Discussion Forum Contributions

Core Curriculum

  Napoleon, BBC, 2015:  Watch at least one hour of the following 3-hour BBC paean to Napoleon.

More Optional Extras

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "Manifesto of the Communist Party," 1848. [Note that there is an introduction and four separate sections]  -- This is not easy reading.  But it is more accessible than Das Kapital, and really is the place to begin for a from-the-philosopher's-pen introduction to Marxism.  For some prompts and questions to help you better understand this primary document, see Communist Manifesto .

  "1848: The People's Flag And Karl Marx," Episode 15, Germany Memories Of A Nation, BBC Radio 4, October 18, 2014 [15 mins]:  Neil MacGregor discusses the contested place of 1848 in German history and memory.  Part of a brilliant overview of German history from the former director of the British Museum.

  "Garibaldi And The Risorgimento," In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, December 1, 2016.  [45 mins]  -- A fascinating discussion about the international revolutionary and Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Discussion Forum Contributions

Core Curriculum

Listen to at least one episode from the ABC/CBC audio series Stuff The British Stole.  This is also available on most podcast platforms:

***Sunday, September 24:  First Half Journal Due for an Ungraded Check-In.  Please submit as a single file through Brightspace.

Discussion Forum Contributions

Core Curriculum

Deluxe Curriculum Additions

More Optional Extras

  "1917 -- Red Flag," Episode 3, People's Century, PBS.  [53 mins]

Ian Frazier, "What Ever Happened To The Russian Revolution?," Smithsonian (October 2017).

Browse extensively in Great War As World History Discussion Topic.

***Discussion Forum Check-in And Professionalism Self-Assessment

Svetlana Alexievich during the Summer 2020 Belarus protests against the rule of authoritarian leader Alexandeer Lukashenko

Nazi Propaganda And Toadstool

Weimar Germany, Mussolini, And The Spanish Civil War In The News

"1933: Master Race," People's Century, PBS, 1995.  [55 mins]

Toadstool --  Browse carefully in Toadstool.  This was a Nazi-sponsored book that taught German children how to recognize the characteristics of the "poisonous mushroom" (ie. the Jew).  Click on individual frames for enlarged images.  Note also that many of the captions include links to stories from the book.

  War Of The Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin, BBC, 1999 -- Watch at least one episode from the following major BBC World War II documentary series.

Episode 1.  [48 mins]

Episode 2.  [47 mins]

Episode 3.  [49 mins]

Episode 4.  [21 mins]

  ***Watch at least one of the hour-long episodes from the BBC's The Lost World Of Communism documentary series --

"A Socialist Paradise [East Germany]," Part 1, The Lost World Of Communism, BBC, 2009.  [59 mins]

"The Kingdom Of Forgetting [Czechoslovakia]," Part 2, The Lost World Of Communism, BBC, 2009.  [59 mins]

"Socialism In One Family [Romania]," Part 3, The Lost World Of Communism, BBC, 2009.  [59 mins]

Core Curriculum

"2 + 4 + X: A Short History Of German Reunification," DW, January 3, 2017.  [43 mins]

Deluxe Curriculum Additions

Browse in the Collapse Of The Soviet Union 30 Years Later Discussion Topic

Core Curriculum

Write a short letter of introduction to me at the beginning of the semester.  This should be at least 100 words in length and is designed to give me a beginning idea of who you are and how I might best serve you as a teacher, and to provide me with an opening snapshot of the class as a whole.  You need not use the following questions as cues but they may be helpful.  Who are you?  Where are you from?  How might you begin to describe your community and what life is like there if you've come to NIC from far way?  What do you miss and what do you think would most surprise me if I were to visit your hometown?  What are your interests?  Why are you taking this course?  What are your thoughts and reflections as you begin HIS 216?  How familiar are you already with European History?  Are there topics associated with the course that you know will be of potential interest?  Do you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions?  This is an assignment I ask of students in each of my classes.  Although this is not a graded assignment, I would appreciate it if you took several minutes writing a thoughtful introduction.  If you are enrolled in more than one class with me this semester, a single letter of introduction will suffice, but mention something about each of the courses.  If you have taken a class with me before, please update what you sent me before and send me a new letter of introduction.  Submit your Letter of Introduction to me through Brightspace.

b)  The Journal (25% + 30%) = 55%

The student Journal will be the most substantial assignment in this course.  It will represent your on-going engagement with the core class curriculum.  The focus of the Journal should be on analysis, interpretation, and commentary.  It should consist of a series of short writings of varying lengths about the course material.  I refer to these short writings as entries.  The purpose of the journal is to provide you with the opportunity for frequent thoughtful and analytical commentary upon course-related material.

This assignment is designed to be coordinated with the on-line Discussions.  Your Journal entries will overlap with many of the Discussion Forum topics.  It is fully appropriate to share commentary from your Journal with classmates in the relevant Pandemic Playhouse or Discussion Topic Forums.

It is expected that you work regularly on the Journal throughout the semester, writing in it on a weekly basis.  You will need to hand in the Journal to me four times.

You will submit your First Half Journal to me through Brightspace at the end of the third week of the semester on Sunday, September 24th for an ungraded check-in.  I want to check to ensure that you are off to a good start and that we share a mutual understanding as to the nature of the assignment.  You will then hand in your completed First Half Journal two weeks later on Sunday, October 8th for your first formal evaluation..

Your Second-Half Journal will be due at the ten-week mark of the semester (November 12).  This check-in is ungraded but mandatory.  I want to review what progress you are making.  Although you do not necessarily need to be caught up through Week Nine at this time, I do expect to see that you have made substantial progress on your Journal since Week Four.  The Journal assignment includes the expectation that you work regularly upon it throughout the semester and this check-in will provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate that.  Those students who do not submit a Journal installment at this time may incur an academic penalty.  You should include all the Journal work you have completed since the First Half submission in a single file through BrightSpace at this time. 

You will then hand in your completed Second Half Journal at the end of the semester, on Sunday, December 3rd.  This submission will be graded and is worth 30% of your course grade.

c)  Last Witnesses  Reading Notes And Mini-Essay (20%)

This assignment will be combine detailed with notes with your own written analysis (approximately 700+ words) of Nobel Literature Prize Winner Svetlana Alexievich's oral history of children's experiences in World War II Russia.