HST 217, 218 - Revolution & the Birth of Modern Europe (c. 1787-1900)

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR: Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 218).
A comparative overview of an era of violently dramatic change, one marked by an unprecedented incidence of revolution and reaction across the European continent. Monarchs were overthrown and restored, then overthrown again. Republics were founded and unmade. Liberalism and Socialism posed new challenges to the Old Order, but Conservatives found new means to preserve their political and social dominion. Millions lost their lives in these struggles. A new mass society was forming, seemingly founded on the twin pillars of growing economic prosperity for most and new respect for the rule of law, founded on political pluralism. Yet at the height of its apparent progress, Europe stood on the brink of its self-destruction.