Spring 2022 Undergraduate Courses

Department Policy on In-Person Attendance
All Spring 2022 History courses will be taught in-person. By signing up for an class, you have agreed to attend and participate in the class in-person. You should not expect to be able to attend class remotely or to access class recordings. Exceptions to this policy may be granted at the instructor’s discretion. If you are unwilling or unable to commit to attending and participating in person over the duration of the semester, you should seek alternative options for all-remote or online courses. (For assistance with finding alternative classes, please contact your advisor and/or the History Advisor, Hayes Moore, hayes.moore@colorado.edu.)

HIST 1011 / Greeks, Romans, Kings & Crusaders: European History to 1600
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Paradis, Professor Upton
multiple lectures

Course Description

Examines the history and formation of Europe from its roots in the ancient Near East to Greece to the creation of Medieval states and kingdoms. Topics may include the rise of Christianity, Barbarian migrations, religious persecution, the role of gender and minority status, the growth of trade and European encounters, the Black Death, the European Renaissance the Protestant Reformation.

HIST 1012 / Empire, Revolution and Global War: European History since 1600
Europe Post-1800
Professor Ciarlo
lecture (MW 12:20-1:10) + recitation (multiple)

Course Description

Examines the history of modern Europe from 1600. Topics may include religious conflict, absolutism, the Scientific Revolution, the global impact of European colonialism and imperialism, the Enlightenment, the French and Industrial Revolutions, and the emergence of romanticism, nationalism, liberalism, socialism and modernism. Concludes by analyzing World War I and II, communist and fascist totalitarianisms, decolonization and the Cold War.

HIST 1051 / The World of the Ancient Greeks
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Trnka-Amrhein
lecture (MW 1:25-2:15) + recitation (multiple)

Course Description

Surveys the emergence, major accomplishments, failures and decline of the world of the ancient Greeks, from Bronze Age civilizations of the Minoans and Mycenaeans through the Hellenistic Age (2000-30 B.C.) Same as CLAS 1051.

HIST 1061 / The Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Herz
lecture (TTh 11-11:50) + recitation (multiple)

Course Description

Surveys the rise of ancient Rome in the eighth century B.C. to its fall in the fifth century A.D. Emphasizes political institutions, foreign policy, leading personalities, and unique cultural accomplishments. Same as CLAS 1061.

HIST 1113 / Introduction to British History to 1660
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Hammer
MWF 10:10-11

Course Description

Deals with Roman, medieval and early modern periods. Covers the demographic, economic, social patterns, political and religious developments, and cultural changes that contributed to the formation of the English nation.

HIST 1623 / Introduction Central and Eastern European History since 1770
Europe Post-1800
Professor Hatch
MW 4:40-5:55

Course Description

Examines major themes and events in the history of East-Central Europe from the late 1700s to the present. Themes include the impacts of nationalism, fascism, liberal democracy and communism in shaping the history of the region. Topics include World War I, World War II and the Holocaust, the Cold War, the fall of Communism, the Ukrainian revolution and more. Same as CEES 1623.

HIST 2100 / Revolution in History: Russia and the Soviet Union
Elective
Professor Hutchinson
TTh 9:30-10:45

Course Description

Examines the causes, character, and significance of political revolution in world history. Concentrating on one of the major revolutions of modern history, it examines why revolutions occur, who participates in revolution, and to what effect.

HIST 2500 / Fact and Fiction in History: King Arthur and the Crusades
Elective
Professor Little
MWF 3:35-4:25

Course Description

Examines history and historical sources through the alternating lenses of “fact” and “fiction” in order to think not only about what happened, but how we acquire information and knowledge, and how we use sources and evidence to construct our own understandings of the past and to write history. Considers how narratives found in novels, myths, movies, television, music, visual material, monuments, or public memories, represent the past and relate to historical accounts.

HIST 4061 / Twilight of Antiquity
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Kindick
MWF 2:30-3:20

Course Description

Explores the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire in the western Mediterranean and its survival in the east as Byzantium. Emphasizes Christianity; barbarians; social, economic and cultural differences; contemporary views of Rome; and modern scholarship. No Greek or Latin is required. Same as CLAS 4061.

HIST 4081 / The Roman Republic
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Denton
MWF 11:15-12:05

Course Description

Studies the Roman Republic from its foundation in 753 B.C. to its conclusion with the career of Augustus. Emphasizes the development of Roman Republic government. Readings are in the primary sources. No Greek or Latin required. Same as CLAS 4081.

