LFU:online

• Identify major events, peoples, and themes of post-1945 Europe

• Define significant attributes of contemporary European identity/identities through evaluation of cultural, social, political and economic factors

• Examine and critique how historians craft narratives in secondary sources

• Craft a strong thesis statement

• Synthesize primary and secondary source evidence to construct a strong argument for papers and/or exams

This course covers events and themes in European history from WWII to the present. With over forty countries, modern Europe is a complicated place with a complicated history. This course will trace that complexity from 1945, as the continent tried to recover from unprecedented wartime devastation, to (roughly) the modern day. It will necessarily be a broad survey - wide but not deep - but no less interesting because of that fact. We’ll study the Cold War on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the birth of the modern welfare states, the social and political unrest of the Sixties, the slow creation of the European Union, and the deep political, religious, and ethnic conflicts that continue to cut against union - just to name a few topics. No prerequisites are required - I will proceed from the assumption that you are entirely new to history in general and European history in particular.

The University of New Orleans International Summer School program has a mandatory class attendance policy. All students are required to attend class for all morning classes and any required afternoon and/or weekend fields trips and lectures. No unexcused absences are allowed. However, LFU students who have to miss a UNO class due to LFU examinations in the first two weeks of our program, can receive one excused absence for this. Any further unexcused absences will result in an academic penalty. Each faculty member determines the penalty for missed classes. Most professors deduct a letter grade for each additional missed class day. For details, please refer to your course syllabi, which will be distributed on the first day of class. The listed ECTS credits are a recommendation by the University of New Orleans Innsbruck Summer School, based on contact hours, anticipated out-of-classroom requirements such as field trips, and projected workload for readings, assignments, and exam preparation. Mail: Center-New-Orleans@uibk.ac.at