Courses in History
Below is a list of available courses offered by the History Department. Consult the Registrar’s Office and the College Catalog for registration information.
HIST 101 - MODERN EUROPE TO 1750
This course will introduce the main social, political, economic, and cultural forces that shaped and reshaped European societies and Europe’s relationship to the world in this period. Topics for discussion and study include the institutions of medieval Europe, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the emergence of modern commercial capitalism, the English Revolutions, and the Enlightenment.
Hours credit: 3.
HIST 102 - MODERN EUROPE 1750-1900
Between 1750 and 1900 most of the characteristics associated with the “modern world” became established facts of life in much of Europe. This course will introduce the main social, political, economic, and cultural forces that transformed European societies and led to an era of European domination of much of the globe. Topics include the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, nationalism and the unification of Italy and Germany, imperialism, the emergence of modern feminism, and socialism.
Hours credit: 3.
HIST 104 - MODERN EUROPE, 1900 TO PRESENT
This course explores European political, social, cultural and economic history from the turn of the twentieth century to today. Students will examine topics such as the Great War and its aftermath, the rise of Communism and Nazism, the Second World War, the Holocaust, the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, the impact of history and memory on European society, and the problems and possibilities facing Europe today.
Hours credit: 3.
HIST 123 - INTRODUCTION TO EAST ASIAN CIVILIZATION
A survey of the civilizations of China and Japan to 1600.
Hours credit: 3.
HIST 133 - NORTH AMERICAN HISTORY TO 1800
This survey gives attention to precolonial Indian civilizations; patterns of colonization by several European nations; politics, religion and society in the British mainland colonies; the development of slavery in the Western Hemisphere; the struggle among European powers for supremacy in North America; and the causes, ideology, events, and implications of the American Revolution.
Hours credit: 3. Offered second semester.
HIST 134 - US HIST, 1800-1900
This course surveys United States history from Thomas Jefferson’s presidency to the emergence of the nation as an international power. It considers the development of political parties; the impact of reform movements; the sectional conflict; technological change; shifting definitions of women’s roles; the African-American experience in and after slavery; and the economic and territorial expansion of the United States.
Hours credit: 3. Offered first semester.
HIST 135 - US HIST SINCE 1900
This survey emphasizes the United States as an international power and superpower; the impact of two world wars and of the Cold War with the Soviet Union; the social consequences of technological change; the nation’s growing ethnic diversity; the revolution in women’s roles; and changing patterns of, and attitudes toward, government authority.
Hours credit: 3. Offered second semester.
HIST 180 - ANCIENT HISTORY
Identical with CLAS 180.
Hours credit: 3.
HIST 185 - THE MEDIEVAL WEST
The term 'Middle Ages' often conjures up one of two extremes: either the 'Dark Ages' or 'Knights in Shining Armor.' This course seeks to puncture such misconceptions by introducing the cultural, political, intellectual, and religious complexity of the medieval west from the Christianization of the Roman empire (c. 300) to the Black Death (c. 1350). Though the course focuses on Europe and the Mediterranean, it also addresses the broader geographical context of sub-Saharan Africa and China during the same period. Hours credit: 3. One time only.
HIST 186S - CIVILIANS & WW II
Total War: British, German, and American Civilians in World War II
World War II was total war. Nations mobilized not just armies but civilians, while seeking to demoralize enemy populations-or simply slaughter them. This study-travel seminar-building on a seven-week pre-trip component in spring 2012-will take students from the United States (whose total victory and negligible civilian casualties long affected national psychology and policy) to Britain (whose civilian population was the first ever to suffer massive aerial bombardment) to Germany (whose civilians met crushing defeat, losing two million killed and suffering a prolonged postwar crisis of image and self-image).Students will meet people with vivid memories of the war, and will see targets of "strategic bombing" and other scenes of mind-boggling cruelty, courage and endurance. The three-week European sojourn begins in Coventry, devastated by over forty German bombing raids. It continues in London, with visits to the Imperial War Museum, the RAF Museum, the underground Cabinet War Rooms, and tours of the hardest-hit civilian neighborhoods. The group then travels to Berlin, exploring the Reichstag, the Holocaust Memorial, Wannsee (the suburban villa where the extermination campaign against Europe's Jews was planned), the German Historical Museum, the Neue Wache War Memorial (whose dark, poignant somberness contrasts tellingly with the triumphalist World War II memorials students will see in the United States), and neighborhoods rebuilt from total devastation. The journey ends in Dresden, which in February 1945 saw one of the war's most horrific firebomb raids. A distinguished new Dresden museum focusing on modern warfare's impact on civilians will help put an appropriate period to the trip.
