History of Europe, 1000 to 1800
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract:
This course will introduce the student to the history of Europe from the medieval period to the Age of Revolutions in the eighteenth century. The student will learn about the major political, economic, and social changes that took place in Europe during this 800-year period including the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, European expansion overseas, and the French Revolution. By the end of the course, the student will understand how Europe had transformed from a fragmented and volatile network of medieval polities into a series of independent nation-states by 1800. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Think critically and analytically about European history in the medieval and early modern eras; Identify and describe the religious, intellectual, social, and political components of the European Middle Ages; Identify the origins and characteristics of the Italian and Northern European Renaissance, as well as describe new developments in art, philosophy, religion, architecture, and science during the era of ŇrebirthÓ; Identify and describe the causes and effects of the European Age of Discovery. Students will also be able to analyze the impact of overseas expansion on European monarchies, the world economy, and indigenous peoples; Describe and analyze the Protestant Reformation. Students will be able to identify the origins of the movement, the various inflections of the Reformation across Europe, and the Catholic Counter Reformation; Identify the era of religious warfare that plagued Europe after the Protestant Reformation. Students will analyze causes and effects of the religious conflicts that erupted in France, England, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire; Identify and explain why and how 'absolute' monarchs gained power in western Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Students will also be able to identify and describe why two nations - England and the Netherlands - embraced constitutionalism rather than absolutism; Assess how and why absolutism characterized the monarchies of Prussia and Austria in the 1600s. Students will also be able to identify and describe the development of Russia and the reign of Peter the Great; Identify the origins and characteristics of the Scientific Revolution, as well as describe its impact on European civilization as a whole; Identify the origins of the European Enlightenment and assess how this movement altered the social, political, and religious fabric of Europe; Identify and describe the social and economic changes that swept across Europe during the eighteenth century. Students will be able to assess the origin and impact of the 'agricultural revolution,' the marked increase in Europe's population, the development of 'cottage industries,' the rise of the Atlantic economy, and the changes in domestic and religious practices; Identify and describe the origins and impact of the French Revolution. Students will also be able to analyze the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte; Analyze and interpret primary source documents from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century, using historical research methods. (History 201)
- Subject:
- Humanities, Social Sciences
- Grade Level:
- Post-secondary
- Collection:
- Saylor Foundation