Europe of the Dictators 1922-1953: syllabus

Course Aims:  In addition to the goals summarized in the course description, this semester will provide students with opportunities to think trans-nationally about authoritarian states, to express themselves in class discussions, to gain skill in using academic data bases, to improve writing skills, and to interpret contemporary Italian political culture within the context of the recent past.
Attendance is critical. Each student must attend every class and arrive in class having completed the reading and assignments listed for that date. Attendance will be taken; after one unexcused absence, every unexcused absence will lower a student’s final grade by a half a point (eg. from A- to B+).

Each class meeting has three components:  
- Readings are historical or scholarly texts on which I will elaborate in a lecture.
- Primary sources were produced by contemporaries living in the period we’re studying.  Each week, a student team will explain the source and post discussion questions about it on the Blackboard (Bb) Discussion Board. 
- Visual Culture includes one or two works of art for which a student team will lead discussion. A student team will describe the work of art, tell us about its context, and ask discussion questions in class.  These items will be posted as Course Docs on Bb or viewed in class. 
­Explanation of the readings:  In addition to the books on the “must purchase” list, we will read excerpts written by other scholars and primary sources.  https://courses.duke.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp this is the login page for the Blackboard, on which required and extra materials will be available.  This includes visual images as well as printed materials.  This site will become available only to students who have registered for the class.  Some assignments require you to identify articles using Duke University Library data bases.
Remember that classics written before 1900, like The Prince, are available on line.  The Prince, Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz, and Silone’s Bread and Wine have been translated so you can purchase them on line in your native languages.  The Chapter numbers remain the same in all editions.  Pauley, our textbook, is available only in English.  
www.lib.duke.edu  This is the website for the data bases that require you to login. 
Whenever you have questions, use the “AskRef” function on the Perkins-Bostock Library home page.  Wikipedia may give you good background, but do not use it uncritically – i.e. don’t footnote it as an authoritative source; instead, use the bibliography listed on Wikipedia articles.  The Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Oxford English Dictionary are reliable.  Remember that you can read Harper’s Weekly, The Nation,  the London Times and the New York Times issues for the last 150 years.
Written assignments: With the exception of quizzes and short identification questions on the mid-term and final exams, each assignment requires a clear thesis statement and supporting evidence.  In other words, summarizing an event or describing a historical person will earn a “C” grade.  “A” and “B” essays require clear expression, selected sources, and a logical construction.  The length of the three essays varies between 720 and 1,500 words.
Discussion Board:  Every week you will find a “THREAD” listed.   Ask a question or post a comment – which can be as brief as one sentence. 

For useful maps, primary sources, and visual material, I recommend: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/referenc/europe.htm.
Don’t forget: http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/ for surfing through British oriented history. 
http://www.facts-about.org.uk/index-history-and-events.htm has general, not always accurate overviews.
Academic dishonesty: “Plagiarism” means using the ideas and/or writings of someone else without crediting your source.  This means it is dishonest to cut and paste segments of others’ works and include them as your own work.  To avoid serious consequences, be sure to footnote every source you use. 
Dictatorship and Biography
Week 1
Lecture I:
Machiavelli as a political guide.
Read, Nicolo Machiavelli, The Prince. Intro, chronology, and Chapters I-IV. (Do not even try to understand the examples N.M. uses. Google them if you’re curious.)   As you read identify Machiavelli’s advice and ignore his examples from Roman and Greek history.  The Prince is both our primary source and Reading.
Visual Culture on Duke Blackboard in “Course Documents.”   

Bellini, Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredano.
Pontormo, Portrait Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici.
Lecture II:

What makes republics fragile?  

Read: The Prince. Chapters V- VIII and XVII-XVIII on the treatment of colonies and techniques of ruling. After class discussion there will be a quiz.
Quiz 1: Three short answer questions on Machiavelli’s advice in The Prince. 
Visual Culture.  Renaissance portraits, Course Docs, Blackboard.  
Week 2

Lecture I:

Does psychology change history? Mussolini’s radical past.
Read: Pauley, Hitler, Stalin, xix-xxii and 1-10, 21-31.
Primary Source:  “My Autobiography,”  E-res, Bb. 
­Optional.   Alice Miller, For your own Good, E-res, Bb    
Optional:  Margareta Sarafatti’s biography of il Duce. E-res, Bb.          
Visual Culture:  Mussolini’s public images.  (on BlackBoard).  
Lecture II:      
Hitler’s Seizure of Power, 
Read:  Pauley, 35-47.
Extra reading:  Kershaw, Hitler, and Koonz, Chapt 3, Mothers in the Fatherland, Both on E-Reserves, Bb. (Koonz also in VIU library).
Primary Source:  Excerpts from Mein Kampf, E-Res,

