History

The United States, Origins to Reconstruction
Prereq: None. Freq: Fall, Spring.
Analyzes the social, economic, ethnic, cultural and political development of the United States from its Native American origins to the end of post-Civil War Reconstruction.

The United States, Reconstruction to Recent Times
Prereq: None. Freq: Fall, Spring, Summer.
Analyzes the historical development of the United States from the end of Reconstruction to the recent past, with emphasis on its emergence as a modern industrial society and a world power.

Introduction to Asia
Prereq: None. Freq: Fall.
Covers the social, cultural, economic, religious, literary, and political aspects of life in Asia, including China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia, and their neighboring countries. Cross-listed with INTS 103.

Introduction to the Middle East
Prereq: None. Freq: Spring (even years).
Introduces the diverse peoples and cultures of the Middle East by discussing political and economic aspects of the region, as well as religious, societal, and cultural elements. Examines topics in twentieth-century history to the present, such as Islam, the causes and consequences of major wars, extremist groups, and US policy in the region. Discusses the family, religious practices, women’s status, education, and other issues affecting peoples’ lives today.

Western Civilization I: From Antiquity to 1300
Prereq: None. Freq: Fall.
Western civilization began with the written records of the Mesopotamians. It was shaped by the religious influences of the Egyptians and Hebrews, the democratic and legal ideas of the Greeks and Romans, the early conflicts between Christianity and Islam, and the birth of early Europe. This course examines the political, social, and cultural beginnings of the Western world, and how these developments continue to impact us today.

Western Civilization II: The Middle Ages to 1815
Prereq: None. Freq: Spring.
In 1300, Europeans experienced one of the highest standards of living ever known, but it would not last. Famines, plagues, and warfare challenged them politically, socially, and intellectually. The resulting changes led to the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution. This course examines these changes, their causes, and how they came together to influence the modern world.

Western Civilization III: From 1815 to the Present
Prereq: None. Freq: Fall.
Post-Napoleonic Europe embodied notions of moral and social improvement, ideas that were compatible with industrialization, nationalism, and political change. The struggle for cultural dominance led to a scramble for colonization, two global conflicts and the Cold War. This course examines the last two centuries of Western history, beginning with the idealism of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to a more pragmatic modern day.

World History I: From Antiquity to 1300
Prereq: None. Freq: Spring.
Explores the rise of ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt under the Pharaohs, China through the Tang dynasty, and the Indus River Valley. Includes major archaeological discoveries, the rise of the Persian Empire and its conquest by Alexander the Great, the many innovations of Classical Greece and Rome, and the origins of modern world religions.

World History II: From 1300 to 1800
Prereq: None. Freq: Occasionally.
Surveys the rapid expansion of the Mongol Empire before and after Genghis Khan, the growth of the Ottoman Empire, China from the Song to the Qing dynasty, and the steady rise of European colonial power around the globe. Topics include the Black Death, the Spanish conquest of the Aztec world, and the Atlantic Slave Trade.

World History III: From 1800 to the Present
Prereq: None. Freq: Fall, Spring, Winterim.
Considers the roles of technology, imperialism, and ideology in this era of unprecedented global conflict and rapid social change.  Includes the decline of European colonial empires, the consequences of two World Wars, the impact of Nazism and the Holocaust, and the progress made by women in social and political arenas.

Popular Culture
Prereq: None. Freq: Occasionally.
History of different forms of popular cultural expression in music, literature, film, magazines, art, etc. Topics may vary for different Western and non-Western societies. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

Religion in America
Prereq: ENGL 101. Freq: Occasionally.
A survey of the religious experience in America from colonial times to the present. Includes consideration of the relationship of religion to ethnicity and the role of religion in American politics.

Women in Modern Society
Prereq: ENGL 101. Freq: Occasionally.
Surveys the social and demographic patterns of pre-industrial society; focuses on the role of women in modern, industrial society. Topics include working-class women, middle class and modernization reform movements; feminism, suffrage, socialism, women in the era of the world wars, and the contemporary women’s movement. Cross-listed with WGSS 236.

