Syllabus
History 193

Modern World History


Mon-Wed-Fri, 1:25, Hardin 233
(Fall 2007)

Prof. Edwin E. Moise
Office: Hardin 102
Office phones: 656-5369, 656-3153
Home phone: 654-7087
e-mail: eemoise@clemson.edu

Messages can be left in my mailbox in Hardin 124, or in the box on my office door.

Office Hours

    Monday     10:10-11:00, 2:30-3:20
    Tuesday    11:00-12:00
    Wednesday  10:10-11:00, 2:30-3:20
    Thursday   11:00-12:00
    Friday     10:10-11:00 

Course Objectives

To give students an overview of the world and the ways it has changed since the 18th century, including both western and non-western cultures.

What goes into your grade

Your grade in the course will be based mainly on the written work I have assigned. You cannot do extra papers for extra credit. You can improve your grade a bit by participating in class discussion. The best way to pick up extra points is to catch me in a mistake in class. If you can point out to me that I have made a mistake you get two points extra in the gradebook. If you present a good clear argument that I am wrong about something, with evidence, then your grade may be boosted even if you do not succeed in convincing me.

I do not emphasize trivial factual details in this course. On tests and quizzes I will NOT ask you to tell me the year Kenya became independent of British rule. There are some facts you need to know, but they are more important things than dates and names. On the other hand, I will expect you to get an idea of the sequence of events, what came first and what came later.

There will be no big course paper, but I will assign four short papers, each of which should be about two pages typed double spaced in normal type with normal margins (they may be longer than two pages if you wish). They are worth 40 points each. The midterm test (70 points) and the final exam (120 points) will be mostly essay questions. I will give some very short quizzes which are just objective questions. The schedule for these will not appear on the syllabus, but they will be announced during the previous class. These only count ten points each; they will be mainly intended to make sure that you are doing the reading.

I use a 90%, 80%, 70% scale, sometimes modified in favor of students but never against them. In other words, a 90% average for the semester is guaranteed to be an A, 80% is guaranteed to be a B, and 70% is guaranteed to be a C. But 89% or 88% might perhaps become an A, depending on how the class as a whole is doing.

Any student who has an average of 90% or better, for work up to the final exam, will be permitted to exempt the final.

Policy on late work

If you miss a test or a take-home essay assignment, then you will be able to make it up. (In regard to take-home assignments, there will be a time limit of one week for make-up, except in extraordinary cases. If it is not in within a week of the due date it is just an F.) However, you will be marked off for lateness. You will be marked off even if your excuse is very, very good. You can avoid a penalty only if I have told you before the work was due that you would be able to do it late without penalty.

If you miss a ten point objective quiz you are out of luck; there is no make-up even with a good excuse. Ten point objective quizzes are usually given at the beginning of the class, so if you are ten minutes late on the day the quiz was given, you will have missed the quiz and you will not be permitted to take it late. However, the worst grade on a ten point objective quiz for any particular student does not get counted, so if you only miss one of them it will not hurt you too badly.

Portfolio

Students under the 2006-2007 or 2007-2008 curriculum are required to compile an electronic portfolio, showing general education competencies. Assignments for this course that fulfil some of these competencies will be marked in the syllabus.

Academic Integrity Policy

Academic integrity requires that we not try to pass off other people's work as our own. What does this mean in practical terms, in this course? Really two things:

  1) In-class tests are closed-book. You are supposed to get information only from your memory while writing your answers, not by sneaking looks at books, notes, an electronic device, or your neighbor's paper.

  2) Students are not supposed to help each other do take-home assignments after the assignment has been given out. For students to study together to learn material for tests and quizzes is perfectly OK. Indeed, it is an excellent idea. But if two students work together on take-home essay assignment, and as a result the papers handed in by the two students resemble one another much too closely to be coincidence, I will bring charges of academic dishonesty against both of them. If a fellow student asks to see your paper, to see how the assignment was supposed to be done, say no. They should come to me if they want further explanation of how the assignment was to be done.

Attendance policy

You are allowed up to six cuts INCLUDING EXCUSED ABSENCES. You lose two points for every unexcused absense after that. I would advise you not to take even five. I am going to be saying quite a few things in lectures that are not in the reading. Even if you are very careful about doing all the assigned reading, you will have trouble answering the questions on my tests if you have not been at the lectures.

If I am Late

If I have not gotten to class by 1:30, I would be grateful if a student would go bang on my office door and see whether I am there. If I still have not arrived by 1:35, you can give up on me and leave.

Assigned reading

There are four books you should buy:
    Societies, Networks, and Transitions: A Global History, by Craig Lockard, either Volume C or the version that has Volumes A, B, and C printed together as one huge volume.
    The Communist Manifesto, by Marx and Engels
    Throwing the Emperor from His Horse, by Seybolt
    Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron, by Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro

Course Schedule

August 22: Introduction to the course.

