HIST 402 - Hitler’s Germany, 1817-1945

Credit Hours: 4
Frequency of Offering: Offered in alternate years, usually in the fall semester

This course will examine some of the key debates in the history and historiography of Germany from the time of its unification in 1871 to the fall of the Third Reich in 1945. It will consider how the circumstances of Germany’s unification under Bismarck contributed to its subsequent political development; the role of World War I in shaping Germany’s path in the twentieth century; the the long-term and immediate context that contributed to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the catastrophe of the Second World War; and how the vexed question of the German nation, the German state, and German citizenship-that is, who is included and who is excluded-fit into these developments.