Unit information: Europe Since 1945: A Fractured History in 2019/20

Unit name	Europe Since 1945: A Fractured History
Unit code	HISTM0080
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Mr. Bjerstrom
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of History (Historical Studies)
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will explore the history of Eastern and Western Europe from the end of the Second World War until the collapse of communism from different historiographical angles. Historians of economics, ethnicity, the environment, or democracy may draw divergent conclusions about what is important about Europe's post-war journey. Periodisation, for example, looks very different depending on one's perspective: for the historian of the Cold War, 1961 is likely to be a key date. An economic historian may well believe that 1973 was of longer-term significance. Equally, Eastern and Western Europe look much more similar under some lenses (increasing prosperity) than others (levels of democratic participation). Finally, what common ground do historians share? One answer may be a common preoccupation with detail: whether we zoom in on changes in what people ate or zoom out to examine the changing geo-political situation, we need to be alive to complexity and difference.

Aims:

These unit types offer students a further opportunity to work within a long-term historical perspective, both chronological and thematic, across different time frames and a range of countries/cultures/societies. The combination of interactive lectures and written work enable students to respond in a critical way to the particular approach taken within the individual options and allow them to develop their own ideas.

This particular unit aims:

• To provide a broad grounding in the history of history of Eastern and Western Europe from the end of the Second World War until the collapse of communism
• To provide a particular perspective from the tutor to which students can react critically and build their own individual views and interpretations.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a broad understanding of the history of Eastern and Western Europe from the end of the Second World War until the collapse of communism.
2. Evaluate a particular perspective provided by the tutor, and build their own individual views and interpretations
3. Form and articulate historically nuanced and independent views about about the history of Eastern and Western Europe from the end of the Second World War until the collapse.
4. Critically assess and interpret primary sources and select pertinent evidence in order to illustrate specific and more general historical points
5. Present their research and judgements in written forms and styles appropriate to the discipline and to level M/7.

Teaching Information

1 x 2-hour lecture per week

1 x 1-hour seminar per week

Assessment Information

One 5,000 word essay (100%) – ILO’s 1-5

Reading and References

• Tom Buchanan, Europe’s Troubled Peace: 1945 to the Present (2012)
• Mary Fulbrook (ed.), Europe Since 1945 (2000)
• Tony Judt, Postwar (2005)
• Mark Pittaway, Eastern Europe 1939-2000 (2004)
• Dan Stone (ed.), The Oxford History Handbook of Postwar European History (2012)
• Rosemary Wakeman (ed.), Themes in Modern European History since 1945 (2003)