History 111
Foundations of the Modern Age
Fall Semester 1996

Frank Luttmer
108 Classic Hall
M W F: 10-11, 12-1
866-7205
historians@hanover.edu


[Course Description and Objectives] [Required Readings] [Grades] [Schedule] [Exam Study Questions]

Course Description and Objectives

Foundations of the Modern Age is an historical introduction to the ideas, institutions, and events that shaped modern Western civilization. The course is designed both to build essential knowledge about the modern world and to encourage a basic understanding of historical context and perspective. It seeks to promote the skills essential to historical inquiry, including the capacity to define historical questions, analyze primary documents carefully, evaluate alternative interpretations critically, develop original arguments, and write essays clearly and effectively. The course focuses on Western Europe and the United States, but it brings a world perspective to the study of the West and gives consideration to the relationship between the West and the rest of the world.

Required Readings

1. Robert Strayer, et.al., The Making of the Modern World
2. Richard Sullivan, et.al., A Short History of Western Civilization, Renaissance to the Present
3. Excerpts from Primary Texts (Links to the excerpts can be found in the schedule below).

Grades

Final grades will be based on an evaluation of the following.

Schedule


Sept. 4:
The West, the World, and the Modern Age
Strayer, 1-37

THE RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION

Sept. 5:
Italy and Renaissance Humanism
Sullivan, 340-345; Petrarch

Sept. 6:
Renaissance Society and Culture
Sullivan, 345-359; Montaigne

Sept. 9:
The Renaissance State and Political Theory
Sullivan, 360-369; Machiavelli

Sept. 11:
The Protestant Reformation
Sullivan, 381-388; Luther; Calvin

Sept. 12:
The Catholic Reformation and the Religious Wars
Sullivan 388-404; The Council of Trent; St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and The Destruction of Magdeburg

THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

Sept. 13:
The Copernican Revolution and the Search for a Method
Strayer, 38-43; Sullivan , 456-465; Descartes

Sept. 16:
Search for a Method and the Newtonian Synthesis
Bacon

CAPITALISM AND THE EARLY MODERN STATE

Sept. 18:
The Origins of Capitalism and European Empires
Strayer, 52-61; Sullivan, 370-380; Mun

Sept. 19:
Absolutism: Theory and Practice
Sullivan, 420-432; Bossuet; The Court of Louis XIV

Sept. 20:
Law, Liberty, and Social Order
Sullivan, 433-444; Hobbes

Sept. 23:
Law, Liberty, and Social Order
Strayer, 61-63; Locke

EUROPEAN EMPIRES, c.1450-1750

Sept. 25:
Europe and the World
Strayer, 110-121; Sullivan 445-456; Montaigne

Sept. 26:
North American Colonies
Strayer, 138-142; Winthrop

Sept. 27:
Europe, Africa and the Americas
Strayer, 159-169; 432-435; Equiano

THE ENLIGHTENMENT

Sept. 30:
The Enlightenment
Strayer, 43-47; Sullivan, 466-477; Hume

Oct. 2:
The Enlightenment
Voltaire; Smith


Oct. 3:
FIRST EXAM
(study questions)


THE FIRST LIBERAL REVOLUTIONS

Oct. 4:
The North American Revolution
Strayer, 142-144; Sullivan, 479-488; Adams; Declaration of Independence

Oct. 7:
The North American Revolution
Sullivan, 488-491; Federalist Papers; Washington

Oct. 9:
The French Revolution
Strayer, 63-68; Sullivan 492-503; Cahier of 1789; Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen;
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Oct. 10:
The French Revolution and Revolution in the Americas
Sullivan, 503-514; Strayer, 63-68, 168-171; National Convention; St. Just ; Napoleon

POLITICAL CONFLICT AND NATION-BUILDING

Oct. 11:
Conservatism and Liberalism
Sullivan, 539-553; Burke; The Carlsbad Decrees

Oct. 16:
Romanticism and Nationalism
Sullivan, 530-538; Wordsworth; Blake; Mazzini

Oct. 17:
Reform, Revolution, and National Unification
Sullivan, 553-573; French Revolution of 1848; Bismark

Oct. 18:
The US in the Early 19th Century
Strayer, 144-146; Sullivan, 617-620; Emerson

Oct. 21:
The American Civil War
Strayer, 146-147; Sullivan, 620-622; Nat Turner; South Carolina;
Lincoln, Gettysburg Address;Lincoln, Second Inaugural

Oct. 22:
FIRST DRAFT OF PAPER DUE


SOCIETY AND POLITICS IN THE INDUSTRIAL AGE

Oct. 23:
The Industrial Revolution
Strayer, 69-80; Sullivan, 515-525; The Sadler Committee Report

Oct. 24:
Marx and Marxism
Sullivan, 525-529; Marx

Oct. 25:
Mature Industrial Society and Late 19th Century Politics
Strayer, 80-86; Sullivan, 574-585, 605-616; Gotha Program; Erfurt Program

Oct. 28:
Mature Industrial Society and Late 19th Century Politics
Bernstein; Green; Hearing of the Woman Suffrage Association

Oct. 30:
The US in the Late 19th Century
Strayer, 147-149; Sullivan, 622-625; Washington; Du Bois

WESTERN IMPERIALISM IN THE 19th CENTURY

Oct 31:
The New Imperialism
Strayer, 149-150; Sullivan, 626-637; Kipling; "To Caesar"; "Farewell"

Nov. 1:
The Rise of Japan
Strayer, 392-404


Nov. 4:
SECOND EXAM
(study questions)


WESTERN CULTURE IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

Nov. 10:
Darwin's Theory of Evolution and Its Implications
Strayer, 47-51; Sullivan, 586-594; Darwin; White

Nov. 11:
Fin-de-Siecle Culture
Sullivan, 595-604; Nietzsche

TOTAL WAR AND TOTALITARIANISM

Nov. 13:
World War I
Strayer, 87-94; Sullivan, 642-653; Poetry

Nov. 14:
The Russian Revolution
Strayer, 179-190; Lenin

Nov. 15:
The Russian Revolution
Strayer, 188-195; Stalin

Nov. 18:
Fascism
Strayer, 94-98; Sullivan, 666-675

Nov. 20:
Fascism
Hitler

Nov. 21:
The West and Japan Between the Wars
Strayer, 150-152, 404-409; Sullivan, 675-684; Roosevelt; Ortega

Nov. 22:
World War II
Sullivan, 684-701; Churchill; Wannsee Protocal

THE WEST AND THE WORLD SINCE WWII

Nov. 25:
Consensus and Cold War
Strayer, 99-106; Sullivan 702-712, 717-718; Churchill

Dec 2:
Politics and Culture in the West
Strayer, 152-158; Sullivan 712-714, 719-724; Martin Luther King Jr.;
The Black Panther Party Platform; The Port Huron Statement

Dec. 4:
Politics and Culture in the West
Sullivan, 724-734, 759-764; NOW; Thatcher

Dec. 5:
Eastern Europe and the Second Russian Revolution
Strayer, 195-203; Sullivan, 714-717, 753-759

Dec. 6:
The World Outside the West
Strayer, 124-135; Sullivan 735-746

FINAL DRAFT OF PAPER DUE

Dec. 9: FINAL EXAM
(study questions)

Exam Study Questions

Exam 1

Exam 2

Exam 3


Return to Hanover College
Return to History Department

Please send comments to:

historians@hanover.edu