Academic Catalog

HIST 4C: HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 1789-PRESENT

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2022
Units: 4
Hours: 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter)
Advisory: Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249; not open to students with credit in HIST 4CH.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Area IV: Social & Behavioral Sciences
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Student Learning Outcomes

  • The Student will be able to critically examine the necessary and sufficient causes of an historical event or development and its major impacts
  • The Student will be able to synthesize and analyze the major themes and/or patterns of a specific historical period in modern western civilization in writing
  • The Student will be able to recognize and assess the impact of individuals on the course of history and the accompaning causation issues
  • The Student will be able to analyze the development of the major political, social, and economic movements and ideologies of the 19th and 20th centuries, including their positive and negative impacts

Description

Survey of the development of Western society and culture during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Emphasis upon the social, intellectual, and institutional changes that have led to the contemporary Western world and its interchange with the peoples and institutions of the world's continents.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Evaluate political and social upheavals of the 19th and 20th centuries and their effect on today's economic, political and cultural institutions.
  2. Recognize and assess the impact of the Great Game and other Western involvement with and impact upon other areas of the world such as Central Asia and the Caucasus, Africa, Far East.
  3. Analyze the causes, courses, and effects of two World Wars.
  4. Sensitize oneself to modern genocides, the final and partial solutions, continuing refugee relocations and ethnic cleansings.
  5. Compare countries and forms of government.
  6. Comprehend the advantages of powerful nations and the choiceless choices of small and weak nations.
  7. More effectively interpret current developments, assess impacts, distinguish among antecedents and sharp departures.
  8. Recognize contemporary social and political challenges, including the Cold War, the ramifications of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of communist states in Eastern/Central Europe.
  9. Value art, literature, and culture as mirrors and catalysts of contemporary society.
  10. Effectively communicate in writing and orally the challenges and legacies of modern Europe and its impact on the global community.

Course Content

  1. The French Revolution
    1. Causes, progression, early achievements
    2. Stages
    3. Major figures and sources
    4. Impact on the European nations/empires
  2. Napoleon
    1. Achievements and failures
    2. Napoleonic Wars
  3. Congress of Vienna and the diplomatic models for decision-making
  4. The Industrial Revolution: origins and impacts
  5. Liberalism
  6. Romanticism
  7. Nationalism and unification
  8. The New Imperialism and the drive for power and their impact on other world areas such as central Asia, the Far East, the African takeover
  9. The Utopians, Marxism, socialism
  10. The Great War
    1. Causes, progress, conditions
    2. The collapse of empires
    3. The peace treaties
    4. Economic and social impact by country
  11. Interwar years
    1. Rise of totalitarianism and communism in Europe
    2. Depression, inflation, economic deficiencies
    3. Minority treaties, challenges and conflicts in new nations
    4. Diplomatic challenges and appeasement
  12. Discrimination, anti-Semitism and the other anti-isms throughout the region
  13. World War II
    1. Causes, developments
    2. Major figures
    3. Diplomacy and impact
  14. The post-war world
    1. The New World
    2. New problems
      1. Cold War
      2. Minority revolutions
      3. The Third World
    3. Contemporary culture
  15. Europe since fall of the Berlin Wall
    1. Challenges, threats, reconfigurations
    2. Wars and peace
    3. Fall of communism in Eastern/Central Europe and tensions, upheavals in resulting reconfigurations
    4. Consolidation and disintegration
    5. Rise of militant groups, continuing genocide, ethnic cleansing
    6. Interrelation with and impact upon Africa, Central Asia and the Caucusas, Middle East, Asia
    7. Development of global models

Lab Content

Not applicable.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

When taught via Foothill Global Access: on-going access to computer with JavaScript-enabled internet browsing software, media plug-ins, and relevant computer applications.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Class discussion/projects including museum analyses and primary sources
Essay midterm and final
Significant required writing: essay exams, papers, special essay project

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture
Discussion
Cooperative learning exercises
Oral presentations

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Hunt, Lynn, et al.. The Making of the West, 7th ed.. 2021.

Spielvogel, Jackson, et al.. Western Civilization. 2020.

Range of primary and secondary source materials, mostly available online

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Reading: textbook or other material; 30 pages per week
  2. Writing: write 25-36 pages in quarter

When taught online, these methods may take the form of video, webpage work, faculty-student discussions, and extensive writing as in regular courses. All work submitted online.

Discipline(s)

History