Steven Harris
HISTORY 13002: HISTORY OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION II1
Course description:
This course covers the modern era of European Civilization. Students will be
asked to make sense of the major ideas, forces, and consequences of this civilization’s
history in the past two hundred years. We begin our investigation with the French
Revolution in which the over-turning of the ancien regime’s political, social, and
economic order re-forged and propelled the civilization’s chief trends and ideas that
shaped the modern era. Our historical investigation progresses with topics such as
liberalism, nationalism, fascism, and communism. We will investigate the origins of
these phenomena, their defining characteristics, and how they changed over time.
In our investigation of modern European civilization, we will use primary
sources, primarily written texts, and interpret them in their historical contexts. The
questions which we will use to interrogate these texts include the following: What was
the author(s)’s motivation in writing the text? To whom was it addressed? What insight
does the text provide into the larger phenomena of which it was a part? How is it related
to other texts? Do the text’s ideas represent fundamental changes or continuities?
Unlike the first quarter of this course, this second quarter focuses on a much
shorter time period – roughly the last two hundred years of Europe’s history. Many of
the trends and events which unfolded in this period still shape our lives. In addition to its
incredible technological and industrial advancements, this civilization also produced the
killing machines of modern warfare and genocide. How do we explain the last two
hundred years of this civilization? What do the texts in this class reveal that allow us to
make sense of this civilization?
Course requirements and other notes:
Students will write two papers in which they will analyze and interpret texts from
the class to address one question from a choice of three provided by the instructor. Both
papers will be 2,000-2,800 words in length (5-8 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font).
Each paper will account for 25 percent of students’ final grades. The first paper will be
due April 29 and the second will be due May 22.
Students’ participation is of paramount importance in this discussion-based class:
the quality of this class depends largely upon what each student will contribute. Students
are asked to articulate their own analysis and interpretation of the texts in response to the
questions posed by the instructor. But students are also asked to engage one another’s
interpretations and opinions in an effort to understand better any given text and to
challenge one another’s readings of the texts. Students will be evaluated on the
frequency of their participation in class discussion as well as their contribution to the
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This syllabus is a revised version of the one I used to teach HIST 13002 at the
University of Chicago in the spring quarter, 2003.
Steven Harris
quality of the class discussion. Class participation comprises 20 percent of students’ final
grade.
This course will have a final exam that will count for 30 percent of students’
grades.
Each student is allowed two unexcused absences from class. Each additional
unexcused absence will result in the reduction of the student’s final grade by one-third of
a letter grade. We will have no incompletes in this class.
Course readings:
All texts are available on reserve at the Regenstein library. Some are available for
purchase at the Seminary Co-op bookstore and others through electronic reserve. When
purchasing the texts, it would be best to obtain the edition indicated below – this will
facilitate class discussion when the instructor and students refer to the texts.
The focus of the reading for this class, as well as for papers and the final exam, is
on primary sources. However, in order to provide students with sufficient historical
context with which to examine and interpret these primary texts, readings are assigned
from a general history (see below).
Texts on reserve and available for purchase:
Readings in Western Civilization, Volumes 7, 8, and 9
Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999). (This is the Oxford World’s Classics edition.)
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents (New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
1989). (This is the edition with Peter Gay’s introduction.)
Primo Levi, Survival at Auschwitz: The Nazi Assault on Humanity (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1996). (This is the edition translated by Stuart Woolf.)
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (New York and London:
Penguin Books, 1985). (This is the Penguin Classics edition.)
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty. (New York and London: Penguin Books, 1985). (This is
the Penguin Classics edition.)
Texts on reserve:
Joseph Brodsky, Less than one. Selected essays (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2000).
N. Bukharin and E. Preobrazhenskii, The ABC of Communism: A Popular Explanation of
the Program of the Communist Party of Russia (Ann Arbor: The University of
Michigan Press).
Peter Cook et al., Archigram (Berlin: Birkhauser, 1991).
Feodor Dostoevskii, “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man” in Feodor Dostoevskii, Notes
from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and selections
from The House of the Dead, trans. Andrew R. MacAndrew (New York: Signet
Classic, 1980).
