Modern Germany: From Reich to Republic

Catalog description

This course examines the turbulent history of modern Germany from the Second German Empire, or Kaiserreich, to the present-day Federal Republic. Themes include the destabilizing emergence of Germany as a great power in the late 19th century, the outbreak of World War I, the collapse of the Empire, and the revolutionary upheaval of 1918 to 1919. The course examines the birth of the ill-fated Weimar Republic, the rise of Nazism, and the establishment of the Third Reich before moving to Hitler's unleashing of World War II, his genocidal campaign against the Jews, and Germany's ensuing wartime devastation, occupation, and division. The course concludes with an examination of the postwar political, social, and cultural development of West and East Germany through the nation's unification in 1990.