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Kies de Nederlandse taal
Course module: UCHUMHIS14
UCHUMHIS14
Modern History
Course info
Course codeUCHUMHIS14
EC7.5
Course goals
After completing this course students are able to:
  • identify the main forces that have shaped modern history,
  • explain the interaction between industrialization on one hand, and politics and the main ideologies on the other, giving concrete examples of this interaction,
  • analyze the process of industrialization (along with its accompanying phenomena, such as urbanization) and the problems and opportunities it offered to modern man,
  • demonstrate an elementary understanding of some of the major historiographical issues in modern history,
  • interpret a text coherently, enabling them to review the main ideas both orally and in writing,
  • synthesize different interpretations of certain pre-selected topics on a basic level, judging the quality of the arguments to be able to form their own opinion.
Content
The course on Modern History covers the period from the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution to the dramatic events in the first decade of the 21st century, such as the American invasion of Iraq. The course focuses not only on Europe and the United States but also deals extensively with developments in Africa, Australia, Asia and Latin America. It thus provides a truly global perspective on the 19th and 20th centuries and after. In addition, it gives an introduction to a selection of classical debates in modern history such as the debates on industrialization, on the origins of modern imperialism, and on the causes of World Wars I and II, the Holocaust and the Cold War. It also pays attention to one of the oldest questions asked of historians: can one learn lessons from history? In addition, in this course students are invited to follow their own interests. The choice of topics for the two essays is largely free.

Format
Every week students attend two seminars (about 90 minutes each). The seminars are devoted to oral presentations given by individual students on questions in the study-guide. The rest of the seminars are spent on discussions regarding the assigned texts.
 
Students give one oral presentation during the course, no longer than about ten minutes. After the presentation, fellow classmates are given the opportunity to ask questions. Furthermore, students write two essays during the course. The first essay is a critical summary of a part of the textbook and has a required length of about two thousand words. Detailed instructions on the first essay are given during the third week of the course. The second essay is either a review of a historical study or an analysis of a major development in modern history. In both cases students produce a summary, compare different interpretations on the topic judging their quality, and finally give their own considered opinion. Detailed instructions pertaining to the second essay are given in week eight. This includes instructions on the books and articles to be read. The required length of the second essay is about three thousand words. An exam with essay questions at the end of the course tests the insights students have developed into modern history. This exam consists of a selection of the study-questions and key-terms to be found in the study-guide.
 
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Kies de Nederlandse taal