History Course Descriptions

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HIST 103 and HIST 104   History of Western Civilization
3 Credit Hours Each Semester
A two-semester survey of the development of European civilization from ancient times to the present. Among the major topics examined during the first semester (to 1648) are Classical Greece, Republican Rome, Imperial Rome, the Christian Church, Feudalism, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Age of European Exploration. Major topics examined during the second semester (since 1648) include Absolutism, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, Liberalism, Nationalism, Imperialism, Modernism, and Totalitarianism.

HIST 201 and HIST 202   A Survey of American History  3 Credit Hours Each Semester
Required of all history majors.
Survey of American history from the period of discovery to the present; a brief treatment of the colonial period, followed by a more detailed study of such subjects as the causes of the Revolution, the framing of the Constitution, the development of political parties, the sectional conflict, economic progress and problems, and foreign relations; special emphasis placed on understanding the nature of American democracy and the role of the United States in world affairs from 1789 to the present.

HIST 203   Introduction to the Discipline of History   3 Credit Hours
Required of all history majors and history minors.
An introduction to the history of the research and writing of history as a craft. According to the particular professor instructing, the course will address theories of history, computer simulation, the use of diaries, memoirs, and government documents, as well as the use of historic sites, architecture, photographs, paintings, cinema, and literary fiction as evidence in reconstructing and interpreting historical events.

HIST 301   Revolutionary America   3 Credit Hours
The motives of colonization; the evolution of self-government; the extension of the frontier; economic, social, and religious life; imperial rivalries, and the origins, events, and results of the American Revolution.

HIST 303   The Jeffersonian and Nationalist Period    3 Credit Hours
A study of American history, 1800-1850, with an emphasis on the clash of Federalist and Jeffersonian Principles; emerging political and cultural nationalism; the War of 1812; the influence of Jacksonian Democracy in the political, social, and economic life; growing sectionalism; and the Mexican War.

HIST 304   Disunion and the War for Southern Independence  3 Credit Hours
The political, economic, diplomatic, and military history of the United States, 1850-1865, emphasizing the forces that tended to bind or disrupt the Union and including a detailed account of the war.

HIST 305   America Comes of Age, 1865-1919    3 Credit Hours
Reconstruction, the last frontier, the advent of big business with its effects, the origins of American imperialism, the Spanish-American War, the Progressive movement, the First World War, and the Treaty of Versailles.

HIST 306   The United States Since 1919    3 Credit Hours
The Decade of the Twenties, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Cold War, the Post-Cold War Era; a study of national efforts to fulfill the American democratic vision during a century marked by wars, accelerating technological innovations, material progress, and cultural transition.

HIST 321   The Middle Ages   3 Credit Hours
The nature of society and events in Western Europe from the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. until the decay of the medieval world in the fourteenth century. Topics include the rise of the Franks and the Papacy, the establishment of feudalism, the wars between the popes and the holy roman emperors, the Crusades, intellectual revival, establishment of town democracy, and rise of nation-states at the end of the period.

HIST 322   Renaissance and Reformation    3 Credit Hours
The Renaissance as a European-wide movement emanating from the Italian peninsula; the crisis of the church medieval and the rise of the Renaissance papacy; Humanism, with special emphasis on the great painters, architects, and sculptors of the time; the Renaissance city-states and monarchies of France, England, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire; and the religious upheavals of Protestantism, the Catholic Reformation, and civil and religious wars.

HIST 324   The Era of the French Revolution and Napoleon   3 Credit Hours
A survey of the causes of the Revolution followed by an examination of the principal events of the period with stress on the major personalities, the ideologies and revolutionary mentality, the political and social aspirations of the lower social orders, the unstable nature of the various revolutionary governments, and the rise of Napoleon and his achievements.

HIST 325   Europe, 1815-1914   3 Credit Hours
The course of European history from Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo to the outbreak of World War I. Emphasis is placed on political reaction and reform; the Industrial Revolution and its economic, social and political effects; the Darwinian revolution and its impact on Western thought about man and his origins; the rise of nation-states in Italy and Germany; overseas imperialism; and the factors that contributed to the outbreak of the First World War.

HIST 326   Europe Since 1914   3 Credit Hours
A survey of the origins and impacts of two World Wars on the major European states, their political, social, and economic development, and their relative positions today.

