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Contemporary World -- History 1114 -- Syllabus

Spring 2007, MWF 11, Adm 331

Dr. Griffith, Administration 333; phone 704 637 4352, e-mail, bgriffit@catawba.edu
Office Hours - MWF 10-11, 1-3; or by appointment

I. Introduction--Philosophy
This course was originally created because it seemed to me that the Twentieth Century neither
could nor should be treated as the last phase of a survey course in Western Civilization. For one thing,
too much had happened to be fairly covered in several weeks. And secondly, one could not reasonably
separate the history of the West--Europe and North America--from that of the rest of the world. As we
review the last decade and century, it is obvious that these considerations carry even more weight than
they did when this course was first designed. As the events and topics treated in this course grow more
numerous and complex, I find myself facing a greater challenge each year in its design.

I know that each of you has chosen to take this course because of a complex of personal reasons,
many of which have more to do with requirements and schedule than with interest. I do hope, however,
that each of you wishes to leave the course with a sense of understanding better the world in which you
live. My goals as the teacher of this course include helping you gain that understanding, but I am also
determined to encourage you to leave the course with the conviction that you can and should make a
difference in the world and that your continued study of what is happening and why it is important to
you and to others matters. You are citizens of the most powerful nation in the world and you have the
right and responsibility to help determine its leadership and policies, and in doing so it is important that
you have sufficient knowledge and understanding to make good choices.

My effort to increase your understanding and encourage you to be more actively involved in
shaping your world requires, if it is to succeed, effort on your part (and please note--my failure as a
teacher will weigh on my conscience, while your failure as a student will weigh on your GPA). The
design of this particular course stresses regular preparation and reflection on your part, and your grade
will be determined by this. In general, preparation will be checked by means of quizzes which will be at
scheduled points, roughly weekly. The reflection and understanding will be checked through your
performance on a two‐part midterm exam and a final. 
 
II  Student Learning Outcomes 
  Your grade will ultimately depend on how well you are able to achieve the following objectives for 
students taking this course: 
• To be able to identify and describe the main forces, persons, events, movements, etc. which shaped 
world history in this period 
• To be able to trace and explain the process by which the world and its various regions changed in 
this period 
• To be able to communicate your knowledge clearly and correctly in writing 
• To be able to think critically about the validity of factual data and interpretations of contemporary 
world history 
• To be able to reach, express, and defend reasoned explanations and judgments on critical issues in 
contemporary world history 

Our study will begin with an examination of the basic forces operating at the beginning of the 20th
Century to shape a new direction in world history. Many of the great forces that today shape our destiny are not,
to a historian, very old, but they have been operating for at least a century. Once we understand them, we can, I
believe, make some sense out of what often seems to be a bewildering chronology of important but apparently
unrelated events. After we have examined these forces and how they came into play, we will examine, by
regions, the events of the last century. In each period, and for each region, we must be selective. Your text and I
have attempted to select events and nations that illustrate the larger forces operating in the periods and regions
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we are studying. This means, of course, that many events and nations will be slighted. Given the limits of our
course this must be so, but I hope this approach will help demonstrate the relationship between the abstract--the
broad forces--and the concrete--the specific events. The lectures will be an important source of information, I
hope, and you are encouraged to take thorough notes. Your grade will be based on your mastery of the
important factual information stressed in the text and lectures and on your ability to explain the meaning and
importance of that information in exams.

II. Course Requirements

A. Text: Findley and Rothney, Twentieth Century World, 6th edition.
B. Graded Work
1. Quizzes--500 points total
2. Exams--450 points total
a. 2 hour exams—125 points each
b. Final--200 points
3. Attendance and Participation--50 points total
Total Possible Points: 1,000+
C. Grade Scale:
930+= A, 900-929 = A-870-899 = B+, 830-869 = B, 800-829 = B-, 770-799 = C+,
730-769 = C, 700-729 = C-670-699 = D+, 630-669 = D, 600-629 = D-

III. Explanation of Course Requirements

.
A. Graded Work
1. Quizzes
Quizzes will be given as scheduled (see schedule). There will be 8 quizzes in an
objective format- multiple choice, matching, fill in the blank, etc. Four of the quizzes include map
quizzes and are worth 60 or 70 points each. The remaining quizzes will count 40 or 50 points (normally I
provide bonus points on many quizzes). For regular quizzes you are responsible for the assigned
reading and material provided in the lectures since the previous quiz.
You are strongly advised to keep up with your reading on a daily basis, since the lectures will be based
on the reading and will reinforce your learning if you have prepared. If you have not, both your
understanding of (and your notes on) one lecture and your work on the reading will be less efficient, and
I presume this will be reflected in your grade.
2. Exams
We will have a two hour exams as scheduled plus a final exam. Exams will be on the
chapters assigned, but the final will include both new material and essay questions reviewing the entire
course. Exam questions will include identification-significance (Classify; describe the main features,
indicate importance as a cause or example of a broader process); comparisons; tracing; cause-effect; etc.
Some guidance will be provided before each exam, but I also expect you to learn to "put things together"
for yourself, which includes deciding on what knowledge is important and stressed in the course.