Geoff Eley and Ronald Grigor Suny, Becoming National. A Reader (New York and
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
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Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, eds., Art in theory 1900-2000: an anthology of
changing ideas (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003).
Vaclav Havel, Open Letters: Selected Writings, 1965-1990 (New York: Vintage Books,
1992)
Ronald Grigor Suny, ed., The Structure of Soviet History. Essays and Documents (New
York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
Iosif Stalin, The Essential Stalin: Major Theoretical Writings, 1905-1952, ed. Bruce
Franklin (Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1972).
Jules Verne, Paris in the Twentieth Century, trans. Richard Howard (New York:
Ballantine Books, 1996).
General history (available on reserve and on Harper shelves):
R. R. Palmer and Joel Colton, A History of the Modern World (New York: McGraw-Hill,
Inc., 1995). D209 .P26 1995
Course schedule:
French Revolution
March 31:
* Introduction to the course; review of requirements and readings.
* Background on the French Revolution.
April 2:
* Protests of the Parlement of Paris (March, 1776) (RWC 7, pp. 118-123)
* Sallier, Recollections of a Parlementary Magistrate (RWC 7, pp. 145151)
* Sieyes, What is the Third Estate? (RWC 7, pp. 154-179)
* Regulations for the Convocation of the Estates General (24 January
1789), (RWC 7, pp. 180-184)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 9, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: 41.
Backgrounds, 42. The Revolution and the Reorganization of France
April 4:
NO CLASS (make-up class on April 8 or 10)
April 7:
* Deliberations of the Estates General (June 1789) (RWC 7, pp. 199-208)
* Decrees of the National Assembly (10-11 August 1789) (RWC 7, pp.
226-231)
* Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (RWC 7, pp. 237239)
* Viefville des Essars, On the Emancipation of the Negroes (1790) (RWC
7, pp. 242-247)
* Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Women (RWC 7, pp. 261-268)
* The King’s Declaration on leaving Paris (20 June 1791) (RWC 7, pp.
269-271)
* National Assembly Debate on Clubs (20 September 1791) (RWC 7, pp.
278-286)
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* Roland, Letter to the King (10 June 1792) (RWC 7, pp. 286-290)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 9, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: 43. The
Revolution and Europe: The War and the “Second” Revolution, 1792
April 8:
(MAKE UP CLASS -- exact time to be determined: April 8 and/or 10)
* The Revolution of 10 August 1792 (RWC 7, pp. 290-296)
* The King’s Trial (RWC 7, pp. 302-324)
* “Make Terror the Order of the Day” (5 September 1793) (RWC 7, pp.
342-353)
* The Law of Suspects (17 September 1793) (RWC 7, pp. 353-354)
* Saint-Just, Report to the Convention on Behalf of the Committee of
Public Safety (10 October 1793) (RWC 7, pp. 354-362)
* Robespierre, Report on the Principles of Political Morality (5 February
1794) (RWC 7, pp. 368-384)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 9, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: 44. The
Emergency Republic, 1792-1795: The Terror
April 9:
* The Conspiracy of Equals (1796) (RWC 7, pp. 393-403)
* Bonaparte, Letter to the Executive Directory (15 July 1797) (RWC 7,
pp. 404-405)
* The Coup d’Etat of 18 Brumaire 1799 (RWC 7, pp. 405-415)
* Napoleonic Ideas (RWC 7, pp. 416-427)
* Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (RWC 7, pp. 428-445)
* Constant, Ancient and Modern Liberty Compared (RWC 7, pp. 452-461)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 9, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: 45. The
Constitutional Republic: The Directory, 1795-1799, 46. The Authoritarian
Republic: The Consulate, 1799-1804; chapter 10, NAPOLEONIC
EUROPE: 47. The Formation of the French Imperial System, 48. The
Grand Empire: Spread of the Revolution
Liberalism
April 11:
* John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (“Introductory” and “Of the Liberty of
Thought and Discussion” -- pp. 59-118)
* Jeremy Bentham, Principles of Legislation (RWC 8, pp. 6-31)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 11, REACTION VERSUS PROGRESS,
1815-1848: 53. The Advent of the “Isms” (intro. and section on classical
liberalism), 56. The Breakthrough of Liberalism in the West: Revolutions
of 1830-1832
April 14:
* John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (“Of Individuality, as One of the Elements
of Well-Being” -- pp. 119-140)
* T. B. Macaulay, Speech on Parliamentary Reform (RWC 8, pp. 41-54)
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April 16:
* John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (“Of the Limits to the Authority of Society
over the Individual” and “Applications” -- pp. 141-187)
* Jeremy Bentham, Panopticon Papers (RWC 8, pp. 32-40)
* G. W. F. Hegel, on Family, Civil Society, and the State (RWC 8, pp.
