Prof. Edwin E. Moise
Office: Hardin 102
Phone: (864) 650-8845
e-mail: eemoise@clemson.edu
Messages can be left in my mailbox in the department office (Hardin 124), or in the box on my office door.
For the first few weeks of the course, I will be recovering from cardiac bypass surgery, and I may not have the energy to spend as much time in my office as I would like. But when I am there, please do not worry that if you came in you might be bothering me.
If my office door is open that means I am hoping that some student will come in and talk with me.
Office Hours: I will try to be in my office, Hardin 102, at the following hours. It is possible that I may occasionally miss office hours, but on the other hand, I will be in my office, and available to you, at a lot of other times. E-mail me, or just check and see if my door is open.
Monday 2:30-3:20
Tuesday 11:00-12:00, 2:00-3:15
Wednesday 11:15-12:00, 2:30-3:20
Thursday (none officially scheduled but I will often be available)
Friday (none officially scheduled but I will often be available)
Surveys the history of the world from the 19th century to the present (actually I have had to include events of the late 18th century as background).
There are no prerequisites for HIST 1930.
I plan to teach this as a traditional history class. Most discussion will be in the classroom, though some will take place through Canvas. Lectures, quizzes, and tests will take place in the classroom. Other written assignments will be turned in through Canvas.
The written work in the class will be:
--Two papers on assigned topics, worth 40 points each, turned in through Canvas.
--Eight questions about the reading, which I will post on Canvas and you will answer on Canvas, due <ten minutes before the beginning of class (this deadline is rigidly and ruthlessly enforced),
ten points each but only your six best count toward the final grade: 60 points.
--A test (70 points) and the final exam (120 points),
which will be mostly essay questions.
This adds up to 330 points for the course.
It will be possible to earn up to 20 points extra credit by participating in class discussion, or by commenting on questions I will post under "Discussions" on Canvas. If you catch me in a mistake in class, you get two points extra in the gradebook. If you present a good clear argument that I am wrong about something, with evidence, that would give you good discussion credit even if you do not succeed in convincing me.
The basic grade scale is that 90% (297 points) is the bottom of the A range, 80% (264 points) is the bottom of the B range, and so on. Sometimes I alter the scale in the students' favor, never against them, depending on how the class is doing. Thus 297 points is a guaranteed A. But if very few students have 297 points or more, I may shift the line between A and B down to 295 or even 290 points, to create a reasonable grade distribution.
Any student who has an average of 90% or better, for work up to the final exam, will be permitted to exempt the final and will get an A for the course.
As members of the Clemson University community, we have inherited Thomas Green Clemson's vision of this institution as a "high seminary of learning." Fundamental to this vision is a mutual commitment to truthfulness, honor, and responsibility, without which we cannot earn the trust and respect of others. Furthermore, we recognize that academic dishonesty detracts from the value of a Clemson degree. Therefore, we shall not tolerate lying, cheating, or stealing in any form.
All infractions of academic dishonesty by undergraduates must be reported to Undergraduate Studies for resolution through that office. In cases of plagiarism instructors may use the Plagiarism Resolution Form.
Plagiarism, which includes the intentional or unintentional copying of language, structure, or ideas of another and attributing the work to one’s own efforts. Graded works generated by artificial intelligence or ghostwritten (either paid or free) are expressly forbidden. See the Undergraduate Academic Integrity Policy website for additional information and the current catalog ("Academic Regulations" section) for the policy. Send questions to UGSintegrity@clemson.edu.
On the basis of experience in past years, I would say that if an academic dishonesty case were to occur in this course, it would probably be either:
A student copies from the paper of a student in an adjacent seat, during a test.
One student copies another student's paper on an assignment, maybe changing a few words and substituting synonyms, but leaving the two papers still so similar that it is obvious the resemblance could not be coincidence. I would be likely to bring charges both against the student who copied and the student who allowed his or her paper to be copied.
Any quiz or test that was scheduled for a class that was cancelled due to inclement weather will be given at the next class meeting unless students are told otherwise by the instructor. Any assignment that was due on a day when class was cancelled because of weather will be due on the next day the class meets, unless students are told otherwise by the instructor. Any extension or postponement of a quiz, test, or assignment must be granted by the instructor via email or Blackboard within 24 hours of the weather related cancellation.