HIST 4091 / The Roman Empire
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Koster
TTh 12:30-1:45

Course Description

Studies Imperial Roman history beginning with the Roman Revolution and ending with examination of the passing of centralized political authority in the western Mediterranean. Emphasizes life, letters and personalities of the Empire. Same as CLAS 4091.

HIST 4143 / The Making of Great Britain: British History 1603-1714
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Guinn-Chipman
TTh 2-3:15

Course Description

Covers the history of the British Isles from 1603 to 1714, the era of the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution. Traces economic and social relationships, cultural change and religious and political conflict under the Stuart monarchs. Recommended prerequisite: HIST 1011 or HIST 1012 or HIST 1113 or HIST 1123.

HIST 4223 / The French Revolution and Napoleon
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Gerber
MWF 12:20-1:10

Course Description

Traces the origins, course, and consequences of the most important modern revolution, the French Revolution of 1789. While seeking to explain how a liberal movement for progressive change soon degenerated into the factional bloodbath of the Terror, will also examine the revolution's global impact and how three decades or revolutionary warfare lead to the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Same as HIST 5223.

HIST 4343 / Spain and Portugal during the Golden Age
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Dauverd
TTh 11-12:15

Course Description

Surveys the history of Spain and Portugal from the late medieval period through early modern period. Explores the thought, art, politics and socio-economic milieu of the Golden Age. Topics include attitudes toward minorities, the Inquisition, the Age of Exploration and the establishment of colonial empires in Asia and the Americas, court culture and architecture, religious conflicts and literary production. Recommended prerequisite: HIST 1011 or HIST 1018.

HIST 4423 / German History 1848-1989: Weimar Republic, Nazism, State Socialism
Europe Post-1800
Professor Ciarlo
MWF 9:05-9:55

Course Description

Cultural, political and social history of Germany from the Revolutions of 1848 to the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Emphasizes German unification & Bismarck, the effects of World War I, Weimar politics, the rise of Nazism, World War II and the Holocaust, the post-war paths of West and East Germany, and reunification. Recommended prerequisite: HIST 1012.

HIST 4511 / Europe in the Dark Ages (400-1000 A.D.)
Europe Pre-1800
Professor Upton
MWF 10:10-11

Course Description

Examines the history of Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire to the turn of the first millennium. Treats social, political and religious transformations in the barbarian kingdoms, and considers the persistence of Roman institutions and culture and the impact of Christianity in northern Europe.

HIST 4623 / History of Eastern Europe Since 1914
Europe Post-1800
Professor Hatch
MWF 11:15-12:05

Course Description

Examines the struggle of nations of eastern Europe to assert their independence, from break-up of the imperial system at the end of World War I, through the Soviet bloc that emerged after World War II, to the establishment of democratic governments after the1989 revolutions. Recommended prerequisite: HIST 1012.

HIST 4713 / History of Russia through the 17th Century
Europe Post-1800
Professor Hatch
MWF 1:25-2:15

Course Description

Introduces the history and culture of Russia from the 9th to the 17th century. Emphasizes selected topics in social, economic, religious and cultural history, including the formation of the Russian state conversion to Orthodox Christianity, the Mongol invasion and the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Recommended prerequisite: HIST 1011.

HIST 4733 / The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Regime
Europe Post-1800
Professor Hutchinson
TTh 12:30pm-1:45pm

Course Description

Covers in detail the significant social, economic and political events of Soviet Russia from the February Revolution of 1917 to the present. Recommended prerequisite: HIST 1012.

HIST 1015 / American History to 1865
United States Pre-1800
Professor Detch
MWF 2:30-3:20

Course Description

Examines American history from pre-Columbian times to the Civil War, including ancient cultures, exploration, colonization, Native American responses, the rise of race slavery, the American Revolution, political developments, Anglo-American expansion, slave life and culture, the market revolution, industrialization, reform and disunion. Introduces students to history as a dynamic discipline that shapes our understanding of the past and present. Meets MAPS requirement for social science: general or U.S. history.

HIST 1025 / American History since 1865
United States Post-1800
Professor Lawrence-Sanders, Professor Young
multiple lectures

Course Description

Explores political, social and cultural changes in American life since Reconstruction. Focuses on shifting social and political relations as the U.S. changed from a nation of farmers and small-town dwellers to an urban, industrial society; the changing meaning of American identity in a society divided by ethnicity, race and class; and the emergence of the U.S. as a world power.

