Europe Between the Wars, 1918-1939 (PGHC11394)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course typeOnline Distance Learning AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course examines the history of Europe from the close of the First World War to the outbreak of the Second World War. The history of interwar Europe will be a familiar story to many students. The proposed course, however, seeks to offer a new perspective on the years 1918-1939 by taking a thematic approach in order to enable a comparative history of the continent as a whole, rather than concentrating on individual national histories. This will enable students to more fully contextualise the major developments in European history during this period.
The course seeks to contextualise and explain the history of interwar Europe through an examination of the legacy of the Great War, the survival and failure of democracy, the formation and fate of the 'Versailles system', the causes and consequences of the Great Depression, the establishment and nature of anti-democratic regimes, changes to interwar society and culture and the origins of the Second World War.
Course description Introduction
Week 1. The revolutionary background and an introduction to comparative history [asynchronous seminar]
Part 1: The Great War and its Consequences
Week 2. Forging a new world?: peacemaking at Paris [synchronous seminar]
Week 3. The triumph of democracy? [asynchronous seminar]
Week 4. Undermining the system: Revisionist states [synchronous seminar]
Week 5. Social and cultural consequences of the Great War [asynchronous seminar]
Week 6. A return to normalcy? Diplomacy and economics in the 'Golden' 1920s [synchronous seminar]
Part 2: The Great Depression and its Consequences
Week 7. The crisis of capitalism: a triumph for ideology? [asynchronous seminar]
Week 8. Irredentism and the minorities question in interwar Europe [synchronous seminar]
Week 9. Constructing utopia [asynchronous seminar]
Week 10. Defending Democracy? Popular fronts & National governments [synchronous seminar]
Week 11. Course conclusion: The slide to war [asynchronous seminar]
Asynchronous forum discussions will be supplemented by front-loaded video lectures of 10 minutes duration introducing the topics to be discussed. In addition to this there will be a one-hour virtual office slot each week, via Skype.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2014/15, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 1
Course Start Date 15/09/2014
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 12, Online Activities 10, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 174 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) One 1,000 word article/chapter review (20%), and one 3,000 word essay (80%). These pieces will be submitted via Learn and marked using TurnitIn. Online versions of the postgraduate essay feedback form will be employed on the course.
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able to:-
- demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of some of the principal influences which transformed continental Europe between 1918 and 1939, with particular emphasis on the challenge posed to parliamentary democracy by Fascism, National Socialism, Communism and traditional authoritarianism through a critical assessment of the principal domestic and external developments affecting both the major and minor powers in Europe.
- A better understanding of comparative historical method;
- A familiarity with a selection of relevant contemporary sources;
- A capacity to evaluate conflicting historical interpretations;
- Independently identify and pursue research topics;
- Exhibit an understanding for different conceptual approaches for the study of this period of European 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.
Reading List
Up to two books will be provided to the students out of their fees, including a primary source reader.
Ebooks of some of the more important works will be purchased (if available) in addition to an extensive use of eReserved chapters from some of the following:
Anthony P. Adamthwaite, The Lost Peace: International Relations in Europe, 1919-1939 (1980)
Derek H. Aldcroft, From Versailles to Wall Street, 1919-1929 (1987)
P.M.H. Bell, The Origins of the Second World War in Europe (1986)
Iván T. Berend, Decades of Crisis: Central and Eastern Europe Before World War II (1998)
Manfred F. Boemeke, Gerald D. Feldman & Elisabeth Glaser (eds.), The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years (1998)
Robert Boyce and E.M. Robertson (eds), Paths to War: New Essays on the Origing of the Second World War (1990)
Patricia Calvin, The Great Depression in Europe, 1929-1939 (2000)
E.H. Carr, The Twenty Years' Crisis (1981)
I. Clark, 'The Spoils of War and the Spoiling of the Peace', Journal of Contemporary History (2003)
Patrick O. Cohrs, The Unfinished Peace After World War I: America, Britain and the Stabilisation of Europe, 1919-1932 (2006)
Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age (1989)
Conan Fischer & Alan Sharp (eds.), After the Versailles Treaty: Enforcement, Compliance, Contested Identities (2008)
Robert Gerwarth (ed), Twisted Paths: Europe, 1914-1945 (2007)
Paul N. Hehn, A Low Dishonest Decade: The Great Powers, Eastern Europe and the Economic Origins of World War II, 1930-1941 (2006)
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes (1994)
Julian Jackson (ed), Europe, 1900-1945 (2002)
Harold James, Europe Reborn: A History, 1914-2000 (2003)
David E. Kaiser, Economic Diplomacy and the Origins of the Second World War: Germany, Britain, France and Eastern Europe, 1930-1939 (1980)
Angela Kershaw & Angela Kimyongur (eds.), Women in Europe Between the Wars: Politics, Culture and Society (2007)
Charles P. Kindleberger, The World in Depression, 1929-1939 (1987)
George Lichteim, Europe in the Twentieth Century (1973)
Arthur S. Link (ed.), The Deliberations of the Council of Four (1992)
Margaret MacMillan, Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and its attempt to end War (2001)
Charles S. Maier, Recasting Bourgeois Europe: Stabilization in France, Germany and Italy in the Decade After World War I (1975)
Sally Marks, Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe, 1918-1933 (2003)
Arno J. Mayer, Politics and Diplomacy of Peacemaking (1968)
Mark Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century (1998)
Ezra Mendelsohn, The Jews of Europe Between the World Wars (1983)
Karl Johannes Newman, European Democracy Between the Wars (1970)
Antony Polonsky, The Little Dictators: The History of Eastern Europe Since 1918 (1975)
J.M. Roberts, Europe, 1880-1945 (2000)
Joseph Rothschild, East Central Europe Between the Two World Wars (1974)
Victor Rothwell, The Origins of the Second World War (2001)
Hugh Seton-Watson, Eastern Europe Between the Wars, 1918-1941 (1962)
Alan Sharp, The Versailles Settlement: Peacemaking in Paris, 1919 (1991)
Dan P. Silverman, Reconstructing Europe After the First World War (1982)
Zara Steiner, The Lights that Failed: European International History, 1918-1933 (2005)
D.C. Watt, How War Came: The Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938-1939 (1990)
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills The study of the past gives students a unique understanding of the past that will enable them to succeed in a broad range of careers. The transferable skills gained from this course include:
- understanding of complex issues and how to draw valid conclusions from the past
- ability to analyse the origins and development of current political questions
- a command of bibliographical and library- and/or IT-based online and offline research skills
- a range of skills in reading and textual analysis
- ability to question and problematize evidence; considering the relationship between evidence and interpretation
- understanding ethical dimensions of research and their relevance for human relationships today
- ability to marshal arguments lucidly, coherently and concisely, both orally and in writing
- ability to deliver a paper or a presentation in front of peer audiences
- ability to design and execute pieces of written work and to present them suitably, as evidenced by the final assessment essay of 3,000 words
KeywordsShadow Versailles
Contacts
Course organiserMr David Kaufman
Tel: (0131 6)51 3857
Email: D.Kaufman@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk
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