Latin American History
Prereq: None. Freq: Occasionally.
Broad topical survey of Latin America from pre-Columbian civilizations to the present.

Sources and Methods in History
Prereq: Completion of at least two of the following with a C or better: HIST 101, 102, 118, 119, 120, 126, 127, 128.  Freq: Fall.
Explores basics of historical methods in research and writing, mechanics of archival and library research in order to produce a final research paper involving primary and secondary sources.

International Conflict
Prereq:  ENGL 101 and one 100-level HIST course. Freq: Occasionally.
Focuses on the conflict generated by modernization, industrialization, the search for colonies and nationalism. Topics vary and course may be repeated for credit with different content.

Introduction to Holocaust Studies
Prereq: English 101 with grade of C- or better or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Examines historical, philosophical and other issues surrounding the Holocaust, using texts by those who experienced the Holocaust. Cross-listed with ENGL 268/INTS 268.

Special Topics in History
Prereq: ENGL 101 and one 100-level HIST course. Freq: Occasionally.
Selected topics in history will be examined.

Topics in Multicultural History
Prereq: ENGL 101 and one 100-level HIST course. Freq: Occasionally.
Selected topics in multicultural American history will be examined. May be repeated for credit with different content.

Race/Ethnicity: United States of America 1492-1890
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Examines the historical evolution of the American people and culture resulting from the interaction among diverse ethnic elements from initial contacts to the closing of the frontier. Explores the concept of ethnicity and its relationship to socioeconomic, political and diplomatic developments.

Race/Ethnicity: United States of America 1890 to the Present
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Spring (even years).
Examines the continuing evolution of the United States into “an American kaleidoscope” during the 20th century.   Tests the various concepts and models of ethno-cultural interaction against the complexity and diversity of historical development during a century of rapid, massive change. Cross-listed with ETHN 302.

History of Wisconsin
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Fall (even years).
Explores the transformation of Wisconsin from an agrarian territory to an urban, industrial, ethnically diverse state. Uses the facilities of the Area Research Center and the Wisconsin Historical Society.  Emphasizes the distinctive value and challenges of studying state and local history.

Colonialism
Prereq: HIST 250. Freq: Occasionally.
Examines the causes and consequences of European and American colonial expansion in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, focusing on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with attention to the experiences of both colonized and colonizers.

History of the Modern Middle East
Prereq:  HIST 250 or consent of instructor.  Freq: Fall (even years).
Examines the historical context of and underlying reasons for the challenges facing the Middle East today. Topics include Egypt from Muhammad Ali through the Arab Spring, Qajar Iran through the Islamic Republic, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, and Western interventions in the region, including the most recent U.S. wars.

History of North Africa
Prereq:  HIST 250 or consent of instructor.  Freq: Occasionally.
History of North African societies, with a focus on indigenous inhabitants, from prehistory to the present. Impact of various incursions, including Phoenicians, Romans, Arab Muslims, and European colonialism; local resistance to political and military domination; evolution of gender relations and other social structures; nationalist movements; effects of globalization on the region.

History of Islam
Prereq: HIST 250. Freq: Fall (odd years).
Examines the history of Islam from its origins in seventh-century Arabia to becoming the world’s second largest religion today.   Covers the life of Muhammad, the Sunni-Shi’a split, the major Islamic empires, Islamic modernists, Islamists, extremists, and the status of women and gender debates in Islam.

Arab-Israeli Conflict
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Spring (odd years).
Explores the complexities of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, as well as the social histories of Palestinians and Israelis as real people with everyday lives and concerns.

Germany 1815 to the Present
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Examines the failure of liberalism, triumph of political and social reaction, World War I, the fascist response to political defeat and social modernization, World War II and the postwar era, German reunification.

History of American Politics
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor.  Freq: Occasionally.
Interdisciplinary course in the development of the American political system from colonial times to the present, utilizing concepts of history, political science and sociology. Emphasis on the causes and nature of political change.

Mayhem and the Metropolis
Prereq: ENGL 101 and HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Explores the rise and social development of selected large cities, with an emphasis on the crime, poverty, and social upheaval that resulted from their rapid growth. This is not a course on forensics or crime-solving, but rather a look at selected individuals and their offenses by examining the urban environment that helped create them.

