Undergraduate History Courses

Introduction to History Courses

110. THE SPANISH ARMADA 3 cr. The early modern European political and cultural world as seen through the lens of the clash between Spain and England in the later sixteenth century.

114. REVOLUTIONARY EUROPE 3 cr. Transformations in European government, economy, society
and culture in the period of the French and Industrial Revolutions.

116. WORLD WAR I & MODERNITY 3 cr. Origins of World War One, with particular emphasis upon social, political, economic and strategic factors; the experience of modern industrial warfare in the trenches and in civilian society; the impact of technology on perceptions of warfare; radicalization of political sentiments among revolutionaries and supporters of continued conflict; the peace settlement and its legacy.

119. THE WORLD AND THE WEST 3 cr. An examination of the history of the world from roughly 1300 through World War I, in which the emergence of the modern West to global dominance is treated as neither inevitable nor necessarily permanent.

120. TWENTIETH-CENTURY GLOBAL HISTORY 3 cr. An introduction to the major themes of twentieth-century history that have shaped our contemporary world.

124. WOMEN IN REVOLUTION 3 cr. Examines especially the active role of women but also the consequences for the position of women in three modern revolutions: the Russian, Chinese, and Iranian (Islamic).

131. AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY 3 cr. An overview of Black experience from West Africa to slavery to freedom in modern America. Focus on leaders, movements, community, and race relations.

150. WOMEN IN UNITED STATES HISTORY 3 cr. The role of women in and out of the mainstream of American political, economic, and social history. Women in reform movements, in the labor force, in the home, and the Black woman.

151. THE ATLANTIC WORLD 3 cr. Examines the economic, social, and demographic impact of the interactions between Native American, West African, and Western European cultures in the New World from 1450-1812. Topics include the slave trade, the cultural development of the British colonies, Indian-European relations, and the exchange of goods, cultures, peoples, and diseases.

152. THE OLD SOUTH 3 cr. This course traces the development of what became the slaveholding regions of the United States from the beginning of European contact through the end of the Civil War. We will pay close attention to the transplantation of European cultures in the New World, the evolution of a biracial society based on slavery, southern distinctiveness, and the origins of the Civil War.

153. WORKING-CLASS AMERICA 3 cr. Introduction to American labor history during the 19th and 20th centuries; segmentation of the labor force by race, ethnicity, gender, and region; working-class culture, family, communities; workplace, unionization, role of government in labor relations.

154. THE WITCHES OF SALEM 3 cr. Explores the possible causes of the Salem Village Witchcraft outbreak of 1692 through use of primary sources and conflicting secondary accounts; examines the presentation of the episode to modern audiences through literature and film.

155. SPORTS IN AMERICAN SOCIETY 3 cr. The history of sports in America seen both as product and shaper of the surrounding society and culture. Topics examined include relationships between sports and urbanization, economic development, race, and gender.

168. THE BORDER/LA FRONTERA 3 cr. Historical introduction to the U.S.-Mexico border region as both connected to and as distinct from Mexico and the United States; the historical presence and continuing migration of Mexicans into the United States; the border regions's historical, present, and potential impact on American identity and society.

170. INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE 3 cr. Surveys the main topics in Latin American history using movies as discussion settings. Topics include Indian groups, women's roles, military dictatorships, and problems of Human Rights.

180. INTRODUCTION TO EAST ASIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE 3 cr. A thematic introduction to the cultures of China, Japan, and Korea with an emphasis on their historical development and regional relationships.

195-197. SPECIAL TOPICS 1-3 cr. Topics: 195: American; 196: European; 197: Asian, African, or Latin American. Specific title and number of credits of special topics courses announced in the semester course schedule. Directed readings or individual research by permission of chair.

Survey Courses

201, 202. WESTERN CIVILIZATION 3 cr. An examination of the major ideas, events, and individuals that have shaped European society from its antecedents in ancient times to the contemporary era. 201: Earliest times to the 16th century; 202: 16th century to the present. (Not open to students who have taken HS 103-104.)

208. THE IRISH IN HISTORY 3 cr. Ireland's pasts and impacts on goals of unity and independence; comparison with other European and non-European colonized peoples seeking national and cultural identity; beliefs on "national character" in fiction and film.

