FROM SARAJEVO TO BAGHDAD: KEY DECISIONS ON WAR AND PEACE, 1914-2003 (IR106) Course duration: 54 hours lecture and class time (Over three weeks) Summer School Programme Area: International Relations, Government and Society LSE Teaching Department: Department of International History Lead Faculty: Professor David Stevenson (Dept. of International History) Pre-requisites: None. Course Description: This course offers an intensive investigation of a central set of topics over the last century of international politics. It will introduce students to the international history of the two world wars and the Cold War as well as the post-cold War period, but it does not attempt to cover every aspect of the years since 1914. Instead it focuses on key decisions and turning points, analysing them in depth and placing them in context. As the course progresses, students will be encouraged to make comparisons and to draw out wider themes as well as to develop their knowledge and understanding of the individual topics. The material should be readily accessible to students with little previous background in the field, as well as rewarding for those who already have familiarity with the content. 1 Discussion of each topic will centre on a distinctive set of problems: What was decided (a deceptively simple question!) Who decided it (who were the key leaders)? How did they decide it (what was the decision-making process)? Why did they decide it? How should we evaluate the decision (good, bad, disastrous )? What evidence do we possess? How have historians debated the issue? A key feature of the approach is that each turning point will be considered as far as possible from the perspectives of all the major countries concerned, rather than a single national viewpoint.
The twelve daily sessions for the course comprise a lecture that includes discussion, followed by a class which will allow for further group work. Reading: The recommended text for the course as a whole is: Antony Best, Jussi Hanhimäki, Joe Mailo, and Kirsten Schulze, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond (Routledge, 2008). Course Structure: - Lectures: 36 hours - Classes: 18 hours Formative course work: - An essay plan, submitted to the class teacher on Friday of week one. Feedback will be given by Tuesday of week two. This will help students prepare for the first summative assessment. - A presentation in class on a topic agreed with the class teacher. The presentations will be given in weeks one and two. Feedback will be given shortly afterwards, though the presentation does not count towards the overall grade for the course. Assessment: The assessment consists of: - An essay of 1,500 words (bibliography does not count, word-count must be stated on the first page of the essay), submitted as an email attachment to be sent to the class teacher by Friday 29 June at 5pm. The essay will count for 50% of the final mark. Students will respond to a prompt distributed at the end of the first week of the course. Students will receive their grades by Tuesday 3 July. - A two-hour written examination at the end of the programme, the precise time and location of the exam will be circulated during the programme. The exam will count for 50% of the final mark. The final overall grade will be reported to students within a week of the exam. - The essay should be written on a topic within the period 1914-41. The examination will cover the period 1945-2003. 2 Lecture Schedule: Section I: World War One 1. 1914. Starting the War: the July Crisis (Mon 18 June) Lecture 1a Introduction to the Summer School and Course
July 1914: the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary and Germany) Lecture 1b July 1914: The Entente (Russia, France, and Britain) 2. 1917. Widening the War: German U-Boats and American Intervention (Tues 19 June) Lecture 2a Germany s decision for unrestricted submarine warfare Lecture 2b America s decision to enter the war 3. 1918-1919: Ending the War: from Armistice to Peace (Wed 20 June) Lecture 3a The origins of the November 1918 armistice Lecture 3b The making of the Treaty of Versailles Section II. World War Two 3 4. 1938-39: Starting War in Europe: Munich to Danzig (Thurs 21 June) Lecture 4a The Czechoslovak crisis, 1938 Lecture 4b War over Poland, 1939 5. 1941. Widening the War: Germany and Japan attack the Soviet Union and the US (Fri 22 June) Lecture 5a Germany decides to attack the Soviet Union Lecture 5b The Road to Pearl Harbor 6. 1945. Ending the War: the Atomic Bomb and Japan s Surrender (Mon 25 June)
