School of Humanities Discipline Course Title History MA History of Ideas and Culture (jointly offered by disciplines of History and Philosophy) Module Coordinator Module Title Dr Gearóid Barry Lecture times Teaching Format Brief outline of content Semester One 12 x 2-hour discussion sessions Ideas of War and Peace in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. This module will be a transnational course looking at the interplay of ideology, diplomacy and political activism in the European nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beginning with the Napoleonic wars, this module will trace the development of political thought and praxis in response to mass mobilization of society for modern war. From the concept of the Concert of Europe to the writings of Tolstoy, Europeans attempted to imagine a peaceful continent. Tracing the elaboration of pacifist doctrine through secular and religious movements from the Universal Peace Congresses of the turn of the twentieth century to the peace witness of Quakers and other Christians, we will also explore the dilemmas in the First World War , also in light of belligerent communism from the Soviet Union and the challenge of Fascism in Italy, Germany and Spain before and during the Second World War before concluding with the peace movement's fate in Cold War Europe. Learning Outcomes The committed student should: Read widely and be able to summarizing competing points of view Have an overview of the key modern European political thinkers on war and peace Have a knowledge of the impact of the First World War in particular on global peace movements Write succinct essays comparing different figures and historical trends Assessment Types and Deadlines Short class assignments; Long essay. Required Text Helpful reading: Leon Tolstoy, War and Peace (1869; Penguin, 1982) Mark Mazower, Dark Contintent: Europe’s Twentieth Century (London: Penguin, 1998) Anthony Best, Peace: a world history (Polity Press, 2009) Martin Ceadel, Thinking about war and peace (OUP, 1987) Brigitte Hamann, Bertha von Suttner: a life for peace (Syracuse University Press, 1996)