CONTEMPORARY HISTORY
Oral examinations.
The goal of this course is to provide knowledge of the main Italian and International issues and events of Contemporary History from 1870 to the fall of the Berlin wall (1989). By studying the events that have characterized the end of the 19th century and the 20th century, this course aims to emphasize the complexity and the problematic plots of this period, thus providing a tool to understand the transformation of today’s world and the origin of its current problems.
This course is divided into two parts. In the first part, I will discuss the main events and transformations that occurred starting from the second industrial revolution, to the end of the cold war. Topics covered in the first part include: imperialism between the end of 1800s and the beginning of 1900s; mass society and the formation of modern political parties; the first world war; the Bolshevik revolution and the Soviet Union; fascism; the 1929 economic crisis, the United States and Europe in the 1930s; nazism; the second world war; the new international system and the cold war; the decolonization and the Third-World countries; the chinese revolution; the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; international economic transformations and the deindustrialization; fall of communism in the USSR and in Eastern Europe. In the second part, I will discuss both Italy in the post World War II years, and then the political, economic, and social transformation from the fall of fascism to the crisis of the political system of the 1990s.
M. CATTANEO, C. CANONICI, A. VITTORIA, Manuale di storia, vol. III, Il Novecento e il nuovo millennio, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2012 (Except chapters 19-20; except Fonti, dibattito storiografico, and Storia sullo schermo sections);
F. BARBAGALLO, L’Italia repubblicana. Dallo sviluppo alle riforme mancate (1945-2008), Roma, Carocci, 2009 (Except chapters 8-9)
Students of Humanities (12 CFU) are also required to prepare one of the following books:
1) E. GENTILE, Il fascismo in tre capitoli, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010
2) R.J. OVERY, Crisi tra due guerre mondiali 1919-1939, Bologna, il Mulino, 2009
3) M. DEL PERO, La guerra fredda, Roma, Carocci, 2007
Students of Science of the Cultural Goods (6 CFU) are required to prepare only Manuale di storia, vol. III
Lectures supported by PowerPoint presentations
The exam can be taken in 2 parts:
PART 1: from the beginning of the program to the end of World War II (Manuale di storia, ch. 1-12)
PART 2: from the Cold War to the Fall of the Berlin Wall (Manuale di storia, ch. 13-18), plus Italy in the Post World War II years (F. Barbagallo, L’Italia repubblicana ch. 1-7)