![Opening session of the Versailles peace conference at the Trianon Palace, January 1919. Photograph: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images Twentieth Century Europe](/history/sites/default/files/styles/hero/public/img/course/hist-409.jpg?itok=2btIGmwD)
This course will address some of the most important and controversial topics in Twentieth Century Western European History. The focus of the readings is on the first half of the twentieth century and on Germany, Britain, France, Russia/USSR and Italy. Subjects will range from social, cultural, political, economic and military history. The course will acquaint students with a few of the older 'classics' in Western European historiography. In addition, we will look at some of the most innovative recent literature.