06929 - History of Contemporary Europe

Academic Year 2019/2020

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in History (cod. 0962)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student acquires a knowledge of the general lines of the history of the European continent, of its political, social, economic and cultural transformations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and domestic relationship with European countries and with countries outside Europe , both in terms of domination and mutual exchange of knowledge, goods and individuals. S/he also achieves an awareness of the complexity of the periodization criteria, a first knowledge of the international historiographical debate and s/he experiments also the multiplicity of sources for the study of contemporary Europe.

Course contents

The course is divided into three parts.

The first part is introductory and provides the general lines of the historical development: political, economic and social of the European continent and of the interaction and circulation of peoples and international relations between multinational states and nation-states, from the second half of the Nineteenth and the end of the twentieth century, focusing in the final part on the processes of European institutional and economic unification in the second half of the twentieth century. This year the course will focus in particular on processes and networks for the creation of international and multinational political institutions and on international informal relations between the second half of the nineteenth century and the second post-war period.

The second part is monographic and in the current Year is devoted to the study of European Fascisms and Anti-fascisms between the two world wars, covering a period that goes from the end of the Great War to the end of the Second World War. Starting from the advent to the power of Italian fascism, this part will address the history of contemporary Europe from the point of view and the comparison between different models of fascist movements and regimes, their social and consensus policies, international alliances and collaborationism with Nazism in the New European Order designed during the Second World War. It will also address the forms of opposition to fascisms by governments and left and democratic movements in the 1930s and the history of the European Resistance to Nazi-fascism, with particular attention both to the practices of struggle and to the political programs that prefigure the democratic reconstruction of the Europe after World War II.

A third part is dedicated to the deepening of European history through the works and historiographical interpretation of a historian. This year the work of historian Eric J. Hobsbawn is examined, with particular attention to his reading of the social and economic history of Europe between the second industrialization of the late nineteenth century and the Great War.

Readings/Bibliography

For everyone:

Mark Mazower, Le ombre dell'Europa. Democrazie e totalitarismi nel XX secolo, ed. italiana di Garzanti, 2000, i capp dall'1 al 9 compresi.

Dogliani, Il fascismo degli italiani. Una storia sociale, ed. del 2014, capitoli suggeriti durante il corso agli studenti del secondo anno.

Eric J. Hobsbawn, L'età degli imperi 1875-1914, varie edizioni, prima edizione italiana 1987,Laterza

M. Maggiorani, Unire l'Europa. Storia, società e istituzioni dell'Unione europea dalle premese ad oggi, Clueb, 2012

and readings the students can find collected in the Dept's Library

For the students not attending the course:

1.Mark Mazower, Le ombre dell'Europa. Democrazie e totalitarismi nel XX secolo, ed. italiana di Garzanti, 2000 , capp. 1-9

2.Eric J. Hobsbawn, L'età degli imperi 1875-1914, varie edizioni, prima edizione italiana 1987,Laterza

3a.P. Dogliani, Il fascismo degli italiani. Una storia sociale, ed. del 2014 (per gli studenti del secondo anno)

3b.Johann Chapoutot, La legge del sangue. Pensare e agire da nazisti, Einaudi, 2016 (per studenti del terzo anno)

4. Mark Mazawer, L'Impero di Hitler:come i nazisti governavano l'Europa occupata, Mondadori, 2010

5. M. Maggiorani, Unire l'Europa. Storia, società e istituzioni dell'Unione europea dalle premese ad oggi, Clueb, 2012

The books can be read in the original version


Teaching methods

Lectures, reading and analysis during the course of texts and sources. In the limit of time and number of attending students, space will be given to individual and group interventions for the selection and discussion of specific topics to be developed in the final assessment. Also during the course there will be two historiographical seminars, which will see the participation of external scholars and researchers: one on the history and politics of sport in Europe and a second on 1919 and the advent to power of fascism in Italy between 1919 and 1922

Assessment methods

Lessons and discussions in class. Two seminars will be organized with guests: one on political and social history of European sport and a second one on the 28th of November about the 1919 and the origins of Italian Fascism.

Office hours

See the website of Patrizia Dogliani

SDGs

Quality education Gender equality Reduced inequalities Peace, justice and strong institutions

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.