Nineteenth-Century Imperial Germany

Spring 2001 HIST-587, Ref. # 13080

Prof. Marion (Buddy) Gray

EH 202; Off. Hrs. M 10:00-11:30, U. 3:00-4:00

http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~mgray/ e-mail: mgray@ksu.edu

REQUIRED READING: AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORES

Blackbourn, David. The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany, 1780-1918. New York & Oxford, 1998.

Blickle, Peter, Obedient Germans? A Rebuttal: A New View of German History. Charlottesville & London, 1997.

Crew, David M. Town in the Ruhr: A Social History of Bochum, 1860-1914. New York, 1979.

Fontane, Theodor. Jenny Treibel, in: Short Novels and Other Writings. New York, 1982.

Frevert, Ute. Women in German History: From Bourgeois Emancipation to Sexual Liberation. New York & Oxford, 1989.

Mason, John W. The Dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1867-1918. London and New York, 1985/1997.

Williamson, D. G. Bismarck and Germany 1862-1890. London and New York, 1986/1998.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
 Reading and preparation to discuss assigned material before each class. Attendance and participation will be an informal factor in grading, with the exception of cases in which a student misses more than five classes. This circumstance will lower the grade by one-half of a letter; eight absences will lower the grade by one letter, and so on. This is not intended as a punitive measure. It is designed to better relate the grade to the learning experience. In-class participation is an essential part of the course, and regular attendance and participation clearly enhances the quality of the learning.

Three essays written out of class and based primarily on previously assigned material. You will select your own topic, but I will be a resource person for you. Guidelines are found at the end of the syllabus. The essays should be 1500-1750 words (six to eight pages) in length, typed, double-spaced. The three essay grades together will constitute 60% of the final grade.

Five Quizzes to offer a structure for familiarizing yourself with the subject matter. Combined average equal 40% of the grade.

K-STATE ONLINE

Each student is required to set up an account on K-State Online. Using a browser (Netscape 4.5 or higher is recommended) go to the URL: http://online.ksu.edu/. Click the "Create Account" button. Fill in the fields appropriately--click the help button on the bottom to see a description of what is expected in each field. The system requires you to enter your social security number so that it can determine your course enrollment from the Registrar's records. The user-id will be your login name. It is a good idea to use the one you use for other accounts so that it will be easy to remember. Passwords must be at least 5 characters long, must contain at least one letter and at least one number and cannot contain underscores. The e-mail address you enter should be one that you check regularly. It may be your official K-State e-mail address, but you may use another if you prefer.

The reason it is essential for you to subscribe and check the site regularly is because questions pertaining to the reading and lectures will be posted regularly in the class modules.. These questions will help you organize your reading as well as your lecture notes. There will also be review questions posted before quizzes and exams.

ACADEMIC HONESTY


 


All students at Kansas State University are subject to the Honor Code. See http://www.ksu.edu/honor/. The provisions of this code will be followed in this class. For all papers, quizzes and other work, the Honor Pledge is implied, whether or not it is stated: "On my honor, as a student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work." Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.

INVITATION

The class is invited to extend class discussions, make inquiries regarding paper topics, and generally stay in contact with one another via the class discussion list. Furthermore, the class is invited make connections between past and present by calling to our attention current events that are related to nineteenth-century themes. For this purpose, class members may wish to explore news sources of the world wide web, beginning, for example, with the website of the German Information Center and the German Embassy: http://www.germany-info.org/ which can lead to the weekly (semi-official) news summaries created for foreign consumption, The Week in Germany. You can subscribe to this or read it on the web. But there are many news services on the web, and you should be creative about your choices. Furthermore, it is not necessary to do your searching on the web. Simply stay abreast of the news. As we attune ourselves to the historical issues, we will begin to see automatically their connections to contemporary events in Germany. Naturally, we could take class time for this, and contemporary issues may arise from time to time, but we will reserve most class time for the discussion of historical topics. The electronic discussion will be simply a means of extending our spheres of interests, for those so inclined. You may wish to look search for material on German history on the web. Start with http://www.tau.ac.il/GermanHistory/links.html

GRADUATE CREDIT

It is possible for students in fields other than History to enroll for graduate credit. In such cases, there will be one research-based paper, a larger project than the three assigned essays. Please consult with the instructor.

SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS

I will be happy to make any accommodations necessary for any student requiring such under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Please contact me promptly if this is the case.

ASSIGNMENTS

The Old Regime

Thursday January 11: Introduction

Tuesday 16: Early modern Germany as states and communities. Blickle, Introduction and Chapters 1-2.

Thursday 18: Revolts, Subjects and Rulers. Blickle, Chapters 3-4 and Conclusion.

Tuesday 23: Bourgeois Society and Gender. Frevert. Part I, ch. 1-2 (and possible additional material).

Thursday 25: The French Revolution and Germany. Blackbourn, pp. 45-70.

Tuesday 30: "Reform": Blackbourn, pp. 70-90.

Thursday February 1: QUIZ; continued discussion of the impact of the Napoleonic era on Germany.

Tuesday 6: Changes in the gender systems. Frevert, pp. 31-60.

Thursday 8: Changes and frustrations. Blackbourn, Ch. 2.

Tuesday 13: PAPERS DUE

Building the Empire: Industrialization and Unification

Thursday 15: Revolutions of 1848. Blackbourn, Ch. 3.

Tuesday 20: Half of the population experiences change. Frevert, Ch. 6-7

Thursday 22: Working women. Frevert, Ch 8-9.

