Gwybodaeth Modiwlau
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminars / Tutorials | Individual 10-minute 'feedback tutorial' per written assignment submitted |
| Lecture | 18 x 50 minute sessions |
| Seminars / Tutorials | 10 x 50 minute sessions |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay 1 - 1 x 2,500 word essay | 25% |
| Semester Assessment | Essay 2 - 1 x 2,500 word essay | 25% |
| Semester Exam | 3 Hours (1 x 3 hour exam) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 1 - 1 x 2,500 word supplementary (resit) essay | 25% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 2 - 1 x 2,500 word supplementary (resit) essay | 25% |
| Supplementary Exam | 3 Hours 1 x 3 hour supplementary (resit) examination | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
a) Demonstrate familiarity with a substantial body of historical knowledge in the field of German history between 1914 and 1933.
b) Engage in source criticism, discussion and understanding of evidence relating to developments in politics, culture and society in the Weimar Republic.
c) Demonstrate familiarity with a wide range of historical techniques relevant to the study of late-modern politics and society.
d) Gather and sift appropriate items of historical evidence.
e) Read, analyse and reflect critically on secondary and primary texts, in particular the work of D. J. K. Peukert.
f) Develop the ability to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of historical arguments respectively emphasising the significance of elements of `backwardness? and of `classical modernity? in the crises of the Weimar Republic.
g) Develop oral (not assessed) and written skills which will have been improved through seminar discussions and essays
h) Work both independently and collaboratively, and to participate in group discussions (not assessed).
Brief description
Many historians have argued that the survival of old elites and of mentalities rooted in the authoritarian value system of Imperial Germany meant that the German experiment in democracy was fatally flawed at the outset. In this option module the approach will be subjected to an extensive interrogation. In the cultural, social and economic, as well as in the political history of the Weimar Republic, the module will appraise the innovative and adventurous alternative which the adherents of a German Democracy sought to develop, and will ask exactly how and why such alternatives failed or were closed down. It is within this framework that we will seek to understand the processes which first allowed the establishment of a mass electoral base for National Socialism and finally brought Hitler to power in 1933.
Content
1. Introduction 1): Themes in the History of the Weimar Republic
2. Introduction 2): Perspectives
3. Germany and the First World War
4. The German Revolution, November 1918 to March 1919
5. The Weimar Republic in Crisis, 1919-1923
6. The Period of Relative Stability, 1924-1928
7. Return to Crisis, 1930-1933
8. Roman Catholics and the Centre Party
9. Protestants: Urban and Rural Milieus
10. The Workers' Milieu and the Dilemmas of Social Democracy
11. Accounting for German Communism: Politics and Everyday Life
12. The Nazi Party: Organisation and Ideology
13. The Nazi Party: Propaganda
14. Who Voted Nazi?
15. The Nazi 'Seizure of Power', 1932-33
16. The Left at the End of the Weimar Republic
17. Crime, Order and Policing
18. Welfare, Medicine and their Discontents
Seminars:
1. Introductory Meeting
2. The Foundation and Stabilization of the Weimar Republic
3. From Insurrectionary Sect to Mass Party: the Rise of National Socialism
4. The Working Class and the Politics of the Left
5. The Collapse of the Weimar Republic and the Nazi 'Seizure' of Power
6. Political Backwardness or a Crisis of Classical Modernity: Why did the Weimar Republic Collapse?
Reading List
Recommended TextDetlev J.V. Peukert (1991) The Weimar Republic. The Crisis of Classical Modernity Primo search Eberhard Kolb (1988) The Weimar Republic Primo search
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6