Learning objectives
The course aims to provide basic knowledge of Italian and world contemporary history. Students will gain the critical knowledge necessary to interpret the main issues and the most relevant topics, which during the assessment will present with a correct argument.
Prerequisites
Basic cognitive skills are required.
Course unit content
The course, after an introduction of a historiographic and methodological nature, intends to present a summary of the main issues and the most relevant processes of the contemporary age, from the Congress of Vienna to the end of the Cold War. This will be followed by the reconstruction of historical parable of republican Italy (political, social, cultural and economic aspects).
Full programme
12 cfu examination: Written examination (Books 1 and 2) + Oral examination (Book 3)
6 cfu examination: Only written test (Volumes 1 and 2)
Erasmus students must agree on the program with the teacher.
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FOLLOW-UP WRITTEN EXAMINATION QUESTIONS (FOR PART I, SEE: OTHER INFORMATION) - II. From the Great War to today
1. The Great War: general characteristics (1.1.-1.2.-1.3.)
2. The early stages of the war and Italy's intervention (1.4-1.5)
3. From the trenches to the end of the war (1.6.-1.7)
4. The geopolitical consequences of the war (1.8.)
5. The Irish question (1.8.6.)
6. Turkey and the Middle East (Parts from 1.8. And 1.8.7.- Also 5.5.2.)
7. The 1917 revolutions in Russia (2.1.)
8. The civil war in Russia and the communists in power (2.2-2.3)
9. The new Soviet society (2.4.-2.5.)
10. The international economic situation in the post-war period (3.1.-3.2.)
11. Western countries in the post-war period: USA, Great Britain and France (3.4.-3.5.-3.6.)
12. The red biennium and the Weimar republic (3.7.-3.8.)
13. The Italian post-war crisis (4.1.-4.2.)
14. The birth of fascism and the march on Rome (4.3.-4.4.)
15. Fascism from 1922 to 1929 (4.5.-4.7.)
16. China and Japan between the 1920s and 1930s (5.2.-5.3)
17. Gandhi's India (5.4.)
18. The crisis of '29 (6.1.)
19. The New Deal and the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (6.2.-6.3.)
20. The rise of Nazism (7.1.)
21. The Nazi regime and its specific characteristics (7.2.-7.3.)
22. Fascism in the 1930s (7.4.)
23. The civil war in Spain (7.6.)
24. Stalin's Soviet Union (8.1.-8.2.-8.3.-8.4)
25. Towards World War II (9.1.-9.2.)
26. The early stages of World War II (1939-1942) (9.3.-9.4.-9.5.-9.6.)
27. The "new order" in Europe, the extermination of the Jews, the Resistance (9.7.-9.8-9.9.)
28. The turning point of 1942-1943 and the final stages of the war (9.10. And 9.12.)
29. Italy from 1943 to 1945 (9.11.)
30. The long shadows of war (10.1.)
31. Divided Europe (10.2.)
32. The West in the immediate post-war period: USA, Great Britain, France, Germany (10.3.)
33. Italy in the immediate post-war period (10.3.5.)
34. Communism in Asia: China and Korea (10.5.)
35. The beginning of decolonization (10.6.)
36. The Middle East and Israel (10.7.)
37. The United States from the civil rights movement to the Vietnam War (11.5.)
38. France, Great Britain and Germany between the 1950s and 1960s (11.6.)
39. Italy between the 1950s and 1960s (11.6.4.-11.6.5.-11.6.6.-11.6.7.)
40. Communism in Eastern Europe (11.7.)
41. Cultural and political springs (11.8.)
42. Asia (Japan, India, China) between the 60s and 70s (12.2.)
43. Revolutionary dreams and coups d'état in Latin America (12.3.)
44. Postcolonial Africa and Islam (12.4.-12.5.)
45. The Arab-Israeli conflicts (12.6.)
46. A season of lead (13.3.)
47. A season of carnations (13.5.)
48. Politics and economics: from the neoliberal turn to today (13.6.)
49. The Soviet bloc from crisis to disintegration (13.7.)
50. War returns to Europe (13.8.)
51. A united Europe (13.9.)
52. Italian politics from 1980 to today (13.10.)
Bibliography
Bibliography.
