Instructor: Dr. Steven E. Harris
Course: HIST 100, section 018
(Tuesday, 12:00pm-1:15pm, T 114)
Office: Pohick Module 25
Office Hours: Monday, 1-3pm; Tuesday, 2-3:30pm
(or by appointment) e-mail: sharris7@gmu.edu
Course description:
HISTORY 100
HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
In this course, we will examine the history of Western Civilization from the ancient Greeks to the fall of communism in the late 20th century and beyond. In order to focus our examination, we will explore this history through the specific lens of war.
Since the ancient Greeks, wars have played a central role in Western Civilization. While it is common to think of war as a destructive endeavor that negates everything it means to be “civilized,” wars in fact reveal much about the nature of the political, social, economic, and cultural aspects of Western Civilization and how they have evolved over time. For historians, wars often mark the end or the beginning of eras in history, tending either to destroy periods of relative peace or to change radically the world we live in through the introduction of new ways of fighting wars. Our goal is to present a broad overview of the major periods and trends of Western civilization by examining its political, social, cultural, and economic aspects and how they have changed over time through the lens of war.
This course is also intended to give students a valuable introduction to the basic methods and approaches of historians. We will read primary texts and interpret them in their historical contexts, but also against the backdrop of the established narratives that historians have developed to represent and explore various periods. Throughout the course, you should ask yourself several basic questions which all historians do: Does my reading of this primary text confirm or diverge from the common interpretations offered by historians? How can I explain why historians often present very different narratives about the same periods and primary sources? How would I amend existing narratives to fit my own reading of these primary texts? Through writing assignments and class discussion, you will be asked to read primary sources and organize the evidence from them in order to construct your own arguments and interpretation of historical periods.
In our investigation of Western civilization, establishing the historical context – the actors, events, dates, and general conditions of any given period – is crucial for our analysis and interpretation of the primary sources we will read. To accomplish this, we will use secondary sources – in other words, the accounts historians present on specific periods in history. Next, we will read and analyze primary sources – texts and images created at the points in history we are studying – as a way of better understanding their historical periods. You are encouraged not only to think about how any given text fits within its own period, but also how it relates to other primary sources in other periods.

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Course Requirements:
You will write two papers in which you will analyze and interpret primary texts in addressing one question from a choice of three provided by the instructor. The first paper will be 4-5 pages in length (max. 1,400 words, double-spaced, 12-point font); the second will be 6-7 pages in length (max. 2,000 words, double-spaced, 12-point font). The first paper will count for 25 percent of students’ final grades. The second paper will serve as the final exam for the course and will count for 30 percent of your final grade. You must turn it in on or before the scheduled exam day for this class.
The quality of this class depends largely upon what each student will contribute to it, so your classroom participation is of paramount importance as we analyze and interpret the texts in this course. Students are 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 quality of the class discussion. Class participation comprises 20 percent of students’ final grade.
Attendance in class is absolutely crucial. If you fail to attend class, you will be unable to participate in class discussions and, therefore, your participation grade will suffer. Failure to attend class without a legitimate excuse on the day of a quiz will result in an F (failing grade) for the quiz. Legitimate excuses include family emergencies, medical appointments, and religious holidays; all such excuses must be supported with documentary proof.
Grades for the course:
Mid-term paper:
Quizzes:
Webography:
25%
15%
10%
Class participation: 20%
Final paper: 30%
Webography Project:
You will complete two assignments using the Webography Project – an internet project designed and run here at George Mason University which allows students to filter through, evaluate, and critique the plethora of web sites devoted to all questions and sources historical in the interest of making internet research for yourselves and future students more manageable and efficient.
Extra Credit
You may gain extra credit by attending and writing a short, one-page essay on a museum exhibition or other cultural event related to our coursework in the greater
Washington DC area. The specific events you may attend for extra credit will be announced in class.

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Honor Code
The Honor Code of George Mason University will be strictly enforced. It reads,
“Student members of the George Mason University community pledge not to cheat, plagiarize, steal, or lie in matters related to academic work.” You can read the code and its related provisions at http://www.gmu.edu/departments/unilife/honorcode.html
. If you have any questions about the code and its enforcement, please do not hesitate to ask me.
In writing your papers, be sure to avoid plagiarism. If you take someone else’s ideas or words and present them in a paper as your own (i.e., without proper acknowledgement of the author), you will have committed plagiarism. If you are unsure about what this means, please do not hesitate to ask me for further clarification.
An important note on the lectures:
Each week, you are expected to have watched and studied a taped lecture that corresponds to the topic for that particular week. These lectures are as much a part of this course as our weekly class and, as explained above, they are a crucial component in establishing the historical context of our discussions. While you may watch these lectures whenever you wish, you should consider them as an actual class session you would normally attend in person. I will give several quizzes over the course of the semester based upon these lectures and the readings from the main textbook.
You may purchase the taped lectures at the bookstore or watch the lectures on
GMU-TV. Most of the lectures are also available in text format. You can access the television schedule for the lecture and their text versions at http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/westernciv/schedule.htm
Americans with Disabilities Act:
If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 993-2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through the DRC.
Drop/Add:
The last day that you can add a full-semester course is September 14, 2004.
The last day that you can drop a full-semester course is October 1, 2004.
Course readings:
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, A Brief History (3rd edition)
George Mason University, Department of History and Art History, Western Civilization,
A Reader (hereafter, WC Reader)
Western Civilization Tape lecture series (on VHS tape)
E-reserve readings are indicated in the course schedule below. They will be available online at http://oscr.gmu.edu
.

