Suspended in 2025/26
HY249      One Unit
War, Social Conflict and Nation Building: The History of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in the Twentieth Century

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

For centuries, Eastern and Southeastern Europe constituted borderlands of four competing European empires. The twentieth century finally ushered in self-determination and independence, but tragically, subsequent efforts at nation-state building were beset by political and ideological divisions, social unrest, conflicts, wars and genocide. This course aims to engage students with the complex history of these borderlands, from vassalage under four Empires in nineteenth century Europe to full independence towards the end of the twentieth century, and the lasting legacies. It highlights the extent to which until relatively recently, national, ethnic, cultural and political subjugation were as prevalent in Europe, as in the extra-European world. Through the study of the history of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, this course focuses on phenomena firmly imbedded in modern history. The syllabus will address a number of themes: firstly, the impact and legacies of imperial rule. Secondly, the importance of rival ideologies: the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and subsequent creation of the USSR had a profound impact on authoritarian elites in these predominantly agrarian societies, further limiting political liberalization. Thirdly, the significance of the turbulent inter-war period: the causes and consequences of economic crises, the collapse of democratic institutions, the emergence of fascist and anti-Semitic movements, and responses to German and Italian aggression in World War II. Fourthly, Cold War dynamics after the Second World War will be discussed in considerable detail, together with the establishment, development and collapse of Soviet domination of the region. The course will explore these themes through the comparative histories of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece and the Baltic States. Final lectures will concentrate on the transition from communism to democratic regimes following the end of the Cold War, and the impact of the post-Cold War international system on the region, including the break-up of Yugoslavia and the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the Winter Term.
10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.

Students will be required to write a 2,000-word formative essay in the AT and one in the WT.

Robert Bideleux & Ian Jeffries, A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change, 2nd edition (2007).
Richard J. Crampton, Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century and After (2002).
Richard J. Crampton, The Balkans Since the Second World War, (2002).
Ben Fowkes, The Rise and Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe (1993).
Svetozar Rajak, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the Early Cold War: Reconciliation, Comradeship,
Confrontation, 1953-57, (2011)
Misha Glenny, The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, 1804-2012 (2012).
Geoffrey Swain & Nigel Swain, Eastern Europe since 1945 (1993).
Adrian Webb, The Routledge Companion to Central and Eastern Europe (2008).

Exam (100%), duration: 180 Minutes in the Spring exam period