This course studies the history of Europe during a period of unprecedented conflict and nearly uninterrupted turmoil. Two world wars, revolutions, social and national antagonisms, ideological combat, racial hatreds, and extraordinary political leaders such as Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Churchill, and de Gaulle determined the lives and destinies of Europeans during these three intense and dangerous decades. Very close attention will be given to the origins, conduct, and consequences of both world wars; Communism, Fascism and Nazism; and the crises of democracy in Britain, France, and Spain. |