HIST 216-01, Industrialism, Nationalism, and Imperialism, Fall 2010

Abstract

The long nineteenth century between 1789 and 1914, as historians have dubbed it, marks the be-ginning of modern history in Europe and America. Fundamental changes in Western culture took place during these years including: industrial revolutions that altered how people worked, lived, and moved through time and space; the advent of a political language and concepts which we still use today; the emergence of a recognizable “middle class” that continued to expand in the twentieth century; the birth of “nationalism,” an emotional-cultural connection to a community which has not ceased to move people to joy and violence even today; and the control of almost the entire surface of the planet by a few wealthy Western nations, a fact whose legacy continues to shape life in many parts of the world. This class will trace the broad outlines of European history and culture during these years and will try to connect events to larger patterns of change that persist into the present.