The aim of this module is to examine significant political, social and cultural aspects of modern life in Europe. This module will, therefore, probe some of the key social and cultural transformations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and discuss the key political issues and events that have defined that period.

Introduction to the course: war, revolution, restoration 1848-1924; European societies at war; revolutionary situations/regime change; restoration of order; democracy/dictatorship and war 1924-44; American money and reconstruction; decadent decade? jazz, cocaine and sex; depression and sobriety; political mobilisation and violence; authority restored; conservatism/fascism/Stalinism; the twenty-year crisis: international relations; the Nazi new order and total war; Holocaust; reconstruction/Cold War 1944-74; 1945: Europe's 'zero hour' re-establishing order: Europe's political divisions; recovery, growth, and limits: the European economy; seducing Europeans: mobility, consumerism, and culture; the 'second sex'; feminism and post-feminism; turning tides: youth, political protest and cultural revolt; the post-post war society and state (1970s-90); rebuilding the European house: Thatcher and Gorbachev; Which Europe? race, ethnicity, and memory; after the Wall: the return of 'Europe' and Union.

On successful completion of this module, the student will: have learned how to see history not as a chronological narrative, but as a pattern of interweaving developments happening in different places at the same time; think thematically and write discursively and analytically with proper understanding of the complexities and subtleties of any given question.

On completion of this module students should be able to demonstrate an appreciation of the complexity of European history in a period of intense political and social change.

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Students will sharpen their skills to critically assess ideas, events and individuals through reading and discussion as well as develop ability for critical text analysis.