History 238

Clash of Civilizations? Communities, Confessions, and Empires in Central

Europe, 1000-1890
Spring 2020

Instructor: Dr. Curtis G. Murphy T/R 10 :30 – 11 :45 a.m.

Office: Room 8.402 Distance Format
Phone: 4709
Office Hours: 10:00 – 12:00 Mondays via
Skype or Zoom by appointment; office
appoints if available
curtis.murphy@nu.edu.kz
Skype id: live:.cid.3ea02da74c3e2dc7

Course Description

This course will introduce students to the history of the Slavic, German, Hungarian, Romanian,
and Jewish peoples, whose cultures developed on the borderland between Catholic Christendom,
Byzantine Orthodoxy, and the Islamic Civilization of the Ottoman Empire. In the Middle Ages,
this borderland experience produced societies defined by ethnic and religious plurality, as well as
political instability. The Slavic principalities in the Balkans gradually fell to Ottoman rule, but
the Hungarians, Czechs and Poles built powerful kingdoms, which participated in European
movements such as the Renaissance, Reformation, and the Enlightenment. In the pre-modern era,
the polities of East Central Europe fostered a vibrant civic culture and broad religious tolerance
in comparison to other European powers, but these states proved unable to withstand the
Habsburg, Ottoman, and Russian empires on their borders. In the nineteenth century, all the
peoples of East Central Europe became subjects of multi-ethnic empires ruled from distant
capitals. Inspired by Romanticism and nationalism, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Romanians,
Serbs, and Lithuanians challenged their imperial rulers both by military means and by campaigns
of national rival among their own peoples. While industrialization unsettled traditional
community bonds, ethnocentric nationalism gradually transformed neighbors into mutually-
hostile antagonists, who were prepared to use violence in pursuit of sovereign and ethnically-
homogenous states.

The loss of independence by 1800 and the subsequent appearance of nation-states after World
War I have made History in Central Europe an extremely contentious subject, and battles over
the interpretation of distant events continue to consume politicians, intellectuals, artists, and the
public at large. The complexity and instability of the past means that one group or nation’s
interpretation of events typically clashes with that in a different region or country. Nationalist
histories frequently recast historical events to suit grand narratives about foreign oppression or
victory and interpret historical actors as heroes and villains. For example, Ivan Mazepa, the
Cossack leader who betrayed Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava has subsequently featured
as a Ukrainian national hero, but for Russians he has become the very personification of treason.
Conflicting interpretations of the past within present-day nation-states continue to fuel
international discord and, occasionally, diplomatic crises within the region. Students in this
course will be exposed not only to the major events, trends and personages of the region through
the end of the nineteenth century, but also to some of the more contentious debates in
contemporary historiography and popular memory. By analyzing primary sources and using
those texts to interrogate historiography and popular conceptions, students will improve their
critical-thinking, writing, and research skills while learning the causes and consequences of
Central Europe’s contested and tangled past. Reflecting on the legacy of the past in
contemporary Central Europe, students will find many similarities with issues of historical
memory and nation-building in Kazakhstan.

Course Aims

1. Knowledge of major events, individuals, institutions and concepts connected with the History
of Central Europe from 1000 to 1890
2. Ability to read primary source documents in their historical context and use those documents
to construct historical arguments with the assistance of secondary literature
3. Ability to read and digest complex literary and historical sources and demonstrate
comprehension through forums and papers
4. Completion of one presentation and regular participation in presentation forums.
5. Completion of six response papers and active participation on forums.
6. Completion of two analytical papers synthesizing multiple sources from the course
7. Completion of a film review that demonstrates an understanding of the relationship between
film and historical memory production

Course Learning Outcomes

1) Display an understanding of the major peoples, polities, ideas and cultures connected with
the History of Central Europe in their historical context, as well as a comprehension of how
diverse groups of peoples and historical actors in the region interacted over time.

2) Show a good understanding of the historiographic debates connected with Central

European History, with a particular understanding of the role of nineteenth-and-twentieth
century nationalist ideas in influencing and distorting popular and academic notions about the
past.

3) Demonstrate an ability to use primary sources and secondary literature in order to

construct original arguments about the past in both oral presentations before the class, as well
as papers.

4) Use different types of primary sources to interrogate scholarly literature as well as to

challenge stereotypes, preconceived notions and assumptions about the past.

Assignments

All assignments will be submitted via Moodle using either the Forum tool or Turnitin.
Assignments are due at midnight of the due date, with a grace period lasting to 10:00 a.m. the
following morning. After this point, students will lose one third of a letter grade (5 points) per
day late. Late work or missed examinations will only be considered with documented evidence
of illness or some other serious problem. If you anticipate that connectivity or family issues may
cause you to miss a deadline, please contact the instructor as soon as possible. Do not wait until
after the assignment deadline has passed to request extensions due to mitigating
circumstances.

