HISTORY 1040
THE GREAT WAR
"The Great War was the 'incomprehensible.'" Duroselle 1994
Section #1 Origins of the Great War
30 August
Before you come to class today go to Courseweb-PowerPoints. Then download, print and bring to class- "Origins of the Great War."
In today's class we will begin to examine the Origins of the Great War. We will begin this class with an analysis of the "Crisis of Europe - 1871-1914" setting up how that led to, what Eric Hobsbawm calls, "The Age of Catastrophe" or "Age of Extremes" (i.e. 1914-1991). We will examine the impact of extreme Nationalism in France and Germany, the Second Industrial Revolution, Imperialism and the Avant Garde had on the stability of Europe. In our analysis of the outbreak of the war, we will also focus on the destabilizing affect of international competition among nations and also the affect that this had on domestic affairs and governmental policies.
Watch this lecture for next Tuesday's class. This is a lecture by John Merriman, a brilliant historian at Yale University.
Readings For 1 Thursday
Print out and bring to class: "Class 2: Connection and Interpretation" on Courseweb- Powerpoints.
Readings for Thursday 1 September:
Go to: BBC History Site- and read this brief essay from a British HS student on "making the connection to the Great War.
pp. 1-12 in 14-18: Understanding the Great War Ferro pp. 2-9 in The Great War
Examine the conflicting interpretations of the Great War. This is
a great site and read through all the documents and view study
questions.
Prologue on
the Great War
Go to Courseweb-Course Documents - and download
"Introduction" to
The Pity of War by Niall Ferguson - Read from "Forgotten War" to the
end. Make sure you pay close attention to the questions. We will
deal with these in class.
1 September
In today's class we will deal with the assigned readings for today and discuss them and the importance of the Great War. We will also view various clips from the PBS Great War Documentary to set up our discussion of the Origins of the Great War. This will also set up each of the various sections of the class as outlined on the opening page of the syllabus.
READING ASSIGNMENTS FOR NEXT WEEK:
For next Tuesday 6 September
Go to Courseweb -
Powerpoints: Go to - Download "Imperialism before the
Great War." Print and bring it to class. Courseweb -PowerPoints - Download:
Cultural Crisis and the New Imperialism
- Print this and keep for reference.
Read:
Ferro 11-28
Hobsbawm "From Peace to War" pp. 302-327 on e-reserves.
Go to Courseweb-Video Files - Great War Series -Chapter 1 and watch the various videos there. We will deal with them in class, but you can always refer back to these.
Reading for next Thursday 8 September:
Gary Sheffield's Interpretation of the Origins of the War - (Whole Article)
Gary Sheffield on the "Accidental War" interpretation.
Strachan, pp 9-25
Why Did Britain go to War? - view primary documents (very short)
"Was the Great War Necessary?" on Courseweb - under "Documents" - This analyzes Ferguson's argument.
Watch two very short clips of the Blackadder Episode that Sheffield criticizes.
Recommended:
Explosion from PBS Documentary - very short
Germany before the War and The Kaiser as a Construction from PBS Documentary (Very short)
Print out and keep for yourself:
Map #1 of Africa after Imperialism - This map gives you a very good sense of how Europe carved up Africa.
Here is a STATISTICAL TABLE of how the world was carved up after Imperialism.
Here are two clips from the Blackadder Episode that Sheffield references in his article. Between the article and this videos you can get a sense the conflict among historians and also understand how popular culture has influenced our view of the Great War.
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