Age of Napoleon, 1770-1825
Prereq: ENGL 101 and HIST 250. Freq: Occasionally.
Delves into the life and impact of Napoleon and the world in which he lived. Examines key events in early nineteenth-century Great Britain, Continental Europe, and the United States.

History of Britain I: To 1603
Prereq: ENGL 101 and HIST 250 or consent of instructor.  Freq: Fall.
A survey of British social and political developments, beginning with the arrival of the Romans in 55 BC and continuing through to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. While the primary emphasis will be on England, the course will touch on all the regions that form the United Kingdom.

History of Britain II: 1603 to Present
Prereq: ENGL 101 and HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Spring.
Examines British social and political developments, beginning with the Stuart Dynasty through to the present. Focus includes such topics as the English Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, Britain and Abolitionism, Colonialism, and the rise and fall of the British Empire.

The Evolution of Pre-Modern Russia
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Russia in the heyday of serfdom, responses to industrialization, intensified contact with the West, and demand for modernization through the revolutions of 1917.

History of Russia, 1917 to the Present
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Fall.
Explores the modern political, cultural and economic systems created in Russia since 1917.

Contemporary American Immigration
Prereq: None. Freq: Occasionally.
Examines the global economic, social, and political forces that have shaped immigration to the United States since the passage of the Immigration Nationality Act of 1965 and the ways in which immigration is changing the nation and the world. Includes models of assimilation, political-participation, and psychological and cultural considerations. Cross-listed with ETHN 333. 

Native American History
Prereq: HIST 101 and HIST 250, or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
An in-depth examination of the major themes of Native American history, beginning with the period before European contact and ending with the current emphasis on tribal self-determination. Topics to be discussed include the devastating effects of colonization on Native Americans, and the contradictory federal policies of removal, reservations, and allotment/assimilation.

Poverty in American History
Prereq:  HIST 101 or 102; and 250.  Freq: Fall (even years).
Explores the problem of poverty in American history, emphasizing the experiences of poor Americans, the evolution of explanations of poverty, and how Americans have confronted the issue. Includes a community-based learning component.

African-American History
Prereq: HIST 101 or 102. Freq: Fall (odd years).
Examines the experience of African Americans from colonial times to the present, with emphasis on their evolution as an ethnic group and on their struggle for equality. Cross-listed with ETHN 337.

American Colonial History
Prereq:  HIST 101, and HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Spring (odd years).
An examination of the European exploration and colonization of North America, including interactions with native populations culminating with the American Revolution.

Early American Republic
Prereq: HIST 101, and HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Fall (odd years).
Traces the political, cultural and social development of the United States from the American Revolution to the antebellum period.

The Urbanization of the United States
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Analyzes the evolution of urban places and cities in the United States from a network of tiny colonial outposts to a complex system of consolidated metropolitan statistical areas, as well as the impact that the historical process of urbanization has had upon other aspects of national development.

The American Civil War
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Spring (even years).
Examines the origins and outcomes of the United States’ bloodiest conflict, including slavery, westward expansion, and Reconstruction.

Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 1877-1917
Prereq: HIST 250. Freq: Occasionally.
Explores the emergence of the United States as a modern, urban, industrial, multiethnic world power between the end of Reconstruction and American entry into World War I. Stresses the many efforts to reform various aspects of life during the Populist and Progressive Eras.

America in Power and Peril 1917-1953
Prereq: HIST 250. Freq: Fall (odd years).
Explores the nation’s experience as an emergent global power along with the effects of waxing and waning domestic prosperity during the first half of the 20th century; examines the challenges of urban/rural, racial/ethnic, and gender divisions in the nation, along with the growth of American culture.

Recent America, 1953-Present
Prereq: HIST 250. Freq: Spring (even years).
Examines the United States as superpower, the benefits and limits of postwar prosperity, the rights revolution, the era of cynicism and limits on government, the challenges and opportunities of multiculturalism, and the redefinition of the nation’s role in the world.

