Classroom instruction will include both lectures and seminar discussions. Lectures will provide instruction on weekly topics with opportunities for student inquiry and discussion. Seminars will encourage active class participation in the analysis of assigned primary and secondary readings. Classroom instruction may also include student presentations on specific readings and/or topics, and other types of student-led activities. Classroom instruction may also include tutorials and workshops on transferrable skills, including research methods, academic citation practice, and presentation skills.
- Prelude to the French Revolution
- The Revolutionary Era: 1789-1792
- The Rise of Napoleon
- Napoleonic France and Europe
- A Map Re-drawn: The Congress of Vienna
- Europe in the Age of Restoration and Reform, 1815-1848
- The Industrial Revolution: Technology, Urbanization, and the Transformation of Societies
- The Revolutions of 1848 in France and Central Europe
- The Disruption of the Concert of Europe: Napoleon III and the Crimean War
- Nation Building: The Unifications of Italy and Germany
- Empires Under Stress: Austria-Hungary, Tsarist Russia, and the Ottoman Empire
- A Rapidly Changing World: Modernization, Political Polarization, and Social Conflict
- The New Imperialism and International Rivalry, 1884-1914
- The Challenges of Modernity: European Culture and Society on the Eve of the Great War
- Locating, examining, assessing, and evaluating a range of primary sources and secondary scholarly literature critically and analytically (reading history).
- Constructing historical arguments, taking historical perspectives, and interpreting historical problems through different types of writing assignments of varying lengths (writing history).
- Participating in active and informed historical debate independently and cooperatively through classroom discussion and presentation (discussing history).
- Independently and cooperatively investigating the ways that history is created, preserved and disseminated through public memory and commemoration, oral history, community engagement, and other forms of popular visual and written expressions about the past (applying history).
Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. Students may conduct research with human participants as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans.
Students will have opportunities to build and refine their research capacity and historical thinking skills through assessments appropriate to the level of the course. There will be at least three separate assessments, which may include a combination of midterm and final exams; research essays; primary document analysis assignments and essays; quizzes; map tests; in-class and online written assignments; seminar presentations; student assignment portfolios; group projects; creative projects; class participation.
The value of each assessment and evaluation, expressed as a percentage of the final grade, will be listed in the course outline distributed to students at the beginning of the term. Specific evaluation criteria will vary according to the instructor’s assessment of appropriate evaluation methods.
An example of one evaluation scheme:
Class Participation 10%
Student Presentation Project 15%
Primary Document Analyses 15%
Research essay 25%
Midterm exam 15%
Final exam 20%
Textbooks and Course Readers may be chosen from the following list, to be updated periodically.
An instructor’s custom Course Reader may be required. Additional online resources may also be assigned. Additional reading lists and links to specific resources also may be provided online or in the instructor’s course outline.
Berger, Stefan, ed. A Companion to Nineteenth Century Europe, 1789-1914. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
Blanning, T.C.W. The Nineteenth Century: Europe, 1789-1914. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Clark, Linda L. Women and Achievement in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Gildea, Robert Barricades and Border, Europe 1800-1914. 3rd ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Hunt, Lynn, ed. The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief History with Documents. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford-St. Martins, 2016.
Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner, and Alison Frank. The Western Heritage. Vol. 2, Since 1500. 12th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2020.
Lees, Andrew, and Lynn Hollen Lees. Cities and the Making of Modern Europe, 1750–1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Lindemann, Albert S. A History of Modern Europe: From 1815 to the Present. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. Vol. 2, From the French Revolution to the Present. 4th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2019.
Popkin, Jeremy D. A Short History of the French Revolution. 7th ed. New York: Routledge, 2019.
Spielvogel, Jackson. Western Civilization: A Brief History. Vol. 2, Since 1500. 10th ed. Boston: Cengage, 2020.
Winks, Robin W., and Joan Neuberger. Europe and the Making of Modernity, 1815-1914. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
In addition, monographs, memoirs, or novels may be assigned. Examples include:
Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France.
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times.
Engels, Friedrich. Conditions of the Working Class in England.
Fontane, Theodor. Effi Briest.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Vindication of the Rights of Women.
One 1000-level History course, or permission of the instructor.