History 0200
EAST EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION
| Prof. Irina Livezeanu Office: 3M24 Posvar Phone: 412-648-7466 Office hours: Wednesday 1:30-3:30 Email: irinal@pitt.edu |
T.A.: Clayton Wukich 3K10 Posvar, 412-648-7484 Office hours Th 12-1 rcw21@pitt.edu |
Description and Goals
This is an introduction to the history, geography, and culture of Eastern Europe, a region of the world that has been often in the news in recent times, but one whose history few Americans fully understand. The goal is to familiarize students with the broad outline and structure of Eastern Europe�s history and culture, and to acquaint them with a sample of historically relevant Eastern European literature, film, and primary sources. You should come away from this course knowing the main chronological parameters of Eastern European history, as well as where the various countries are, what their ethnic make-up is, and what states or empires they belonged to in the past. The news about Eastern Europe will thus be put in historical context. The course will begin and end with the present period.
History 0200 consists of lectures, discussions, readings, and videos that bear on Eastern European society, history, and culture. The videos are integral part of the course. You are encouraged to come to office hours to discuss one or all aspects of the course.
Procedures and expectations
1. As part of this course you will have to view a number of videos and films and be able to discuss them and their historical context in class and on paper. Some of these will be screened during class time; others you will have to view on your own in Hillman, or rent them if available, to watch at home.
2. Your task for each unit of the course will be
� to take good lecture notes
� read the assigned pages, primary documents, and literature
� view videos, if any, paying close attention and taking notes
� participate in class discussion
� use assigned web sites
� For some units there will be short essay assignments
3. turn work in on time. If a health or death problem arises that can be documented, get in touch with Clayton Wukich or myself ahead of time to obtain an extension.
4. Students are expected to participate fully in every aspect of the course, including films and discussions. Attendance is mandatory and it will affect your performance and grade. Honest effort, class participation, and courtesy are expected and will affect your grade. If you miss class you are still fully responsible for the material you missed. For this purpose, please exchange phone numbers and email addresses with at least 2 people in the class�now:
Class contacts: 1.
2.
Good grammar and style are an important tool for writing assignments. We are assuming that you have mastered English grammar and the rules of composition, but if you need assistance, the Writing Center is in room M-2 of Thaw Hall. Check out their web site: http://www.pitt.edu/~englweb/writecent.html. Good or poor writing will affect your grade. Any assignment that is marred by too many spelling and grammar mistakes will be returned to you ungraded. You can correct it and turn it in at the very next class meeting, but no later.
Exams and quizzes will contain maps. Please study the assigned maps in The Palgrave Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe and any hand-outs.
Evaluation
Grades will be calculated on the basis of attendance, exams, short assignments, quizzes, and discussions approximately as follows:
midterm 20%
final 30%
essays 25%
quizzes/discussion/presentations 25%
More than 4 absences in your discussion section will result in an F for the course.
Policy on Plagiarism
Presenting somebody else�s words or ideas as your own constitutes plagiarism and it is against university rules. Please see http://www.wac.pitt.edu/stu/stu_integrity.shtm for university guidelines and policy. If you use someone else�s ideas or exact words in a writing assignment you must acknowledge your source. When citing, copy accurately and use quotation marks and footnotes. You must also document and footnote paraphrased material or just an idea you got from someone else. (Consult Kate Turabian, Strunk & White, or Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History for the specifics of proper citation.) Plagiarism rules also apply to internet material. You should be aware that it is generally very easy for instructors to detect plagiarized material in student papers. Plagiarism in writing assignments will automatically result in a 0 grade and possible further action.
Texts
Dennis Hupchick and Harold Cox. The Palgrave Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe
Mark Mazower. Dark Continent: Europe�s Twentieth Century
Mark Mazower. The Balkans: A Short History
Jan Gross. Neighbors
John Mason. The Dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 1867-1918
On Reserve
Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries. A history of Eastern Europe: crisis and change (good reference work that you may wish to buy at Amazon)
Sabrina P. Ramet, ed. Eastern Europe: Politics, Culture, and Society since 1939
Gale Stokes. Three Eras of Political Change in Eastern Europe
Michael Roskin, The Rebirth of East Europe
Gale Stokes. From Stalinism to Pluralism
Mary Lynn Rampolla. A Pocket Guide to Writing in History
Slavenka Drakulic. Caf� Europa: Life After Communism
Joseph Roth. Hotel Savoy
There may be additional handouts, web readings, and reserve readings.
1. Aug 25 Introduction: The Present Moment and how we got here
the meaning of history in Eastern Europe
Video THE LIFE OF MONUMENTS (V-2745) http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/Lifeofmonuments.html.
Slavenka Drakulic �Caf� Europa� http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/H200Readings/Topic1-R1.html
2. Aug 27 Definitions & Framework
The New Europe? Eastern Europe? Central Europe? East-Central Europe? South Eastern Europe? The Balkans?
Atlas �Introductory maps� (1-4), Mazower Balkans, �Introduction, Names�
Recommended: Gale Stokes �Eastern Europe�s Defining Fault Lines� in Three Eras of Political Change in Eastern Europe (also in Ramet, Eastern Europe: Politics, Culture, and Society since 1939); Bideleux and Jeffries: 8-30.
3. Sept 3 Early Civilizations, Migrations, and Peoples
Atlas 5, 6, 8, 13; Mazower Balkans, 41-44
4. Sept 8 The Roman Empire East and West
Atlas 7, 11, 16.
Recommended: Bideleux and Jeffries: 43-58.
