Skip to main content
Module Search
A street in Durham, with old buildings and people walking down the street
 

HIST30M1: The Habsburg Empire: from Enlightenment to Collapse, 1740-1918

Please ensure you check the module availability box for each module outline, as not all modules will run in each academic year. Each module description relates to the year indicated in the module availability box, and this may change from year to year, due to, for example: changing staff expertise, disciplinary developments, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback. Current modules are subject to change in light of the ongoing disruption caused by Covid-19.

Type Open
Level 3
Credits 20
Availability Not available in 2024/2025
Module Cap None.
Location Durham
Department History

Prerequisites

  • A pass mark in at least ONE level 2 module in History

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • None

Aims

  • To develop an understanding of the political, social and cultural dynamics of the Habsburg Empire in the modern period
  • To engage with and critically re-assess diverse traditions of Habsburg historiography
  • To position the Habsburg legacy historically and in a comparative perspective within the broader studies of the empire
  • To contribute towards meeting the generic aims of Level 3 study in history

Content

  • The collapse of the Habsburg Empire in 1918 resulted in the dramatic redrawing of the map of Eastern and Central Europe and was followed by the rise of Nazism. Was the empire doomed from the start and hence an insignificant player on the map of modern Europe? In 1913 Vienna, Hitler, Trotsky, Tito, Freud and Stalin all lived in the city, not too far away from the palaces of the ailing Emperor Francis Joseph and Archduke Franz Ferdinand. What was the role of the royal dynasty, prominent administrators, politicians and cultural figures in keeping the empire together? Did nationalism, anti-Semitism and other ideologies seriously threaten the functioning of the empire? Was the creative fin-de-sicle culture that made Vienna an epitome of the modern metropolis truly so decadent as to contribute to the empires collapse? Relying on a critical analysis of historical scholarship and a careful reading of primary sources, this module proposes to provide individual, preliminary answers to these questions so pertinent to the study of the empires in the modern period.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • An understanding of the complicated and changing political and ethno-national map of Central Europe and the Habsburg Empire in the modern period.
  • A capacity to engage with several competing traditions of Habsburg historiography and a set of methodological skills to analyse primary sources from diverse regions of Central Europe.
  • A historically sensitive positioning of the Habsburg legacy in a comparative perspective within the broader studies of the empire.

Subject-specific Skills:

  • Students will be introduced to primary source analysis, and should gain preliminary skills to evaluate both archival and oral historical sources.

Key Skills:

  • Key skills for this module can be viewed at: http://www.dur.ac.uk/History/ugrads/ModuleProformaMap/

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • enter text as appropriate for the module

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Lectures21Weekly in Terms 1 & 2; 2 in Term 31 hour 
Seminars74 in Term 1, 3 in Term 21 hourYes
Preparation and Reading169 
Total200 

Summative Assessment

Component: EssayComponent Weighting: 40%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Essay3000 words not including footnotes or bibliography100 
Component: ExamComponent Weighting: 60%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Seen Examination [paper to be made available not less than 72 hours before the start of the examination]2 hours60 

Formative Assessment

Written assignment(s) of 1000-2000 words submitted in Michaelmas Term.

More information

If you have a question about Durham's modular degree programmes, please visit our FAQ webpages, Help page or our glossary of terms. If you have a question about modular programmes that is not covered by the FAQ, or a query about the on-line Undergraduate Module Handbook, please contact us.

Prospective Students: If you have a query about a specific module or degree programme, please Ask Us.

Current Students: Please contact your department.