History Courses

History Courses

1311. American Civilization I. Beginning with the advent of European man in the new world, the course surveys the Colonial period, the Revolution, the shaping of the federal union, westward expansion, the slavery controversy, and closes with the Civil War. Texts studied include Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, Thomas Jefferson's Summary View of the Rights of British America, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, selections from The Federalist Papers, The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, and Frederick Douglass's Narrative.

1312. American Civilization II. The course surveys the development of the American nation from the Civil War and the reconstruction; it considers the close of the frontier, the impact of technology and petroleum, the emergence of the United States as a world power, and the American role in the World Wars. An effort is made to place American civilization in context by reference to events occurring in the rest of the world. Texts studied include "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" by Frederick Jackson Turner, The Education of Henry Adams, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, and George Kennan's American Diplomacy.

2301. Western Civilization I. The Western Civilization sequence offers the historical framework necessary to the integration of the elements which make up a liberal education. Beginning with the cultures of the ancient Near East, this course proceeds chronologically through the Greco-Roman, medieval, Renaissance and Reformation periods, acquainting the student with major political, social, and intellectual movements. Texts studied include The Book of Job, Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, the first five books of Livy's Ab urbe condita, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, and Thomas More's Utopia.

2302. Western Civilization II. Proceeding from the Reformation, this course continues through the era of European exploration, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and its aftermath, the Industrial Revolution, nineteenth-century nationalism, and the two World Wars, and concludes with a consideration of Postwar circumstances. Texts studied include John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, selections from Denis Diderot's Encyclopedia, "What is Enlightenment?" by Immanuel Kant, Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, Marx and Engels' The Communist Manifesto, Pope Leo XIIl's Rerum Novarum, and Elie Wiesel's Night.

3303. Ancient Greece. Beginning with the Mycenaean age, the course surveys the political and cultural development of Greece to the Hellenistic era. Topics include the character of the polis, Greek commerce and colonization, the Persian wars, the Athenian empire and its achievements, the Peloponnesian war, fourth-century philosophy, Alexander the Great, and the Hellenistic successor states.

3304. The Roman Republic. A survey of Roman history beginning with the founding of the city and concluding with the death of Julius Caesar. Topics include the regal period, the struggle of the orders, Roman imperialism, the development of Roman culture, and the crisis of the republican constitution.

3305. The Roman Empire. Surveys of the history of Rome from the Augustan age to the fall of the empire in the West. Topics include the principate and the development of absolutism, imperial culture, the impact of Christianity, the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine, and the causes of Roman decline.

3306. Topics in Ancient History. A detailed study of selected aspects of ancient civilization. Students will make presentations based on a variety of primary and secondary source materials.

3307. Medieval Europe I. Beginning with the decline of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Germanic successor states, the course surveys the development of medieval western civilization through the tenth century. Topics include the expansion of Christianity, the Byzantine state, the Carolingian systems, the Viking invasions, the rise of Feudalism, and the Ottonian age.

3308. Medieval Europe II. A survey of the political, social, economic, religious, and intellectual aspects of medieval civilization from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries. Topics include the investiture controversy, the crusading movement, the twelfth-century renaissance, the development of papal power, and the growth of nation-states.

3309. Topics in Medieval History. A detailed study of selected aspects of western medieval civilization. Students will make presentations based on a variety of primary and secondary source materials.

3310. The Renaissance. Between 1300 and 1517, great changes in European life were brought about by the Black Death, the Babylonian Captivity of the papacy, the activities of merchant venturers, the rise of the new state, and the thought of nominalists and the humanists of the Italian Renaissance. The course studies the effect of these events and movements on the political, ecclesiastical, social, and intellectual life, as well as on the art and architecture of the time.

3311. The Reformation. After 1517, the Western church broke apart, affecting radically the unity of European culture and civilization. Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli reshaped religious thought and institutions. At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church underwent a renewal which has affected it to this very day. All of this was accomplished by bitter religious and political wars, but also by the rise of modern science, visionary social schemes, and feverish artistic activity.

3312. Topics In the Renaissance and Reformation. A detailed study of selected aspects of European culture and civilization during the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and early seventeenth centuries Students will make presentations based on a variety of primary and secondary source materials.

3313. Modern Europe I. A detailed survey of the social, political, and intellectual history of Europe from the Reformation to the fall of Napoleon in 1814. Special emphases are placed on the rise of the modern state and on the origins of both the Industrial and French Revolutions.

3314. Modern Europe II. Covering the period from the Congress of Vienna to the present, the course focuses on the history of classical Western Liberalism--the difficulty with which it was institutionalized in the nineteenth century and the challenges which it faced from the growth of the welfare state and the rise of totalitarianism in the twentieth century.

3316. Topics in Modern European History. A detailed study of selected aspects of modern European civilization. Students will make presentations based on a variety of primary and secondary sources.

3321. History of England I. A survey of English history from Celtic times to the end of the Tudor period. Topics include the Roman conquest, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the Norman conquest and its consequences, the development of common law and parliament, the effects of the Hundred Years War, the Tudor monarchy, the English Reformation, and the Elizabethan age.