August 24: The American and French Revolutions
    >>> Lockard, pp. 561-573

August 27: Revolutions in Latin American and the Caribbean; the Industrial Revolution
    >>> Lockard, pp. 573-583

August 29: Nationalism and Socialism
    >>> Lockard, pp. 583-589
    >>> Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, pp. 49-65 (the opening page and part 1, "Bourgeois and Proletarians")

August 31: The Communist Manifesto
    >>> Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, pp. 65-91 (parts 2, 3, and 4)

            September 3: No Class

September 5: Imperialism
    >>> Lockard, pp. 590-595
    Hand in a short paper (about two pages, typed double space), on the question: How reasonable were the statements and opinions in the The Communist Manifesto in the context of the time?. I am asking you NOT to use hindsight on this. I am asking to what extent the The Communist Manifesto would have seemed reasonable to a reader who had only the information that was available at the time the The Communist Manifesto was written. (General education competency R1.)

Supplementary comment: When you are agreeing or disagreeing with a statement or idea in The Communist Manifesto, please make it clear exactly what the statement was. You don't necessarily have to quote the exact words (though sometimes that would be a good idea), but make sure that you convey, in one way or another, what the statement or idea was that you are agreeing or disagreeing with. If you are citing a statement or idea that appeared in a particular location in The Communist Manifesto, give the page number.

September 7: European Society; the Rise of the United States
    >>> Lockard, pp. 597-612

September 10: The United States, continued; the Rest of North and South America, and the Pacific
    >>> Lockard, pp. 612-627

September 12: Colonialism in Africa
    >>> Lockard, pp. 629-644

September 14: The Middle East
    >>> Lockard, pp. 644-655

September 17: Colonialism in India
    >>> Lockard, pp. 657-671

September 19: Colonialism in Southeast Asia
    >>> Lockard, pp. 672-683

September 21: China, 1750-1914
    >>> Lockard, pp. 685-698

September 24: Japan, Korea, and Russia, 1750-1914
    >>> Lockard, pp. 699-713

September 26: World War I
    >>> Lockard, pp. 715-722

September 28: TEST

October 1: The Russian Revolution
    >>> Lockard, pp. 722-728

October 3: The 1920s, the Depression, and the Rise of Fascism and Nazism
    >>> Lockard, pp. 728-739

October 5: World War II
    >>> Lockard, pp. 739-746

October 8: China in War and Revolution
    >>> Lockard, pp. 754-759
    >>> Seybolt, Throwing the Emperor from His Horse, Introduction and chapters 1 and 2 (you may also wish to read the Preface, but that is optional)

October 10: Imperialism and Nationalism (general discussion); India; Southeast Asia; Africa
    >>> Lockard, pp. 749-753, 759-771

October 12: The Middle East, Latin America; Globalization and Modernization
    >>> Lockard, pp. 771-796

            October 15: No Class

October 17: Eva Peron: Growing Up in Argentina
    >>> Fraser & Navarro, Evita, pp. 1-48

October 19: Decolonization and the Cold War
    >>> Lockard, pp. 797-812

October 22: Globalization in Economics, Environment, and Social Networks
    >>> Lockard, pp. 813-832

October 24: China under Mao Zedong
    >>> Lockard, pp. 835-844
    >>> Seybolt, chapters 3, 4, 5, 6

October 26: China after Mao Zedong
    >>> Lockard, pp. 844-850
    >>> Seybolt, chapters 7, 8, 9, 10

October 29: Japan, Korea, and Taiwan
    >>> Lockard, pp. 850-864
    Write a short paper (about two pages, typed double space), on the questions: What moral dilemmas did Wang Fucheng face? (A moral dilemma is a situation in which either it is difficult to figure out what the morally correct course of action is, or a person is under heavy pressure not to do the morally correct thing.) How did Wang Fucheng resolve his moral dilemmas? Do you think he made the correct moral choices? (General education competencies E2, S2, and S3.)

October 31: Western Europe since World War II
    >>> Lockard, pp. 867-883

November 2: Communism and post-Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe
    >>> Lockard, pp. 883-899

November 5: The United States, Canada, and the Pacific Basin
    >>> Lockard, pp. 902-919

November 7: Latin America and the Caribbean
    >>> Lockard, pp. 919-932

November 9: The Perons Come to Power in Argentina
    >>> Fraser & Navarro, Evita, pp. 49-101

November 12: Evita and the New Argentina
    >>> Fraser & Navarro, Evita, pp. 102-147

November 14: Evita's Death, and the Aftermath
    >>> Fraser & Navarro, Evita, pp. 148-198

November 16: Discussion: Politics in the Third World
    Hand in a short paper (about two pages, typed double space), on the questions: Discuss either the political relationship between Juan Peron and the people of Argentina or the political relationship between Eva Peron and the people of Argentina. In either case, bear in mind that not all the people of Argentina had the same opinion. (General education competencies S2 and S3.)

November 19: South Asia since Independence
    >>> Lockard, pp. 969-982

            November 21, 23: No Class

November 26: Southeast Asia
    >>> Lockard, pp. 982-1000

November 28: Hand in Newspaper research exercise (general education competencies R1 and R3).

November 30: The Middle East
    >>> Lockard, pp. 935-951

December 3: Africa
    >>> Lockard, pp. 951-966

December 5: The US-Iraq War

December 7: The World Today; Review

Final exam: Tuesday, December 11, 1:00 p.m.

 

Other Links

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas

Map of the European Union

Clemson University Academic Success Center, which provides help and tutoring for students encountering academic problems. It does not, however, have tutors specifically for History courses.

Edwin Moïse's homepage

Revised August 21, 2007.