16901

WiSe 20/21: The moral of German history: from AJP Taylor to Christopher Clark

Daniel Louis Nethery

Comments

Subject: What is the meaning of German history? Historians of Germany have answered this question in profoundly different and often contradictory ways. In this course we will read some influential contributions to what Christopher Clark called ‘the robust tradition of transatlantic Anglophone writing’ on German history. Program: We will begin with AJP Taylor, who at the end of the second world war claimed that ‘nothing is normal in German history’, and end with Clark, whose bestselling study of the origins of the first world war repudiated much of what Taylor and others after him had written. Between these two “bookends” we will discuss the works of historians who saw in German history lessons on topics as disparate as liberalism and cultural despair; you will also learn about the Sonderweg theory of Nazism and its critics. By the end of the course you will have a broad understanding of several influential interpretations of German history. Assessment: To obtain 5 ECTS points you will need to attend the course regularly, engage with the course materials, and pass the final examination. Prerequisites: This course is open to students in the humanities, social sciences and cultural studies. Practicalities: There will be no class in week 1 (6 November), weeks 5 and 6 (4 and 11 December) or week 13 (12 February). In those weeks you will complete, online, exercises based on the course materials. close