211, 212. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 3 cr. each. Survey of U.S. political, economic, social, and cultural history. Emphasizes diversity of the nation's people and how subjective categories—particularly race and ethnicity, class, and gender—have influenced historical behavior and historical analysis. 111: Through the post-Civil War era; 112: From the post-Civil War era.

230. WORLD WAR II 3 cr. Crises of the 1930s and the course of war from 1939 to 1945. Emphases on European and Asian fronts, ethics and extermination policies, front line behaviors, and American homefront culture through literature and films of the time.

261. HISTORY AS ART AND SCIENCE 3 cr. Exploration of history as a way of knowing and communicating the past; historiography, research and writing methodology; developing a historical perspective. Designed for prospective majors; does not offer Division II core credit.

271. WORLD GEOGRAPHY 3 cr. Thorough review of place geography; relationships between humans and the physical environment; climate, soils, resources, landforms, etc. Analysis of regional areas. Does not offer Division II core credit.

273. COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY 3 cr. Examines the colonial period in Latin America (to 1810). Particular attention given to the impact of the European conquest over the native groups, the effects of conversion to Catholicism, and subsequent changes in gender roles.

274. MODERN LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY 3 cr. A view of the main issues involved in the making of modern Latin America (1810 to present). The course explores identity formation processes, military history, gender problems, and Human Rights topics.

279. PRE-MODERN EAST ASIAN HISTORY 3 cr. A study of China, Japan, and Korea from their pre-historic origins to the mid-nineteenth century. Examines the contribution of their cultural foundations and tradition toward modernization and their historic development on contemporary events.

280. MODERN EAST ASIAN HISTORY 3 cr. The impact of imperialism, revolution, and war from the mid-nineteenth century to the present on East Asian modernization and globalization; focus on China, Japan, and Korea.

295-297. SPECIAL TOPICS 1-3 cr. Topics: 295: American; 296: European; 297: Asian, African, or Latin American. Specific title and number of credits announced in the semester course schedule. Directed readings or individual research by permission of chair.

Advanced Courses

300. HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST (RL 300) 3 cr. History, culture, and religion of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Syro-Palestine.

301. ANCIENT GREEK HISTORY (CL 301) 3 cr. From the beginnings to the Roman conquest.

302. ROMAN HISTORY (CL 302) 3 cr. History of Rome down to the reign of Constantine.

310. WOMEN IN EUROPE SINCE 1500 3 cr. Examination of the legal, economic, domestic, and ideological status of women in the early modern period and the impact of the Reformation, Enlightenment, French and Industrial Revolutions, and World Wars on women, as well as women's contributions to these events.

321. 19TH-CENTURY EUROPE 3 cr. Political, social, diplomatic, and economic developments in western Europe. Rise of the national state; growth of industry; political democracy.

326. 20TH-CENTURY EUROPE 3 cr. Political, social, and economic developments from approximately 1900 to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. Emphasis on the impact of the world wars, right and left radical regimes, and European attempts at unity and self-determination.

332. BERLIN: FROM REICH TO REPUBLIC 3 cr. Examines German history and politics from 1918 to the present, employing Berlin as the focal point for significant developments. Topics include: the interwar republic and the rise of the Nazis; the Third Reich; postwar occupation and Cold War division; political systems and society in East and West Germany; Berlin's position as capital of a reunified Germany at the heart of an increasingly integrated Europe. Course culminates in a week-long study tour in Berlin during spring break.

333. HISTORY ON FILM 3 cr. Cinematic recreations of the past and their assessment, especially as compared with written history; documentaries and dramatic features as historical sources that reflect their eras of origin.

336. THE HOLOCAUST 3 cr. Racism and anti-Semitism in modern Europe; Nazi propaganda and legal measures against German Jews in 1930s; transition from discrimination to Europe-wide genocide during Second World War; experiences of victims and perpetrators; postwar Holocaust denial; impact of the Holocaust on American life and memory in Germany since 1945.