Visual Culture:  Early Nazi Poster. Course Docs, Bb                
Discussion:  Go to the Blackboard, Discussion, under the THREAD of Dictators’ strategies, ask one question prompted by your reading.  Think of a question that was not clearly enough answered in the material you read.  (you will not be asked to answer it!)  
Week 3
Lecture I

Stalin’s gradual seizure of power. 
Reading: Pauley, 48-54 and Machiavelli, the Prince, Chapt XIX and XXI. 
Extra reading:  I. Deutscher, Stalin, Blackboard E Reserves [Bb, E-Res]     
Background on psychology:  http://www.naturalchild.com/alice_miller/
Visual Culture:  Films from the 1920s viewed in class. 
Lecture II
Personality and Power. 
Read:  Pauley, finish Chapter 3:  54-71.            
Extra reading:  Alice Miller.  Blackboard E-Reserves. 
Primary Source:  Mein Kampf.    E-Res, Bb.
Visual Culture:  Hitler’s invented childhood. CourseDoc,Bb.
Essay 1: Oct 2. 
- Using only the assigned readings, write an approximately 750-1000 word essay in which you discuss the traits necessary for a successful Machiavellian prince and evaluate the actions of Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler that enabled them to become modern day princes. 
-  Your essay must be printed, double spaced, with end notes, and a bibliography.  Your name will appear ONLY on a front, cover page – which also contains the title of the essay, the author’s email address and the date.          

- The required readings and portions of extra readings on BlackBoard will provide you with enough information for this essay.  Your choice of readings outside the required texts will depend on the topic question you create.   

