HIST421 - European International Relations 1914-Present

This course looks at Europe's interactions with other world regions throughout the twentieth century. Over the course of roughly a hundred years, Europeans have shaped the fates of peoples living beyond the western world, for instance through the impact of two world wars, European colonialism, and the global Cold War. At the same time, European societies 'at home' were not left unaffected by these interactions. Even today, Europeans are facing the legacies of some of these histories in immigration and the politics of religion and secularism for example. The past century also saw a dramatic shift in Europe's position in the world - from dominance to a loss of influence in the shadow of the United States and more recently, China. The course spends significant time covering the histories of world regions other than Europe. It furthermore considers some interactions and exchanges between world regions from a social and cultural point of view. Because the class spans roughtly a century, the content has to remain introductory and general, although a very basic familiarity with 20th-century international history is helpful.