Coursework must be completed by the end of the fourth week of the fall semester following the tour.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: permission of the instructors. Offered Summer 2012. One time only.
HIST 203 - MODERN GERMANY, 1789-1918
This course explores German political, social, economic, and cultural history from the French Revolution through the First World War. Students will examine topics such as the impact of the French Revolution on the German lands, the conservative reaction after the downfall of Napoleon, the revolutions of 1848, the establishment of the German Empire, the emergence of modern culture and mass politics, and the outbreak of the First World War.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
HIST 204 - MODERN GERMANY, 1918 TO THE PRESENT
This course explores German political, social, economic, and cultural history from the First World War to the present. Students will examine topics such as the impact of World War I, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, World War II, the Holocaust, the Cold War, the division and reunification of Germany, the impact of history and memory on German society, and the problems and possibilities facing Germany today. The course includes a required field trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
HIST 205 - BRITISH HISTORY FROM 1215 TO 1763
This course introduces students to the fundamental developments in British politics during this period including the decline of feudalism, the changing role of the monarch, the creation and evolution of Parliament, the Reformation, the origins and aftermath of the Civil War and the Glorious Revolution, and the beginnings of the British Empire. It also focuses considerable attention on social history, that is, the lives of ordinary men and women. Recommended for students applying to the World in Britain program at the University of Reading.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
HIST 206 - BRITISH HISTORY, 1763 TO THE PRESENT
This course will examine the rise of the first modern industrial society, its emergence as the world’s foremost “superpower” and its decline from that status in the twentieth century. Topics include the evolution of parliamentary democracy, the birth of a class society, the culture of Victorianism, the impact of two world wars, and the efforts of workers, women, and Britain’s colonial subjects to transform the traditional hierarchies of state and society. Recommended for students applying to the World in Britain program at the University of Reading.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
HIST 212 - MODERN FRANCE, 1715 - 1969
This course explores modern French history from the death of Louis XIV to the end of the De Gaulle Presidency in 1969. Topics for study and discussion include the Enlightenment and the origins of the French Revolution, the revolutionary heritage in modern France, the evolution of democracy, the social consequences of industrialization, the Dreyfus Affair, French experience in the two world wars, the rise and fall of the French overseas empire, and the legacy of Gaullism.
Hours Credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. Offered alternate years.
HIST 221 - MODERN CHINA:REFORMS & REVOLUTIONS
An introductory survey of the history of modern China from 1800 to the present, with emphasis given to political, social, and economic developments. Roughly one-third of the course will focus on the rise of the Chinese Communist Party and post-1949 China.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
HIST 222 - MODERN JAPAN:RISE, DISASTER, & REBIRTH
An introductory survey of the history of Japan from the 1860s to the present. The course will treat political, social, and economic developments.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
HIST 226 - HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST
A selective survey of Middle Eastern history from the time of Muhammad until the present. Primary emphasis is on the Islamic Middle East, although the course will also be concerned with the establishment of Israel. Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
HIST 235 - AMER WOMEN'S HIST TO 1848
This course explores North American women’s history from precolonial American Indian cultures to the Seneca Falls woman’s rights convention of 1848. It focuses on women’s work, roles and status; their participation in the American Revolution and the Revolution’s impact on them; the development of the separate spheres ideology; the origins and significance of the early woman’s rights movement; and the effects of such variables as class, ethnicity, and region on women’s lives, images and self-images.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
HIST 236 - AMER WOMEN'S HIST SINCE 1848
This course surveys United States women’s history from the 1848 Seneca Falls woman’s rights convention to the present. It emphasizes connections between technology and women’s roles; changing images and self-images of women; the impact of war on women’s roles and lives; the woman suffrage movement; feminism’s resurgence after 1960; women’s increasing participation in the paid workplace, the military and elective politics; and the evolving debate over gender roles and the future of the family.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
HIST 276 - BIBLE & COMPASS:RENAISSANCE & REF EUROPE
Identical with RELG 276.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
HIST 277 - RUSSIAN HISTORY 9TH TO 19TH CENTURY
This course explores Russian political, social, economic, and cultural history from the founding of Kievan Russian through the beginning of Nicholas II’s reign. Students will examine topics such as the impact of the Mongol invasion, the rise of Muscovy, the reigns of Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, the impact of the Napoleonic Wars, and developments in the Russian Empire as its leaders and people faced the changing, modernizing world of the nineteenth century.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. Offered alternate years.
