131-058 The Rise & Fall of the German Empire

Formerly available as 131-267/367. Students who have completed 131-267 or 131-367 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually 25 points of first-year history or first-year European studies, see Prerequisites.

A survey of the political, social, economic and cultural development of Germany from the 1848 Revolution through the catastrophe of World War I. The subject will explore the controversial contention that modern German history has followed a 'Sonderweg', a peculiar historical path which helps to explain in part the fateful emergence in the 20th century of Nazism and the Third Reich. Topics will include the 1848 Revolution, the development of industrial capitalism and a class society, Bismarck and the unification of Germany, the nature of the Second Reich, the invention of German nationalism, bourgeois culture and the emergence of a counter-culture, the creation of the German working class, the status of women, German imperialism and world policy, the Radical Right and the pre-1914 crisis, the course and impact of World War I, and the collapse of Imperial Germany.

• demonstrate research skills through competent use of the library and other information sources;

• show critical thinking and analysis through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by determining the strength of an argument;

• demonstrate understanding of social, ethical and cultural context through the contextualisation of judgements, developing a critical self-awareness, being open to new ideas and possibilities and by constructing an argument.

Class participation, and written work totalling 4000 words.

A subject reader will be available.