Instructor: Dr. László Borhi
Required Text:
Richard J. Crampton, Eastern Europe in the 20th century and After. Routledge, 1994
 

Course description:
East-Central Europe has struggled against great power domination ever since the states in this part of the continent were formed. In recent centuries it has experienced bitter domestic strife fueled by national and ethnic conflict; bloody revolutions aimed at national independence and socio-political development. It has been plagued by economic backwardness but at the same time this region has produced some of the world's finest minds and greatest cultural achievements.

This course will trace the diplomatic, political and economic history of East-Central Europe from the 19th to the end of the 20th century. We shall explore how and why the regional nation states came into being after the dissolution of the Turkish, Russian and Austrian empires. We shall examine the regional causes of the first and second world wars including the Holocaust; the history of communism and shall conclude with the recent transitions to democracy.

Topics:
Grades will be given according to performance in class as well as the two exams. Rules of attendance will be strictly observed.

Class I. Introduction: What is Eastern Europe? Reading: Crampton, Chapter I.

Class II. National Reawakening, the Rise of Nationalism and the Creation of Nation States. Reading: Crampton, Eastern Europe, Chapters 2-9; 11.

Class III. Diplomacy and War: Eastern Europe before and during World War I.

Class IV. The Paris Treaty System - The New Architecture of Europe

Class V. Democracy and Dictatorship: The Interwar Years

Class VI. World War II and the Holocaust
Reading: Crampton, Chapters 12-20. Suggested Reading: Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners

Class VII. The establishment of Communist dictatorships.
Suggested Reading: Stephan Courtois et at.,The Black Book of Communism

Class VIII. The Stalinist Dictatorships.
Suggested Reading: George Schopflin, Stalinism in Eastern Europe

Class IX. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968
Suggested Reading: Litván et al eds., The Hungarian Revolution of 1956; Kieran Williams, The Prague Spring

Class X. Reforming Communism: Kádár's Hungary

Class XI. The End of the Iron Curtain

Class XII. The Democratic Experience

Class XIII. Course Summary