HIST 327   England to 1660   3 Credit Hours
A survey of English history from prehistoric times through the English civil war of the 17th century and its aftermath. Emphasis is placed on the development of Parliament, the monarchy, the legal system, and local government. The evolution of British society is traced from Celtic and Roman times through King Alfred, the Anglo-Saxons, the Normans, the Wars of the Roses, the Tudors, and the first Stuart monarchs. Special attention is paid to Celtic warfare, the Roman conquest, Anglo-Saxon warfare, the armored knights of Norman times, and the English legacy to Americans.

HIST 328   England Since 1660   3 Credit Hours
A survey of English history from the Stuart Restoration to the present, including the Glorious Revolution of 1689, the reign of the Hanovarians, the development of England as an industrial power and leader in overseas expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries, its role in two world wars in the 20th century, its experience as a welfare state, and its decline as a great power.

HIST 402   South Carolina History    3 Credit Hours
A survey of the political, economic, social, and intellectual development of South Carolina from its discovery to the present, with emphasis on the relation of the state to the South and to the nation.

HIST 403   The American West   3 Credit Hours
A study of the settlement of the West and its influence on American life. Topics examined include mountain men and missionaries, Indians and Indian figures, the cowboy and the cult of Western heroes, patterns of frontier violence, homesteading, mining towns, railroad building. Emphasis is given to national traits, like individualism, associated with the frontier experience and to the influence of the West on American life to the present day.

HIST 406   The Old South   3 Credit Hours
A survey of major issues and institutions in the history of the American South from the colonial period through the Civil War. Particular attention is given to the plantation, slavery, states rights, fundamentalist religion, the ethic of honor, and the origins and consequences of the Civil War. Among the questions addressed are what caused a Southern regional mentality to develop and how different was the South from the rest of the nation?

HIST 407   The New South   3 Credit Hours
A survey of major issues and institutions in the history of the American South since the end of the Civil War. Particular attention is given to the Cult of the Lost Cause, the New South Movement, racial segregation, progressivism, religion, music, literature, the second reconstruction, and the emergence of the sunbelt South. Among the major questions addressed are why, and how much, did the South change after the Civil War and does a distinctive South still exist?

HIST 410   American Foreign Policy Since World War II    3 Credit Hours
Diplomatic problems arising from the war, increased responsibilities, the United Nations, American-Soviet rivalry, the Cold War, world treaties and commitments, national security strategies, economic policies, and other military and non-military initiatives in international relations.

HIST 417   History of The Non-Western World    3 Credit Hours
Origins and development of selected non-Western cultures, examining their historical and cultural values and customs as well as their social and political institutions. Emphasis is placed on the cultures of China, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, the Arab and Islamic world, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Americas.

HIST 421   The Ancient Greeks   3 Credit Hours
A detailed examination of ancient Greek political history and the ancient Greek contribution to politics, war, philosophy, literature, and art; the Archaic and the Classical ages; and the Hellenistic period to the Roman conquest.

HIST 422   The Romans   3 Credit Hours
A survey of Roman history from Rome's origins as a Latin village through its conquest of Italy, defeat of Carthage and Greece, and the Roman empire to dominance over the Mediterranean world; the empire's gradual corruption, loss of political freedoms, the transition to an absolutist, Christian monarchy. Emphasis is placed on the personalities and values of the Romans and how these led to Rome's glories and failures.

HIST 423   The Byzantine Empire   3 Credit Hours
The course begins with the turn of the Roman Empire to Christianity in the 4th century, then traces how the new religion changed the nature of the Empire. The course covers the conquests of the Germans over its western territories and the Muslims over its southern parts during the early Middle Ages. The fortunes of the remaining "Byzantine Empire" are followed through its revival, and then its decline with the Crusades and its final destruction by the Ottoman Turks.

HIST 424   History of Modern Russia    3 Credit Hours
History of the development of tsarist absolutism under the Romanov dynasty and of the religious, social, and economic institutions of the tsarist state. Intensive treatment of the 1917 Revolution and the institutional development of the Soviet state to world power status.

HIST 425  Islam and the Middle East     3 Credit Hours
A general survey of Islamic history from its beginnings to the present, covering the nature of the religion and society created by Mohammed, the conquest of lands that became Muslim, the politics and culture of the Muslim golden age, the Crusades and Ottoman conquests, and the emergence of modern Islamic countries and problems in the Middle East.