HIST 278 - RUSSIAN HISTORY FROM 1900 TO PRESENT
This course explores Russian political, social, economic, and cultural history from the turn of the twentieth century to today. Students will examine topics such as the Revolution of 1905, World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution, the reign of Joseph Stalin, World War II, the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the problems and possibilities facing Russia today.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. Offered alternate years
HIST 285 - HISTORY OF CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN WEST
This course presents a broad survey of the foundations and development of western criminal law and penal institutions from Hammurabi to modern America (1750 BCE-present). It explores patterns of criminality, attempts at crime control, and philosophies regarding crime and punishment. Topics include sin v. crime, blood-feud, the medieval ordeal, inquisition and torture, incarceration, criminal procedure, the death penalty, and "crimes against humanity."
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. One time only.
HIST 290 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 301 - TOPICS MOD EURO HIST
Concentrated reading and discussion on a specific theme or themse in modern European history. Topics will be selected in advance. Themes/topics will vary from year to year.
During the 1920s an unprecedented explosion of artistic creativity emerged from the cafes, cabarets, and studios of Paris and Berlin. Through exploring the output of painters, sculptors, writers, architects, and filmmakers students will seek to understand why this era witnessed such a cultural flowering that directly challenged centuries-old ideas and conceptions. Students will also examine the impact of and reaction to this creativity, placing these developments into the larger context of an emerging modern culture.
HIST 306 - TOPICS BRITISH HIST
Concentrated reading and discussion on a specific theme or themes in British history.
Topics will be selected in advance. Themes/topics will vary from year to year.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: HIST 102; 205; 206; or permission of the instructor.
Offered alternate years.
The British monarchy, more than twelve hundred years old, is one of the most ancient and perdurable political institutions in the West. On more than one occasion its continued existence has appeared to be in jeopardy, yet it contiues today. In this courese we will explore some of the mysteries of this institution-how it has endured, how it has evolved, and what part, if any, it can be expected to play in Britain's future.
HIST 307 - TOPICS IN ASIAN HISTORY
Concentrated reading and discussion on a specific theme or set of themes in Asian history. Topics will be selected in advance. Topics will vary from year to year.
Hours Credit: 3. Prerequisites: HIST 123 or 221 or 222 or permission of the Instructor. Offered alternate years. May be repeated for credit when topic differs.
HIST 329 - SEMINAR EAST ASIAN WOMEN
Concentrated reading and discussion on women in Chinese and Japanese societies.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: junior standing or permission of the instructor. Offered alternate years.
HIST 335 - TOP:ERA OF AMER CIV WAR
A seminar on a topic in the history of the sectional conflict that culminated in the bloodiest and most socially revolutionary conflict in United States history.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing and permission of the instructor. May be repeated for credit when topic differs from topic(s) previously taken.
HIST 337 - TOPICS IN N AMER SOCIAL&CULT HIST
A seminar on a topic in the social and cultural history of North America from the colonial period to the twentieth century.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisites: sophomore standing and permission of the instructor. May be repeated for credit when topic differs. Offered second semester.
HIST 387 - CULTURAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN THE WEST
In this course students will study the cultural history of medicine in the West, focusing on the period from 1400-1872. The class will explore the different aspects of medicine: medical education and the development of the professional doctor, itinerant healers, the role and attitudes of the patient, medical conceptions of gender and childbirth, understandings and treatments of disease, and the emergence of institutions of public health.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. One time only.
HIST 390 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 489 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 490 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 493 - SEMINAR
A selective study of historiography, historical evidence, and historical methodology, evaluating various approaches to history by academic, popular, and public historians.
Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: permission of the Department.
HIST 494 - SENIOR PROJECT
Students will prepare an independent research paper or senior thesis on a topic of their choice, working under the supervision of a faculty member. The project is designed to develop skills in bibliography, in examination and use of evidence, and in the organization and writing of history. Hours credit: 3. Prerequisite: HIST 493 and permission of the Department.
HIST 497H - DEPARTMENTAL HONORS
HIST 498H - DEPARTMENTAL HONORS