129-154
[TOPICS FOR FIRST PAPER ANNOUNCED]
Industrialization, Urbanization, and the Social Question
April 18:
* Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (pp.
ix-xx, 32-86, 106-143)
* Charles Fourier, on the Phalanstery (RWC 8, pp. 159-174)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 11, REACTION VERSUS PROGRESS,
1815-1848: 52. The Industrial Revolution in Britain
April 21:
* Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (pp.
220-247)
* Flora Tristan, The Workers’ Union (1843), (RWC 8, pp. 188-201)
* Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (pp. 78-94)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 11, REACTION VERSUS PROGRESS,
1815-1848: 57. Triumph of the West-European Bourgeoisie
April 23:
* Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (pp.
281-302)
* Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (pp. 95-121)
* Jules Verne, Paris in the Twentieth Century (pp. xi-xxvii, 3-37, 50-61)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 12, REVOLUTION AND THE
REIMPOSITION OF ORDER, 1848-1870: 61. The New Toughness of
Mind: realism, Positivism, Marxism
April 25:
* 1848 in France (RWC 8, pp. 215-220)
* Alexis de Tocqueville, Recollections (RWC 8, pp. 220-241)
* Verne, Paris in the Twentieth Century (pp. 139-152, 187-216)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 12, REVOLUTION AND THE
REIMPOSITION OF ORDER, 1848-1870: intro. and 58. Paris: The
Specter of Social Revolution in the West
Nationalism and Imperialism
April 28:
* Otto von Bismark, Speech on the Constitution of the North German
Confederation (11 March 1867), (RWC 8, pp. 409-419)
* Otto von Bismark, Speech on the Law for Workmen’s Compensation
(15 March 1884), (RWC 8, pp. 419-425)
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* Max Weber, The National State and Economic Policy (RWC 8, pp. 438460)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 13, THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE
LARGE NATION-STATES, 1859-1871: intro. and 63. Backgrounds: The
Idea of the Nation-State, 65. Bismark: The Founding of a German Empire
[April 29:
FIRST PAPER DUE]
April 30:
* Ernest Renan, “What is a Nation?” in Becoming National. A Reader (pp.
42-55)
* The Politics of French Anticlericalism: Speeches by Jules Ferry, Leon
Gambetta, and Paul Bert (RWC 8, pp. 356-363)
* French Schoolteachers’ Testimonies from the Early Third Republic
(RWC 8, pp. 363- 366)
* Heinrich von Treitschke, In Memory of the Great War (RWC 8, pp. 461469)
May 2:
* Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden (1899), (RWC 8, pp. 544546)
* The Earl of Cromer, Modern Egypt (RWC 8, pp. 546-554)
* Joseph Chamberlain, Preference, the True Imperial Policy (1 February
1905), (RWC 8, pp. 554-569)
Mass Culture, Mass Politics, and Modernism
May 5:
* Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents, (pp. ix-xxiii, pp. 10-36)
* Theodor Herzl, The Jewish State (RWC 8, pp. 483-492)
* Georg Simmel, “The Metropolis and Mental Life” in Art in Theory (pp.
132-136)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 14, EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION, 18711914: 74. The Advance of Democracy: Third French Republic, United
Kingdom, German Empire
May 7:
* Freud, Civilization and its Discontents, (pp. 37-63)
* Clara Zetkin, On a Bourgeois Feminist Petition (1895), (RWC 8, pp.
