HST 104: The World Since 1500

Office: Tribble B103; Phone: 4867 

Fall 2001 

Dr. Watts 

Course Description: Between 1500 and the present the modern world came into being. This course will introduce the main economic, social, political, and cultural forces that shaped world realities in this period. The course emphasizes learning to ask questions, to analyze, and to think critically and independently. 

Course Requirements: The first exam counts 25% of your semester grade and second exam counts 25%. Quizzes count 25% of your grade. Informed class participation and discussion count 25% of your grade. Students are required to come to class on Monday having completed THAT week’s ENTIRE reading assignments unless directed differently in the reading schedule. Your close reading, observations, analysis and questions form a valuable and integral part of learning and thus our class activity should be interactive and democratic, not merely didactic. Therefore class time will consist of lectures AND class discussion. You are responsible for answering the study questions on the course web page and being prepared to discuss them. In class discussions, you must ask relevant questions, connect information among various readings, and make arguments and observations based evidence. As part of your class participation grade, you will be expected periodically to lead discussions on readings. You may use notes taken from your readings and study questions during class discussions. This course depends upon a heavy reading load, often 100 pages a week. You will not complete the course successfully if you fall behind in the reading schedule. Study questions are provided for the Stavrianos text for the first half of the semester. After that, you are expected to be able to determine for yourself the significant questions raised by the material. 

Writing: The periodic quizzes and the two exams are essay. These are writing exercises designed to improve your ability to write clearly and effectively. Historical writing requires the ability to use analytical categories to show change over time, to make comparisons and connections between different peoples, regions, periods, and events, to demonstrate an understanding of why or how something happened and to explain its significance.  These explanations depend on understanding the complex interaction of political, social, cultural and environmental factors and conditions. 

Texts and Readings:

Brower, Daniel, THE WORLD IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

Stavrianos, L. S., GLOBAL RIFT: THE THIRD WORLD COMES OF AGE

Achebe, Chinua, THINGS FALL APART

Schlesinger, S. and Kinzer, S. BITTER FRUIT: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE CIA COUP IN GUATEMALA 
 
 

Reading and exam schedule:

 THE PREMODERN WORLD

Week 1 European Commercial Capitalism and New World Colonialism.
 Stavrianos, Chapters 1, 2.
Remember you must have next week's reading completed by the beginning of class on Monday.
Study Questions:  Stav 1, 2

Week 2 Beginning the Third World: 
 Eastern Europe and Russia: Stavrianos, 3; Latin America: Stavrianos, 4.
Study Questions: Stav 3 , Stav 4

Week 3: Non-colonized Africa: Stavrianos, 5; Middle East: Stavrianos 6.
 Asia: Stavrianos 7. Note: Please read ch.5 for Monday, 6 for Wednesday, 7 for Friday.
Study Questions: Stav 5, Stav 6, Stav 7
Africa

Week 4 Industrial Capitalism: Stavrianos 8.
 Latin American neocolonialism, Stavrianos, 9; Africa: Slave Trade, Stavrianos, 10; Achebe. 
Study Questions: Stav 9, Stav 10
Primary Source: An African Voice of Protest

THE COLONIAL WORLD OF EUROPEAN DOMINATION

Week 5 The Middle East enters the Third World
 Stavrianos, 11.
Study Questions: Stav 11

Week 6 The Second Industrial Revolution and Monopoly Capitalism: Stavrianos, 13. There are no study questions on chapter 13. 
Africa: Stavrianos, 14. 
Study Questions: Stav 14
 
 

Week 7 China: Stavrianos, 15; 
Russia: Stavrianos, 16 (review Chapter 3, part III). 
Study Questions: Stav 15, Stav 16

First Exam 

Week 8 The Japanese Exception: Stavrianos, 17. 
Study Questions: Stav 17
 
 

Week 9 Beginning of Third World Resistance, Stavrianos, 18 (first read p. 424-end). 
Study Questions: Stav 18

THE WORLD IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

 Week 10 The Great War and the Russian Revolution: Stavrianos 20.
Brower, 1, 2; (Review Stavrianos, 18, part IV, Russian Revolution of 1905). 

Week 11 China's Revolution: Stavrianos, 22; Brower, 3. 
(Review Stav. 18, part VII, China).
Other Revolutions: Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Stavrianos, 21, parts I, II, IV, VI, VII, and VIII. 

Week 12 German and Japanese Militarism: Brower 4, 5. 
(Review Stavrianos, 18, part II, Japan). 
 
 

Week 13 The Cold War and Global Counterrevolution 
 Stavrianos 19; Brower 6; begin Schlesinger and Kinzer 
 (Omit Brower, 8.) 

Week 14 Vietnam, South Africa, Cuba; Brower, Ch 7 and 9; finish Schlesinger and Kinzer. 
Stavrianos, 23, part I, part III, A (Vietnam), C( Cuba); IV, A (South Africa). 

 Week 15 Middle East, Brower, 10; EU and the Global Economy, Brower 11, 12.
Stavrianos, 21, V (Palestine); 23 II, B (middle East), IV, B (Israe). 
Primary Source: World Bank Development Report

Second Exam: Take home final.