HIST 226 (Fall 2017) MWF 8:30-9:30, Stuart Biology S1/3

East Central & Southeastern Europe

in the Twentieth Century

Instructor: James Krapfl

Iwo C. Pogonowski, Poland: A Historical Atlas (New York: Hippocrene Books, 1987).
between Germany and the Soviet Union.
Wadysaw Sikorskis

post-WWII confederation of nations

Polish Prime Minister in exile

1942 proposal
for a
Office: 631 Leacock
Phone: 514-398-4400 ext. 00197
E-mail: james.krapfl AT mcgill.ca
Office hours: MW 9:45-11:00, and by appointment

Teaching assistant:
Jessica Rose (jessica.rose@mail.mcgill.ca)
Office: 632 Leacock
Office hours: TBA

This course provides an introduction to the turbulent twentieth-

century history of what used to be called Eastern Europe. It
was a diverse region where over twenty languages were spoken
and seven major religions practiced, where today there lie
thirteen to twenty-six independent countries (depending how one
counts). During the twentieth century it was a testing ground for
social engineers and a battleground between conflicting empires
and ideologies. It was a land where one could be a citizen, in the
course of a single lifetime, of as many as six different states
without ever leaving home. As the site of so much meeting, commingling, and strife, this part of
Europe promises rich rewards to students of the human condition, who are patient and persistent
enough to sort through the tangled webs of its history.

READING MATERIALS
One required textbook is available from Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 McGill College Ave.:
R. J. Crampton. Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Centuryand After, 2nd ed. New York:
Routledge, 1997.
A second required textbook is back-ordered, but should be available from Paragraphe in late
September:
Heda Margolius Kovly. Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968. Teaneck, N.J.:
Holmes & Meier, 1997.
A required coursepack is available from the McGill Bookstore, 3544 Ave. du Parc.

Additional required readings (in the public domain) will be made available on MyCourses as
the semester progresses. These are indicated in the course schedule (below) with asterisks.
The textbooks and coursepack have also been requested for 3-hour reserve in McLennan Library.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
In order to complete the course successfully, students must carry out the following assignments:
Take-home map assignment 5%
2 essays or 1 research paper 40%
Midterm exam 15%
Final exam 30%
Conference participation 10%

In general, students must write two short essays (4-5 pp.) in response to questions that will be
circulated in advance; each essay will be worth 20% of the final grade. With the instructors
permission, advanced or especially prepared students may opt instead to write a single research
paper (8-10 pp.) on a topic to be determined in consultation with the instructor. Students desiring
to write a research paper must request permission and propose a topic by Sept. 27.

If the universitys administrative bureaucracy facilitates it, the midterm exam will be held the
evening of Oct. 23. (This should be known by the end of September.) Otherwise, the exam will
be take-home and due on Oct. 23, with students having the preceding weekend to work on it.

Ten conferences are scheduled for the semester, and attendance is required. Unexcused absence
from three conferences will be grounds for failing the course. The instructor and teaching
assistant, who will alternately facilitate the conferences, may choose to include additional
assignments (e.g. preparing answers to study questions) in calculating the conference
participation grade.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Week 1 44
Wed., Sept. 6: Introduction
Berlin Fri., Sept. 8: The Twilight of Empires
Europe Reading: Crampton, pp. viii-xiii, 1-6 (12 pp.)
*The Treaty of Berlin (4 pp.)
Czesaw Miosz, Ancestry, pp. 19-35 (17 pp.)
*Mark Twain, Stirring Times in Austria (11 pp.)

Week 2 162
Mon., Sept. 11: Nationalism, Terrorism, and the Balkan Wars
Reading: The Kosovo Maiden (7 pp.)
IMRO, Instructions Concerning the Formation of Secret
Bands (7 pp.)
*Denunciation by Austria-Hungary of Article XXV of the
Treaty of Berlin (3 pp.)
Sarajevo Wed., Sept. 13: The First World War
Europe Reading: *The Assassination at Sarajevo, June 28, 1914 (5 pp.)
*The Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum to Serbia, July 23, 1914
(5 pp.)

