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The University of Oklahoma
HIST. 3770 

FROM HITLER TO GORBACHEV:  EASTERN EUROPE SINCE
1938

                               (Lecture course)

Spring Semester 1995                         Dr. Gary Cohen
                                             314 Dale Tower
Office hours:                                ph. 325-6352 or
     Thursdays, 10:30-11:50                     325-6002 (sec.)
     Tuesdays, 1:00-2:15 p.m.,               e-mail: gcohen@uoknor.edu
     and by appointment


   
     The following required books are available in paperback and are
     recommended

     Lucy Dawidowicz, THE WAR AGAINST THE JEWS, 1986 ed. (Bantam Books)
     Charles Gati, THE BLOC THAT FAILED (Indiana Univ. Press)
     Barbara Jelavich, HISTORY OF THE BALKANS:  20TH CENTURY (Cambridge U.
     P.)
     Joseph Rothschild, RETURN TO DIVERSITY, 2nd ed. (Oxford Univ. Press)
     Gale Stokes, ed., FROM STALINISM TO PLURALISM:  A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY
     (Oxford Univ. Press)
     Gordon Wright, THE ORDEAL OF TOTAL WAR, 1939-1945 (Harper Torchbooks)

     The required readings also include a group of articles, which are 
     available from the University Book Store. All of the books and
     articles are also available from th University Library at the
     circulation desk .

Topics and Assignments for Each Class Meeting

Week 1 - Jan 16-20:  THE LEGACY OF DEPENDENCE

     a) Europe's eastern borderlands:  backwardness & dependence.
     b) The era of independence; Bennett Kovrig, The Hungarian People's 
        Republic 1-46 (XEROX in packet, or book on reserve); B.
        Jelavich, Balkans, 134-171, l77-191; J. Rothschild, Return to Diversity,
        pp. 3-24.

Week 2 - Jan 23-27:  THE ADVANCE OF NAZI GERMANY

     a) Eastern Europe's vulnerability; Jelavich, pp. 192-209, 212-21;
        Wright,Ordeal, pp. 1-16.
     b) Nazi and Soviet interests & goals; Wright, pp. 17-65; Jelavich,
        pp. 221-243.

Week 3 - Jan 30-Feb. 3:  THE WAR-TIME ORDEAL, I

     a) Nazi & Soviet occupation policies:  Poland and Western Russia;
        Rothschild, pp. 25-32; Wright, pp. 107-143; L. Dawidowicz, The
        War, xix-xl, chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 6; and appendix, pp. 394-401.
     b) Nazi occupation:  Bohemia & Moravia; Rothschild, pp. 32-39;
        Wright, pp.144-166; Dawidowicz, appendix, pp. 374-77.

Week 4 - Feb 6-10:  THE WAR-TIME ORDEAL, II

     a) Hitler's conservative allies:  Hungary & Slovakia; Rothschild, pp.
        40-44; Kovrig, Hungarian Republic, pp. 46-50 (XEROX, or book
        on reserve); Dawidowicz, chapters 7-8 & appendix, pp. 377-83.
     b) Hitler's Balkan allies; Jelavich, pp. 247-84; Rothschild, pp.
        44-75;Dawidowicz, appendix, pp. 383-93.

Week 5 - Feb 13-17:  THE CASUALTIES OF THE WAR

     a) The victims in East European society; Dawidowicz, chapters 10-14,
        16.
     b) FIRST EXAMINATION, Thursday, February 16 (Bring blank blue
        book[s]!).

Week 6 - Feb 20-24:  PEOPLE'S DEMOCRACIES

     a) The conflict over the peace and the fate of Poland; Wright, pp.
        189-254, 263-67; Jelavich, pp. 284-292; Stokes, From Stalinism to
        Pluralism, pp. 12-32.
     b) The Yugoslav revolution and the Balkans; Rothschild, pp. 76-78,
        104-106; Jelavich, pp. 292-300;  Gati, The Bloc, preface & pp.
        3-18.

