Introductory description

Building on the first part of this sequence, this module will first discuss "contested democracy" in interwar Europe, focusing on the cases of Germany, France and Spain. Second, it will turn to regimes that sought to implement radical visions for political and social change, namely in the Soviet Union, in Fascist Italy, and in Nazi Germany.

Module web page

Module aims

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.

Week 1: Introduction: A Contested Continent: Europe in the 1920s

Part 1: The Struggle for Democracy
Week 2: Implementing Democracy in Weimar Germany
Week 3: Communists and Nazis: Radical Politics at the End of Weimar
Week 4: The French Popular Front
Week 5: The Spanish Civil War
Week 6: Reading Week

Part 2: Implementing Radical Politics
Week 7: Stalinist Russia
Week 8: Fascist Italy
Week 9: Building a Racial State: Nazi Germany before the War
Week 10: Building a Racial Empire: Wars of Annihilation and Genocide

Learning outcomes

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

• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of historical and theoretical interpretations of modern Europe.
• 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 for the study of modern Europe, including electronic resources.
• Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship.
• Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.

Indicative reading list

• Berghahn, Volker. Europe in the Era of Two World Wars. From Militarism and Genocide to Civil Society, 1900-1950. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2006.
• Ziemann, Benjamin. Contested Commemorations. Republican War Veterans and Weimar Political Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
• Brown, Timothy S. Weimar Radicals. Nazis and Communists between Authenticity and Performance. New York: Berghahn Books, 2009.
• Swett, Pamela E. Neighbors and Enemies: the Culture of Radicalism in Berlin, 1929-1933. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Jackson, Julian. The Popular Front in France. Defending Democracy, 1934-38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
• Wardhaugh, Jessica. In Pursuit of the People. Political Culture in France, 1934-1939. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
• Graham, Helen. The Spanish Civil War : a Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
• Payne, Stanley. The Spanish Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
• Casanova, Julián. The Spanish Republic and Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
• Edele, Mark. Stalinist Society, 1928-1953. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
• Ebner, Michael R. Ordinary Violence in Mussolini's Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
• Ferris, Kate. Everyday Life in Fascist Venice, 1929-40. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
• Kühne, Thomas. Belonging and Genocide: Hitler's Community, 1918-1945. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.
• Wildt, Michael. Hitler's Volksgemeinschaft and the Dynamics of Racial Exclusion: Violence against Jews in Provincial Germany, 1919-1939. New York: Berghahn Books, 2012.
• Mazower, Mark. Hitler's Empire. How the Nazis Ruled Europe. New York: The Penguin Press, 2008.

Subject specific skills

See learning outcomes.

Transferable skills

See learning outcomes.