Clemson University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy or related conditions (including pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, recovery from the foregoing, or medical conditions related to the foregoing), national origin, age, disability, veteran’s status, genetic information or protected activity in employment, educational programs and activities, admissions and financial aid. This includes a prohibition against sex discrimination (including sex-based harassment and sexual violence) as mandated by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This Title IX policy is located on the Access Compliance and Education website. Ms. Alesia Smith is the Clemson University Title IX Coordinator, and the Assistant Vice President of Equity Compliance. Her office is located at 223 Brackett Hall, 864-656-3181 and her email address is alesias@clemson.edu. Remember, email is not a fully secured method of communication and should not be used to discuss Title IX issues. Clemson University aspires to create a diverse community that welcomes people of different races, cultures, ages, genders, sexual orientation, religions, socioeconomic levels, political perspectives, abilities, opinions, values and experiences.
Emergency procedures have been posted in all buildings and on all elevators. Students should be reminded to review these procedures for their own safety. All students and employees should be familiar with guidelines from Clemson University Public Safety. Clemson University is committed to providing a safe campus environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. As members of the community, we encourage you to take the following actions to be better prepared in case of an emergency: 1. Familiarize yourself with all possible exits, safer locations, and other key information on the emergency evacuation maps in this building, and those that you visit regularly. 2. Make a plan for how you would Run, Hide, and Fight in case of an active threat in this building, and those that you visit regularly. For example: a. Run – what are all the possible exits in this building, and the routes to them? b. Hide – what are the potential hiding locations in this room and building that are out of sight of doors and windows, how do you lock the door(s), how would you barricade the door(s) and windows, where do you turn off the lights? c. Fight – What tools are available in this room and building, should you have to fight? 3. Ensure you are signed up for emergency alerts. Alerts are only sent when there is a potential threat to safety, a major disruption to campus services, and once-monthly tests. 4. Download the Rave Guardian app to your phone. (https://www.clemson.edu/cusafety/cupd/rave-guardian/) 5. Learn what you can do to prepare yourself for the hazards that affect our locations. (http://www.clemson.edu/cusafety/EmergencyManagement/)
Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Peter J. Seybolt, Throwing the Emperor from His Horse: Portrait of a Village Leader in China, 1923-1995.
August 21: Introduction to the course.
August 23: New ways of thinking: The American and French Revolutions
The Declaration of Independence
August 26: The French Revolution, continued; Napoleon; the repercussions of the French Revolution outside France, notably revolutions in Latin America.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. France had traditionally been dominated by the nobles
(aristocrats) and the royal government. Politics had mainly been matter of nobles struggling with the royal government, or nobles struggling with one another. But the "Third Estate,"
non-nobles making up an overwhelming majority of the French population, included not just the poor but also some wealthy and highly educated people, who also wanted a share of power. In 1789,
leaders of the Third Estate got control of the French government, in the first, rather moderate, phase of the French Revolution. This was a document in which the leaders of the Third Estate
celebrated their victory.
The Law of Suspects. The French Revolution became much more radical after the
election of the National Convention in 1792, leading to the "Reign of Terror."
Letter of Napoleon to his brother Jerome Bonaparte, in Canvas under Files.
August 28: Europe in the aftermath of Napoleon; the Industrial Revolution
August 30: The Communist Manifesto and the Revolutions of 1848
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels [actually written mostly by Marx], The Communist Manifesto,
Introduction,
Part I, and
Part II. Please use this edition of the book, so the page numbers
will be correct.
September 2: LABOR DAY -- NO CLASS
September 4: Turn in paper on the Communist Manifesto; further discussion. See Assignment in Canvas for details on the paper.
September 6: Late 19th century Europe; development of science; the second industrial revolution.
Thomas Edison
Louis Pasteur
September 9: India, China, and Japan
September 11: The partition of Africa
September 13: The beginning of World War I
Read All Quiet on the Western Front, pages 7-49
September 16: World War I, continued
Read All Quiet on the Western Front, pages 51-107
September 18: World War I, continued
Read All Quiet on the Western Front, pages 107-158
September 20: World War I, continued, and the Russian Revolution
Read All Quiet on the Western Front, pages 158-208
September 23: The end of World War I
Read All Quiet on the Western Front, pages 208-256
September 25: Western societies in the 1920s and 1930s
September 27: China and Japan
Seybolt, pp. xi-xxiv and 1-23. The Guomindang from 1927 to 1937
September 30: Stalinism, Fascism, and Nazism
October 2: Newspaper Research Exercise on Stalinism. Go to the library or check online to see what one or two newspapers or newsmagazines were saying about the Soviet Union in 1938. Use at least four articles. Don't just use the first four articles you see that fit the assignment. Search around a bit, and find articles that allow you to say something interesting about their content and/or tone. You would probably be better off not using very short articles; they are seldom very interesting.
