European History: The
Invention of Modernity
This is a survey course
of European History from the late Middle Ages through the
Cold War. Students in the tenth grade will focus on the
making of the modern world, and continue to examine the
varieties of history: intellectual, social, cultural,
political, and economic. We will discuss the conditions
that led to modernity in Europe. These include the
intellectual foundations of modernity provided by the
Renaissance and Reformation and heightened during the
Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, then political
modernity in the form of the French Revolution, followed by
social and economic modernism introduced by the Industrial
Revolution. We then discuss the dominance of nationalism,
imperialism, and the bourgeoisie as both constructive and
destructive forces. In the twentieth century we will
examine the consequences of modernity: World War I, fascism
and World War II, the Holocaust, and postwar world order.
Primary sources both textual and material and secondary
sources will be employed. Emphasis is placed upon
developing critical skills, such as the analysis of
documents and objects, construction of valid, evidence
driven arguments, and class discussion. Research papers
will be required in the second term in which students
employ historiographic analysis of a single issue.
