131-127 Europe in the Age of Total War: from the Great Depression to the Cold War

Availability

Credit Points

Coordinator

Contact

Subject Description

This subject will provide an introductory overview of European history from 1929 through the Second World War to the early stages of the Cold War in 1950. The subject will focus on Europe at war and peace and raise questions about the causes of armed conflict, the nature of total war, and the consequences (social, economic, cultural and political) of war in modern European history. Special emphasis will be placed on illuminating the link, if any, between war and social and political change in Europe and on the process of modernization and its discontents. Topics include: society and culture in interwar Europe, "socialism in one country," the Great Depression, the rise of Nazism, the revolt against European global control, the Spanish Civil War, the origins of WWII, the barbarisation of warfare, the Holocaust, post-war uncertainties and reconstruction.

Assessment

Written work totalling not more than 4000 words.