3322. History of England II. The course covers the Stuart and Georgian periods, industrialization and the American Revolution, the era of the French Revolution and nineteenth-century reform, imperialism, and twentieth-century Britain.

3323. History of France I. The old regime from the High Middle Ages to the eve of the French Revolution. Special consideration given to the political evolution of France and the impact of a developing absolutism on traditional society.

3324. History of France II. Modern French history begins with the French Revolution, yet much of the old regime persisted well into the nineteenth century. This course studies the repeated attempts, from Napoleon I and the First Empire to the socialist government of Francois Mitterand, to realize the legacy of the French Revolution and to complete the construction of a new social and political regime.

3325. History of Germany I. Medieval Germany was the center of a revived Roman Empire which recovered rapidly from the disintegration of Carolingian rule and the Viking invasions. The Saxon and Salian dynasties ruled the most effective state of their time--a state which elicited and patronized the Ottonian Renaissance. The impact of the medieval reformation was devastating to the imperial constitution, and Germany became the weakest and most divided nation of the Late Middle Ages. This set the stage for the Reformation and the disintegration of the idea and reality of Empire in the Thirty Years War.

3326. History of Germany II. Germany contributed a series of figures seminal to the development of modem European culture and civilization, among them Bach, Frederick the Great, Goethe, Bismarck, and Hitler. This course studies the rise of the dynastic state; the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Conservatism, Marxism, and Naziism; and the interrelationship between ideas and institutions in Germany and Central Europe from 1648 to the present.

3328. History of Spain I. A survey of Spanish history from antiquity through the reign of the Catholic monarchs. Topics include the Romanization of the Iberian peninsula, the development of Spain's national characteristics and sense of purpose through the long medieval conflict -- known as the Reconquest -- between the Christian and Islamic kingdoms, Spain's cultural achievements in the thirteenth century, Aragon's expansion into the Mediterranean, and the unification of the four Spanish kingdoms by Ferdinand and Isabel.

3329. History of Spain II. A survey of Spanish history from the early sixteenth century to the early twentieth century. Emphasis is placed on the Golden Age, especially the Habsburg rulers Charles V and Philip II. Topics include imperial expansion, the defense of Christendom against the Turks, Spain's participation in religious conflicts and dynastic rivalries throughout Europe, cultural achievements during the Siglo de Oro, Spain's political and economic decline, the Enlightenment, civil wars and the loss of Spain's American empire, and the conflicts that led to the Civil War of the 1930's.

3332. American Military History. Surveys U.S. military history from the colonial period to the present including the American Revolution, War of 1812, U.S.-Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I & II, Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the Gulf Wars.  Additional topics include the development of a profession of arms, civil-military relations, warfare in the nuclear age, terrorism/counter-insurgency, and the impact of war upon American culture.

3334. Church History I. The development of the Christian Church from the apostolic community to the thirteenth century.

3335. Church History II. The development of the Christian Church from the thirteenth century to the time of Vatican II.

3337. Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England. A survey of English constitutional and legal development from the Anglo-Saxon invasions to the beginning of the Tudor period. The emphasis is on the ways in which law reflects society and how societal needs determine the law. Special attention is given to the origin and development of two fundamental institutions: the Anglo-American judicial system and representative government.

3341. Seventeenth-Century America. After consideration of European exploration and the Spanish and French New World empires, the course focuses on the development of English North America. Topics include religion, politics, social structure, economic growth, localism, and imperial policies.

3342. Eighteenth-Century America. The development of Anglo-American culture before 1763 is traced with emphasis on social, political, and religious realities, especially the Great Awakening. Extended consideration is also given to the imperial question, the American Revolution, the Confederation period, the creation of the Constitution, and the early Republic.

3344. The Civil War. Beginning with the impact of the cotton gin, the industrialization of the North, the slavery controversy, and the Dred Scott decision, the course proceeds with the firing on Fort Sumter, secession, the Northern strategy, the battles, Appomattox, and Reconstruction.

3345. The Emergence of Modern America. In the years between 1865 and 1920, the United States was transformed from an agrarian republic into a world power and an urban industrial giant. This course explores the evolution of modern American society, economy, politics, and thought during these years.

3346. America Since 1920. This course examines the America of our own times, treating such topics as the rising influence of mass communications, the effects of the Depression and the Second World War, the origins of the Cold War, the culture of postwar affluence, the changing status of women, race relations, and the American experience in Vietnam.

3350. The American South. The course surveys Southern history from the colonial and national period, through secession, Civil War, and reconstruction, to the 20th-century struggles over segregation, and considers the continuing importance of the South in national politics and the national imagination. The course also provides an understanding of the field of Southern history as a separate area of study within American history, revolving around the question of Southern distinctiveness and the extent of continuity and of change between the "Old South" and the "New South."

3351. The American West. A review of the American pioneering experience from the first settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts to the close of the frontier in the late nineteenth century. Attention is given to certain aspects of the "Old West" that affect modern America. Emphasis is placed on the thought of Frederick Jackson Turner, Herbert E. Bolton, and Walter Prescott Webb.

