HIS 2104 - Illusory Frontiers

Credits: 4
After a cursory survey of the origins of the geographic and historical-political concept of Europe, this course gives an introduction to some of the most important definitions of European regions from the 16th century on. This “symbolic geography” has been shaped by numerous political developments leading to the immediate antecedents of our present. They include the key issues of 19th century international politics (as the gradual decline of the Ottoman-Turkish Empire and the emergence of the Balkan national states, the unification of Germany and Italy, the restructuring of the great power alliances after the dualistic reorganization of the Habsburg Empire in 1867), followed by dramas of 20th century: the dismemberment of the Habsburg Monarchy, the two world wars, the cold war and the recent process of European integration. These processes are studied from the perspective of shifting political, cultural and mental borders in the lands between Germany and Russia, stretching from the River Elbe to the Eastern Carpathians.
Offered at Budapest Campus.
McDaniel Plan: International