HIST 305-01, Revolutions 1968/1989 in Europe, Fall 2008

Abstract

1968 and 1989 are two of the most crucial turning points in twentieth century European his-tory. Uprisings throughout the continent in these years called into question the nature of the power structure and asked crucial questions about how society was organized. Charac-terized by popular protest and official crackdown, these dramatic moments brought young people -- disillusioned by capitalism, communism, technocracy, and war -- out into the streets by the thousands to try and remake their world. Since this year is the 40th anniver-sary of 1968, and next year is the 20th anniversary of 1989, we will also contemplate the leg-acies of these moments in European history.