Reading Assignments

Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
Garrett Mattingly, The Armada
James Joll, The Origins of the First World War, 2nd ed.
Kenneth M. Jansen, ed., Origins of the Cold War, 2nd ed.
Eyre Crowe, “Memorandum on the Present State of British Relations with France and Germany”
 

Course Requirements

War and Peace are the subjects of this course, which covers the development of the modern state system as it evolved from the time of the Renaissance in Europe to the present day.  What makes a state weak or strong? What causes war?  What causes peace?  How have statesmen worked to advance the interests of their states through both war and peace?  What are the chief motive forces that govern how sovereign states perceive their interests and relate to other states?  What has been the role of individual leadership, economic development, and plain accident on the course of developments over the centuries?  If some of these questions receive answers by the end of the semester, then the course will have fulfilled its goals.

It goes without saying that you are expected to come to class having completed the weekly reading assignments.  Your grade in this course will be computed as follows: 25% on each of three noncomprehensive tests and 25% on a 10-page typed, double-spaced paper.  The paper will be an essay comparing two primary documents from recent diplomatic history: Eyre Crowe's 1907 memorandum on Germany and George Kennan’s 1946 “Long Telegram” on the Soviet Union.  The tests will be roughly 40% objective and 60% essay. The final exam will be in actuality simply the third test; it will not be comprehensive.
 

Proposed Class and Reading Schedule
 

Jan 14  Jan 16	Origins of the European State System The Rise of the Habsburgs	Kennedy, xv-xxv, 3-72 Mattingly, 1-109
Jan 21 Jan 23	The Crises of the 16th Century From the Armada to the 30 Years War	Mattingly, 110-244
Jan 28 Jan 30	Louis XIV and the Shopkeepers Politics and War in the 18th Century	Mattingly, 245-334, 397-402 Kennedy, 73-115
Feb 4 Feb 6	The French Revolution and Napoleon The Vienna Settlement, 1815	Kennedy, 115-139
Feb 11 Feb 13	Metternich’s Europe FIRST TEST	Kennedy, 143-169
Feb 18 Feb 20	Napoleon III and Cavour  Bismarck and Blood and Iron	Kennedy, 170-193
Feb 25 Feb 27	Bismarck’s Europe Weltpolitik	Kennedy, 194-249 Joll, 1-9, 42-145
Mar 4 Mar 6	The Making of the Ententes The Bones of a Pomeranian Grenadier	Kennedy, 249-256 Joll, 146-198
	[Spring Break]
Mar 18 Mar 20	Wilson, Lenin, and the New Diplomacy The Versailles Settlement, 1919	Kennedy, 256-291 Joll, 10-41, 199-240
Mar 25 Mar 27	SECOND TEST The End of Collective Security	Kennedy, 291-320
Apr 1  Apr 3	Appeasement To Die for Danzig	Kennedy, 333-343
Apr 8 Apr 10	The Road to Pearl Harbor  The Diplomacy of the Grand Alliance	Kennedy, 320-333, 347-357
Apr 15	The Cold War— I	Kennedy, 357-437 Jensen, vii-95
Apr 17	PAPER DUE
Apr 17	The Cold War — II
Apr 22 Apr 24	The Fall of the Wall A New World Order?	Kennedy, 438-540
Apr 29	Conclusion
May 5	THIRD TEST