Oct 3:  VIU organized visit to the Venice Ghetto (highly recommended) 
Dictatorship and the Structure of Opportunity: 
Week 4
Lecture I
The Post-Versailles Era: What Advice would Machiavelli give?  Chapt XII and XIII. 
Read:  Williamson, “Vacuum of Power,” The Age of Dictators, pp. 126-139, E-Res    
Primary Source:  Maps of Versailles, Trianon, and St. Germain. Find on the Web.
Visual Culture: Vormittagsspuk/ Ghosts Before Breakfast.  www.dailymotion.com
Optional: Duchamp’s Anemic cinema, 1926 on youtube.
Music Culture: Kurt Schwitters, Ursonate listen in class.  
Lecture II
Beliefs inspire actions – or do beliefs follow actions? 
Review:  Pauley, Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini, Chapter 1, 1-10.
Extra:  Bosworth, “Building,” Mussolini’s Italy, 215-248, E-Res, Bb.
Primary Source:  Marinetti, The Futurist Manifesto, 1909.  
http://users.dickinson.edu/~rhyne/232/Eight/Marinetti.html
Week5
Lecture I
One Question Machiavelli never asked, the economy. 
Read:  Pauley, Chapt 4, pp. 84-88. 
Extra:  Williamson, 88-104. 
Primary Source: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Poem. E-Res, Bb. 
Visual Culture: Overview:  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html
Oct. 9 : Quiz 2 - ten items to be identified.  This will also help to review materials for the mid-Term on October 21.
Lecture II
Fascist, Communist, and Nazi Economies.     
Read: Pauley, Chapt 4, 72-83 & 88-94.            
Primary Source: is also Metropolis, viewed in class.
Visual Culture in class: Metropolis.  (1927) For your interest check out:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3460612,00.html?maca=en-DKpartner_yg_culture%26lifestyle_en-2254-xml-mrss
Week 6
Lecture I
Mid-term exam in class. The exam will consist of short, medium and long sections (which count for 30%, 30% and 40% respectively). 
Lecture II 
Franco’s “March” to Madrid. 
Read:  Williamson, Age of the Dictators, 299-325. E-Res, Bb.
Read as much as you can.  We will summarize this chapter in class.
No Primary Source.
Visual Culture:  Posters from the Spanish Civil war. 
MID-TERM BREAK
How Dictators Create Consensus.
Week 7
Lecture I
Marketing Dictatorships     
Read:  Pauley, Chapter 5.  pp. 100-102 and 95-99 & The Prince, XVI, XXI.
Extra: S. Kotkin, “Coercion and Identity,” 272-310. E-Res, Bb. 
Primary Source: Hymn to Stalin.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/stalin-worship.html
Letter to an Englishman, http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/oberlindober1.htm
Visual Culture: film in class, Triumph of the Will. 
Lecture II
Totalitarian Culture?   
Read:  Pauley, Chapter 5, pp. 99-124.
Extra:   V. Bonnell, “Iconography”  E-Res, Bb.
Extra:   Bosworth, “Going to the People,” 307-338. 
Primary Source: Posters from the USSR. 
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/ww2era.htm
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/hess1.htm
The Oath to Adolf Hitler, administered by Rudolf Hess on 25 February 1934.
Week 8
Lecture I
Family Values and Political Stability in Dictatorships.     
Read:  Pauley, Chapter 6, 125-135.  
Extra: Czarnowski, “the Value of Marriage,” 78-112. Bb, E-Res.  
Primary Source: Begin reading Silone, Bread and Wine. 
Visual Culture: www.psywarrior.com/MussoliniBiBi.jpg
Lecture II
The Fascist, Nazi, and Communist Family. 
Read:  Pauley, Chapter 6, pp. 135-150.
Read:  Silone, Bread and Wine.
Primary Source:  Silone.   
Visual Culture:  Images of “unwanted” people.  Bb, Course Docs.
Week 9
Lecture I
Who Resisted?  
Read: Slaughter, “Gender,” Women in the Fascist Resistance, 51-7-, 139-142.         
Primary Source: Silone.  Using the Lexis data base, on the Duke Library home page, discover what information appeared that questioned Silone as a member of the Resistance. 
Visual Culture:  Posters from the Resistance.  Bb, Course Docs. 
Essay 2: due Nov 18.  In an essay of between 1000 and 1200 words, imagine you live in Italy, the USSR, or Germany during the 1930s. Date your essay precisely:  eg:  Berlin, February 1, 1933.  Begin your essay with a single spaced paragraph telling who you are (age, occupation, nationality, religion, political opinions generally, etc.).  If you wish you may write an (unsigned) editorial to be published outside the country in which you live.    Tell someone who lives outside that country about an aspect of life that cannot be publicly expressed where you live.  Make a strong argument either calling for outside intervention or opposing foreign intervention in the dictator’s policy (or policies).   Remember to read not only relevant material on Blackboard, but to consult the New York Times, the London Times, and The Nation on www.lib.duke.edu.
Lecture II
Terror in Fascist Italy and National Socialist Germany. 
Read:  Pauley, Chapt 7, 160-172.  The Prince, Chapt. XVII,  
BEGIN reading, Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz. 
Extra: Michael Mann, “The Contradictions of Continuous Revolution,” 135-157 E-Res.  
Primary Sources: Jan Karski, Secret State,  280-287, 320-354.                  http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-dach-early.htm
Visual Culture:  clips from The Garden of the Fitzi-Contini in class.
Week 10
Lecture I
Diplomacy, War, and Risk:
Read:  Pauley, Chapter 8, pp. 173-205 and skim Chapter 9, pp. 206-236.
The Prince, Chapt. XXVI. 
Primary Source:  find one editorial written after the Munich Pact in either the New York Times or the London, Times.  Log in to:  www.lib.duke.edu. 
Visual Culture:  TBA
Lecture II
The Gulag
Read: Pauley, pp. 151-160.
Primary Source: E. Ginzburg, Whirlwind, 215-239 or 279-330. 
Visual Culture: Nikolai Getman, Gulag artist. Find his work on the Web. 
Week 11
Identify ten items discussed in class since Nov 4.  
Lecture I
The Holocaust in Italy.
Read:  Susan Zuccotti, The Italians and the Holocaust, 139-165, 188-200, 305-312.
Primary Source on the memory of the Holocaust view in Class: Alain Renais, Night and Fog, 1956. 
Visual Culture: Find the Holocaust Memorial in Venice; discussion Dec 9. 
Lecture II
Survivors Writing in the name of the Dead.
Read:  Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz.
Primary Source: Fela Lichtheim OR J. Gastfreund, I did not Interview, 127-160, 26-59. 
 P. Levi, “Lorenzo’s Return,” E-Res, Bb.  
Visual Culture:  Felix Nussbaum and Charlotte Salomon, Course Docs, Bb.
Essay 3: In an essay of between 1000 and 1500 words, discuss Fortuna (a concept mentioned by Michiavelli) and other factors that characterized life in a concentration camp (Gulag included) or in hiding.   Be sure to indicate the focus of your essay in the title and use more than one individual’s experience in your sources.  In addition to readings posted on Blackboard, find ONE (only one) scholarly article in the Duke Library data bases that relates directly to your topic.  As always, use footnotes and include a bibliography of works you read. 
Week 12
Lecture I
World War II:  The “Downfall” of Mussolini and Hitler, Stalin’s survival.
Read: Pauley, skim Chapter 9 and read Chapter 10. 
Primary Document.  Find one article in the New York Times or the London Times that mentions Hitler’s drive to exterminate all Jews living in occupied Europe.
Visual Culture:  Felix Nussbaum’s paintings. 
Lecture II
Gianni Alemanno, Umberto Bossi: Fascism with a new Face?    
Read: Pauley, Chap 11, 265-276, The Prince, XXIV & XXV. 
Suggested:  Tom Mueller, Beppe’s Inferno,” The New Yorker, Feb 4, 2008, and Bosworth, “The Fascist Heritage,” 531-560.  
Primary Sources from 2008: Jonah Goldberg and Chris Hedges, E-Res, Bb.     
The final exam will be given at the scheduled time during exam period.