Topics in Latin American History
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Focuses on specific countries or on particular aspects of Latin American development; for example, revolution and land reform. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

Topics in 19th Century Europe
Prereq: HIST 120, and HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Topics include political and social revolutions; modernization and industrialization; nationalism; new cultural movements; the rise of modern ideologies; feminism and women’s rights.

Europe Between the Wars: 1919-1939
Prereq: HIST 120, HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Europe from the end of the first world war to the beginnings of the second. Topics include the Treaty of Versailles, revolutions in Central Europe, the successor states in Eastern Europe, political change in the west, the rise of -fascism, appeasement, and the road to war.

Europe Since 1945
Prereq: HIST 120, 250. Freq: Occasionally.
Explores the end of World War II, the Cold War and Sovietization of Eastern Europe, political change in the West, decolonization, European unification, revolutions of 1989, and recent developments in Europe.

Immigration and Race in Modern Europe
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Covers migration both within and from outside Europe from the 19th century to the present; government policies encouraging and discouraging immigration; ideas of race and racism; experiences of immigrants, and hybrid cultures resulting from immigration.

Ancient and Imperial China, 2200 BCE – 1644 CE
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Explores China’s history from the fossil record through the end of the Ming Dynasty in 1644 CE. Topics include Chinese culture, philosophy, innovation, technology, warfare, and artistic achievements, as well as major archaeological finds.

China from the Opium Wars to World War II
Prereq: HIST 250. Freq: Occasionally.
Examines how opium addiction, natural disaster, and war against the Western powers triggered the collapse of China’s once powerful Qing Dynasty, leaving it defenseless against the rising Japanese Empire.

China Since World War II
Prereq: HIST 250. Freq: Occasionally.
Explores the violent birth of the People’s Republic, China’s war against the United States in Korea, Mao Zedong’s cult of personality, China’s rapid economic reforms during the 1980s and 1990s, and the triumph of the Beijing Olympics.

Japan in the Late Samurai Age: 1400-1867
Prereq:  HIST 250. Freq: Occasionally.
Examines the lives of Japan’s samurai class, the way of the warrior, the role of the shogun, the origins of Japan’s greatest cities and castles, the truth about geisha, and the real life among Japan’s peasants, rebels, and outcasts.

Japan Since the Samurai Age: 1868-Present
Prereq: HIST 250. Freq: Occasionally.
Explores Japan’s last samurai revolution and the creation of the Japanese Empire, followed by Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, defeat by the United States in 1945, and stunning resurgence into a leading industrial and economic superpower by the late 20th century.

International Conflict
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Focuses on the conflict generated by modernization, industrialization, the search for colonies, and nationalism. Topics vary and course may be repeated for credit with different content. Course differs from HIST 260 in that a research paper will be required.

Holocaust Studies
Prereq: English 266 and 167 or a 200-level survey; or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Intensive study of various aspects of the Holocaust, such as literature of the Holocaust, film and the Holocaust, literature of the Second Generation, etc.  Cross-listed with ENGL 468/ HUMA 468.

Special Topics in History
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor. Freq: Occasionally.
Selected topics in history will be examined. Research paper required.

Topics in Multicultural History
Prereq: HIST 250 or consent of instructor.  Freq: Occasionally.
Selected topics in multicultural American history will be examined.  May be repeated for credit with different content.

Internship in History
Prereq: HIST 250; 3.0 GPA in history, consent of department chair.  Freq: Fall, Spring, Summer.
Provides opportunities for research and project-related work at university and non-university agencies and offices, such as state and county historical societies and community organizations.  A limited number of internships are available; thus the awarding of internships will be on a competitive basis.

History Capstone
Prereq: HIST 250. Freq: Spring.
Introduces the topic of historiography and important philosophical and ethical questions regarding the responsibilities of the historian.  Provides students an opportunity to explore how students’ skills are applicable to a range of professions.

Independent Study
Prereq: Consent of instructor and department chair, minimum 3.3 GPA in history. Freq: Fall, Spring, Summer.
Independent study is designed to enable students to pursue an interest or area in history not served by existing departmental offerings. Note: A maximum of 3 credits of independent study may be counted toward the major.