Minorities, Nation-States, Fascism: Central Europe, 1918-1949 - HIS00057C

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Module summary

Emerging from the wreckage of empires after the First World War, the fledgling nation-states of East-Central Europe faced huge challenges bringing stability to their politics, economies, societies and international relations. Some of the most serious difficulties seemed to stem from their ethnic diversity - the fact that nations did not map neatly onto states, so that each state contained numerous large minorites. This module will probe into this matter, studying how ethnic minorities were treated in different East-Central European states, why this happened, how this changed over time, and how minority groups sought to challenge this. We will think through key concepts such as nation, state, ethnicity and citizenship. We will study how the rise of Nazi Germany impacted on East-Central Europe and on its minorities, nationalists and fascists. We will examine the ethnic violence and ethic cleansing which peaked during and after the Second World War.

We will start with sessions addressing the broader context: the situation of minorities in the pre-WWI empires and how their position transformed at the end of that war. Will will then study inter-ethnic relations and minority treatment between the wars in five East-Central European states, before turning to Germany itself, where Hitler’s regime seized power in 1933. The final session will examine the wave of ethnic cleansing carried out during and immediately after the Second World War.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Spring Term 2022-23

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

• To give an intensive introduction to an unfamiliar period and/or approach to the study of history;
• To offer experience in the use of primary source materials;
• To develop skills in analysing historiography; and
• To develop core skills such as: bibliographical search techniques; source analysis; essay writing; giving presentations; and, undertaking independent research.

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

• Acquire an insight into an unfamiliar period and/or approach to history through intensive study of an aspect of the period and/or an approach to it;
• Gain experience of analysing primary source materials;
• Be able to evaluate an historical explanation;
• Have further developed work undertaken in the Autumn Term lecture courses and skills portfolios, including historical analysis, note-taking, using primary sources, presenting to groups, and leading discussions in seminars;
• Be able to construct a coherent historical argument in oral and written forms

Module content

Teaching Programme:

Teaching will be in weekly 2-hour seminars taught over nine weeks, plus an overview and revision session in Week 2 of Summer Term. Each week students will do reading and preparation in order to be able to contribute to discussion.

Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:

1. Empires and Minorities before WWI

2. The Minorities ‘Problem’ at the end of WWI

3. Poland

4. Czechoslovakia

5. Hungary

6. Romania

7. Yugoslavia

8. Germany and German minorities

9. 'Solving' the minority 'problem' through ethnic cleansing, 1939-49

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)	100

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Formative work:

During the Spring Term students will prepare a presentation in pairs or small groups. Tutors will determine the formative work for the course: all groups will present on a primary source. Formative work will be completed in one or more sessions at the tutor’s discretion.

Summative assessment:

An open exam in the Common Assessment Period, comprising one essay question chosen from five options

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)	100

Module feedback

Following their formative assessment task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.

Work will be returned to students in their discussion groups and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their procedural work with their tutor (or module convenor) during student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.

For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.

Indicative reading

For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:

Mazower, Mark. Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century. London: Penguin, 1998.

Alexander Prusin, The Lands Between: Conflict in the East European Borderlands, 1870-1992. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010..