World War I: The Twentieth Century's First Catastrophe

Catalog description

This course offers a comprehensive retrospective of the First World War in Europe. Guiding questions will be: How did a containable crisis between Austria-Hungary and Serbia become the most murderous war Europe had ever experienced? How did the war spill over into the Middle East? Why did the US enter the war? Why did every General Staff follow unimaginative military strategies that turned the war into a bloody horror for soldiers? How did the war affect women's situation and rights? How did the war become a Total War that fomented social and political revolution and led to the downfall of four Empires?