History 4670
Fall 2008
Jonathan Sperber
107 Read Hall; 2-9467
sperberj@missouri.edu
Office hours: Mondays, 2:00 – 3:30
Wednesdays, 3:00-4:30
Or by appointment
MODERN GERMANY: 1750-1918
READING The following required books are available in paperback and are also on two-hour
reserve:
Wolfram Siemann, The German Revolution of 1848-49.
Helmut Smith, The Butcher’s Tale.
Alfred Kelly, The German Worker: Working-Class Autobiographies from the Age of
Industrialization.
Jonathan Sperber (ed.), Germany: 1800-1870.
Volker Berghahn, Imperial Germany 1871-1918: Economy, Society, Culture and Politics.
In addition to these books, a couple of short articles will be assigned. These are all available online from EBSCO. The URL’s are given in the syllabus. You can also go to the on-line version
of the syllabus on the course Blackboard ™ site, and click on the link there.
REQUIREMENTS Four shorter papers, ranging from 900 to 1500 words (or about three to
five double-spaced typed pages), three of which will be revised, and a blue--book, essay-style,
final exam. Your course grade will be an average of the grades on all the assignments. Please
note that there are special requirements for graduate students enrolled in History 7670.
BLACKBOARD ™ The class has a Blackboard ™ site, to which the syllabus, the WI
handout, lecture outlines, assignments and grades will be posted.
STRUCTURE The class will be mostly in lecture format, but since enrollment is capped at a
modest number, these lectures can be more informal, and we can easily accommodate questions
or individual opinions expressed in class. There will be discussions scheduled for the day that
the first draft of each of the papers is due; these may be useful in revising the papers.
SCHEDULE
WEEK OF AUGUST 25-29
Introduction; Germany under the Old Regime: Society and Economy
Reading: Otto Ulbricht, “The World of a Beggar around 1775: Johann Gottfired Kästner,”
Central European History 27 (1994): 153-84.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=105&sid=509a0ed0-fcc4-4ea5-812f81d27be1154b%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl db=aph&AN=5693699
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 3-5
Culture and Government in Old Regime Germany
Reading: Jerry Z. Muller, “Justus Möser and the Conservative Critique of Early Modern
Capitalism,” Central European History 23 (1990): 153-78.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=21&sid=7d21ecf8-a723-4b88-b99dc550d37eafff%40SRCSM2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl db=aph&AN=5698293
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 8-12
Political, Social and Economic Changes in Old Regime Germany
Writing Intensive Feature
September 8: Discussion of Intensive Writing essays and the Campus Writing Program; handout
of first assignment, a paper on the Cologne tolerance controversy
No reading assignment this week.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 15-19
The German Old Regime Challenged
Writing Intensive Feature
September 17: First draft of first paper due; discussion of Cologne Tolerance Controversy
Reading: Sperber, Germany 1800-1870, 1-25.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 22-26
Napoleonic and Restoration Germany
Writing Intensive Feature
September 23-25: Individual conferences concerning first drafts of first paper.
Reading: Sperber, Germany 1800-1870, 26-45, 230-55; Siemann, The German Revolution of
1848-49, 1-52.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 29-OCTOBER 3
The Vormärz
Writing Intensive Feature
Sept. 29: Final draft of first paper due; second paper assignment handed out
Reading: Sperber Germany 1800-1870, 46-68; Siemann, The German Revolution of 1848-49,
55-141.
Note: Class canceled, Friday October 3.
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WEEK OF OCTOBER 6-10
The Revolution of 1848/49
Reading: Sperber Germany 1800-1870, 91-114; Siemann, The German Revolution of 1848-49,
142-223.
WEEK OF OCTOBER 13-17
Economy, Society and Politics during the 1850s
Writing Intensive Feature
October 15: First draft of second paper due; discussion of events in Schweich and the revolution
of 1848.
Reading: Sperber Germany 1800-1870, 69-90; 115-61.
WEEK OF OCTOBER 20-24
Warfare and German National Unification
Reading: Smith, The Butcher’s Tale, Prologue, Chapters 1-2.
WEEK OF OCTOBER 27-31
Newly United Germany during the 1870s
Writing Intensive Feature
October 29: Final draft of second paper due; third paper assignment on anti-Semitism handed
out. (Remember, this paper has just one draft.)