3353. The American Indian. A study of the Indian from the earliest times, with emphasis on the adjustments made necessary by the landing of European man.

3354. Women in American History. The course examines women's roles in American society from the colonial period to the present. Topics covered: the effect of the American revolution on women's status; women's spheres in the antebellum North and South; the development of an American feminist movement; and 20th-century developments in the study of women's history.

3355. American Catholic History. Traces the development of Catholicism in the United States from the colonial period through the development of the immigrant church to the time of Vatican II.

3356. American Diplomatic History I. The development of American relations with other nations is traced from the Revolution through the Jefferson and Madison administrations, the Mexican War and early continental expansion, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and imperialism at the turn of the century.

3357. American Diplomatic History II. A study of American relations with Latin America, World War I, isolationism, participation in World War II, origins of the Cold War, and contemporary diplomatic problems.

3358. American Intellectual History. The course examines competing narratives of the American intellectual tradition, exploring the relative weight given to the American Protestant settlement, Enlightenment and neo-classical revival, Evangelical Awakenings and democratic reform movements, the growth of the social sciences, pragmatism, and progressivism, and the revival of interest in tradition and a particularly American conservatism in the twentieth century. The course will focus on competing readings of various primary sources, culminating in a study of the American reception of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America from the 1840s to the 1990s.

3360. Topics in American History. Selected topics in American historiography. Students will make presentations based on a variety of primary and secondary source materials.

3361. History Of Mexico. A panoramic view of Mexican history from the pre-Columbian age through the Mexican Revolution. Emphasis is placed on the societies of the Classical Horizon, cultures of the Postclassical Horizon, the Spanish conquest and colonization, the independence movement and reform, the Porfiriato, and the Revolution.

3368. Modern China and Japan. An analysis of the history of East Asia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Examination of traditional social structures, historical patterns and intellectual traditions is followed by a consideration of the impact of Western imperialism, the East Asian response, and the resulting modernization. Also discussed are the effects of World War II as well as post-war changes in East Asian society, economy and politics.

3372. Age of Jefferson. After consideration of Jefferson's intellectual formation in the Revolutionary period and the rise of the first party system, the course focuses on the Jeffersonian Republicans in power. Topics include the formation of America's political economy, the Marshall Court, the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and American nationalism in the postwar period.

3373. Jacksonian Era. A detailed examination of American culture between 1828 and 1850. Topics include the Second Great Awakening, American literary developments, critiques of American democracy, nullification and states' rights, antebellum reform, abolitionism, proslavery thought, and the impact of Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War.

3381. Barbarians and the Fall of Rome. Survey of the political, social, economic, religious, and cultural history of Roman and post-Roman Gaul and the kingdom of the Franks during the Merovingian era. Topics include Roman views of barbarians, the spread of Roman culture, Roman frontiers and the army, late Roman crisis, the rise and fall of the Merovingians, and the other barbarian groups such as the Huns, Ostrogoths, and Lombards.

3382. The Carolingian World. Survey of the political, social, economic, religious, cultural, and intellectual history of Western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. Topics include the rise of the Carolingians and the deposition of the Merovingians, war and government, diplomancy, reform and cultural renaissance, the economy and landscape, religious beliefs and practices, and family life.

3386. Culture of the Central Middle Ages. Survey of medieval culture with a focus on the twelfth century. Topics include the demographic and economic upswing, city life, heroic ideals, religious beliefs, education, art and architecture, court culture, family life, personality and individuality, memory and forgery, and lessons from fables and fairy tales.

3387. The Crusades. Survey of the crusading movement, with particular focus on the Crusades to the Middle East from the eleventh to the thirteenth century.  Topics include, in addition to the Crusades themselves, concepts of just war and crusade, warrior mentality, the Crusader States, the military orders, and the crusading movement's connections with the political, religious, cultural, economic, and social developments in Western Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic Middle East.

3V57. History Internship. A 13 credit practicum undertaken with the approval of the program director involving off-campus educational involvement, such as an internship or related activity, in which there is a designated analytical or intellectual element resulting in an appropriate research paper or related project. Students should follow guidelines for internships. Graded Pass / No Pass.

4347. The Seminar in History. An examination of historiography through the consideration of classic texts and contemporary historical writing. Successful completion of this course is prerequisite to enrollment in History 4348. Spring.

4348. Senior Thesis. Each student investigates a topic and, under the guidance of a faculty advisor, prepares an extended research paper. Prerequisite: History 4347. Fall.

4350. Scientific Revolutions. A contextual intellectual history of critical episodes in the development of modern natural science, exploring the boundaries between the sciences as autonomous disciplines and the historical circumstances in which they have developed. Beginning with overviews of ancient and medieval natural philosophy and the Scientific Revolution, the course then proceeds to a range of more modern topics, including the chemical revolution; the discovery of deep, especially geological time; electromagnetism, relativity and quantum physics; the molecular revolution in biology.

4357. Special Studies in History. Offered as needed.

4V61. Independent Research in History.