The War of Ideas in European and International History
History 1121—— Summer 2015
Course Description
In this course we will study ideas of economic, social, and political emancipation that have
motivated wars and revolutions from the birth of modern warfare and politics in the French
Revolution of 1789 to the revolutions of colonial liberation after the Second World War.
Together we will read key texts whose ideas of freedom and slavery, order and progress, state
authority and political violence continue to change the world. This course might not feel like a
history course, but it will give you a deeper understanding of modern history and a set of tools to
interpret the past and help transform the future.
Assignments and Grading
Discussion section participation (and attendance)
Individual sections may also have quizzes or other short assignments.
Interpretive quiz (Sept 29)
Analytical Report
Students will compose a report that analyzes the implications and impact of
individual thinkers for political and social problems of contemporary relevance.
Teaching Exercise
Students will prepare and deliver a lesson on a single thinker of their choice for
any audience outside the class.
Final (Date to be announced)
20%
10%
30%
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20%
All examinations, papers, and other work must be completed in accordance with the George
Washington University Code of Academic Integrity.
Requirements for lectures and discussion sections
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Attending lectures and discussion sections is essential to passing this course. If you must
miss a session you should arrange to get notes from a classmate. Your GTA or professor will
not fill you in on what you missed.
Take notes during lectures. This does not mean writing a complete transcription of the
lecture but rather identifying and outlining the main ideas and the most important
information presented. Also note your ideas, comments, and questions that come up during
lectures.
Bring the readings assigned for each lecture and discussion section.
Complete assigned readings before the lecture for which they were assigned.
In sections demonstrate your ability to engage creatively with course readings and
information and ideas presented in the lectures. Discussion sections are not designed to
review and recapitulate what happened in lecture or to summarize the readings.
Turn off and put away all electronic technology during lectures and discussion sections.
This includes smartphones, tape recorders, and laptops (unless the technology is required
because of a documented disability).
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History 1121, 2
Course Goals. After completing this course, a student should be able to:
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Explain important events, trends, and processes in the development of European and
international political and social thought as they relate to significant historical
transformations.
Analyze and evaluate political and social thought as abstract information and logical
argumentation rather than merely as empirical statements of conviction by great thinkers.
Understand and analyze the arguments of European and international political thought as a
means of developing and supporting in a logical and persuasive manner students’ own
political and ethical projects in the world.
Readings
The following books have been ordered through the GW bookstore. Please use the editions
assigned for this course.
 G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. Arnold V. Miller (1807; Oxford University Press,
1977). ISBN: 978-0198245971
 Carl von Clausewitz, On War, abridged edition (1832; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
ISBN: 0199540020
 David Walker and Henry Highland Garnet, Walker’s Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life and
Also Garnet’s Address to the Slaves of the United States of America (1848; New York: Cosimo
Classics, 2005). ISBN: 9781596056213
 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus (1818; Dover, 1996) ISBN:
0486282112
 Karl Marx, Selected Writings, ed. Lawrence H. Simon (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994). ISBN:
9780872202184
 Georges Sorel, Reflections on Violence (1908; Mineola, NY: Dover, 2004) ISBN: 0486437078
 Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political (1932; Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2007).
ISBN: 0226738922
 George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (1938; San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1980). ISBN:
0156421178.
 Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz: The Nazi Assault on Humanity, trans. Stuart Woolf (1958;
New York: Collier Books, 1993). ISBN: 9780684826806
 Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (1961; New York: Grove, 2005). ISBN:
9780802141323
 Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (1963: New York: Penguin, 2006). ISBN: 9780143039907
 Mao Tse-Tung, Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (1966; San Francisco: China Books
& Periodicals, 1990). 083512388X
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Course Outline
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1. (M., 8/25). Introduction to the course
1. Wars against Slavery
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2. (W, 8/27). Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (1807): Class, conflict, and the psyche.
 “Lordship and Bondage” paragraphs 166-196 (pp. 104-119)
(M 9/1): Labor Day. No classes at GW.