Students will be graded on the following criteria:

 (10%) Engagement. This will take the form of participating in the weekly Zoom sessions
or playing a particularly active role in the discussions of presentations.
 (10%) Presentation. Each student will be responsible for uploading one presentation to a
special folder during the semester. The presentation can take the form of a narrated
PowerPoint, video, or short text. The presentations will comment on the weekly readings
and lectures, and presenters will take the role of discussion leaders. The instructor will
circulate a signup sheet for presenters as well as pose questions to each presenter.
Students presenting are particularly encouraged to focus on the role of past events in
contemporary discourse. The presentations are due on Wednesday at noon.
 (10%) Presentation Discussions. Each week there will be a forum to discuss the student
presentations. Students are required to ask questions of the presenters, mention points not
addressed, or contribute their own analyses. Students should provide substantive
commentary to the presenters for a minimum of eight presentations. All comments are
due prior to class on Thursday.
 (25%) Writing Responses. Beginning on week two, there will be a writing response
assignment posted every week. Students are required to submit eight writing responses of
about 500 words over the term. The response should address one of the questions posed
by the instructor using both primary and secondary source evidence, as well as material
from the lectures, discussion and presentations. The responses are due by Friday at
midnight and are intended as a reflection on the week’s material.
 (20%) One Film Review. Students will write one, five-page critical review of a film
discussing twentieth-century events in the region. The review should analyze the film as a
work of art and as an ideological statement, drawing on classroom readings for support.
The instructor will distribute a list of films and detailed instructions prior to the deadline.
The film review can be submitted any time before Friday, April 1 at midnight.
 (25%) One Final Paper. Students will write one, five-to-six-page (Times New Roman,
12-point font, double-spaced, half centimeter margins) paper at the end of the term. This
paper will require you to make a historical argument, which you will defend with
reference to primary sources, secondary literature, and lectures. The instructor will
distribute detailed guidelines, including questions prompts, citation instructions, and
grading rubrics at least two weeks prior to the deadline.

Grading

A 95-%100% Excellent, exceeds the highest standards in the assignment

or course
A- 90%-94% Excellent; meets the highest standards for the assignment
or course
 B+ 85%-89% Very good; meets high standards for the assignment or
course
B 80%-84% Good; meets most of the standards for the assignment or
course
B- 75%-79% More than adequate; shows some reasonable command of
the material
C+ 70%-74% Acceptable; meets basic standards for the assignment or
course
C 65%-69% Acceptable; meets some of the basic standards for the
assignment or course
C- 60%-64% Acceptable, while falling short of meeting basic standards
in several ways
D 55%-59% Minimally acceptable; lowest passing
D- 50%-54% Did not satisfy the basic requirements of the course

Academic misconduct policy

Academic and personal misconduct by any student in this course will be dealt with according to
the requirements and procedures in the Student Code of Conduct for Nazarbayev University.
Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated. Students should be familiar with the university’s
official statement on plagiarism:
Plagiarism is intentionally or carelessly presenting the work of another as one’s own. It
includes submitting an assignment purporting to be the student’s original work which has
wholly or in part been created by another person. It also includes the presentation of the
work, ideas, representations, or words of another person without customary and proper
acknowledgement of sources. Plagiarism occurs when a person:
1. Directly copies one or more sentences of another person’s written work without
proper citation. If another writer’s words are used, you must place quotation marks
around the quoted material and include a footnote or other indication of the source of the
quotation. This includes cut and paste from the internet or other electronic sources;
2. Changes words but copies the sentence structure of a source without giving credit to
the original source, or closely paraphrases one or more paragraphs without
acknowledgement of the source of the ideas, or uses graphs, figures, drawings, charts or
other visual/audio materials without acknowledging the source or the permission of the
author;
3. Submits false or altered information in any academic exercise. This may include
making up data for an experiment, altering data, citing nonexistent articles, contriving
sources, etc.;
4. Turns in all or part of assignment done by another student and claims it as their own;
5. Uses a paper writing service, has another student write a paper, or uses a foreign
language translation and submits it as their own original work.

Citation Guidelines

In order to avoid plagiarism and develop the habit of properly attributing sources, students
should provide citations for all written assignments, including the weekly reading responses. For
weekly reading assignments, students may employ simple, parenthetical citations at the end of
the sentence. Provide a citation at the end of the last sentence in which you refer to the given
work.

