Reconstruction of Europe after WWII

General Foundation

The course is also offered to exchange programme students.

Students are invited to: - To understand the historical circumstances in which the division of Europe and of the world was formed after WW2. - To deepen in the process of retreat of European supremacy and the emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as the new great powers and the political and social developments that this process caused. - To recognize and critically address the multiple and different historiographical interpretations of this process. - To learn to study primary historical sources and to produce historically arguments as to explain the causes of the events, their consequences and the their long-term consequences. - To explain the historical continuity and change.

Course description It is a course of contemporary political and social history focusing on Europe and the world in relation to Europe. The course focuses on the history of the Cold War as well as the period 1989 till the beginning of the 21st century. It is divided into four sections. The first section deals with the beginnings of the Cold War, from the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Korean War (1953). The second section focuses on the post-war reconstruction of Europe, the issue of reparations and the reconstruction of the Jewish communities after the Holocaust. It delves into the political, economic and social changes that took place during the 1960s (end of colonialism, economic "miracle", new social movements, Arab-Israeli conflict). The third section covers the developments from the 1970s to 1989 (end of the "golden thirties" - economic crisis, fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe). The fourth section is shorter but more comprehensive and studies the rise of nationalisms in the 1990s, the change of the European map with the creation of new states, the wars in Yugoslavia, the rise of the far right, questions and prospects for the future of Europe). Each unit is complemented by two consecutive lessons that highlight aspects of the studied historical moments and socio-political changes from the point of view of European literary production of the 20th and 21st centuries. Based on selected short stories, novellas and novels of different national literatures written from 1945 onwards, we see how diverse authors represent the upheavals and rearrangements in the European area and in general in the Western world. Literature has proven to be a privileged field for the disciplines of cultural and social history, either illustrating or challenging public history or grand historical narratives. After all, the world of everyday life and the dissemination of trends and ideas find infinite expressions in the rich and constantly renewed world literature.

The Cold War, decolonization, post war reconstruction, reparations, Jewish communities, Arab-Israeli conflict, Literature

08-04-2024