Week 7 - Feb 27-Mar 3:  THE ADVENT OF STALINISM

     a) The politics of coercion: Poland, Bulgaria, & Romania; Rothschild,
        pp. 76-89, 106-123; Jelavich, pp. 301-321; Stokes, pp. 35-42.
     b) The end of coalition politics in Hungary & Czechoslovakia;
        Rothschild, pp. 89-104; R. Lu a, "Czechoslovakia between
        Democracy & Communism" (XEROX in packet).

Week 8 - March 6-10:  THE VICTIMS OF STALINISM

     a) International politics, Soviet calculations, and Tito: Rothschild,
        pp.125-132; Jelavich, pp. 321-335; Stokes, pp. 43-65.
     b) Consolidation and purges; Rothschild, pp. 132-146; Gati, pp.
        18-28;Jelavich 336-356; Stokes, pp. 66-77.


Week 9 - March 20-24:  RETREAT FROM STALINISM

     a) Khrushchev & the new course; Rothschild, pp. 147-149; Gati, pp.
        29-35;Jelavich, pp. 356-84.
     b) Attempted rapprochement with Tito; Rothschild, pp. 180-190; Gati,
        pp.35-39; Jelavich, pp. 384-405; Stokes, pp. 94-106.

Week 10 - March 27-31:  INSTABILITY IN THE MID-1950s

     a) SECOND EXAMINATION, Tuesday, March 28 (Bring blank blue book[s]!).
     b) Dissent & division in Poland; Rothschild, pp. 150-153; Gati, pp.
        39-43.
     ** Friday, March 31 is the last day to drop a course with a grade of
        W or F without petitioning the college dean. **

Week 11 - April 3-7:  EXPLOSION AND ADJUSTMENTS AFTER 1956

     a) Disintegration in Hungary; Rothschild, pp. 153-160; Stokes, pp.
        81-93.
     b) Unity & diversity:  Gomulka & Kadar;  Rothschild, pp. 160-166,
        173-180, 191-207; Stokes, pp. 107-114, 137-138, 144-149.

Week 12 - April 10-14:  ECONOMIC DILEMMAS AND DECENTRALIZATION

     a) Economic difficulties and centripetal forces; J. Lovenduski and J.
        Woodall, "TheImplementation of Economic Reform in Eastern
        Europe"(XEROX in packet), pp. 183-192.
     b) Stagnation & reform in Czechoslovakia; Rothschild, pp. 166-173;
        H. G. Skilling, "Czechoslovakia" (XEROX in packet); Stokes, pp.
        123-130, 150-155.

Week 13 - April 17-21 - THE PRAGUE SPRING AND THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF
                         REFORM

     a) The Prague Spring & the Soviet response, Rothschild, pp. 207-225;
        Gati, pp. 43-71; Stokes, pp. 131-134.
     b) Poland:  Solidarity and the stalemate of the 1980s; Gati, pp.
        104-135;M. Malia, "Poland:  The Winter War" (XEROX); Stokes,
        193-215.

Week 14 - April 24-28 - BREZHNEV, GORBACHEV, AND THE COLLAPSE OF EAST
                         EUROPEAN COMMUNISM

     a) Immobile regimes; Gati, pp. 71-103, 136-157; Stokes, pp. 163-174, 
          265-67

**TAKE-HOME ESSAY ASSIGNMENT, due in class, Tuesday, April 25**

     b) Disintegration in Poland and Hungary; Rothschild, pp. 226-34,
        238-44;Gati, pp. 161-190; Stokes, pp. 235-252.

Week 15 - May 1-5 - EASTERN EUROPE'S BRAVE NEW WORLD

     a) East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria; Rothschild, pp. 
        234-38, 244-57; Gati, pp. 191-203;   Stokes, pp. 253-264.
     b) Hopes, fears, and the Yugoslav tragedy; Rothschild, pp. 257-65;
        Stokes,pp. 224-34.

THIRD/FINAL EXAMINATION, Monday, May 8, 1995; 8:30-10:00 a.m.  Bring
          blue book(s)!

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