HIS 444SEM—Berlin: Urban Modernity & Political Change

This course deals with the transformations of Berlin as an urban space and political stage since c. 1800. It focuses on how Berlin came to epitomize modernity, at home as in the broader transatlantic realm – symbolizing rapid urbanization, social tensions and ideological battles, as much as cultural creativity and new lifestyles. HIS 444 highlights that Berlin encapsulates Germany¿s multiple regime changes. The city served as the capital of Imperial and Weimar Germany only to become the center of the Nazi dictatorship. Divided between West and East after 1945, Berlin formed an epicenter of the Cold War, before gaining new prominence as the capital of unified Germany after 1989. This course thus allows us to address major developments in German, European and international history. (EUR)