538-544)
* The Futurist Manifesto (RWC 9, pp. 6-15)
* Kasimir Malevich, From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: The
New Realism in Painting in Art in Theory (pp. 173-183)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 14, EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION, 18711914: 76. Science, Philosophy, the Arts, and Religion, 77. The Waning of
Classical Liberalism
May 9:
* Freud, Civilization and its Discontents, (pp. 64-112)
* Feodor Dostoevskii, “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man”
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May 12:
*Walter Gropius, On the Bauhaus (RWC 9, pp. 398-413)
* Clement Greenberg, “Avant-Garde and Kitsch” (1939) in Art in Theory
(pp. 539-549)
* Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction (RWC 9, pp. 413-433)
[TOPICS FOR SECOND PAPER ANNOUNCED]
Viewing of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927); (day and location to be
announced)
Fascism and Communism
May 14:
* N. Bukharin and E. Preobrazhenskii, The ABC of Communism: A
Popular Explanation of the Program of the Communist Party of Russia
(pp. 19-25, 69-92, 159-204)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 17, THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND
THE SOVIET UNION: 91. Backgrounds, 93. The Revolution of 1917, 94.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
May 16:
* N. Bukharin and E. Preobrazhenskii, The ABC of Communism, (pp. 220257, 321-330, 343-347, 365-372)
* Iosif Stalin, The Essential Stalin: Major Theoretical Writings, 19051952 (pp. 54-84, 407-444)
* Nadezhda Mandelstam, “A May Night” and Nikolai Bukharin’s Letter to
Stalin (also, short readings in between these two) in The Structure of
Soviet History: Essays and Documents (pp. 232-250)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 17, THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND
THE SOVIET UNION: 95. Stalin: The Five-Year Plans and the Purges
May 19:
* Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (RWC 9, pp. 191-218)
* Benito Mussolini, The Doctrine of Fascism (RWC 9, pp. 219-233)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 19, DEMOCRACY AND DICTATORSHIP:
103. Italian Fascism, 104. Totalitarianism: Germany’s Third Reich
World Wars and The Holocaust
May 21:
* Henri Philippe Petain, A Crisis of Morale in the French Nation at War
(RWC 9, pp. 132-151)
* Primo Levi, Survival at Auschwitz (pp. 9-64)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 16, THE FIRST WORLD WAR: 85. The
International Anarchy, 86. The Armed Stalemate, 89. The Economic and
Social Impact of the War
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[May 22:
SECOND PAPER DUE]
May 23:
* Primo Levi, Survival at Auschwitz (pp. 65-122)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 20, THE SECOND WORLD WAR: 105.
The Weakness of the Democracies: Again to War, 106. The Years of Axis
Triumph
May 26:
Memorial Day
May 28:
* Primo Levi, Survival at Auschwitz (pp. 123-187)
* Bruno Bettelheim, The Experience of the Concentration Camps (RWC
9, pp. 466-482)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 20, THE SECOND WORLD WAR: 107.
The Western-Soviet Victory, 108. The Foundations of the Peace
European Civilization after World War II
May 30:
* Peter Cook et al., Archigram
* Clement Greenberg, “Modernist Painting” (1960/1965) in Art in Theory
(pp. 773-779)
* Rosalind Kraus, from “The Originality of the Avant-Garde” in Art in
Theory (pp. 1032-1037)
June 2:
* Vaclav Havel, “The Power of the Powerless” in Open Letters: Selected
Writings, 1965-1990 (pp. 125-214)
* Joseph Brodsky, “In a Room and a Half” in Less than one. Selected
essays (pp. 447-501)
* Palmer and Colton, chapter 21, THE POSTWAR ERA: THE AGE OF
THE SUPERPOWERS: 109. The Cold War: The Opening Decade, 19451955, 113. The Communist World: The U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe
June 4:
* Hannah Arendt, On Humanity in Dark Times: Thoughts about Lessing
(RWC 9, pp. 560-583)
* Jurgen Habermas, “Modernity – An Incomplete Project” (1980) in Art in
Theory (pp. 1123-1131)
June 6:
Study session (optional)
June 13:
Exam at 10:30am to 12:30pm (room to be announced)
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