HIST 229 - Topics in European History

Credits: 3 credit in fall or winter; 4 in spring A course offered from time to time depending on student interest and staff availability, on a selected topic or problem in European history. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Winter 2021, HIST 229A-01: Topics in European History: The War to End All Wars: Testimonies about the Experience of the First World War (3). In this discussion- and writing-intensive course, open to all students and taught virtually, we will analyze a famous anti-war autobiography by Robert Graves (Good-Bye to All That), a fiercely patriotic account of the combat experience by the German officer Ernst Jünger (Storms of Steel), and a collection of poems by British women who became nurses or munitions workers.  Our goal will be to understand why the experience of this war upended the lives of so many participants and confounded their expectations regarding “progress”, and the Great War’s long-term impact on European culture and society.  You will be asked to write three short papers on the required readings and a modest term paper of 6-8 pages on a memoir, autobiographical novel, or war diary of special interest to you. (HU) Patch. FDR: HU