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Most students who choose this course are interested in the Nazi period, and in particular in the Holocaust: how did such a terrible event happen? Of course, we will look at the reasons for the destruction of democracy and the appeal of Nazism. We will also examine how a dictatorial regime could hold Germany, and later most of Europe, in check. However, Germany in the 20th century was far more than the Nazi Dictatorship. What is more, German History has more to offer than just these regrettable episodes of recent history.

This course will to a large extent deal with Germany during the so-called long nineteenth century. In fact, this is a course about a couple of different German societies and political systems: the German Confederation, German Empire, Weimar democracy, Nazi regime, immediate Post-War Period, East and West Germany from 1949 onwards, and the unified German state after 1990.

To cover these eras, the course is split in two. The first term covers the period from the Congress of Vienna (1815) until the ‘Great War’ (1914-18); the second term focuses on the period from the aftermath of war until the reunification of Germany (1990). We will discuss questions such as: why were there so many ruptures and changes in Modern German history? Can we identify long-term developments, for instance, from Bismarck to Hitler? Was there a special path of modernisation in Germany? How did the First World War impact on Germany? Why did the Weimar Republic fail? What made a stable democracy in West Germany possible, immediately after the demise of the Nazi regime? And why, on the other hand, did the socialist East German state survive for 40 years?