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Course schedule:
Week 1: Introduction: What is Western Civilization and why do we study it?
* How have wars shaped Western Civilization and how has Western
Civilization shaped war?
Week 2: Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire at War
Tape lecture 2: Prof. Randolph Lytton
Spielvogel, chapters 4-6
Herodotus, History (WC Reader, 21-3)
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War (WC Reader, 24-30)
On Military Matters (e-reserve: RWC 2, 290-96)
Week 3: The Middle Ages and the Christian Crusades
Tape lecture 4: Prof. Maureen Miller
Spielvogel, chapters 7, 10-11
Jean de Venette, Description of Famine, War and Plague in France
(1315-1349) (e-reserve: RWC 4, 446-7, 451-8)
Week 4:
Week 5:
Joinville, The Life of Saint Louis (e-reserve: 163-79, 191-4, 240-8, 281-8,
345-50)
The Renaissance
Tape lecture 5: Prof. Sheila ffolliott
Spielvogel, chapter 12
Luca Landucci, Florentine Diary (RWC 5, 144-71)
The Reformations, English Civil War, and the Rules of War
Tape lecture 6: Prof. Mack Holt
Spielvogel, chapters 13, 15
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy
Scripture (WC Reader, 136-44)
Thomas Hobbes, Behemoth or, The Long Parliament (excerpts, e-reserve)
Hugo Grotius, The Rights of War and Peace (excerpts, e-reserve)
Week 6:
Week 7:
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars
Tape lecture 7: Prof. Jack Censer
Spielvogel, chapters 16-17, 18 (332-39), 19 (340-52)
Introduction to Declaration of Rights (WC Reader, 167)
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, 26 August 1789 (WC
Reader, 168-9)
Decree Establishing the
Leveé en Masse
(23 August 1793) (e-reserve:
RWC 7, 340-2)
Carl von Clausewitz, On War (e-reserve: excerpts)
The Industrial Revolution
Tape lecture 8: Prof. Peter Stearns

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Week 8:
Spielvogel, chapter 20
Peter Stearns, Introduction (WC Reader, 179-80)
Letters of New England Textile Workers (WC Reader, 181-3)
Peter Stearns, Socialism and Nationalism (WC Reader, 184-5)
Friedrich Engels (WC Reader, 186-90)
FIRST PAPER DUE – WEEK 7
Empires and Colonization
Tape lecture 9: Prof. Dina Copelman
Spielvogel, chapters 22-23
Dina Copelman, Introduction (WC Reader, 207-9)
Benjamin Disraeli, The Maintenance of Empire (WC Reader, 210-1)
Joseph Chamberlain, The Boer War Defended (WC Reader, 217-9)
David Lloyd George, The Boer War Criticized (WC Reader, 220-2)
John Atkinson Hobson, An Early Critique of Imperialism (WC Reader,
223-5)
Week 9: The Russian Revolution
Tape lecture 11: Prof. Rex Wade
Spielvogel, chapter 26 (471-83)
Rex Wade, Introduction (WC Reader, 263-4)
Section One: The New Political System and its Critics (WC Reader, 265-
72)
Section Two: The Bolshevik Debate on Power and the October Revolution
(WC Reader, 273-8)
N. Bukharin and E. Preobrazhenskii, The ABC of Communism: A Popular
Explanation of the Program of the Communist Party of Russia (e-reserve: excerpts)
Week 10: World War I
Tape lecture 12: Prof. Marion Deshmukh
Spielvogel, chapters 24-25
Woodrow Wilson, 14 Points (1918), (WC Reader, 285-6)
Treaty of Versailles (WC Reader, 287-8)
Sigmund Freud, “Thoughts for the Times on War and Death” (e-reserve,
RWC, 155-75)
Week 11: World War II and The Holocaust
Spielvogel, chapters 26-27
Alf Lüdtke, “People Working: Everyday Life and German Fascism,”
History Workshop Journal , Issue 50 (autumn 2000): 75-92. (e-reserve)
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (excerpts) (WC Reader, 293-6)
Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz (WC Reader, 307-13)
Week 12: The Cold War
Tape lecture 13: Prof. Ronald Jensen

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Spielvogel, chapter 28
Ute G. Poiger, “American Music, Cold War Liberalism, and German
Identities,” in Transactions, Transgressions, Transformations: American
Culture in Western Europe and Japan , ed., Heide Fehrenbach and Uta G.
Poiger (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2000), 127-47. (ereserve)
George Kennan, “Telegraphic Message from Moscow, February 22, 1946”
(WC Reader, 321-9)
Denis de Rougemont, “Minds and Morals: The Conquest of Anarchy,” in
America and the Mind of Europe (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1951), 30-
46. (e-reserve)
Film (time/place TBA): The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life
of Robert S. McNamara (Director: Errol Morris, 2004)
Week 13: The War on Terror
Spielvogel, chapter 29
John Horne, “Civilian Populations and Wartime Violence: Towards an
Historical Analysis,”
International Social Sciences Journal 54, no. 4
(2002): 483-90. (e-reserve)
Use of the term, “War on Terror” (excerpts from newspapers before and after 9/11)
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (New York and London:
W.W. Norton & Company, 2004) – (excerpts, on e-reserve)
Catch-up/Review for the final paper
Week 14: Conclusion: Why have we and why do we study Western Civilization?
Gilbert Allardyce, “The Rise and Fall of the Western Civilization Course,”
American Historical Review 87, no. 3 (1982): 695-725. (e-reserve)
Catch-up/Review for the final paper