History 1C Introduction to Western Civilization: Circa 1715 to the Present (5 units)

Professor Lynn Hunt (lhunt@history.ucla.edu)

UCLA Department of History
THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
Class Website: https://ccle.ucla.edu/course/view/151C-HIST1C-2
Description of History 1C
This course offers an introduction to Western history in the modern period. It is concerned with
how the West and modernity came to be defined through the Enlightenment, revolutions,
industrialization and urbanization, the world wars of the first half of the 20th century, and
globalization. It also treats the discontents of modernity and the challenges to Western hegemony
in the 20th and 21st century.
History 1C is a regular offering of the UCLA History department during the academic year. Its
goal is to provide basic knowledge of this turbulent period of modern Western history while also
helping students develop their skills in analytical reading, critical thinking, and effective writing.
This on-line course emphasizes the same skills and applies the same standards of evaluation as
the version given during the academic year.
Since this is an online course, it differs in important ways from courses given on campus. You
will use a web browser to follow the lecture presentations given by Professor Hunt and to
participate in the on-line discussion board organized, moderated, and graded by your teaching
assistant. The discussion board serves the same purposes as a discussion section in an on-campus
course and is a crucial element in the course. Instead of participating in a face-to-face discussion,
you will post brief responses to questions posed by your teaching assistant. Two questions will
be posted each Monday. Your first post of each week will be due on Wednesday; the second post
is due on Friday. Your posts should be written as if they were very brief essays and they should
reflect the thought that you have given to the readings and presentations. Do not post the first
thing that comes to mind an hour before the deadline! Other students will see your posts and may
choose to respond to them in their own posts. Your teaching assistant will grade your posts. They
count for nearly a third of your grade.
Viewing the lecture presentations and participating regularly on the discussion board are both
required, as is completion of the assigned readings. Prof. Hunts presentations will give you
background on events and help you make sense of the required readings. Your teaching assistant
will respond to your discussion board posts and help you prepare for your essays and final paper.
In order to give you feedback on your progress as early as possible in this intense six-week
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course, one very short essay will be required on Friday of the second week and another very
short one will take the place of a midterm examination on Friday of the fourth week. In the final
paper you are expected to bring together what you have learned throughout the course. The
number of interesting, exciting, and influential events in this time period is going to keep you
thinking throughout the six weeks, but you will find that the lecture presentations of Prof. Hunt
and the direction of your teaching assistant will provide invaluable help in focusing on the main
issues. The questions for the essays and final paper will be posted online. Your teaching assistant
will post the questions for the discussion board. As you can see, keeping up with the schedule
will be essential, but if you do, you will find the material we are discussing profoundly
important. Who knows, it may even change your life!
Grading
1) First Essay due Friday of the 2nd week (500-750 words)
2) Second Essay (500-750 words) due Friday of 4th week
3) Final Paper (two 1000 word essays) due last day of session
4) Discussion Board Posts

15%
15%
40%
30%

Required Readings (available at Ackerman book store or from your favorite book seller)
1 Lynn Hunt, et al. The Making of the West: A Concise History, 4th ed., Vol. II: Since 1500
2 Katharine J. Lualdi, ed., Sources of The Making of the West, 4th ed., Vol. II: Since 1500
(The 4th ed. for these two books is essential because the chapter divisions are different in earlier
editions. The discussion post questions will often refer to specific documents in Lualdi. If you
purchase them at Ackerman, Lualdi should be packaged for free with Hunt.) The textbook is
available as an ebook through the publisher Macmillan:
http://www.macmillanhighered.com/Catalog/Product.aspx?isbn=1457656493
The Lualdi book of sources is available as an ebook rental through Coursemart:
http://www.coursesmart.com/sources-of-the-making-of-the-west-volume/lualdi-katharinej/dp/9780312576127
3 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and The Social Contract
You can read any version of Rousseaus Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and of The Social
Contract that you choose, including online ones (there will be links to each on the course
website), however, the following version is recommended:
Helena Rosenblatt, ed., Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality among Men by
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Bedford/St. Martins, 2011).
Rosenblatts version has an excellent introduction and the few pages of The Social Contract that
we will be discussing. If you choose another version, read the entire Discourse (it is short),
including the notes. If you choose an online version of The Social Contract, read Book One,
chapter 6, The Social Compact and chapter 7, The Sovereign; Book Two, chapter 1, That
Sovereignty Is Inalienable and chapter 3, Whether the General Will is Fallible.

