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Module Catalogue

HI290-30 History of Germany, from Bismarck to the Berlin Republic

Department
History
Level
Undergraduate Level 2
Module leader
Colin Storer
Credit value
30
Module duration
23 weeks
Assessment
60% coursework, 40% exam
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

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Introductory description

Today we are used to thinking of Germany as a peaceful, prosperous and stable democracy, at the heart of Europe politically and economically as well as geographically. But for much of its modern history the picture was very different. A comparative latecomer to statehood, in the 170 years of its existence as a nation-state Germany experienced a dramatic transformation from a maverick to a model state which took in war, dictatorship, occupation and division, as well as rapid industrial development (twice), a dynamic civil society and intense cultural and intellectual experimentation.

Module web page

Module aims

This 30 CATS optional second year undergraduate module examines the history of Germany from Unification in 1871 to the Berlin Republic of Angela Merkel. Students will consider the political, social and cultural history of modern Germany from a variety of historical perspectives in order to understand why in Germany the past is so important to an understanding of the present. We will look at the rise and fall of political ideas and regimes, economic developments, issues of citizenship and ethnicity, attitudes towards gender and sexuality, and how all these affected the lives of ordinary Germans. Along the way, students will have the opportunity to conduct their own research and write a piece of Germany's history.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Autumn Term

  1. Introduction and Themes
  2. Bismarck and Germany
  3. Wilhelmine Germany
  4. Foreign Policy and Empire
  5. Total War, 1914-1918
  6. Reading Week
  7. Doomed Experiment or Militant Democracy? Politics in the Weimar Republic
  8. Modernity and its Discontents: Society and Culture in the Weimar Republic
  9. Weimar and the Wider World
  10. The Rise of Extremism and the Collapse of Weimar Democracy

Spring Term

  1. Gleichschaltung: The Making of the Third Reich
  2. Folk Community
  3. Conformity and Resistance
  4. War and Genocide
  5. Defeat, Occupation, and Division
  6. Reading Week
  7. West Germany: The 'Miracle Years', 1949-63
  8. East Germany: The Antifascist state?
  9. From the Frankfurt Trial to Reunification: The Two Germanies 1963-89
  10. 1989, Reunification, and the Berlin Republic

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.
  • Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the trajectory of modern German history.
  • Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
  • Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material relating to modern German history.
  • Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship.

Indicative reading list

http://readinglists.warwick.ac.uk/modules/hi290.html

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

See learning outcomes.

Transferable skills

See learning outcomes.

Study time

Type Required
Lectures 20 sessions of 1 hour (7%)
Seminars 20 sessions of 1 hour (7%)
Tutorials 2 sessions of 1 hour (1%)
Other activity 2 hours (1%)
Private study 256 hours (85%)
Total 300 hours

Private study description

History modules require students to undertake extensive independent research and reading to prepare for seminars and assessments. As a rough guide, students will be expected to read and prepare to comment on three substantial texts (articles or book chapters) for each seminar taking approximately 3 hours. Each assessment requires independent research, reading around 6-10 texts and writing and presenting the outcomes of this preparation in an essay, review, presentation or other related task.

Other activity description

Revision seminar

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Students can register for this module without taking any assessment.

Assessment group D1
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Assessment component
Seminar contribution 10% No
Reassessment component
1000 word reflection Yes (extension)
Assessment component
1500 word essay 10% Yes (extension)
Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
3000 word essay 40% Yes (extension)
Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
7 day take-home assessment 40% No
Reassessment component is the same
Feedback on assessment

written feedback on essay and exam cover sheets; student/tutor dialogues in one-to-one tutorials.

Past exam papers for HI290

Courses

This module is Optional for:

  • Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History

This module is Option list A for:

  • Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy

This module is Option list B for:

  • Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics

This module is Option list C for:

  • Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology