World History since 1500

requirements:
 

discussions (20%) (there will be a short quiz on the reading during each discussion)

two tests (@ 30%) (mostly essay, some identification)

4-6 page paper (20%) (freshman English Composition required)


texts:
 

W. J. Duiker and J. J. Spielvogel World History (vol. II: since 1500)

readings from important political thinkers around the world

Students are REQUIRED to read all texts when assigned. Without reading texts on time one cannot participate meaningfully in discussion sestions. Without meaningful participation in discussions, students' grades will suffer.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
 

(1) to give students an understanding and appreciation of how different civilizations have evolved and interacted in the world. The course will try to familiarize students not only with the outstanding events and personalities of world history, but with the different ways of life and thought that have developed in different areas of the world.
 

(2) to help students understand what various cultures have in common with each other, and how they have often come up with similar solutions to similar problems.
 

(3) to help students understand the accumulation and interaction of various forms of knowledge and the causes of the rise and decline of various civilizations. In this course, particular attention will be paid to the dominance of Western Civilization.
 

Emphasis will be both on mastery of the facts of world history and on the students' abilities to think critically about various cultural, political and philosophical traditions. Thus the ability to think critically, especially the ability to understand the consequences of and connections between various aspects of different societies, is indispensable to this course. Students will be expected to be able to express their ideas well, and to exchange ideas with others, forming new ideas in the process.

 READINGS

The textbook authors are experts on the history of Asia and Europe. The instructor is a specialist on the history of Africa, making for complementary Old World coverage.  There will only be enough time in the class to finish through World War II, so the postwar world will not be part of the class.
 

Week 1 - The world comes together: European voyages and the world market

readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapter 14
                Nicolo Machiavelli The Prince (selections)
Weeks 2,3 - Western civilization modernizes: various revolutions in thought
readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapters 15, 18
                Martin Luther Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation
Week 4 - Muslim empires in India, the Middle East and elsewhere
readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapter 16
                Usuman Danfodiyo Kitab al-Farq
Week 5 - East Asia coming in contact with the West
readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapter 17
Week 6 - European social developments and expansion
readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapter 19
                Thomas More Utopia (selections)
Weeks 7,8 - the nature of modern, mass society in the West

readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapters 20, 21
                John Locke Of Civil Government (selections)
                Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France (selections)

Week 9 - Imperialism: industrial powers take over the world
readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapter 22
                Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience
FIRST MIDTERM - 1500-1800




Week 10, 11 - responses to Imperialism from Asia, Africa and Latin America

readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapters 23, 25
                Mohandas K. Gandhi Hind Swaraj (selections)
Week 12 - Imperialism at war with itself: the First World War
readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapter 24
                Marx and Engels The Communist Manifesto (chapter 1)
                Pope Leo XIII Rerum Novarum
Week 13 - the collapse of the Imperialism order: the Second World War
readings - Duiker and Spielvogel chapter 26
PAPER DUE

Week 14 - review, discussions, requested lectures

 
Week 15 - review, test

FINAL TEST - 1800-1945





Readings for the paper:  selections from ten political philosophers:
(There will be a quiz on each reading in disscussion section.)
Nicolo Machiavelli The Prince (selections)

Martin Luther Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation

Thomas More Utopia (selections)

John Locke Of Civil Government (selections)

Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France (selections)

Usuman Danfodiyo Kitab al-Farq

Mohandas K. Gandhi Hind Swaraj (selections)

Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience

Marx and Engels The Communist Manifesto (chapter 1)

Pope Leo XIII Rerum Novarum