HIST 435   Scotland Since 1707   3 Credit Hours
A survey of the political, social, cultural, and economic history of Scotland since union with England. Topics include Jacobitism, the clan system, the Highland clearances, the industrialization of the Lowlands, and Scottish nationalism. Special emphasis is placed on attempts to retain Scottish distinctiveness while integrating into the wider community of Great Britain.

HIST 450   The Colonial Background to Latin America   3 Credit Hours
A detailed examination of the pre-Columbian and post-Columbian experiences in Latin America to 1810. Emphasis is placed on the varied melding of the indigenous, European, and African contributors and the roles they played within the framework of the Iberian empires in America. A cultural and institutional approach provides a necessary appreciation of the present-day complexities of this region.

HIST 451   Modern Latin America   3 Credit Hours
Beginning with a brief introduction to the colonial ambient and the Latin American wars for independence, the course explores the development of the several Latin American nations since 1810. Emphasis is placed on the major nations of the region such as Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, as well as to the Andean nations and the still-volatile Caribbean. The economic and strategic roles of these nations are addressed.

HIST 452   National Mexico   3 Credit Hours
A survey of Mexico from 1810 to the present. Topics include Father Hidalgo and the Wars of Independence, caudillos such as Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Liberal Reform of Benito Juárez, General Pancho Villa and the Revolution of 1910, and the Zapatista Rebellion of 1994.

HIST 462   The History of Premodern China    3 Credit Hours
The history of China from its beginnings to the eve of its clash with the West in the nineteenth century. The course examines the development of premodern China's political, social, and economic institutions, many of which lasted into the twentieth century. Special emphasis will be given to premodern religion, popular culture, and daily life.

HIST 463   The History of Modern China    3 Credit Hours
The history of China's tumultuous entry into the modern world. The course examines China's struggle to adjust its traditions to the reality of Western dominance and the radical changes in Chinese society that this adjustment caused. Emphasis will be given to the failure of the 1911 Revolution, the rise and victory of the Communist Party, the Cultural Revolution, and the regime of Deng Xiaoping.

HIST 466   The History of Japan   3 Credit Hours
An examination of Japan's history from its prehistoric origins to its postwar economic miracle. Topics such as the "Horse-rider Theory," Heian court life, samurai rule, Japanese "feudalism," Shintoism, Japanese Buddhism, the Meiji Reform, the prewar militarization, and the postwar transformation into an economic superpower will all receive special attention.

HIST 473   The Great Crusade: Americans during the Second World War   3 Credit Hours
A study of the United States in World War II which focuses upon domestic society and the relationship of the changing culture to the postwar America of global commitments and consumption of consumer goods.

HIST 479   History of Naval Warfare    3 Credit Hours
A history of warfare at sea from ancient times to the present with emphasis on the historical development of naval architecture, technology and organization; the evolution of naval tactics and strategy, and the influence of seapower upon world affairs.

HIST 481   Hitler and National Socialism    3 Credit Hours
A survey of the Nazi movement from its late nineteenth century antecedents to its culmination in 1945. Special emphasis will be given to the life of Hitler and to areas of controversial interpretation. Among these are the alleged reactionary nature of National Socialism, the "legal" rise of the party to power, the statesmanship of Hitler, his sanity, and the Holocaust.

HIST 483   Great Captains: Major Commanders from Ancient Times to the Present
3 Credit Hours
An analytical and interpretative study of the character, styles of command, and achievements of the more influential commanders in the history of warfare from Alexander the Great to Rommel. Particular attention is given to the contributions of these historical figures, to their role in the development of the concept of command and strategic formulation in the Western world, and to the relationship of military to political leadership.

HIST 487   The Patterns of War from Ancient Times to the Late 18th Century
3 Credit Hours
The patterns of war from ancient times to the eve of the American Revolution with emphasis on change in the technological, organizational, and social-political nature of war.

HIST 488   The United States and the Patterns of War Since the Late Eighteenth Century
3 Credit Hours
The study of the patterns of war from the late eighteenth century to the present, with emphasis on the impact of technology, social-political factors, and organization on the waging of war in general and especially on American military practice.

HIST 489   History of the Vietnam War    3 Credit Hours
The history of the American war in Vietnam, including the foundations of French imperialism in Indochina; native resistance; the First Indochina War; American policy, intervention, and withdrawal; the impact on American domestic society; and the fall of the Western-oriented government of South Vietnam.