Arnstein, Britain Yesterday and Today, 8th ed.
Hachey, Hernon, and McCaffrey, The Irish Experience, rev. ed.
Additional readings to be distributed in class.
General Goals and Objective
Students should benefit from this course in many ways.
For example, they will gain much practice in reading, analyzing
information, and writing. These are
skills that are practical--that is, they will be necessary for success in
a wide variety of professional careers. By
studying British and Irish history you will learn much not only
about those countries but also
about the United States, Europe, and indeed the world.
Such information can be interesting and also useful, for one can
understand individuals or societies only by knowing their past.
Students will learn many things that will help them (as human beings, as
citizens, or as business and political leaders) to react more wisely to
present-day problems. Every issue
that confronts us today has also confronted people in the past.
Thus one can learn lessons for today's world by seeing how persons in the
past handled similar situations. Examples
include the following: What makes a
person or a country "great"? What conditions usually contribute to
tolerance or intolerance (in race, in religion, etc.)? What sorts of factors
often lead to wars or help to preserve peace? What are the advantages or
disadvantages of different kinds of governments? What factors tend to be good or
bad for social justice and economic prosperity? Of course, another aim of the
course is to examine many of the
individuals and events that have shaped British and Irish history over the past
two centuries. Specific topics to
be studied include the Industrial Revolution and the rise of modern capitalism,
western imperialism, British dominion over Ireland, the Irish independence
movement, changing class
structures,
You should prepare yourself for each class by reading the assignments as
noted in this syllabus or as indicated in class. You
can find
the online syllabus at
http://web.sbu.edu/history/tschaeper)
You should come to class prepared to discuss each week's readings.
During the course of the semester you will see several films--in whole or
in part. You will be responsible for these films as well as for the lectures,
discussions, and readings.
My advice regarding class attendance is simple: Don’t miss any classes.
The very best students rarely, if ever, miss a class. If illness or some other serious problem prevents you from
coming to a class, I will appreciate it if you notify me of your situation
beforehand or shortly thereafter.
All forms of cheating or plagiarism will be punished severely.
The penalty could include a failing grade on a particular assignment or
even a failing grade for the entire course.
For further discussion of plagiarism, see the online departmental writing
guide (
http://web.sbu.edu/history/guide/intro.html ).
Research Paper: 35% Due on 29 April.
Final Exam: 30
% 8:00 am, Wednesday, 13 May, in our regular classroom
Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in
this class are encouraged to contact the Disability Support Services Office,
Doyle room 26, at 375-2065 as soon as possible to ensure that such
accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.
Research
Paper
Each student will submit a research paper on or before 29 April. The
text of the paper will be approximately 13 to 15 double-spaced pages in 12-point
typeface. You can insert
either footnotes or endnotes. You must also include a bibliography at the
end. All notes and bibliographical citations should be in Chicago style.
Your paper must be make use of primary sources as well as a
variety of secondary works (books, articles, and so on). For information
on Chicago style, primary and secondary sources, proper ways to cite
evidence, working in a library to find materials on any topic, tips
on good writing, examples of bad writing, a
discussion about choosing a thesis for a paper, and information on all sorts of other topics involved in research and writing,
consult the History Department's online guide:
http://web.sbu.edu/history/guide/intro.html .
The paper can be on virtually any
topic involving Britain and/or Ireland from approximately 1800 to the present.
One topic that I will not let you select is the Irish famine of the 1840s.
The reason is that we will devote a considerable amount of time to that topic, and I prefer that
your research paper be on something that you won't already see and read a lot
about in class. The first thing you should do is ask yourself what kinds of
topics appeal to you. Do you prefer the 19th or the 20th century? Do you
like literary, religious, military, political, scientific, sports, or other kinds of
topics? If no topic comes to mind, then you should glance through the text books
for this course or look through any other books on British or Irish history to
get ideas. Here are some examples of general topics: Winston Churchill,
Queen Victoria, workers during the Industrial Revolution, Ireland during World
War II, the Easter Rebellion of 1916, Britain and the European Community,
British appeasement of Hitler, the Anglican Church, Charles Dickens, Florence
Nightingale, George Bernard Shaw, the Beatles, cricket, the University of
Oxford, Scotland, Wales. Once you have selected a topic that interests you you will find
books, articles, or other materials on that topic. Eventually you will
come up with a thesis that you will examine in your paper. You can think
of the thesis as a question or an issue that you will evaluate. For
example, if you are interested in Queen Victoria, you might decide to study this
question in your paper: To what extent did Queen Victoria still exercise
any genuine political power? If you are interested in the European
Community, you could ask: Has Britain benefited or been hurt economically
by membership in the European Community? If you examine the Easter
Rebellion, you could ask: Did the rebellion help or hinder the cause of Irish
independence? If you are interested in the IRA and the situation in
Northern Ireland, you could ask something like this: To what extent do citizens
in Northern Ireland or in the Republic of Ireland support the IRA? If you
like literature, you could examine a literary topic or author from a historical
perspective. For example, you could ask: Is the Dublin of James
Joyce's Ulysses an accurate reflection of the real Dublin of c. 1900? If
Winston Churchill intrigues you, you can ask: To what extent was he
responsible for the disaster at Gallipoli in 1915, or, was he truly a great
wartime leader in World War II?
As soon as possible (meaning right away) you should start to
think about topics. By the third week of the semester (4 February)
you must have narrowed your search to a general subject, and by the fourth week you
must have settled on a specific topic. In succeeding weeks I will work
with each of you (in class and in private meetings) as you do your research and
begin to write. Several times through the semester you will submit written
updates briefly outlining your topic and listing your bibliography. Late
in the semester each of you will give a PowerPoint presentation of about 25
minutes, telling others in the class about your research project.
More information
regarding these research papers will be forthcoming through the semester.
On
contacting me.
Office: 131 Doyle Hall
Office hours:
Tues & Thurs 2:30-3:15
Wed 1:00-3:00
If you need to see me at some other time, just let me know, and we’ll
arrange a suitable time.
Telephone (with voice mail): 375-2123
email: tschaepe@sbu.edu
Weekly Study Guide
Reference
Maps
United
Kingdom 1
United
Kingdom 2
Ireland 1
Ireland 2
Weekly
Class topics:
21 January
General Introduction
28 January
England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland in the late 18th/early
19th centuries
Arnstein, 3-18; HHM, xiii-52
4 February
Political
Changes, Society,
Industrial Revolution
Arnstein, 19-43
11
February
Film on the Irish Famine
18
February
Irish Nationalism and Famine
Arnstein, 43-57, HHM, 53-107;
special handout on the famine
25 February
Film: Mrs. Brown
11
March
Victorian Society and Government
Arnstein,
58-157
18 March
The Irish Question,
New Imperialism, the Great War
Arnstein, 158-72, HHM,
108-53
Arnstein, 173-277; HHM, 154-66
25
March
The Interwar Period
Film: Churchill
1 April
World War II and Its Aftermath
Arnstein, 329-417; HHM, 207-29
8 April
Student Reports
15 April
Student Reports
22 April
Student Reports
29 April
Britain and Ireland, the recent past and future
Arnstein, 418-82, HHM, 230-67
