Lecture and Seminar Timetable
Core Reading Schedule
Seminar questions may be accessed through Moodle (click ). You will also find any additional preparatory tasks listed on Moodle. All seminar reading can be found on
In addition to seminar readings, you should read the core texts over the course of the year for essential background and context. You may choose to do so at the beginning of the year, or read along as we move through the course. Suggested chapters for each week are listed below.
There are a couple of physical copies in the library, but you can also access these texts through archive.org. You will need to create a free account to digitally borrow the texts.
Blanning:
Sheehan:
Term |
Week |
Lecture and Seminar Topic |
|---|---|---|
Autumn Term |
1 |
Introductory week - No seminar but start reading! Core reading: Chapter 1, Blanning (ed.), John Roberts, 鈥楻evolution from Above and Below: European Politics from the French Revolution to the First World War鈥�, pp.15-45 |
|
2 |
Lecture: Revolutionary Wars and the changing shape of Europe Seminar: Writing the history of war Core reading: Sheehan, Prologue, 鈥榃ar and Peace in the Twentieth Century鈥�, pp.xiii-xx |
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|
3 |
Lecture:Unification through War: The German Question Seminar:War and the nation state Core reading: Sheehan, Ch. 1 鈥樷�淲ithout War, There Would Be No State鈥濃��, pp.3-21 |
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4 |
Lecture:The birth of industrial warfare Seminar:Technology and medicine in modern warfare Core reading: Chap. 2, Blanning (ed), Clive Trebilcock, 鈥楾he Industrialization of Modern Europe, 1750-1914鈥�, pp.46-75 |
|
|
5 |
Lecture: Colonial warfare Seminar: Never Again? Pacifism after WWI"Small Wars" and the construction of "race" Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 3 鈥楨uropeans in a Violent World鈥�, pp.42-65 |
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|
6 |
~ Reading Week: no lectures or seminars ~ |
|
|
7 |
Lecture: Pacifism in the nineteenth century Seminar: Is war good for business? Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 3, 鈥楶acifism and Militarism鈥�, pp.22-41 |
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|
8 |
Lecture: The First World War and the totalization of warfare Seminar: How to fight on the Western Front (1914-1918) Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 4, 鈥榃ar and Revolution鈥�, pp.69-91 |
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|
9 |
Lecture: Home fronts and social mobilization in WWI Seminar: Gender in wartime Core Reading: Blanning (ed.), Chap. 4, Pamela Pilbeam, 鈥楩rom Orders to Classes: European Society in the Nineteenth Century鈥�, pp.101-125 |
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|
10 |
Lecture: Never Again? Pacifism after WWI Seminar: Remembering the First World War Reading: Blanning (ed.), Chap. 3, Hew Strachan, 鈥楳ilitary Modernization, 1789-1918鈥�, pp.76-100 |
|
Spring Term |
11 |
Lecture: Regulating and preventing war (1899-1939) Seminar: The Humanitarian Impulse Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 5, 鈥楾he Twenty-Year Truce鈥�, pp.92-118 |
|
12 |
Lecture: The Spanish Civil War Seminar: Fascisms and war Core Reading: Blanning (ed.), Chap. 6, Paul Preston, 鈥楾he Great Civil War: European Politics, 1914-1945鈥�, pp. 153-85 |
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13 |
Lecture: The Second World War: a "thirty years' war"? Seminar: Economic mobilization Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 6, 鈥楾he Last European War鈥�, pp.119-44 |
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|
14 |
Lecture: War and genocide in Europe (1915-1945) Seminar: Was the Holocaust an act of war? Core Reading: Blanning (ed.), Chap. 8, Richard Overy, 鈥榃arfare in Europe since 1918鈥�, pp.214-33 |
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|
15 |
Lecture: Warfare and Welfare Seminar: Redefining Citizenship in Twentieth Century Europe
Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 8, 鈥楾he Rise of the Civilian State鈥�, pp.172-97 |
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16 |
~ Reading Week: no lectures or seminars ~ |
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17 |
Lecture: From war to civil wars: resistance, collaboration, and the aftermath of WWII Seminar: Violence and the transition to peace Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 7, 鈥楾he Foundations of the Postwar World鈥�, pp.147-71 |
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18 |
Lecture: A Cold War? Seminar: The meaning of deterrence Core Reading: Chap. 7, Harold James, 鈥楾he Fall and Rise of the European Economy in the Twentieth Century鈥�, Blanning (ed.), pp.176-213 |
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19 |
Lecture: Wars of decolonization Seminar: The War of Algerian independence Core Reading: Chap. 9, Richard Bessel, 鈥楨uropean Society in the Twentieth Century鈥�, Blanning (ed.), pp.234-59 |
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|
20 |
Lecture: The dividends of peace Seminar: The Euromissiles crisis Core Reading: Chap. 11, David Reynolds, 鈥楨urope Divided and Reunited, 1945-1995鈥�, Blanning (ed.), pp.282-306 |
|
Summer Term |
21 |
Lecture: Yugoslavia and the return of war in Europe Seminar: Humanitarianism and Liberal interventionism Core Reading: Sheehan, Chap. 9, 鈥榃hy Europe Will not Become a Superpower鈥� |
|
22 |
Lecture: Transformations of war in Modern Europe Seminar: Military history, the history of war, and Modern Europe Core Reading: Sheehan, Epilogue, pp.222-27 |