HIST 2326 / Issues in the History of U.S. Society and Culture: U.S. Constituitional and Legal Legal History to 1865
Elective
Professor Detch
MW 3:35-4:50

Course Description

Examines the origins, development, and impacts (social, political, cultural, economic, etc.) of significant issues and themes in the cultural,intellectual, and/or social history of the United States from independence to the present day. Explains the impact of race, gender, ethnicity, and class on these issues. Topics vary in any given semester.

HIST 2516 / America Through Baseball
Elective
Professor Babicz
MWF 9:05-9:55

Course Description

Baseball could not have existed without America. Explains how the game fit into the larger context of social, cultural, economic and political history from the 19th century to the present. Studies the events and people who made baseball the national pastime. Similar to HIST 4556.

HIST 4116 / History of U.S. Foreign Relations, 1865-1940
United States Post-1800
Professor Langer
TTh 3:30-4:45

Course Description

Traces the rise of the United States to world power. Explores the interactions of expansionist and isolationist impulses with politics, ideology, culture and economics, with a focus on the Spanish American War and the acquisition of empire, World War I and the coming of World War II.

HIST 4215 / The Revolutionary War and the Making of the American Republic, 1775-1801
United States Pre-1800
Professor Detch
MWF 11:15-12:05

Course Description

Investigates the Revolutionary War and its impact on the creation of American political institutions, as well as its cultural, social and economic effects, from the Battles of Lexington and Concord through the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson.

HIST 4435 / From the Cold War to Counterculture: U.S. History 1945-1973
United States Post-1800
Professor Langer
TTh 12:30-1:45

Course Description

Analyzes high politics, grassroots movements, and cultural change in the years of unprecedented economic prosperity and rapid change after WWII. Explores the foreign and domestic politics of the Cold War; labor unionism; the Vietnam War; the Civil Rights, antiwar, and women's rights movements; and technocultural changes like the rise of television and the growing dominance of the automobile. Recommended prerequisite: HIST 1025.

HIST 4437 / African American History, 1619-1865
United States Pre-1800
Professor Lawrence-Sanders
TTh 2-3:15

Course Description

Explores the history of Africans in America from the first arrivals to emancipation, and their role in the social, cultural, economic, and political evolution of the United States. Recommended prerequisite: HIST 1015.

HIST 1028 / Introduction to Modern Latin American History since 1800
World Areas Post-1800
Professor Ogden
MWF 1:25-2:15

Course Description

Introduces students to the history of Latin America from independence to the present. Investigates the social implications of various models of economic development, the opportunities and difficulties resulting from economic ties with wealthier countries, the consequences of ethnic, gender and class divisions, and the struggles of Latin Americans to construct equitable political systems.

HIST 1628 / Introduction to Chinese History since 1644
World Areas Post-1800
Professor Weston
TTh 11-12:15

Course Description

Introduces students to modern Chinese history and culture, from the 17th century to the present. Considers the pertinent aspects of modern China, focusing on its social patterns, economic structure, intellectual trends and political developments.

HIST 1708 / Introduction to Japanese History
World Areas
Professor Kadia
MWF 9:05-9:55

Course Description

A broad interdisciplinary survey of the history of Japan from earliest times to the 20th century. Explores the development of political institutions, social structures, cultural and religious life, economic development, and foreign relations in an historical perspective.

HIST 1828 / Jewish History since 1492
World Areas Post-1800
Professor Kalisman
TTh 11-12:15

Course Description

Surveys the major historical developments encountered by Jewish communities beginning with the Spanish Expulsion in 1492 up until the present day. Studies the various ways in which Jews across the modern world engaged with the emerging notions of nationality, equality and citizenship, as well as with new ideologies such as liberalism, socialism, nationalism, imperialism and antisemitism. Same as JWST 1828 and RLST 1828.

HIST 2830 / Disease & Public Health in Global History
Elective
Professor Fenn
MWF 12:20-1:10

Course Description

The focus of this class is the global history of infectious epidemic disease. We will tackle this topic one disease at a time in a semi- chronological fashion, beginning with ancient plagues such as Hansen’s Disease and the Black Death and ending with more recent contagions such as HIV and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). The themes addressed include but are not limited to globalization; colonization; imperialism; racism; xenophobia; migrations; environmental change; scientific, medical, and institutional developments; behavioral patterns; and eradication efforts and their consequences.