1) A.M. Banti, L'età contemporanea. Dalle rivoluzioni settecentesche all'imperialismo, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2009 (excluded chapters 1-5)
2) A.M. Banti, L'età contemporanea. Dalla Grande Guerra a oggi, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2009
3) G. Vecchio - P. Trionfini, Storia dell’Italia repubblicana (1946-2018), Monduzzi, Milano 2019
The exam program is the same for all students. There is no difference between those who attend the classes e those who cannot attend.
Teaching methods
The teaching consists of lectures, presented with Power Point slides.
Assessment methods and criteria
The written exam is preparatory and consists of a verification of the basic knowledge of the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (four open questions, in two hours of time). The written exam is compulsory only for students of Literature courses (12 credits).
The questions will be both general and specific in order to respond to the training objectives indicated.
An insufficiency assessment is determined by the lack of knowledge of the minimum contents of the course; the inability to express themselves adequately to the topic; from the lack of autonomous preparation; moreover, by the inadequacy to formulate judgments independently.
A sufficient evaluation (18-23 / 30) is determined by an acceptable level of performance by the student of the evaluation indicators listed above.
The average scores (24-27 / 30) are assigned to the student who proves to have a more than sufficient (24-25 / 30) or good (26-27 / 30) level of the assessment indicators listed above.
The highest scores (from 28/30 to 30/30 with honors) are awarded on the basis of the demonstration of an excellent to excellent level of the evaluation indicators listed above.
Other information
Warnings for the written exam.
For the written exam, the student has two hours to answer four questions (two on the nineteenth century, two on the twentieth century).
The exam can be broken into two parts: the first time - in an hour of time - two questions on the nineteenth century are answered; in a subsequent appeal - always with one hour available - to the two questions on the twentieth century.
When registering for the exam online, you are requested to indicate your choice.
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QUESTIONS PART I - I. From eighteenth-century revolutions to imperialism
1. The Vienna Congress and its treaties (Banti, chap. 6.1.-6.2.)
2. Revolutions in Latin America (7.1.-7.2.-7.3.)
3. The revolution in Spain and Italy, 1820-1823 (7.4.-7.5.)
4. The revolutions of 1830-1831 (7.7.)
5. Imagine a nation (8.1.)
6. Mazzini and Giovine Italia (8.2.1.)
7. Gioberti and neo-Guelphism (8.2.2.)
8. 1848: revolutions (9.1.-9.2.)
9. 1848: the return to order (9.3.)
10. The progress of Europe (Chapter 10)
11. Family life and the role of women (Chapter 12)
12. Great Britain in the nineteenth century (Chapter 13)
13. France of the Second Empire (14.2.)
14. The Kingdom of Sardinia from 1850 to 1859 (14.3.)
15. The Italian unification (14.4.)
16. The Italian post-unification society (14.5.)
17. Political life in the post-unification years (14.6.)
18. Difficulties and conflicts in Italy (14.7.)
19. German unification (15.1.-15.2.-15.3.)
20. The Paris Commune and the Third French Republic (15.4.)
21. The United States in the first half of the nineteenth century (16.1.-16.2.-16.3.)
22. The issue of slavery and the war of secession (16.4.-16.5.-16.6.)
23. Reforms and tensions in Tsarist Russia (16.7.)
24. British India (17.6.)
25. China in the nineteenth century (17.8.)
26. Japan in the nineteenth century (17.9.)
27. Population and production (Chapter 18)
28. The origins of socialist thought and the divisions between anarchists and socialists (20.1.-20.2.)
29. The birth of socialist parties and their divisions (20.3.-20.4.)
30. Nationalism and racism (Chapter 21)
31. Politics in the West at the end of the nineteenth century (22.1.)
32. The United States at the end of the nineteenth century (22.2.)
33. Great Britain between the 19th and 20th centuries (22.3.-22.4.)
34. Germany and Austria-Hungary between the 19th and 20th centuries (22.6.-22.7.)
35. The Left in power in Italy (23.1.)
36. Francesco Crispi (23.2.)
37. The turn of the century crisis (23.3.)
38. Giolittian reformism (23.4.)
39. Italy 1911-1913 (23.5.)
40. Colonialism and imperialism (24.1.)
41. Colonial rivalries (24.2.)
42. International agreements, crisis in the Balkans and new alliances (25.2.-25.3.)
43. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and tensions in the Balkans. Sarajevo (25.4.-25.5.)