Example: Heda Kovaly’s husband was arrested in 1952 (Kovaly, 105-108).

For longer papers, you must use footnotes (сноски) to attribute your sources. The first footnote
should provide full bibliographic information as well as the page number (if available) according
to a recognized style system such as University of Chicago of APA. Subsequent footnotes can
use a shortened format.

Example.

1st footnote:
Heda Margolius Kovaly, Under a Cruel State: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968. Trans. Franci and
Helen Epstein (New York, 1997), 105-108.

Subsequent footnotes:
Kovaly, Under a Cruel Star, 105-108.

Note: You may have to look up some of the information necessary to provide a full citation as
not all the readings contain complete information.

Reserve Clause

The instructor reserves the right to modify the syllabus as the course progresses. Students are
responsible to checking Moodle regularly for announcements about changes to the reading
schedule and updates with regard to assignments.

Schedule of Classes

Week 1: January 24 – January 28

Tuesday, January 25 – Central Europe as a Periphery
Thursday, January 27. Readings:
 Mikanowski, “Call of the Drums”
 Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio

Week 2: January 31 – February 4

Tuesday, February 1. Native Dynasties and Entrepreneurial Immigrants
Thursday, February 3. Readings:
 Frederick of Austria’s Charter to the Jews
 Chronicle of the Hungarians
 Golden Bull of Andrew II
 Hrushevskyi, “The Traditional Scheme of Russian History”
Week 3: February 7 – February 11
Tuesday, February 8. The Hussite Reformation
Thursday, February 10. Readings:
 Crusade Against the Heretics in Bohemia, parts 1 and 2
 Bernard, “Jerome of Prague, Austria,” and the Hussites

Week 4: February 14 – February 18

Tuesday, February 15. The Ottoman Balkans
Thursday, February 17. Readings:
 Ivo Adrić, Bridge on the Drina, chapters 2-4
 Edin Hajarpašić, “Out of the Ruins of the Ottoman Empire”

Week 5: February 21 – February 25

Tuesday, February 22. Habsburg-Ottoman Rivalry
Thursday, February 24. Readings:
 The Tale of Dracula
 Rothman, “Interpreting Dragomans: Boundaries and Crossings in the Early Modern
Mediterranean

Week 6: February 28 – March 4

Tuesday March 1. From Mohacs to White Mountain: Habsburg Absolutism
Thursday, March 3: Readings:
 The Turkish Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, part 1 and 2
 Gabor Agoston, “Guns for the Sultan”

Week 7: March 7 – March 11.

Tuesday, March 8. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Khmnelntys’kyi Uprising
Thursday, March 10. October 14. Readings:
 The Henrican Articles
 Stanisław Żółkiewski, Beginning and Progress of the Muscovite War
 Kaminski, “Was the Commonwealth a Stepmother for Cossacks and Ruthenians”

Week 8: March 14 – March 18.

Tuesday, March 15. The Seventeenth-Century Crises
Thursday, March 17. Readings:
 The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln
 Jan Pasek, Memoirs of the Polish Baroque
 Siobhan Doucette, “Gryzelda Wiśniowiecka, Ordynat and Kingmaker: A Woman in the
Political Life of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth”

Spring Break: March 21 – March 25

Week 9: March 28 – April 1.
Tuesday, March 29. Enlightened Absolutism
Thursday, March 31. Readings:
 Rousseau, “The Government of Poland”
  Istvan Szijarto, “The Hungarian Parliament”
 Irina Martin, Contested Frontiers in the Balkans, chapters 4-5

Film Review Due by Friday, April 1 at midnight.

Week 10: April 4 – April 8

Tuesday, April 5. The Partitions and the Beginning of National Awakenings
Thursday, April 7. Readings:
 Andrzej Walicki, “Intellectuals and the Articulation of the Nation”
 Wolff, The Idea of Galicia or chapter 3 of From Citizens to Subjects

Week 11: April 11 – April 15.

Tuesday, April 12. From Nation-Gathering to the Spring of Nations
Thursday, April 14. Readings:
 Palacky, “Letter to Frankfurt”
 Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina, chapters, 6, 9, 11
 Tomasz Kamusella, “Germanization, Polonization and Russification in the Partitioned
Lands of Poland-Lithuania,”

Week 12: April 18 – April 22.

Tuesday, April 19. Compromise, Mass Politics and Imperial Decline
Thursday, April 21. Readings:
 Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina, chapters 14, 17, 18
 Carl Schorske, Fin-de-Siecle Vienna, chapter 3

Final Paper due Friday, April 29 at midnight via Turnitin