4 Various online readings are also required. Links will be provided on the course website.

Academic Integrity
Any written assignment must be solely the work of the student who turns it in. Compiling a
written assignment by pasting together extracts from websites is unacceptable and is a form of
plagiarism. EVERY ESSAY/PAPER MUST BE SUBMITTED THROUGH TURNITIN.
Your teaching assistant and the course website will explain how to do this.
UCLAs policies on academic integrity and student conduct may be found at:
http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/dos/students/integrity/
http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/dos/students/conduct/

[Syllabus continues on following page]

Schedule of Lecture Presentations and Readings

Week One
Lecture 1:

Introduction: The West and Modernity

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 17; Lualdi, chapter 17

Lecture 2:

The Enlightenment

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 18; Lualdi, chapter 18 (but not the first document from Rousseau)

Lecture 3:

Rousseau and the Enlightenment

Reading:

Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755, sometimes called the

Second Discourse); selections from The Social Contract listed above
(Rosenblatt edition is recommended but not required)

Week Two
Lecture 4:

The French Revolution

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 19; Lualdi, chapter 19

Lecture 5:

Napoleon and Romanticism

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 20; Lualdi, chapter 20 (except doc. 3, Challenge to Autocracy)

Lecture 6:

Industrialization, Urbanization and Ideologies

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 21 (up to p. 683); Lualdi, chapter 21 (documents 1-4, 6)

Assignment: First Essay is due Friday of Week Two

Week Three
Lecture 7:

Revolutionary Movements, 1820s-1848

Reading:

Hunt, finish chapter 21; Lualdi, chapter 20, document 3; chapter 21, document 5

Lecture 8:

Nationalism and New Nation States

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 22; Lualdi, chapter 22

Lecture 9:

Imperialism and Mass Politics

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 23; Lualdi, chapter 23; Lualdi, chapter 24, document 5
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Week Four
Lecture 10:

The Fin-de-Sicle

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 24; Lualdi, chapter 24 (except document 5);

Cartoon of Captain Dreyfus,
http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/multimedia/media-type6Cartoon_of_Captain_Dreyfus.htm

Lecture 11:

World War I

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 25 up to p. 823; Lualdi, chapter 25 (documents 1 and 2);

Read about the origins of World War I:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm
Read about the peace treaty ending the war with Germany:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir1/thetreatyrev1.shtml

Lecture 12:

The Russian Revolution

Reading:

Hunt, finish chapter 25; Lualdi, chapter 25 (document 3)

Assignment: Second Essay is due Friday of Week Four

Week Five
Lecture 13:

Fascism

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 26, up to p. 860; Lualdi, chapter 25 (documents 4 and 5), chapter
26 (documents 1 and 2); also required: Richard Bessel, The Nazi Capture of
Power, Journal of Contemporary History, 39 (2004), pp. 169-188

Lecture 14:

World War II

Reading:

Hunt, finish chapter 26; Lualdi, chapter 26 (document 3); also required:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/how_the_allies_won_01.shtml

Lecture 15:

The Holocaust: Thinking about Catastrophe

Reading:

Lualdi, chapter 26 (documents 4 and 5); also required, articles on the Holocaust:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007457

Week Six
Lecture 16:

Decolonization

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 27, pp. 899-906; Lualdi, chapter 27 (document 3); also required:
https://ccle.ucla.edu/pluginfile.php/858565/mod_resource/content/1/The_Challen
ge_of_Decolonization_in_Africa.pdf

Lecture 17:

The Cold War

Reading:

Hunt, finish chapter 27, reading all of chapter 28; Lualdi, chapter 27 (documents
1, 2, 4, 5), chapter 28

Lecture 18:

Globalization and Its Discontents

Reading:

Hunt, chapter 29; Lualdi, chapter 29

Assignment: Final Paper is due Friday of Week Six