Reading: Smith, The Butcher’s Tale, Chapters 3-4.
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-7
Wilhelmine Germany: Economy and Society
Reading: Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 1-158; Smith, The Butcher’s Tale, Chapters 5-6.
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 10-14
Wilhelmine Germany, 1890-1914: Political Parties and Special Interest Groups
Writing Intensive Feature
Nov. 12: Discussion of The Butcher’s Tale and of the place of Jews in nineteenth century
Germany. Fourth and final paper assignment handed out.
Reading: Kelly, The German Worker, 51-96, 121-203; Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 176-225.
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WEEK OF NOVEMBER 17-21
Wilhelmine Germany, 1890-1914: Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy
Note: Friday November 17, will be an optional date, only used if necessary to make up for a
missed class or to bring the course in line with the syllabus.
Reading: Kelly, The German Worker, 204-306, 351-88, 399-427; Berghahn, Imperial Germany,
244-63.
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 24-28
THANKSGIVING BREAK
WEEK OF DECEMBER 1 - 5
The First World War
Writing Intensive Feature:
December 3: First draft of paper on The German Worker due; discussion of working class life in
Imperial Germany
Reading: Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 264-95.
DECEMBER 8-10
Defeat in the First World War and Collapse
Note: Wednesday, December 10, will be reserved for student evaluations and review for the
final exam.
Writing Intensive Feature:
December 17: Final draft of paper on The German Worker due, by 1:00 p.m. at the very latest.
FINAL EXAM: Wednesday, December 17, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m., in the regular classroom.
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OFFICIAL INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
The following information and announcements are included in the syllabus at the request of the
university administration on the advice of its legal counsel.
Americans with Disabilities Act Notice
If you need accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information
to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated,
please inform me immediately. Please see me privately after class, or at my office.
Office location: 107 Read Hall. Office hours: Mondays, 2:00 -3:30, Wednesdays, 3:00 – 4:30.
To request academic accommodations (for example, a note taker or extended time on exams),
students must also register with the Office of Disability Services,
http://disabilityservices.missouri.edu S5 Memorial Union, 882-4696. It is the campus office
responsible for reviewing documentation provided by students requesting academic
accommodations, and for accommodations planning in cooperation with students and instructors,
as needed and consistent with course requirements. For other MU resources for students with
disabilities, click on "Disability Resources" on the MU homepage.
Grades and Course Requirements
Course requirements are a writing assignment, consisting of four papers, plus a blue-book final
exam. The course grade will be a weighted average of the grades on each of the requirements;
the writing assignment will consist of four-fifths of the grade, and the final one-fifth. Grading in
this course will be on a plus/minus basis. Dates of exams and deadlines for papers are noted on
the syllabus. All papers must be typed or printed out on a computer printer; hand-written papers
will not be accepted. Papers must be turned in on time; late papers will only be accepted with
documented evidence of a major disruption of a student’s life. If any of the four papers are not
turned in, then the student has not completed the writing assignment and will receive a grade of F
on the assignment.
Academic Dishonesty
If any evidence appears of students not doing their own work—having others write their papers
or exams, copying into papers without attribution material written by others, or engaging in any
other violation of academic integrity—then I will turn the matter over to the Provost’s Office for
investigation and appropriate resolution. Should the investigation reveal that a violation has
occurred, then the student committing it will receive a grade of F for the course, regardless of
what other sanctions the Provost’s Office imposes. In this class, there are no second chances for
cheaters.
Classroom Etiquette
I will not waste your time and mine by taking attendance. For the exams and the papers,
however, you are responsible for all material in class lectures and discussions and for everything
in the required assigned reading. As for classroom behavior, I would request that you refrain
from doing anything that might be disruptive and disturb other students, such behavior including
(but not being limited to) arriving late, leaving early, using a cell phone, or talking with
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neighbors. If you want to read a newspaper or romance novel or surf the web during class, it is
fine with me, but in that case, you might want to think about finding a better way to spend your
tuition money. Sleeping in class is sometimes physically unavoidable, but if you snore, people
will probably laugh at you. Class sessions designated in the syllabus for discussion occur when
an assigned paper is due, so that you will have plenty of preparation for the discussion and you
will be expected to participate in it.
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