HIST 4328 / The Modern Middle East, 1600 to the Present
World Areas Post-1800
Professor Willis
TTh 3:30-4:45

Course Description

Primarily from 1800 to the present. Attention divided equally between the region's political history and international relations and its patterns of economic, social and cultural modernization in the main countries. Recommended prerequisite: HIST 1308.

HIST 4448 / Wars of Liberation in Southeast Asia
World Areas Post-1800
Professor Kadia
MWF 2:30-3:20

Course Description

Uses the contemporary nations of Indonesia, Myanmar, and Singapore as case studies to examine the making and unmaking of European and Japanese colonialism in Southeast Asia in the years surrounding World War II. In what ways did different communities understand and narrate imperialism and independence? How can we understand wars of liberation as local, regional, and global experiences, with legacies for today?

HIST 4619 / Women in East Asian History
World Areas Post-1800
Professor Yonemoto
MWF 12:20-1:10

Course Description

Considers major issues in the history of women in East Asia (China, Korea, Japan) in the 17th through 20th centuries. Focuses on gender roles in Asian family, state, and cultural systems. Topic varies in any given semester. Same as WGST 4619 and HIST 5619.

HIST 4728 / Modern Japanese History
World Areas Post-1800
Professor Lim
MWF 11:15-12:05

Course Description

Begins with early modern Japan, proceeds through the era of rapid modernization after the Meiji Restoration in the mid-19th century, and concludes with Japan's gradual descent into prolonged war, first with China and then in the Pacific. Same as HIST 5728.

HIST 4223 / The French Revolution and Napoleon
Comparative/Global Pre-1800
Professor Gerber
MWF 12:20-1:10

Course Description

HIST 4640 / Women, Gender and War
Global/Comparative Post-1800
Professor Ogden
MWF 11:15-12:05

Course Description

Study of how women experience war, how the structure, practice and memory of war, and the rights and obligations of military service (masculinity and femininity) are structured by the gender system.

The first cornerstone course for history majors applies a broad perspective to the global past in order to illuminate how common historical patterns and processes as well as unique elements shaped the human experience. Using a thematic approach, all topical variations of this course highlight cross-cultural interactions among societies, and, when relevant, how historical processes that began centuries ago still impact the contemporary world. (Recommended for first-year and sophomore students, with a minimum of 3 credits of any history course.)

HIST 1800 / Introduction to Global History: The Silk Road
HIST 1800 Global/Comparative
Professor Kim
TTh 9:30-10:45

Course Description

This course surveys the history of Silk Road as the crossroad of political, economic, cultural connections between East and West. Topics that will be explored in this course include but not limited to the rise and fall of the nomadic empires in Central Eurasia including the Mongols; the overland long-distance trades between China, Middle East, and Europe; the cultural exchanges via Silk Road including the expansion of Buddhism and Islam. The course also examines the partition of Central Eurasia by Chinese and Russian empires in the 19th century.

HIST 1800 / Introduction to Global History: Global History of Nonviolence
HIST 1800 Global/Comparative
Professor Mukherjee
TTh 11-12:15

Course Description

Course description coming soon.

HIST 1830 / Global History of Holocaust and Genocide
HIST 1830 Global/Comparative Post-1800
Professor Drinkwater
MWF 10:10-11

Course Description

This course will examine the interplay of politics, culture, psychology and sociology to try to understand why the great philosopher Isaiah Berlin called the 20th century, "The most terrible century in Western history." Our focus will be on the Holocaust as the event that defined the concept of genocide, but we will locate this event that has come to define the 20th century within ideas such as racism, imperialism, violence, and most important, the dehumanization of individuals in the modern world.

The second cornerstone course for history majors centers on the essential skills all historians use. Students will advance their reading, sourcing, and research techniques, hone critical, analytical, and synthetic skills, navigate scholarly discourse, and practice historical writing. As this simultaneously satisfies the College's upper-division writing requirement, all sections involve substantial, regular, and varied writing assignments as well as instruction in methods and the revision process. All topical variations of this course are limited to maximum of 18 students in order to focus on supporting students as they learn to write - and think - like an historian. (Recommended for sophomores or juniors, HIST 3020 may be taken concurrently with, but not prior to, HIST 1800.)

HIST 3020-001 / Rethinking Lewis and Clark
HIST 3020
Professor Fenn
MW 3:35-4:50

Course Description

This class uses the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 to develop the tools of reading, thinking, researching, and writing necessary to progress through the history major. While Lewis and Clark and the Native peoples of the West constitute our subject matter, our primary goal is advancing your historical skill set through small assignments that build cumulatively over the course of the semester.