341. RACE AND SEX IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE 3 cr. Explores how 19th and 20th century American popular culture has reflected and contributed to the construction of racial identities, particularly in popular culture's use and treatment of sexual themes.

342. IMMIGRANT AMERICA 3 cr. Immigration and ethnicity in 19th and 20th century America; emphasis on voluntary migrants. Topics include expectations and adaptations of particular ethnic groups, tensions between group identity and assimilation, response of native-born Americans to immigrants and immigration.

343. SLAVERY AND ABOLITION 3 cr. Examines the development of African slavery in the western hemisphere in the early modern period with a focus on the development of a biracial society on the North
American mainland. Themes include the African background, the European origins of chattel slavery, the development of racism, labor, resistance, community life, religion, and the abolition movement.

357. U.S. MILITARY HISTORY 3 cr. An overview of the development of the American armed forces and their role in society. The place of war in U.S. History; professionalization of the military; analysis of battlefield experience.

364. MODERN AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS 3 cr. U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy from the late 19th century to the present day; America's emergence as a world power; foreign policy in a nuclear age.

381. JAPANESE HISTORY 3 cr. Development of Japanese culture, society, politics, and economics from prehistory to modern times.

382. CHINESE HISTORY 3 cr. Social, political, economic, and cultural development of China from earliest to modern times.

395-397. SPECIAL TOPICS 1-3 cr. Topics: 395: American; 396: European; 397: Asian, African, or Latin American. Specific title and number of credits announced in the semester course schedule. Directed readings or individual research by permission of chair.

406. MEDIEVAL SOCIETY AND INSTITUTIONS 3 cr. An examination of the various forces at work in the development of the political, religious, and cultural institutions of the Middle Ages from 500 to 1500.

411. RENAISSANCE EUROPE 3 cr. Political, intellectual, and cultural developments in Renaissance Italy. The movement of Renaissance culture into Northern Europe, emphasizing the continuity and differences with the Italian Renaissance.

412. REFORMATION EUROPE 3 cr. Examination of the breakup of the unity of Christendom. Emphasis on the major Protestant Reform movements (Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism) and the Catholic Reformation.

415. EARLY MODERN FRANCE 3 cr. The development of the French monarchy from Francis I to Louis XV; the effects of the Renaissance, Reformation, Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment on French society.

416. EARLY MODERN ENGLAND 3 cr. Political, social, economic, religious, and cultural development of England from the War of the Roses through the Glorious Revolution.

417. FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON 3 cr. Enlightenment and the Old Regime; Jacobinism; social revolution; impact of the revolution on Europe and the world.

431. TOPICS IN COLONIAL AMERICAN HISTORY 3 cr. Social, political, religious, economic, and cultural development of England's North American colonies from first settlement to mid-18th century.

432. AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY ERA 3 cr. The Revolution as a colonial war for independence and as a struggle for reform within America. Examines achievement of these goals as a new nation created.

433. TOPICS IN THE EARLY AMERICAN REPUBLIC, 1789-1828 3 cr. A consideration of the social, cultural, political, and economic development of the United States from the beginning of Constitutional government to the election of Jackson.

436. ANTEBELLUM U.S. 3 cr. United States history from 1815 until 1861. Focus on social and cultural issues, including women's lives, Indian cultures, economic developments, social reform movements,
political culture, slavery and the South, and the origins of the Civil War.

437. EARLY AMERICAN CULTURE 3 cr. Examines the intellectual and cultural history of the British mainland colonies and the United States, 1600-1865. Topics include religious developments, regionalism, popular culture, and American-European cultural relations.

438. THE UNITED STATES, 1850-1877 3 cr. Examines the social and political origins of the Civil War in the Old North and Old South, the secession crisis, military strategy, soldiers' lives, leadership, the home front, women's experiences, emancipation, and political and social reconstruction.

440. POLITICS AND REFORM IN INDUSTRIAL AMERICA, 1877-1945 3 cr. Examines social and political changes subsequent to and in response to the development of the U.S. as an industrial and urban nation and as a world military power.

442. UNITED STATES SINCE 1945 3 cr. Significant events and trends of the post-World War II period. Origins of the Cold War, McCarthyism, the civil rights and women's movements, the Vietnam War, and recent developments in foreign and domestic policies.