Tuesday 27: QUIZ; 1848 and beyond

Thursday March 1: The road to unification. Blackbourn, Ch. 5; documents from Williamson.

Tuesday 6: Changes and Social Tensions. Blackbourn, Ch. 6, w/ reference to documents in Williamson.

Thursday 8: The new empire's economy and culture. Blackbourn, Ch. 7, w/reference to Williamson.

Tuesday 13: Women and Social Democracy. Frevert, Ch. 10-12.

Thursday 15: QUIZ; Continued discussion of Bismarck's legacy.

Spring Break

Tuesday 27: Society from a local perspective. Crew, Ch. 1.

Thursday 29: PAPERS DUE.

Politics and Society of the Empire

Tuesday April 3: People’s Lives. Crew, Ch. 2-3

Thursday 5: The Middle Class. Crew. Ch. 4.

Tuesday 10: Industrial Protest. What were the issues? Crew, Ch. 5.

Thursday 12: QUIZ. Nationalism and industry in the empire.

Tuesday 17: Austria Hungary and "nationality." Mason, Ch. 1-4 + documents.

Thursday 19: Austria Hungary and politics. Mason, Ch. 5 and 7 + documents.

Tuesday 24: What Kind of Society: Private and Public Lives of Upper Middle Classes. Fontane, Ch. 1-4.

Thursday 26: Education, Modernity and Tradition in the Empire. Fontane, Ch. 5-8.

Tuesday May 1: QUIZ. Gender Norms and Marriage in the Empire. Fontane, Ch. 9-12.

Thursday 3: The Culture of Imperial Germany. Fontane, Ch. 13-15.

Monday May 7, 9:40- 11:40 a.m. FINAL PAPERS DUE.
 
 

GUIDELINES FOR OUT-OF-CLASS ESSAYS


A. General criteria for historical writing 1. Development of an argument or interpretation. Good history does not merely tell "what happened." Rather it interprets events of the past. Given the nature of your assignments, writing interpretive essays will not be difficult, but be sure that you convey clearly the argument or interpretation you wish to make. A descriptive title, a clear thesis sentence in an opening paragraph, and a conclusion are important elements of communication. (20%)

2. Substantiation of your argument with historical data. Elaborate thinking about a historical subject is meaningless unless it rests solidly on concrete evidence. In writing history it is important to show your evidence, not only to support your argument, but also because the details of human activities give history its interest and bring readers into the historical situation. Merely restating the conclusions of historians is not a good way to substantiate your argument. Using their data is what is important. (20%)

3. Utilizing historical perspective. The factor that distinguishes history from other academic disciplines is its concern with the phenomenon of change over time. Historians deal with all facets of human experience including economics, culture, religion, politics and social customs, but they always focus on how the issues they are investigating are shaped by the particular historical context. In other words, one cannot explain the division of labor by gender in pre-industrial Europe without particular attention to cultural, legal, political, religious and social factors that are unique to that period. Moreover, historians always avoid judging historical situations by standards belonging to an era different from the one they are investigating. One would not, for example, criticize a pre-industrial European practice on the grounds of its being undemocratic, since democracy is a notion belonging to the post eighteenth century world. Finally, the appropriate practice of historical scholarship requires using appropriate rules in describing cause and effect. While it is tempting to conclude that because one event follows another, the former caused the latter, but this is not necessarily appropriate. It would be wrong, for example, to assume that because a few radical thinkers in the 1840s desired significant social change, they actually caused the Revolutions of 1848. (40%)

4. Clear communication. In writing history, it is essential that you use a precise, grammatical, well-organized writing style. (20%)

 B. Techniques to use in this assignment. 1. Choice of topics. Essays are to be written primarily from assigned reading material and discussions. They are not research papers in which the object is uncovering new material from library sources. The essays should give you the opportunity to make sense of a topic that personally interests you.

2. Choosing a methodology or factor of analysis. Identify from what perspective you are analyzing the events you have under consideration: social class; local customs; politics; religion; gender; environment; etc.

3. Using non-assigned material.

a. If you find that, in order to substantiate your argument, you need data not found in assigned readings, feel free to use library resources. But the major thrust of your argument should come from material you have read and discussed.

b. One of your three essays may be on a topic not specifically covered in the syllabus, although it should be within the confines of the geographical and chronological material discussed during the unit of study. This will allow class members to pursue their own interests and will broaden the scope of the course. All topics of this type must be discussed with me prior to the writing of the paper.
    1. Documenting sources. Formal footnotes are not required. However, it is essential to identify the exact sources of your information in order to convey your method of utilizing information. The simplest way to do this is to indicate in parentheses sources and page numbers. For those sources assigned in class, very abbreviated references can be made. For other sources, simply give the appropriate bibliographical information.
    2. Page Numbering. Please number your pages. Please do a word count and write the number of words at the end of the paper.
    3. Final Paper. The final paper, while dealing with a subject covered in the last third of the semester, should employ a theme that transcends that particular era and belongs to the entire chronology of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Germany. Appropriate themes might be: nationalism; imperialism; parliamentary democracy; socialism; changing gender norms; regionalism; or industrialization. If the theme were German nationalism in the era 1890-1914, it would be appropriate to demonstrate the evolution of nationalism from an earlier era.
    4. Creative Options. I am happy to discuss options with you about the form your paper can take. Creative historical fiction, for example, can often depict history excellently. What about creating a fictional historical family, placing them in a specific context, and analyzing how unification or industrialization affected them? Go for it. My goal is for you to place yourself in a historical context and analyze it from there.