[Back to Modern Europe Syllabus]

Paul Halsall
Modern Western Civilization

Class 1:Course Introduction

I. Music

• 1. Bulgarian Folk Music 1. 40
  Song: Pilentze Pee
• 2. 10th Century Liturgical Chant 1. 50
  Song: Alleluia, Christmas Day, Proportional Rhythm
• 3. 13th Century Gregorian Chant 1. 05
  Song: Pange Lingua
• 4. 16th Century Polyphony 2. 35
  Song: Allegri, Misereri
• 5. 18th Century Opera 1. 50
  Song: Mozart, Or sai chi l'onore, from Don Giovanni
• 6. 20th Century Opera 2. 30
  Song: Gershwin, It ain't necessarily so, from Porgy and Bess
• 7. 20th Century Pop 1. 50
  Song: Mariah Carey, Vision of Love
• 8. 20th Century Rap . 50
  Song: Two in a Room, Wiggle It

Explain music

• - this is a course on Western civilization
  - music one of most important products
• Persistence and unity of European culture
  - Key Structure one good example
  - Key structure in the uses only of notes arranged in a certain mathematical order

Points

• - all vocal
• - 2-8 all use western key structure
• - Contrast Gershwin and Mozart
  Similarities? Opera, Key structure
  Differences? Subject matter, Race, Location, Beat
• - Contrast 2-6 with 7-8
  Similarities? Key structure, beat
  Differences? use of technology
  

All this is tied in with idea of Western culture

• - Some persistent themes (Greek and Jewish)
• - Outside influences (African, Eastern)
• - Internal autonomous development (technology)
  
  

II. Administration

• Handout - Syllabus
• - Presentation/Bibliography Guide
• - Map Assignment
• - Term Paper Guide
  
  

III. Welcome

• A. My Name - Paul Halsall
  Office Address/Office Hours
• B. Course Title and Number
• C. Index Cards to Class
  Name[Course No. ][Section][Semester]
  Local Address & telephone
  Other history courses at College and Sen. High school
  Major/Year
• D. Read names out - question those not on preliminary list
  

IV. The Syllabus

• A. Office hours
• B. Textbooks
• C. Rules
  

V. An Overview of the Course Content

A. Nature of the Course - Taking a wide view

How the course hangs together -

• Rise of Europe to dominate the World
• Crisis of European Power
• Ending of European Dominance
  

B. Why Europeans Dominated cf. China or Turks?

- Refer Paul Kennedy Rise and Fall of Great Powers

• - Turks a great power + civilized
• - China sending ships to Africa + technological development + Trade
• - Europe not monolithic - lots of states
• - no one could impose will as in China.
  

We will look at all this by looking at how Europe operated internally - at how it changed, politically, socially and culturally.

VI. The Course

A. How the Old World Became the Modern World

• Important to realize a series of profound changes in European life in 18th C. - changes not new, eg Renaissance and Reformation - but the changes we look at are those made the modern world.
• We look at this period in a number of sections
  

1. What it was - The Ancien Regime

• This will be broken up, and we will look at the Ancien Regime (explain term: Polity - Absolutism + Society - "feudalism") in different ways as an introduction to three great revolutions that changed Europe. This period also saw the beginning of modern government. 1600-1789
  

2. The series of revolutions that brought massive change

• a. Intellectual
  The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
  The way people think, religion, philosophy and science - some changes go back to 1500s and earlier
• b. Political - American and French Revolutions
• c. Material-The Industrial Revolution
  Probably the most important fundamental change. The structure of everyday life - ie life of most people - position of women - food - population - how people work - all underwent profound changes
  

B. Result of Changes - The Modern World

• European World Dominance - The 19th Century, A century of ideologies and practical power
  A century of peace 1815-1914 - Europe's period of dominance:
• -Intellectual
  - European ideas spread throughout world + languages + religion
• -Material/ Technological
  - effects Trade + Warfare
  Britain dominates Trade + Biggest Empire ever
  France - Empire
  Russia - Asian expansion, vs Turks
• -Political
  Modern states in Europe
  Centralized, with standing army + means to dominate world - whole world divided into spheres of influence - Monroe Doctrine
  -United States - A Europeans' power - shares in all European advances - stronger (resources + population + size) eventually than any European power.
• It took a long time for the ideas unleashed in French Rev to work out and we shall also look at later political developments both violent and non-violent
  

C. The End of European Hegemony

European power did not last. Other states (US, USSR, Third World Peoples) since 19th C. have begun to claim their share. But factors within Europe led to rapid decline.