5. Sept 10 Medieval states in the Balkans and Central Europe
Atlas 8-10, 12, 15; Mazower, Balkans 1-16;
6. Sept 15 The Balkans under Ottoman Rule
Mazower, Balkans 17-36, 44-76, Atlas 22, 24, 25, 28
7. Sept 17 Bohemia, Hus and the Husite Reformation
See http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan+Hus
http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=University_of_Prague&redirect=no
Atlas 15, 19, 21
8. Sept 22 The Rise of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Atlas 23, 26
9. Sept 24 The Rise of the Habsburg Empire
Atlas 13, 27; Mason pp. 1-4;
10. Sept 29 The Enlightenment and Enlightened Absolutism
Maria Theresa & Josephinism
Maria Theresa�s Political Testament; Joseph II documents; May 3rd Constitution
11. Oct 1 The Partitions of Poland
The Eastern Question or the �Sick Man of Europe�
Atlas 29
Review
Oct 6 MIDTERM
The Era of Nationalism
12. Oct 8 The French Revolution & Napoleon: Impact on Eastern Europe
Atlas, 30, 31, 32; Mazower, Balkans 79-95
13. Oct 13 The Nationalities in the Ottoman and the Habsburg Empire
Mason map xii-xiii, pp. 4-22, Documents 1-7
14. Oct 15 The 1848 Revolutions and the 1867 Compromise
Atlas 33, 34; Mason pp. 23-61
15-16. Oct 20-22 Pre-Great War Austria-Hungary & the Ottoman Empire
Mason pp. 46-52 & Documents 8-13
Recommended View V-0681 COLONEL REDL, 1984 (114 min)
www.ucis.pitt.edu/hist0200/easteurope/Redl.html
Available on video and DVD from Video Universe or Block Buster
Atlas, 35-40; Mazower, Balkans 95-111; Mason pp. 62-77 & Documents 14-21
18. Oct 29 World War I & the Russian Revolution
Mazower Dark, 3-40; Mason pp.78-91 Documents 22-23
Independent Eastern Europe
19-20. Nov 3-5 From Empires to Nation-States
Atlas 42-48; Mazower Dark, 41-103; Joseph Roth, �The Bust of the Emperor� http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/H200Readings/Topic5-R4.html
View V3177 AN UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER (82 min.) http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/Unforgettablesummer.html
21-22. Nov 10-13 Multinational States & Democracy
Mazower Dark, 104-137; Mazower Balkans, 113-130
�Minorities Protection Treaties� http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/H200Readings/Topic5-R1.html
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, �A Few Remarks on Democracy� http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/H200Readings/Topic5-R3.html
Recommended: Thomas Masaryk �The Problem of Minorities� http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/H200Readings/Topic5-R2.html
The End of Independence
23-24. Nov 17-20. Hitler, Stalin, and World War II
Atlas 49; Mazower Dark, 138-181; Gross, Neighbors;
Recommended: Jan Blonski, �The Poor Poles Look at the Ghetto� http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/H200Readings/Topic4-R1.html
25. Nov 24. The Cold War and the Sovietization of Eastern Europe
Mazower Dark, 212-249; W. Churchill, �The Percentages Agreement� in Gale Stokes, From Stalinism to Pluralism
Recommended: View V-684 ASHES AND DIAMONDS http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/ashesanddiamonds.html
26. Dec 1. Communism and Its Discontents
Atlas, 50; Mazower Dark, 250-285, 361-389; Mazower Balkans, 130-143
Adam Wazyk, �Poem for Adults� http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/H200Readings/Topic3-R3.html
Recommended: Ana Blandiana poems http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/H200Readings/Topic3-R5.html
27. Dec 3. The Collapse of Communism�: The Return to Independence?
Atlas, 51, 52; Mazower Balkans, 145-156; Mazower Dark, 389-403
Recommended: View V2319 MAN OF MARBLE (160 min) & MAN OF IRON (153 min) V1774) http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/Manofmarble.html
In connection with these films read Herbert Eagle, �Film Language and the Artist�s Truth� http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/H200Readings/Topic3-R4.html
Final exam Fridady December 12, 12-1.50 p.m.
Writing Assignments
You will write 2 essays of 5-7 pages. The essays are due October 23 and December 4.
Essay 1. Due October 23. Choose topic 1or 2.
Topic 1: Compare the Habsburg and the Ottoman Empires up to 1867, touching on the nature of each empire, on the ways in which each dealt with its different ethnic and religious groups, and on how the two imperial legacies have been considered by subsequent generations of Europeans (including East Europeans). Use primary documents from Mason, the Palgrave Atlas, and as quoted in Mark Mazower, The Balkans.
Topic 2: Write either about the Habsburg Empire until the 1867 Compromise, or about the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire until the end of the 19th century. If you choose topic 2 you will be able to go into more depth about either the Habsburgs or the Ottomans and their respective realms and subjects. Use primary documents (as in topic 1 above).
Essay 2. Due December 4. Choose topic 1 or 2.
1. Watch one of several films that should be available in Hillman and write a critical review focusing on the historical content of the film. Use the reading you have done this semester to illuminate the historical aspects of these films. Consult the introductory notes and web sites under the web sites:
Lucian Pintilie, An Unforgettable Summer http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/Unforgettablesummer.html
Andrzej Wajda, Ashes and Diamonds http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/ashesanddiamonds.html
Tone Bringa, Bosnia: We Are All Neighbors
http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/eehistory/Neighbors.html
Istvan Szabo, Colonel Redl
http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/hist0200/easteurope/Redl.html
2. Mark Mazower in The Balkans and Jan Gross in Neighbors both write about the historical past while addressing contemporary newsworthy issues. What is their concern in the past? And what is their concern in the present? Write an essay focusing on one (or both) of these books in which you summarize the author�s (or both authors�) concerns. If you choose to write about both books, be sure to compare and contrast.