Graduate Certificate in European History

This course is a comprehensive seminar in world history designed to provide a foundation in historical theory, trends, and concepts for further study of topical history at the graduate level. Students examine the broad sweep of world history, major interpretive questions in world historiography, and major periods of interaction between civilizations. This course is not designed as a refresher of undergraduate history survey courses; rather, it is a concentrated study of world history for serious history students and professionals.

This course is a study of the major social, political and cultural changes in Europe from the death of Louis XIV to the fall of Napoleon. Topics include the intellectual history of the Enlightenment, the causes of the Revolution, the development of radical ideologies, social and political instability, the French impact on Europe, and the achievements of Napoleon as civil administrator, military strategist, and commander.

This course investigates the intellectual, social, and economic history of Europe from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the onset of the Great War in 1914. The major focus is on the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the Age of Ideologies, and the new imperialism prior to the World War I. While emphasizing the intellectual history of Europe, the course also investigates the social and economic structure of 18th and 19th century Europe.

This course examines the origins of World War I; the combatants, strategy and tactics, technological innovation vs. conservatism; the war in France; the war at sea; America's role; the peace settlement; and the occupation. While military aspects of the conflict are studied, the primary focus places the Great War in the context of European and World history, and specific areas include political and diplomatic developments, new developments in weapons technology, economic aspects of the war, and the impact of the war on the culture and social order of the nations involved in the struggle.

This course is a global history of the Second World War. Emphasis is on the theaters of war and related events in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast and Southwest Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America in relation to their impact on the national and military objectives. In this context, students compare and contrast the economies, industry, society, and culture of the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Germany as major participants during the war. The role of diplomacy and strategy, the impact of war upon society, and the fighting on land, at sea, and in the air are also examined in terms of modern warfare.

This course analyzes modern European history since the 1815 Congress of Vienna with emphasis upon national security within the region. Special emphasis is on the great mass movements which have provided the main themes of the history of the past century—liberalism, imperialism, fascism, socialism, communism—as described in their historical context.