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 *The Serbian Response to the Austro-Hungarian Ultimatum,
July 25, 1914 (4 pp.)
*The Servian Press on the Assassination (4 pp.)
Pter Hank, Vox Populi: Intercepted Letters in the First
World War (34 pp.)
Jaroslav Haek, The Good Soldier vejk, pp. 1-36, 219-40 (48
pp.)
Fri., Sept. 15: The Revolutions of 1918
Reading: Crampton, pp. 6-27, 78-84, 95-97 (32 pp.)
*The Fourteen Points (1 p.)
*The Formation of YugoslaviaThe Pact of Corfu (5 pp.)
*Polish Independence (3 pp.)
*The Coup dtat at Prague on October 28, 1918 (4 pp.)

Week 3 75
Versailles Mon., Sept. 18: The Consolidation of New States
Europe Reading: Crampton, pp. 30-38, 39-41, 57-60, 84-85, 107-108, 130-133
(23 pp.)
*Excerpt from the Treaty of St. Germain (3 pp.)
*Excerpt from the Treaty of Trianon (7 pp.)
Wed., Sept. 20: Interwar Society
Reading: Gyula Illys, People of the Puszta, pp. 7-49 (42 pp.)
Fri., Sept. 22: CONFERENCE on World War I and its consequences

Week 4 134
Mon., Sept. 25: Interwar Hungary: The Kingdom without a King
Reading: Crampton, pp. 85-93 (8 pp.)
Gyula Illys, People of the Puszta, pp. 122-138, 204-232, 261-
308 (91 pp.)
Wed., Sept. 27: Balkan Monarchies
Reading: Crampton, pp. 109-116, 119-129, 133-142, 144-151 (35 pp.)
Deadline (5 p.m.) to request permission to write a research
paper instead of the two essays
Fri., Sept. 29: CONFERENCE on interwar society
Map assignment due at beginning of conference

Week 5 147
Mon., Oct. 2: Republican Poland and the Baltic States
Reading: Crampton, pp. 41-56, 97-103 (21 pp.)
*Aleksander Skrzyski, American and Polish Democracy (7
pp.)
Jzef Pisudski, The Memories of a Polish Revolutionary and
Soldier, pp. 10-16, 366-371 (13 pp.)
Wed., Oct. 4: The Czechoslovak Republic
Reading: Crampton, pp. 60-77 (18 pp.)
Tom Garrigue Masaryk, The Making of a State, pp. 409-496
(88 pp.)
Fri., Oct. 6: CONFERENCE on interwar politics

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 Week 6 87
Munich Mon., Oct. 9: Thanksgiving
Europe Wed., Oct. 11: Fascism in East Central & Southeastern Europe
Reading: Crampton, pp. 152-176 (24 pp.)
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, A Few Remarks on Democracy (4
pp.)
Agreement Concluded at Munich on September 29, 1938 (2
pp.)
Neville Chamberlain, National Broadcast (3 pp.)
Neville Chamberlain, A Halt to Aggression (8 pp.)
Fri., Oct. 13: The Second World War, Part I
Reading: Crampton, pp. 93-94, 103-106, 117-118, 142-143, 178-209 (39
pp.)
*Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics (with the secret additional
protocol) (3 pp.)
*The Manifesto of Freedom (4 pp.)

Week 7 105
Mon., Oct. 16: The Second World War, Part II
First essay due by start of lecture
Reading: Margolius Kovly, pp. 5-38 (34 pp.)
Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and
Gentlemen (21 pp.)
Yalta Wed., Oct. 18: Ending the Second World War
Europe Reading: Margolius Kovly, pp. 39-51 (12 pp.)
Milovan Djilas, Conversations with Stalin, pp. 87-124 (38 pp.)
Fri., Oct. 20: CONFERENCE

Week 8 173
Mon., Oct. 23: The Establishment of Communist Regimes
Reading: Crampton, pp. 211-239 (29 pp.)
Margolius Kovly, pp. 52-74 (23 pp.)
Czesaw Miosz, The Captive Mind, pp. 3-24 (22 pp.)
Midterm Exam
Wed., Oct. 25: Stalinism and Titoism
Reading: Crampton, pp. 255-274 (20 pp.)
Margolius Kovly, pp. 75-153 (79 pp.)
Fri., Oct. 27: CONFERENCE on Stalinism

Week 9 213
Mon., Oct. 30: From Stalins Death to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Reading: Crampton, pp. 275-303 (29 pp.)
Margolius Kovly, pp. 154-177 (23 pp.)
Sndor Kopcsi, In the Name of the Working Class, pp. 60-
206 (142 pp.)
Wed., Nov. 1: The Berlin Wall and Post-Stalinist Consolidation
Reading: Crampton, pp. 307-325 (19 pp.)

