History of Eastern Europe: History of Eastern Europe: From 1900 to the Present

4 credits · Undergraduate

This course will examine the history of 20th-century Eastern Europe, understood as the band of countries and peoples stretching from the Baltics to the Balkans. Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, however, will receive special attention. Topics of study will include foundation of the national states, Eastern European fascism, Nazi occupation, contructing Stalinist socialism, the fate of reform communism, reconstitution of "civil society," and the emergence of a new Eastern Europe. Given the paucity of historical writings on the region, the course will make extensive use of cinematic and literary portrayals of Eastern Europe.