Course Number:
Histo6, 122: Western Civilization 1815-Present

Semester Hours:
History 122 - 3 credits

Frequency of Offering: Every Semester

Course Titles:
Western Civilization 1815- Present

History 122:

A survey of European traditions and institutions from the fall of Napoleon to the present, stressing the Industrial
Revolution, nationalism, imperialism, the rise of totalitarianism, World War II, the Cold War, and post Cold War
problems. Grade Only. Offered every semester.

This is an existing course previously approved by A2C2:
YES

This is a new course proposal:
NO

University Studies Category
Arts and Sciences/Core Humanities

Department Contact Person:
Alex Yard
Ayard@winona.edu

Rationale:

The department strongly believes that this sequence of courses will play a significant role in University Studies
program by providing students with an appreciation for the historical context of human experiences and culture
and an improved understanding of the discipline of history.

USP Humanities Objective 1:

The University Studies program requires that courses in the Humanities promote students’ ability to identify and
understand specific elements and assumptions of a particular Humanities discipline.

History 120, 121 and 122 will introduce students to significant bodies of information about western civilization, a
vital element of the discipline, but will also introduce students to historical explanations, the intellectual skills of
historians, and the ways in which historians conceive and write about the past.

The courses introduce students to the main lines of historical development (including the development of western
culture) from its early beginnings in the Near East and Africa to the present day. The specific sets of facts and
subplots emphasized will differ from instructor to instructor and year to year, but students will experience the
same general chronology.

The courses introduce students to the principle elements of history as a discipline. All three aim at developing
students’ ability to identify and evaluate various kinds of evidence used by historians, to identify themes (as
opposed to collections of facts) in historical literature, and to write clearly. All three courses also invite students
to begin using historical evidence to construct explanations of the past and discuss relationships between events.

The courses do all of this by means of lectures, readings of both primary documents and historical literature, class
discussions (both small-group and full-class discussions), tests, and writing assignments.

USP Humanities Objective 2

The University Studies program requires that courses in the Humanities promote students’ ability to understand
how historical context, cultural values, and gender influence perceptions and interpretations.

History 120, 121, and 122 address this objective in two distinct ways. In part, the courses explore how people
in the past had differing perceptions and interpretations of the events of their times. In large part, these
divergent perceptions and interpretations resulted from their differing historical experiences, cultural values
and genders. These three courses provide students with an abundance of instances that provide occasion for
expression of divergent perceptions ranging from the significance and limits of Greek Democracy to the nature
and benefits of the French and Russian Revolutions, and finally to the "progress" of western civilization.

The courses also address this issue by introducing students to the varying ways in which historians perceive and
interpret the past, and begin to explore the sources of these differences.

The courses attempt to achieve this objective through lectures, reading assignments focused on both documents
drawn from the times and historians’ discussions of the past, small group and class discussions, and writing
assignments.

USP Humanities Objective 3

The University Studies Program requires courses in the humanities to promote students’ ability to understand the
role of critical analysis (e.g., aesthetic, historical, literary, philosophical, rhetorical) in interpreting and evaluating
expressions of human experience.

History 120, 121, and 122 address this objective by emphasizing the role of historical analysis in understanding
past as well as contemporary developments. The courses, in other words, direct students’ attention to the task
of explaining, and not just remembering, past events, including ideas and their expression in a wide range of
forms. The courses direct student attention to the critical documents of classical thought, for example, as well
as those of groups such as women and the disadvantaged trying to change society. The courses, in other words,
challenge students to understand how events and ideas came to be as they were.

The courses attempt to achieve this objective through lectures, reading assignments focused on both documents
drawn from the times and historians’ discussion of the past, small group and class discussions, and writing
assignments.

Representative Syllabus for History 122: Western Civilization 1500 to 1815
Appended to University Studies proposal
November, 2000

History 122: Western Civilization 1815 to Present

History 122 is an introductory course that surveys a variety of themes and topics from 1815 A.D. to the present. Hopefully,
this course will make an understanding of the past relevant to the world in which you live. This course will concentrate on
some topics and skim over others. The time period this course covers is so vast that many important ideas and events
from the past will by necessity not be covered.

Most of this course will be driven by class discussion. There will usually be a written quiz on days when the class has
discussion, All quizzes as well as all exams will be essay. The quiz will be on the material to be discussed that day.

The following are the required books for this class:

Evaluations:

Your grade will be based on three in-class essay exams, numerous essay quizzes, and participation. The following
formula will determine your final grade:

3 Exams 45%
Quizzes 45%
Class Participation 10%

University Studies Program Note to Students

This course is included in the Humanities category of the University Studies Program. As such it address the following
objectives required of all courses in the humanities category:

a. To promote students’ ability to identify and understand specific elements and assumptions of a particular
         Humanities discipline;

b. To promote students’ ability to understand how historical context, cultural values, and gender influence
         perceptions and interpretations; and

c.      To promote students’ ability to understand the role of critical analysis (e.g. aesthetic, historical, literary
         philosophical,  rhetorical) in interpreting and evaluating expressions of human experience.

 The following course schedule uses the letters USOa (meaning University Studies Objective a), USOb (meaning University
Studies Objective b), and USOc (meaning University Studies Objective c), to indicate where the course will address each
of these University Studies objectives.

Course Schedule:

Topic 1                                               Introduction to the Course (USO a)

Topic 2: Enlightenment Thought                   "Revolution in Thinking" (USO a)

Topic 3: The French Revolution                 Sources, "Plight of Peasants" (USO a,b,c)
                                                                Sources, "Grievances" (USO a,b,c)
                                                                Sources, "Robespierre" (USO a,b,c,)
                                                                Sources, "Napoleon" (USO a,b,c,)
                                                                Examination 1

Topic 4: Rise of Nationalism                Sources, "Burke" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Metternich" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Mill" (USO a,b,c)

Topic 5: The Industrial Revolution       Nature of Revolution (USO a)
                                                               Sources, "Smith" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Samuel Smiles" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Engels" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Examination 2

Topic 6: Nineteenth Century Thought       Sources, "Wordsworth" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Goethe (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Fathers and Sons (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Darwin" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Marx" (USO a,b,c)

Topic 7: Imperialism                              Why Imperialism? (USO a,c)
                                                               Anti-Semitism (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Chamberlain" (USO a,b,c)

Topic 8: World War I                                Film
                                                               All Quiet on the Western Front (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Wilson" (USO a,b,c)

Topic 9: Russia                                        Empire (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Lenin" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Trotsky" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               1984 (USO a,b,c)

Topic 10: World War II                        Fascism (USO b)
                                                               Sources, "Mussolini" (USO a.b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Hitler" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Sources, "Churchill" (USO a,b,c)
                                                               Night (USO a,b,c)

Topic 11: The Cold War                         Sources, "Churchill" (USO a,b,c)
                                                                Sources, "Kennan" (USO a,b,c)

Topic 12: Globalism                                 Sources, "Havel" (USO a,b,c)
                                                                Sources, "Ellul" (USO a,b,c)

                                                                Final Examination