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Germany 1500-Present: A Cultural History

Module description

This module will examine the cultural history of Germany and its regions within a longue durée framework. It will particularly look at how attempts to define the “who,” “what” and “where” of local and national communities shaped the unfolding of German history. Different answer to these questions often made the difference between war and peace, life and death, and democracy and dictatorship. The module will begin in the early modern period with the earliest attempts to imagine the nation on the map and will proceed to an era of modern nationalism—examining the failure of liberal ideas of nation of 1848, unification under Bismarck, and popular ideas of Germany as a “nation of regions.” Moving from the Second Empire to the Weimar Republic and the mass violence of the Third Reich, we will conclude by examining attempts after 1945 to rethink the national idea within a new federalist democracy and a unified Europe.

Module aims - intentions of the module

• The module will introduce you to the shaping of ideas of nation in German history across the longue durée.
• It will examine the ideologically variant contexts in which ideas of community were formed and the tools used in their shaping.
• Over the course of module, you will be asked to reflect critically on how, within the context of German history, differing ideas about community had broader social, cultural and geopolitical ramifications.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate understanding of the cultural history of early-modern and modern Germany, including the cultural history of nation-building and processes of community formation
• 2. Recognise the cultural tools historically used in forging ideas of nation, including popular engagement with historical memory and processes of invention of tradition
• 3. Identify the variable ideological frameworks in which ideas of nation have developed.
• 4. Demonstrate understanding the shifting relationships between the local, national and European ideas in early modern and modern Germany

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Assess the historiography of a field and engage critically and thoughtfully with areas of ongoing debate
• 6. Engage with and interpret primary sources and bring them to bear on issues of current debate
• 7. Acquire knowledge of the approaches and methods of cultural history and longue durée history

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Plan and complete a research project within appropriate deadlines
• 9. Formulate and investigate relevant questions and synthesise evidence into a comprehensible narrative and argument
• 10. Convey ideas orally in a comprehensible and effective manner

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics

• The lectures will offer a chronological narrative of German cultural history from 1500 to present. This will provide a reference point for our work in the seminars where we will discuss and debate more detailed subjects of inquiry. The lectures will be presented through mixed forms of delivery, including lecture recordings and narrated power points.
• Seminars discussion will last for 45 minutes and will be supplemented with online discussion forums.
• As part of the formative assessment, students will do a brief review of a book selected from a set list and present on it to their fellow students in the form of a recorded presentation, annotated power point, or book review blog.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

 Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• David Blackbourn, The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany, 1780-1918 (1997)
• Thomas Brady, German Histories in the Age of Reformations, 1400-1650 (2009)    
• Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947(2006)
• Christoph Klessmann, The Divided Past: Rewriting Post-War German History (2001)
• Eric Dornborse, German History 1789-1871: From the Holy Roman Empire to the Bismarckian Reich (2013)
• Mary Fulbrook, A Concise History of Germany (any edition)
• Frank Tipton, A History of Modern Germany Since 1815 (2003)
• Helmut Walser Smith, The Continuities of German History (2008) 
• Helmut Walser Smith, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History (2011)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11314 

Key words search

German history, cultural history, Longue Durée history, nationalism.