3. Attendance, Participation, and Decorum

Generally this course will be a lecture course with limited discussion and in-class work,
but I firmly believe that by listening and taking notes you will learn. I will thus check attendance with
regularity and may also occasionally assign group work. As in "real life," being there is important and
will affect your grade. One absence will not adversely affect your grade. The second unexcused cut will
result in a loss of 5 points, the third will cost an additional 10 points, and each cut thereafter will cost 20
points. Missing more than 25% of the classes may result in automatic failure.
Please note: If you must be absent for a legitimate reason--illness, representing the college in a
scheduled event, or serious personal crisis (e.g. death in the family, etc.), please inform me, in advance if
possible. You may, if the reasons for absence are accepted, make up any missed graded work or at least
not have it counted against you. It is your responsibility to contact me promptly (by e-mail, preferably)
to make arrangements to make up work, and if too much time has passed since the quiz or exam, I may
not permit you to make it up.
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“Decorum” refers to appropriate behavior in class. In general, I expect that you will not behave
in ways that interfere with teaching and learning during class. I consider talking, having your cell phone
on, and arriving or leaving during class time to be distractions that make my task more difficult.
The Contemporary World Schedule of Assignments Spring 2007
Date Lecture Topic Assigned Reading, etc.
W 1/10 Introduction to the course
F 1/12 Themes: the rise of the West Introduction; 2-25
M 1/15 Martin Luther King Day
W 1/17 The Two Worlds of 1900 26-54 and “The Western Isms”
F 1/19 Causes of World War I QUIZ 1 – Ch 1-2, Map 1 (65)
M 1/22 The Great War 56-72
W 1/24 A Broken World/The Russian Revolution 72-87
F 1/26 From Lenin to Stalin 87-93
M 1/29 Comparing Revolutions 93-102
W 1/31 An Era of Illusions QUIZ 2 – Ch 3-4, Map 2 (70)
F 2/2 The Great Depression and the Democracies 104-121
M 2/5 The Interwar Challenge to Liberalism 122-133
W 2/7 Nazism and World Fascism 133-144
F 2/9 EXAM 1 – Ch 1-6 165-187
M 2/12 Latin America to 1945 146-154
W 2/14 Latin America to 1945 - Examples 154-165
F 2/16 Africa to 1945 167-189
M 2/19 Asia; British India QUIZ 3 – Ch 7-8; Map 3 (70)
W 2/21 The Middle East to 1945 190-207
F 2/23 East Asia to 1945 207-219
M 2/26 World War II – Axis Success 221-231
W 2/28 WW II in Europe and Asia 231-245
F 3/2 The Impact of World War II QUIZ 4 – Ch 9-10 (60)
3/3 - 3/11 SPRING BREAK
M 3/12 The Early Cold War 246-262
W 3/14 Tensions West and East 262-283
F 3/16 The Late Cold War QUIZ 5 – Ch 11 (50)
M 3/19 The West since 1975 275-293
W 3/21 The Soviet bloc since 1975 293-319
F 3/23 EXAM 2 – Chapters 7-12
M 3/26 Latin America since 1945 319-332
W 3/28 Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba 332-350
F 3/30 African Independence 350-367
M 4/2 Africa since 1960 367-381
W 4/4 The Middle East QUIZ 6 – Ch 13-14; Map 4 (75)
F 4/6 EASTER BREAK
M 4/9 EASTER BREAK
W 4/11 The Middle East, 1945-67 382-395
F 4/13 The Middle East since 1967 395-413
M 4/16 South Asia since 1945 QUIZ 7 – Ch 15 (50)
W 4/18 India; The Birth of Communist China 414-427
F 4/20 China and Japan 427-442
M 4/23 Eurasia since 1990 QUIZ 8 – Ch 16 (65)
W 4/25 The Islamic World, Latin America and Africa 445-466
F 4/27 Now; Globalization, Identity, Mass Society 466-491
M 4/30 Now; Globalization, Technology and Nature 492-530
Monday, 5/7 11:30 - 3:30 FINAL EXAM - pp. 244-520 (Ch. 11-18), review

Please note – additional readings will be required as assigned during the second half of the course