Write an essay of two or three pages, typed double spaced, about what you found. Say what there was in the articles that you found interesting or surprising. Evaluate them for bias: is there anything that leads you to distrust them, or to think that the facts may be being distorted to fit the author's viewpoint? Do they use loaded language? Think carefully about what you say, if you find loaded language. Calling Stalin a "dictator" would be loaded language; that would have been an insult. On the other hand, it would also have been the truth; he was a dictator.
Notice the source; did the reporter say that something was true, or only that somebody else had said it was true? If you say there is bias, please make it clear exactly what was said, that you consider biased. I want to see one essay based on several articles, not a string of essentially separate mini-essays, each based on a single article. Try to select articles that will allow you to have some unifying themes in your essay.
Notice what kind of item you are reading. A news article is supposed to present an objective account of events; it is not supposed to push a particular viewpoint. An editorial (which represents the opinions of the newspaper) or an opinion column by an individual, or a letter to the editor, can legitimately push a particular viewpoint, but they still should be fair in the way they present evidence for that viewpoint.
Notice whose opinions you are reading. Was the item written by a journalist? If not, mention what sort of person the author was. If it was written by a journalist, was the journalist presenting his/her own opinions, or summarizing or quoting other people's statements? If a journalist was summarizing or quoting other people's statements, did the journalist show signs of believing those statements, or doubting them, or did the journalist not show any signs one way or the other?
Please give source notes. I want to be able to tell in each section of your paper which article or articles you are discussing in that section. It is not enough to have a list at the end, if I can't tell as I read the paper which article you are discussing where. Source notes must give page numbers. I don't care about the format of source notes as long as they tell me what I need to know. Any format that allows me easily to discern the title of the article, the author's name if that was given (a lot of articles are published without the author's name being given), the title of the publication, and the date and page, is OK. Giving me a link to the article on the internet is good, but also give me all the information I requested about the original publication of the article.
KEEP GOOD RECORDS of what articles you used, and where you found them. If I am reading your paper, and I decided I want to look at the article you were discussing in a particular section of it, and I cannot locate that article, I am likely to ask you what article you used and exactly where it can be found. If you cannot give me a clear exact location, or just show me the article, YOU WILL BE ON YOUR WAY TOWARD GETTING A LOW GRADE, POSSIBLY AN F, FOR THE ASSIGNMENT.
There is no requirement that you use The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, or The Times of London, but those papers have the advantage that you can access them online through the Clemson Library's Databases Page. If you want to use weekly newsmagazines, the easiest way is to use the ones that have been bound into volumes, on the shelves on level 1 of the library.
Please turn your paper in on Canvas, by midnight.
October 4: World War II European Theater
October 7: World War II in Asia and the Pacific
Seybolt, pp. 23-30
October 9: MIDTERM TEST
October 11: The Cold War and the Chinese Revolution
Seybolt, pp. 31-39
October 14: FALL BREAK: NO CLASS
October 16: Decolonization
October 18: Newspaper Research Exercise on the Decolonization of Africa
October 21: The Middle East through the Yom Kippur War
October 23: The revival of Western Europe
October 25: The end of Stalinism in the Soviet Union; China; the Sino-Soviet split
Seybolt, 41-64
October 28: The Vietnam War
October 30: The Cold War continued; China in Mao Zedong’s last years.
Seybolt, 65-75
November 1: Post-Mao China, and Asia
Seybolt Chapters 7-8
November 4: China, and Asia
Seybolt, Chapters 9-10
November 6: Israel and Palestine
November 8: The Middle East through Desert Storm
November 11: The recent Middle East, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gaza
November 13: The "Collapse of Communism" (an exaggerated phrase) in Europe and Russia
November 15: Former Soviet Republics other than Russia
November 18: Recent Russia including Ukraine
November 20: Africa
November 22: Asia in recent years
November 25: Newspaper research exercise
November 27, 29: THANKSGIVING BREAK
December 2: The Problems of Modern Society
December 4: Recent world crises
December 6: Summing Up
December 10: FINAL EXAM, 3:00 to 5:30
Military History Atlases (U.S. Military Academy, West Point)
Last modified September 5, 2024.