TEACHING RESOURCES
Teaching the EU
SYLLABUS - HIGH SCHOOL (SECONDARY) LEVEL
"Russia and
Contemporary Europe History," George D. Wrangham, The Shipley School, Bryn
Mawr, PA 19010
Elective for Grades 10-12
OVERVIEW:
Russia's history is closely entwined with that of the United States and Europe.
For forty-five years, from 1945 to 1990, Russia stood as the greatest threat to
the countries of the Free World. One thing above all can help prevent a return
to the spirit of mutual suspicion and animosity - education. This course provides
students with a detailed study of the postwar history of the Soviet world, based
upon an understanding of Marxism- Leninism.
Today Europe provides the United States with her greatest trading partner, the
European Union, and her greatest foreign policy commitment, the North Atlantic
Treaty organization. This course includes a careful study of Europe in all her
bewildering multicultural variety, the forces that have united her since 1945
and those that drive her towards fragmentation of her fabric.
The combination of these two themes, Russia and Europe within the time- frame
of 1945 to the present and projected on into the future, makes this course unique.
WHAT:
There are several themes or strands to this course, which are pursued both separately
and in concert through the year.
First, students study modern Russia, learning from original sources and from sophisticated
analysis what Marxist- Leninist theory really involves. They read extracts from
The Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital and other works by Marx, Engels,
Lenin, and Stalin. Such a background in economic and political philosophy is essential
to any understanding of the nature of the Communist regimes in the USSR and Eastern
Europe. The course moves rapidly through the Russian Revolution of 1917 and Stalinsim
to the year 1945. From there on the emphasis on the expansion of Russia into Eastern
and Central Europe, Khrushchev's thaw, the stagnation of the Brezhnev years and
the belated reform movements of Gorbachev ('perestroika' and 'glasnost'), the
collapse of Communism, and Yeltsin's present efforts to stabilize his country
and to find for her once more an appropriate place in the world.
The second theme concerns the many efforts made since 1945 to integrate Western
Europe (and now Eastern and Central Europe too) into a coherent whole. From the
devastation of World War II and the violence perpetrated upon the map of Europe
by the erection of the Iron Curtain arose the determination of Western Europe
both to defend itself against external aggression and to forestall any possibility
of future military conflict among its own members. The first led to NATO, the
second to the European Community. The EC is studied closely in its evolution from
the Coal and Steel Community of Monnet, Schuman and Adenauer to the European Union
of today, now twelve states likely to become sixteen.
Parallel to this process of integration have developed the realities of disintegration.
By some this is regarded as liberation from the chains of the past, but it is
doubtful whether many citizens of the former Yugoslavia or Ukraine truly welcome
the situation in which they find themselves today. Students study these problems
in considerable detail, tracing the roots of intractable Balkan problems back
to the Middle Ages and the Ottoman Empire, learning why it is so extraordinarily
difficult for the U.S., the U.N., NATO or the EU to play any truly effective role
in that part of the world.
The multicultural diversity of Europe is well shown and studied in this course,
in the more obvious regional differences from Lapland to the Costa Brava, and
in the increasing multiplicity of cultures brought into Europe by immigrants,
guest workers or asylum-seekers, such as Algerians in France, Turks in Germany
and Indians in Britain. The pressures for admission to Europe increases, exactly
parallel to the drive of Mexicans, Haitians, Cubans, and other to make their homes
in the United States.
Finally, the course moves into future studies, a serious academic discipline far
removed from popular science- fiction. The students read and discuss works by
contemporary scholars exploring the likely situation of the world in the twenty-
first century. This is the world our students will inhabit, and they will be the
ones to direct its fortunes. So they need to be ready.
WHY AND HOW:
This course seeks to help students prepare themselves for the twenty- first century
and to broaden their appreciation for cultures of the world other than their own.
North America, Europe, and East Asia are emerging as the triad of great trading
blocks in the world. The whole world will be better and safer for all of us only
if people in these three seriously commit themselves to understanding each other.
Classes in this course are conducted for the most part as open discussions centering
around themes presented by individual students or by small groups, drawn from
readings in textbooks, journals and newspapers. These are supplemented by many
videotapes and by the presentations of visiting speakers of varying backgrounds
and expertise.
The students' progress is evaluated in many ways. Oral reports are graded, and
so are students' responses to each other's reports and their individual contributions
to all general discussions. Originality and intellectual risk- taking are highly
valued. Students write take- home and in- class essays, join in formal debates,
and write two two- hour examinations demanding both retention of factual knowledge
and the ability to extrapolate and speculate upon it. Students are asked to date
and comment upon political cartoons and to show they can handle statistics and
bar graphs of such issues as 'per capita' energy consumption country by country
and percentages of population growth and decline.
They also learn by doing, in creating detailed poster- sized maps of the Balkans
and compiling elaborate portfolios on that subject.
