06929 - History of Contemporary Europe

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 of the internal relations between European and non-European countries , Both in terms of domain and of mutual exchange of knowledge, goods and individuals. He / she also gains an awareness of the complexity of periodization criteria, a first knowledge of the international historiographic debate and experiences the multiplicity of sources for studying contemporary Europe.

Course contents

He course deals with the story of a fundamental political idea that has gone through the last century. The evolution of Europe's idea between the two world wars, both in the anti-fascist and the fascist totalitarian, will be highlighted; The role of Europeanism in the revival of the continent in the 1950s and its programming dimension. Finally, the course will touch upon the history of the European Union from its origins in Maastricht.

During the course, Professor Marica Tolomelli will attend a seminary of thirty hours, divided as follows:
1. a first part (3 lessons) will be dedicated to the approaches to the history of Europe;
2. a second part will analyze four key moments across European history in the twentieth century: war / wars (5-6 lessons); Fascism / totalitarianism and democratic political cultures (3-4 lessons); Post-conflict collective movements (3 lessons).

Readings/Bibliography

Fundamental and obligatory book:
Simona Colarizi, Novecento d'Europa. L'illusione, l'odio, la speranza, l'incertezza, Laterza, 2015

Bibliography module De Bernardi:
Federico Chabod, Storia dell’idea d’Europa, Laterza, 1961
Lucien Febvre, L’Europa. Storia di una civiltà, Donzelli, 1999
Altiero Spinelli, Il manifesto di Ventotene, Guida, 1982
Marc Bloch, La strana disfatta, Guida, 1970
Alberto De Bernardi, Discorso sull’antifascismo, Andrea Rapini (a cura di), Mondadori, 2007
Alberto De Bernardi, Un paese in bilico, Laterza, 2014
Matteo Pasetti, Storia dei fascismi in Europa, Archetipolibri, 2009
Giulia Albanese, Dittature mediterranee, Laterza, 2016
Bino Olivi - Roberto Santaniello, Storia dell'integrazione europea, Il Mulino, 2005
Benedetto Croce, Storia d’Europa nel secolo decimonono, Adelphi, 1991
Marcello Verga, Storie d’Europa, Carocci, 2004

Bibliography module Tolomelli:
Mark Mazower, Le ombre d’Europa, Garzanti, 2005
[Additional bibliographical references will be provided during lessons]

Teaching methods

The course will intersect frontal lessons and thematic workshops

Assessment methods

Students who attend lessons * will only attend the exam in writing, as follows:

1. a written test with open and closed questions about the volume of general history in Europe (Simona Colarizi, 20th Century Europe, Illusion, Hate, Hope, Uncertainty, Laterza, 2015).

2. a written essay on issues arising from laboratory activities, to be agreed with Professor Marica Tolomelli.

The overall grade of the exam will be the mathematical average obtained between the written test and the written essay, and will be verified on the exam day by Professor Alberto De Bernardi (see almaesami).

N.B .: If the written test or the writtem essay is insufficient, the student will have to repeat the part of the course in oral form.


Non-attendants students will support the oral examination on three texts: the required text, a text chosen from those proposed in the "Bibliography module De Bernardi" and a text chosen from those proposed in the "Bibliography module Tolomelli".

Teaching tools

For the institutional part of the course students will be able to use an E-Learning course on the twentieth-century history already on the net.

It is strongly recommended that students enroll in the course distribution list. To subscribe you need to go to unibo.it and follow these steps: unibo.it> [go to] ON-LINE SERVICES> students> distribution lists> [enter credentials]> [select] student-list lists> lists you can sign up > [Select the list to which you want to subscribe, in this case] alberto.debernardi.CORSO_STORIA_EUROPA_CONTEMPORANEA_2017-2018).

Through this list, the teacher will be able to communicate to the institutional e-mail (unibo.it) of each member, lesson time changes, reader suggestions, etc.

Office hours

See the website of Alberto De Bernardi

See the website of Marica Tolomelli