Introduction

Question 1

Problematising the subject: Europe

Answer 1

Europe = not simply one concept

• Geographical
• Politicised Concept
• Idea and territory
• Borders of Europe shift over time
• Eastern borders have greater confusion

Question 2

Pompeji: The Abduction of Europa

Answer 2

• Ancient myth
• Staple of Western, modern European art
• Routes of Europa = not what we now consider to be Europe
• Greeks viewed Europe as the civilised land + civilised people
• Voltaire = “kind of great Republic”

Question 3

Problematising the subject: Time (20th Century)

Answer 3

• Historical time seldom follows the decimal calendar
• What is a century?
• When does a new era start?
• Need a conceptual understanding of what is going on
• If events are powered by different reasons, then the previous one = new era

Question 4

The Short Twentieth Century:

Answer 4

Eric Hobsbawn [1917 – 1989]
Various attempts to find an analytical narrative for the 20th Century
None of them start in 1900 and end in 1999
Most stick to the period from 1914/17 to 1989/91
Some prioritise other events:
 1860-1960 = Age of the Nation State
 1870-1989 = a “German Century”

Question 5

Eric Hobsbawn: Age of Extremes (1994)

Answer 5

o He was a communist

o To understand European history, it is necessary to understand the rise and fall of the Russian empire

Question 6

Mark Mazower: The Dark Continent (1998)

Answer 6

o Writes about a time that he has experienced – similarly to Hobsbawn

Question 7

The World at the Turn of the Century:

Answer 7

Great scientific advances shaped the world, e.g. Einstein, Wright Brothers
A Florentine Renaissance, e.g. Freud
Positive outlook at the turn of the century
Prospects of European civilisation at turn of the century good
How can we link the “golden inauguration of the Belle époque” to the ruptures to come?
Badiou: they were both driven by the vision of the “changing man, creating a new man”