OVERVIEW

The course aims to promote basic historical skills and offers the student a good knowledge of the historical phenomena that characterize the contemporary age, knowing how to grasp the complexity and transformations over time of political-institutional and economic-social factors. The course enhances the knowledge of the main events of Italian and European history, placing them in the framework of the evolution of the international system and the interactions between the various areas of the world.

This course is divided into three blocks: A, B and C. This course sheet relates to the block A, i.e. to those students whose surnames range from letter A to letter D.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course provides a basic knowledge of the history of the contemporary age from both a political-institutional and economic-social point of view in order to pursue three objectives: contextualize events, identifying their causes and effects; undertake historical research through the correct use of sources; be familiar with the variety of historiographical interpretations; effectively communicate the contents learned.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, the student:

• knows the main Italian and European events in contemporary history;
• connects these events with international dynamics;
• selects and organizes information and knowledge;
• identifies cause-effect links;
• master the space-time relationships;
• captures analogies-differences between historical dynamics.

PREREQUISITES

Knowledge of the Italian language. For foreign students a basic knowledge of the Italian language is sufficient, cf. the paragraph “C.II.10. Avvertenze per gli studenti stranieri”, pp. 16-17, della “Guida ai Corsi di Studio in Lingue del Dipartimento di Lingue e Culture Moderne”, a.a. 2021-2022.

Basic geographic knowledge.

TEACHING METHODS

The course is carried out through lectures. In-depth video will be provided. Due to the Covid 19 emergency (and unless changes will be promptly communicated), the lectures will take place via Teams on the Team "Storia contemporanea Fraz. A" code n3dvq86.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The teaching program is divided into fifteen macro-themes, each of which addresses and deepens a series of specific events, connected both from a chronological point of view and from causal links, which aim to reconstruct two centuries of Italian, European and global history.

Specifically, the following topics will be addressed:

1. The Congress of Vienna and the Restoration;
2. The crisis of the Ancien Régime and the liberal, democratic and national revolutions (1820-1848);
3. Italian unification and German unification;
4. The Eastern Question and the extra-European world: the opium wars; the civil war in the United States of America;
5. Imperialism and colonialism;
6. Giolitti’s Italy;
7. From the Russian Revolution of 1905 to the First World War;
8. The Treaties of Paris and their consequences;
9. Postwar period and fascism;
10. The Weimar Republic; Hitler and Nazism;
11. The Second World War;
12. The postwar period and the cold war;
13. Republican Italy;
14. The process of European integration;
15. The fall of communisms. The contemporary world.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

For the exam, students must be prepared on the topics of this course as indicated in the "Syllabus/content" section. It is difficult to recommend a reference volume because there are too many subjective elements that influence the choice. The books adopted during high school can be used, or the volume by Sandro Sandro Rogari, L’età della globalizzazione, Storia del mondo contemporaneo dalla Restaurazione ai giorni nostri, Utet, 2014, or Alfredo Canavero, Storia contemporanea, Pearson, 2019.

Further information on the following books (optional): Umberto Morelli, Storia dell’integrazione europea, Edizioni Guerini, Milano 2011; Guido Formigoni, Storia della politica internazionale nell’età contemporanea, il Mulino, Bologna, 2006; Giovanni Montroni, Scenari del mondo contemporaneo dal 1815 ad oggi, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2005.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

LARA PICCARDO (President)

ROBERTO MACCARINI

GUIDO LEVI (President Substitute)

ANDREA CATANZARO (Substitute)

FRANCESCO PIERINI (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

I semester, 5 October 2021.

Timetable:

Tuesday 8-10

Thursday 13-14

The lectures take place on Teams, code n3dvq86

Class schedule

CONTEMPORARY HISTORY A

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

For exams via Teams: oral exam in Italian: two questions on the 19th century, two on the 20th century. To pass the exam, both parts must be sufficient.

For face-to-face exams, as soon as possible: written exam in Italian: two questions (open answer) on the 19th century, two questions (open answer)on the 20th century. To pass the exam, both parts must be sufficient.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For exams via Teams: oral exam in Italian: two questions on the 19th century, two on the 20th century. To pass the exam, both parts must be sufficient.

For face-to-face exams, as soon as possible: written exam in Italian: two questions (open answer) on the 19th century, two questions (open answer) on the 20th century. To pass the exam, both parts must be sufficient.

The (written or oral) answer is sufficient when the student demonstrates that he/she can select and organize information and knowledge and know the main Italian and European events in contemporary history. The grade will be the higher the more the student identifies cause-effect links, will master the space-time relationships and grasp analogies-differences between historical dynamics.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students with “Special Needs”: the compensatory/dispensative tools recognized by the Department coordinator, Prof.ssa Sara Dickinson, and by the University Service for students with special needs are applied.