3. (W, 9/3). Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (1807): A mind blown by history.
 “Preface: On Scientific Cognition,” paragraphs 1-41, 63-72 (pp. 1-24, 39-45)
4. (M, 9/8). Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (1807): Revolution!
 “Self-Alienated Spirit. Culture,” Introduction: paragraphs 484-486 (pp. 294-295).
 On state power and wealth: paragraphs 494-520 (pp. 301-316).
 Esp. Important: “Absolute Freedom and Terror”: paragraphs 582-595 (pp. 355-363).
5. (W, 9/10). Clausewitz, On War (1832).
 Book 6, Ch. 26, 184-190; and Book 8, Ch.2 & Ch.6, 223-226, 250-58.
6. (M, 9/15). Clausewitz, On War (1832).
 Two Notes and Book 1, “On the Nature of War,” 7-69.
7. (W, 9/17). Henry Highland Garnet, David Walker’s Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life
and Also Garnet’s Address to the Slaves of the United States of America (1848).
 Walker’s Appeal (1829) and Garnet’s Life of Walker
8. (M, 9/22). Walker and Garnet.
 Garnett’s Address to the Slaves of the United States of America (1843)
9. (W, 9/24). Shelley, Frankenstein (1818).
2. Wars against Capital
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10. (M, 9/29). Quiz
 In class: First 30 minutes of George Romero, Dawn of the Dead (1978)
11. (W, 10/1). George Romero, Dawn of the Dead (1978)
 Film in class: Next 75 mins. (Final 28 mins. optional.)
12. (M, 10/6). Marx, Selected Writings
 “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts,” only pp. 54-79.
 Theses on Feuerbach (1845), pp. 98-101
 with Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848), (selections) only pp. 157-176
 Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (selections) (1852), only pp. 187-191.
13. (W, 10/8). Capital, vol. 1 (selections), (1867), in Selected Writings, pp. 214-300
14. (M, 10/13). Sorel, Reflections on Violence (1908).
 Introduction; ch. 1; ch. 2, section II (pp. 57-79; 86-92).
15. (W, 10/15). Sorel, Reflections on Violence.
 Ch. 3, section IV; Ch. 4, sections I-III + pp. 149-50. (pp. 116-18, 119-140; 149-50).
History 1121, 4
3. Wars for Humanity
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16. (M, 10/20). Schmitt, The Concept of the Political (1932), pp. 3-79.
17. (W, 10/22). Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (1938), pp. 1-85.
18. (M, 10/27). Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, pp. 86-232.
19. (W, 10/29). Levi, Survival in Auschwitz (1947), pp. 9-76.
20. (M, 11/3). Levi, Survival in Auschwitz (1947), pp. 77-174.
4. Wars for Liberation
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21. (W, 11/5). Fanon, “On Violence,” in The Wretched of the Earth (1961), pp. 1-62.
22. (M, 11/10). Fanon, “The Trials and Tribulations of Nationalist Consciousness,” in
Wretched of the Earth, 97-144.
23. (W, 11/12). Arendt, On Revolution (1963), Introduction and chapter 1.
24. (M, 11/17). Arendt, chs. 2 and 6.
25. (W, 11/19). “The Little Red Book”: Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (1966)
 “Classes and Class Struggle,” pp. 8-22.
 “War and Peace,” 58-71.
 “Imperialism and all Reactionaries are Paper Tigers,” 72-81.
 Film in class: Godard, La Chinoise (1967). first 30 mins.
26. (M, 11/24) In class: Jean-Luc Godard, La Chinoise (1967)
No class W, 11/26 (Thanksgiving break)
27. (M, 12/1). Mao, Little Red Book
 “The Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People,” pp. 45-57.
 “The Mass Line,” pp. 118-133.
 “Methods of Thinking and Methods of Work,” pp. 203-229.
28. (W, 12/3). Conclusion, review, recapitulation
Final. Time, date, and location T.B.A.