• 1. Conflict of Old World Empires
  -The First World War-Britain and France and Russia - expand Austria + Ottoman Turks - tied in conflict
  -Second Industrial Revolution -Germany comes to fore - 1870 on
  Balances upset
  - Military races
  - Races for Empire
  - Trade races
  World War I - US now most powerful player (but silent due to isolationism)-The Russian Revolution
• 2. Contradictions of the Enlightenment
  -Looks at life in Europe when it was most powerful, as the Industrial Revolution took hold, and as Enlightenment ideas continued to develop
  -European Malaise and Moral Crises
  -Effects of First World War on Europeans
  -problem of humanism: Freud, Einstein and Darwin
  

D. The Modern World

• -WWI and the Postwar Era
• -America as Postwar Leader
• -Different result of WWII - Europe gives up/loses world dominance
• -Still very important - a europeanised world now exists
• -Modern trends in Europe -
• -Socialism
• -Feminism
• -A United Europe ?
  
  

VII. What is History?

A. Why does the School make you take history - to give itself a good liberal arts image?

B. Why Study History/ What is History

• Etymology
  Greek - -`istoria
  - a learning by inquiry, knowledge or information obtained by inquiry
  - a narration of what one has learned, a historical narrative
  - from `istoreo - to learn by inquiry, to inquire of, to question
  French- -Histoire
  - a story
• Possible questions
  - What is History?
  - What is the Past?
  - What is the difference between the "past" and history?
  - What sort of evidence can we use?
  - Government records
  - newspapers
  - film
  - What problems with sources - bias. partial records. ?
  - Would you trust a Soviet historian ?
  - What about women's history?
  - Can history be "useful"?
  - Can history be "worthless"?
• Who wants to alter history to suit their own beliefs
  - Political parties
  - Religions
  - How about the Church (Pope at Auschwitz)
  - Hollywood
• Value of Study of History
  - compare history to Computer Science (education vs. training)
  - compare history with Physics (sense of place)
  - Why are you, mostly descendants of Europeans and Africans here in NY state - the tribal home of the Iroquois?
  History gives a sense of place - like physics - it's the science of the 4th Dimension.
  

C: Sources of History

Varies in different periods

1. Archeology - material remains - pots
2. Classical period - artifacts + copies of copies of copies of books
   -needs source criticism
3. Modern-
   -Documents - least biased
   -Newspapers - do you Trust the Post, or Pravda?
   -Art/music
   -Contemporary accounts or histories
   -Modern histories/ history is a scientific discipline - with verification procedures - the work of modern historians can tell us things about the past that people at the time did not know
   

E. Studying History - Techniques of Study

Will take all questions

1. The Library - most important place
   Location and Hours
   Resources
   - Reference Room
   - Catalogues
   Staff at Desk
   - Reserve Room
2. The Internet
3. Books - How to Read them
   -Quick flick through Headings
   -Ask yourself what you want to get out of the book
   -Read attentively - good reading of a moderate amount is better than a lot of lose skimming
4. Note taking
   -Highlighting - Photocopy option with library books
   -Index cards - necessity of marking source on each card - plus using file boxes - Difficult to review work, but is good for papers -Precis + notes on paper
5. Exams
   Will talk about it before midterms
   - necessity of answering all questions.
6. Papers - where you learn the most
   Never just copy ideas from one book, or even one source.
   Compare.
   Contrast.
   Think.
   History is interactive - your justified reactions count.
   

NB ALL STUDENTS should try to read a modern newspaper - especially the NY TIMES - to understand the modern world is an aim of all education