HIST 234 The Crisis of Interwar Europe

The class examines the political social and economic crises which shook the nations of Europe in the two decades following the First World War. In particular we address the character of the crisis the varied European responses to it and the challenges represented by the end of the First World War Depression Fascism the Second World War and the Holocaust. While assessing the nature of the social political economic crisis of interwar Europe we will also pay close attention to historiographic debates on the rise and nature of Fascism and the origins of the Second World War. We focus strongly on primary sources such as the novels film and art of the era. Topics include the "Lost Generation" the Weimar Republic the Spanish Civil War and the Popular Front in France.