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 Fri., Nov. 3: CONFERENCE on the possibilities and limits of de-Stalinization

Week 10 106
Mon., Nov. 6: Everyday Life in Really Existing Socialism
Reading: Crampton, pp. 240-254 (15 pp.)
Slavenka Drakuli, A Chat with My Censor, A Communist
Eye, or What Did I See in New York? and How We
Survived Communism (27 pp.)
Milovan Djilas, The New Class, excerpts (6 pp.)
Mihailo Markovi, The Praxis Group, excerpts (6 pp.)
Milovan Djilas, The Unperfect Society: Beyond the New Class,
pp. 220-227 (8 pp.)
Wed., Nov. 8: The Prague Spring and Its Aftermath
Reading: Crampton, pp. 326-341 (16 pp.)
Margolius Kovly, pp. 178-192 (14 pp.)
The Action Program of the Communist Party of
Czechoslovakia, excerpts (4 pp.)
*Ludvk Vaculk, Two Thousand Words (8 pp.)
*Jan Zajcs last letters (2 pp.)
Fri., Nov. 10: CONFERENCE on varieties of socialism

Week 11 120
Mon., Nov. 13: Jan Patoka, Charter 77, and KOR
Reading: *Charter 77 (4 pp.)
*Vclav Havel, The Power of the Powerless (74 pp.)
Wed., Nov. 15: Solidarity
Reading: Crampton, pp. 345-376 (32 pp.)
The Gdask Agreement (10 pp.)
Fri., Nov. 17: CONFERENCE on dissidence and its impact

Week 12 169
Mon., Nov. 20: Perestroika and Civil Society in the Eighties
Reading: Crampton, pp. 379-389 (11 pp.)
Jnos Kis, Ferenc Kszeg, & Ottilia Solt, A New Social
Contract (4 pp.)
Sopron Wed., Nov. 22: The Revolutions of 1989
Europe Reading: Crampton, pp. 390-400, 405-415 (22 pp.)
John Connelly, Moment of Revolution: Plauen (Vogtland),
October 7, 1989 (18 pp.)
Michael Kukral, Prague 1989: Theater of Revolution, pp. 31-
33, 46-94 (52 pp.)
Lszl Tks, With God, for the People, pp. 1-20, 145-186 (62
pp.)
Fri., Nov. 24: CONFERENCE on 1989

Week 13 175
Mon., Nov. 27: Consequences of Revolution
Second essay or research paper due by start of lecture

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 Reading: Crampton, pp. 419-421, 423-429, 435-437, 439-445, 447-454
(24 pp.)
*Timothy Garton Ash, Aprs le dluge, nous (21 pp.)
Eva Hoffman, Exit into History: A Journey through the New
Eastern Europe, pp. ix-x, 262-297, 304-315, 341-345 (54
pp.)
Wed., Nov. 29: Yugoslavia and Albania after 1989
Reading: Crampton, pp. 400-405, 421-423, 429-435, 437-439, 445-447,
454-458 (22 pp.)
Dimitrij Rupel, The Slovene National Question, excerpts (5
pp.)
*The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (2 pp.)
Slavenka Drakuli, The Balkan Express: Fragments from the
Other Side of War, pp. 5-9, 35-41, 49-52 (15 pp.)
Peter Maass, Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War, pp. 36-67
(32 pp.)
Fri., Dec. 1: CONFERENCE on post-Communism

Week 14 2
Nice Mon., Dec. 4: European Union and the End of Eastern Europe
Europe Reading: *Martin imeka, A Romantic Story with a Happy Ending
(2 pp.)
Wed., Dec. 6: The Situation Today: Have We Learned Anything?
Thurs., Dec. 7: Conclusion and Review

The university will schedule the final exam for sometime between Dec. 8 and 21.

UNIVERSITY POLICIES
McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning
and consequences of cheating, plagiarism, and other academic offences under the Code of Student
Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see <http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity/> for more information).

In accord with McGill Universitys Charter of Students Rights, students in this course have the right
to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded.

In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the Universitys control, the content and/or
evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.