HIS 100-03 - Introduction to Historical Inquiry: Europe under the Great Dictators

4 credits (Fall)

This course provides an introduction to issues of historical causation, argumentation, and evidence by examining European history under two of the most repressive dictators in all of world history–Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. After an introductory unit on historical methods, we will use a variety of primary and secondary texts to investigate the workings of the Nazi and Stalinist dictatorships, examining subjects like everyday life under totalitarianism, the personal role of Hitler and Stalin in determining state policy, the use of state terror and the secret police, the rise of the leader cult, the origins of the Holocaust, and the nature of Stalin’s Great Purges.

Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Cohn