Lecture 6a The Decision to use the atomic bomb Lecture 6b Japan s decision to surrender Section III: Cold War 7. 1947-49. European Origins (Tues 26 June) Lecture 7a. From the Truman Doctrine to the Marshall Plan Lecture 7b. The Berlin Blockade Crisis and the North Atlantic Treaty 8. 1950. Asian Origins. (Wed 27 June) Lecture 8a. The Cold War in Asia to June 1950 Lecture 8b. The Korean War: outbreak and impact 4 9. 1961-62. Escalation: Berlin and Cuba (Thurs 28 June) Lecture 9a. The Berlin Wall Crisis, 1961 Lecture 9b. The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 10. 1961-65. Escalation: the Second Vietnam War (Mon 2 July) Lecture 9a. Vietnam from Truman to Kennedy Lecture 9b. The Johnson escalation decisions 11. 1989-90. Ending the Cold War (Tues 3 July)
Lecture 11a. The Eastern European revolutions, 1989 Lecture 11b. German Reunification, 1990 Section IV. Post-Cold War 12. Roads to War in Kuwait and Iraq, 1990-2003 (Wed 4 July) Lecture 12a. The Kuwait occupation and the Gulf War, 1990-91 Lecture 12b. From 9/11 to the Iraq War, 2001-3 Friday, 6 July Final Exam Seminar Schedule: 5 Seminar 1: Did War Plans cause the First World War? (Tue 19 June) - What were the roles of military planning and mobilization schedules in the origins of the First World War? - What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Schlieffen-Moltke war plan? How did it compare with the war plans of the other Powers? Seminar 2: The Atlantic Confrontation, 1917 (Wed 20 June) - Why did Germany and the US go to war in 1917? - Why was the submarine issue so important? Seminar 3: From Armistice to Peace (Thu 21 June)
- Why was it difficult for the victors to agree on a German peace treaty in 1919? - Was the Treaty of Versailles too harsh or too soft? Seminar 4: From Munich to Danzig (Fri 22 June) - What was the significance of the Hossbach memorandum? - Why was there a crisis but a war over Czechoslovakia in 1938? - Why was there a crisis and a war over Poland in 1939? Seminar 5: Barbarossa and Pearl Harbor; Essay Prep (Mon 25 June) - Were both the German-Soviet war and the Pacific War resource wars? - Did Stalin bring Barbarossa upon himself? - Was Japan cornered into war? Seminar 6: Ending the Pacific War (Tue 26 June) - Why did the Truman administration decide to use the atomic bomb against Japan? - Why did the Japanese Government agree to seek a ceasefire? 6 Seminar 7: Cold War Origins: Europe (Wed 27 June) - How did the US commitment to Western Europe evolve from the Truman Doctrine to NATO? - Was the US simply responding to Soviet actions? Seminar 8: Cold War Origins: Asia (Thu 28 June) - Who bears most responsibility for the outbreak of the Korean War: Stalin, Truman, or Mao? - How did the Korean War influence the development of the Cold War as a whole? Seminar 9: Cold War Escalation, 1961-62 (Mon 2 July)
- What was the connection between the Berlin and the Cuban crises? - Why did the Soviet Union put missiles into Cuba and then withdraw them? - Why was international tension in 1961-62 so acute? Seminar 10: Cold War Escalation: the Second Indochina War (Tue 3 July) - Why did the US escalate its commitment to South Vietnam between the Eisenhower and Johnson administrations? - What part was played by the policies of the Communist Powers? Seminar 11: Cold War Ending (Wed 4 July) - Who did more to end the Cold War: Reagan or Gorbachev? - Why did the collapse of the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe, and German reunification, proceed without a major armed conflict? Seminar 12: 1991 and 2003 (Thu 5 July) - Was American policy responsible both for the occupation of Kuwait in 1990 and for its liberation in 1991? - What was the role of weapons of mass destruction in the origins of the 2003 Iraq War? 7 Credit Transfer: If you are hoping to earn credit by taking this course, please ensure that you confirm it is eligible for credit transfer well in advance of the start date. Please discuss this directly with your home institution or Study Abroad Advisor. As a guide, our LSE Summer School courses are typically eligible for three credits within the US system and 7.5 ECTS in Europe. Different institutions and countries can, and will, vary. You will receive a digital transcript and a printed certificate following your successful completion of the course in order to make arrangements for transfer of credit. If you have any queries, please direct them to summer.school@lse.ac.uk