HIST 101-01, Introduction to Historical Investigation: Why Hitler?. Fall 2000

Abstract

I. To study in detail the events that led from the end of the First World War to the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor in Germany and the subsequent moves made by Hitler to convert his position into a dictatorship. II. To investigate critically some of the ways that historians and other scholars have attempted to explain this course of events. III. To write a critical review of an assigned work of historical literature. The revised reviews will be gathered together in a printed volume and given to each student. IV. To learn the techniques of assembling and evaluating sources, both secondary and primary. V. To write an original historical essay, based on both primary and secondary sources and dealing with some aspect of Hitler's rise and consolidation of power. In this essay eachstudent will offer his/her own informed answer to the question, "Why Hitler?"