MATERIALS:
1. Books:
a. On Communist theory:
Lancaster, Lane W. Masters of Political Thought Volume 3 'Hegel to Dewey'.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969.
This chapter on Karl Marx is unexcelled for its selection of extended passages
from the original, paralleled by cogent analysis.
b. On the history of Russia and Europe since 1945:
i. Black, Cyril E., Helmreich, Jonathan E. and Paul C., Issawi, Charles P.,
McAdams, A. James Rebirth: A History of Europe Since World War II.
Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1992.
The introductory chapters on Europe from 1300 to 1900 to 1945 set the scene for
students with little background. The bulk of the book is well divided into two
sections on the international story and on the history of each country in turn.
From these the instructor can easily select the mostessential chapters and then
assign others to individual students to follow through the year on such topics
as the new Baltic states or Britain and Ireland.
ii. Thompson, John M. Russia and the Soviet Union: An Historical Introduction.
Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990.
Thompson traces the history of the USSR from before 1917 to the fall of Gorbachev
in a short and lucid work, easy for the students to grasp.
c. On Future Studies:
i. Attali, Jacques Millenium: Winners and Losers in the Coming World Order
(Times Books, 1991)
This is a brief, intriguing and thoroughly provocative study by a leading French
intellectual, an associate of President Mitterand and former President of the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
ii. Kennedy, Paul Preparing for the Twenty-first Century (Random House,
1993)
This is a prolonged and sobering account that serves will as a stimulus to
discussion and as a palliative to light- hearted optimism.
2. Journals and newspapers:
a. Current History
The issues published in October
and November each year provide a series of valuable essays on Russia and the Commonwealth
of Independent States, and on Europe East and West. Each essay is concise and
closely constructed, reading fare for graduate students in which high school students
need some help from their instructor.>
b. The European
Students read selected articles from this London- based weekly newspaper, for
its vigorous editorials by Peter Ustinov, its news stories of culture, art and
drama, and its coverage of endless items not to be found elsewhere.
c. EFTA News
The newsletter of the European
Free Trade Area Press and Information Service is especially valuable for its graphs
and statistics.
d. The New York Times
This, and Black's book listed above, are the true core texts for this course.
Each day every students reads virtually all the articles in The New York Times
on Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Europe. The habit of daily
reading a leading international newspaper will stand the students in good stead
all their lives. Classes tend to move back and forth freely from a particular
topic of history under study in the textbook to a discussion of the day's news
as it presents itself.
3. Audiovisual:
a. De Gaulle (Public Broadcasting System)
This is a long, comprehensive biography on film.
b. Eastern Europe: Breaking
With the Past (Global View Productions, 1990)
- #2 'Vaclav Havel: Leadership in
Eastern Europe'
- #3 'Ceausescu: The Last Dictator?'
- #4 'Life as an Ethnic Minority'
#5 'Estonia: A Story of Survival.'
- #10 'The Polish Experience'
These treat with a light touch
subjects not always covered in other series.
c. Khrushchev: The Bear's Embrace (Leaders of the Twentieth Century, Learning
Corporation of America, Simon & Schuster).
Harrison Salisbury's brief film biography is dated but contains lively footage.
d. Stalin (HBO Pictures, directed by Iran Presser)
This long historical drama starring Robert Duvall is mostly set before 1945
but it truly opens the students' eyes to the malevolence of Stalin more effectively
than any written account.
e. The New Europeans (Ambrose Video, 1992)
- Volume 1: 'The Road to Unity'
- Volume 2: 'Global Agenda'
- Volume 3: 'Regional Dreams'
This excellent and lively series
carries a serious message, well illustrated by scenes from the London meat market,
the crafting of Benetton sales campaigns, the struggles of Irish women before
the European Court of Justice to secure access to birth control, and such issues.
f. The Rise and Fall of Mikhail Gorbachev (PBS Home Video, 1991)
This is the best comprehensive year by year, even day by day, account of its
subject, all presented through news photography.
g. The Wall: The Making and Breaking of the Berlin Wall (Educational
Video Network, 1991)
This history of the centerpiece
of the Cold War takes the story from 1945 to the reunification of Germany, a thorough
and detailed account.>
h. The World at War (Thorne EMI, Thames Television, 1982)
Insofar as time may allow, the useful volumes of this 26 hour set have much
to say. Most relevant are the ones on the war in Russia, the French Resistance,
the final collapse of Germany, and the victors' plans for postwar Europe.
4. SUMMER READING:
Slozhenitsyn, Aledsandr Isaievich One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovnich.
This book serves as prelude to the course. The moving study of
one entirely average day in the life of a concentration camp inmate speaks directly
to the experience of all victims of dictatorships of the left or the right. It
is taught as showing one logical consequence of the denial of human rights.