HIST 3020-002 / Seductive Falsehoods in European History 1000-1700
HIST 3020
Professor Paradis
MW 3:35-4:50

Course Description

Ever wonder how QAnon or Flat Earthers could gain so many adherents? False reports, unsubstantiated rumors, conspiracy theories, and other forms of misinformation have been influential in European history at least since the Middle Ages. Stories about changelings, rumors about traitors, and fears about witches and subversive religious sects were only some of the unreliable news reports that inspired unwary folk to band together and to attack the alleged perpetrators of imagined misdeeds. The class will explore how seemingly bizarre and unsubstantiated stories gathered adherents from the time of the crusades to the dawn of the Enlightenment. Although we will consider how the introduction of print in the 1400s helped to perpetuate and eradicate misunderstandings, individual research projects may cover the period before Gutenberg.

HIST 3020-003 / The Rise of the Modern Propaganda State
HIST 3020
Professor Weston
TTh 2-3:15

Course Description

This seminar is about the birth and history of the modern propaganda state. The term “propaganda state” refers to the idea of a government, or state, whose power is based to a large extent on its skillful use of propaganda. The course will focus on the relationship between persuasion, pedagogy, performance, imagery, lies, psychological manipulation, and political power. We will talk about what constitutes propoganda as well as the development of the modern propoganda as science. There will be readings about the United States, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany, but the main focus will be on the People’s Republic of China. No prior knowledge of Chinese history is necessary for enrollment in this course.

Capstone seminars are designed for advanced history majors to pull together the skills they have honed in previous classes towards producing historical knowledge about a particular area of interest. Each course section will have a specific field of focus, and include readings and discussion in a small (18- student) seminar setting. These and other class activities and assignments will support the central goal: for each student to develop an individual research project on a topic of their own choosing, based on primary sources and related to the area of focus for that course section, and write a substantial and original paper. (Completion of HIST 3020 is required for history majors to enroll in a senior seminar.)

HIST 3109 Seminar in Asian History
Capstone Senior Seminar World Areas
Professor Kim
T 3:30-6

Course Description

Nature and supernaturals in East Asia
This seminar explores animals, plants, ghosts and spirits and their relations with human world in China and Japan, and examines the roles of the non-human agents in shaping the history in East Asia. In the class we will read both secondary and primarily materials including popular novels.

HIST 3115 Seminar in Early American History
Capstone Senior Seminar United States Pre-1800
Professor Detch
M 3:35-6:05

Course Description

Race, Revolution, and the Early Republic
Description coming soon.

HIST 3212 / Seminar in Early Modern Europe
Capstone Senior Seminar United States Pre-1800
Professor Gerber
W 3:35-6:05

Course Description

Race, Servitude, and Slavery in Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789
Though race and slavery have long been of interest to historians of the United States, specialists in European history have recently provided new perspectives on these subjects through their revitalized interest in globalization, migration, and imperial history. What can this new scholarship teach us about the history of race as a social and political category? How was the category of “race” related in early modern Europe to contemporaneous social categories such as nobility, servitude, and slavery? How have our own understandings of race been distantly shaped by social, cultural, and political developments in early modern Europe? Can a historical understanding of “race” help to undermine the pernicious effects of racism in today’s world? While exploring these questions through critical discussion of a common set of readings, this seminar will also provide students with an opportunity to conduct individual research projects based on primary source documents. This course will therefore not only familiarize you with the changing political structures, practices, ideologies, and issues of early modern European history, it will also expose you to a variety of methodological approaches to historical research while inspiring philosophical reflection on how historical study might provide insight into contemporary political issues.

Students who have an overall GPA of 3.3 or higher are eligible to take courses through the Honors Program. These courses are limited to 17 students and provide students with a rigorous seminar experience. In collaboration with the Honors Program, the history department offers honors seminars and honors co-recitations. Learn about graduating with honors in history .

HIST 1438 / Introduction to Korean History
World Areas
Professor Lim
MWF 2:30-3:20

Course Description

Surveys the history of Korea from the ancient period to the early twenty-first century. Topics will include: transnational political and cultural origins of Korea, transformation of gender relations, and effects of wars and colonial experience. Special attention given to the transnational character of historical developments in Korea, as well as historical debates involving neighboring countries in East Asia.

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Spring 2022 Undergraduate Courses