445. HISTORY OF CLEVELAND 3 cr. Examination of Cleveland's development in context of urban history. Students explore city's historical resources to produce significant historical research.

447. UNITED STATES CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 3 cr. Development of the American constitutional system and interaction with other strands of the nation's history, including political, social, economic, and religious. Focus on decisions of the Supreme Court.

452. MODERN JAPANESE HISTORY 3 cr. Japan's rise as a world power; from late Tokugawa Era (19th century) to its postwar comeback (HS 381 suggested as preparation, but not required).

453. MODERN CHINESE HISTORY 3 cr. Political, cultural, social, and economic changes in China from the arrival of Westerners through the post-Mao era. (HS 382 suggested as preparation, but not required.)

456. RELATIONS OF THE PACIFIC RIM 3 cr. The international, military, economic, and social relations among the cultures and nations of the Pacific Rim. Focus will be on the relations, cultures, and nations of the Northern and Western Pacific.

464. GENOCIDE AND HUMAN RIGHTS 3 cr. Focuses on the period from the First World War to the end of the 20th century. Close study of the evolution of the concept of human rights through classic international writings and case studies in human rights violations. Special attention is paid to social, political, economic, and cultural factors in the perpetration of mass killing and genocide, and to the development of human rights protection.

473. NAZI GERMANY: ORIGINS, STRUCTURES, CONSEQUENCES 3 cr. Explores turbulent German circumstances resulting from the Revolutions of 1918/19, the rise of the Nazi Party, establishment of the Nazi state, and the politics of race and genocide. Examines ways that postwar historians have approached the rise of National Socialism and the controversy over the singularity of Nazi crimes against humanity.

474. GERMANY SINCE 1945: RECONSTRUCTION TO REUNIFICATION 3 cr. The history of both East and West Germany from the collapse of Nazism. Occupation, denazification, and the reconstruction of politics, economy, and everyday life; integration into the rival Cold War alliances. Social and economic security, political stability, and cultural criticism in the West; East Germany as the showcase of the Eastern bloc under police-supervised state socialism from the Sixties through the Eighties. The "Revolution of 1989," reunification, its social and economic costs, and the European response; reflections on the Nazi and Stalinist pasts.

476. IN THE NAME OF THE INCAS: FROM IMPERIAL SPLENDOR TO COLONIAL COLLAPSE AND MESSIANIC RETURNS 3 cr. Examines the Incas' imperial splendor and subsequent collapse as a result of the Spanish conquest. Explores the role of the Incas as a utopian model of social organization among the native peoples of the Andean region.

488. RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION, 1900 TO THE PRESENT 3 cr. Russia's turbulent history since 1900. Fall of tsarism, Bolshevik seizure of power and creation of the Soviet Union, Leninism and Stalinism, Second World War and Cold War, Gorbachev's reforms, collapse of the USSR, and post-Soviet developments.

489. RUSSIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS. 3 cr. An examination, in a global context, of the governmental and cultural relationships between the United States and respectively, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and Russia and the post Soviet successor states, from the late 18th century to the present era.

490. SENIOR SEMINAR 3 cr. Prerequisites: HS 261 and the completion of five additional courses in the major. The culminating experience of the history major, in which students demonstrate historical skills through common readings, class discussion, and written assignments.

491. SENIOR THESIS 3 cr. Prerequisites: HS 261 and the completion of five additional courses in the major. Individual research project developed and written in consultation with appropriate department member. Especially recommended for students pursuing graduate study in history. Chair's permission required.

495-497. SPECIAL TOPICS 1-3 cr. Topics: 495: American; 496: European; 497: Asian, African, or Latin American. Specific title and number of credits announced in the semester course schedule. Directed readings or individual research by permission of chair.

HS 498 INTERNSHIP 1-6 cr. Permission of chair required; open to majors only; 2.7 average in major courses required. No more than 3 credits may be applied to the major. Supervised work, typically in museums, archives, public history sites or agencies, relevant to major sequence of study. Journal and reflective paper required in addition to work responsibilities. Internships must be planned in advance with supervising faculty member.