Democracy and dictatorship: German history since 1918
Eleanor Hancock
8 points * 2 lectures and one 1-hour tutorial per week * Second semester * Clayton * Prohibitions: HSY2510 1993 and HY252 (1991 or earlier)
A history of German states, including Austria, from the foundation of the Weimar Republic in 1919 to German unification. The main focus will be on `the German question,' the position of the German states in the European state system and their effects on this system, and the changes in the internal structure of political, social and economic systems in German states from 1919 to the present. Certain basic questions are taken as themes of the subject - how should Germany be defined for the purposes of studying German history? Does a unified Germany destabilise the European state system? Why was it so difficult for a stable democracy to develop in Germany? Topics examined include: birth of the Weimar Republic; Austria's First Republic; origins of National Socialism; failure of the Weimar Republic; structure of the Third Reich; the Second World War and the Holocaust; postwar occupation; creation of the German Federal Republic; creation of the German Democratic Republic; relations between the German states in the postwar world; German unification.
Assessment
Written (4000 words): 40% * Examination (2 hours): 50% * Class participation and attendance: 10%
Prescribed text
Fulbrook M The Fontana history of Germany 1918-1990: The divided nation Fontana, 1991
Recommended texts
Ardagh J Germany and the Germans Penguin, 1991
Carr W A history of Germany 1815-1985 4th edn, Arnold, 1991
Jelavich B Modern Austria CUP, 1987
Martel G (ed.) Modern Germany reconsidered, 1870-1945 Routledge, 1992