European Civilization, 1648-1945 (HIST 202) As a
result of World War I, Europe had a different understanding of
war in the twentieth century than the United States. One of the
most important ways in which the First World War was experienced
on the continent and in Britain was through commemoration. By
means of both mass-media technologies and older memorial forms,
sites of memory offered opportunities for personal as well as
political reconciliation with the unprecedented consequences of
the war. The influence of these sites is still felt today, in a
united Europe, as the importance of armies has diminished in
favor of social welfare programs. Complete course materials are
available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses
This course was recorded in Fall 2008.
John Merriman is Charles Seymour Professor of History at Yale
University. Specializing in French and modern European history,
he received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. His
publications include The Agony of the Republic: The
Repression of the Left in Revolutionary France, 1848-1851, A
History of Modern Europe Since the Renaissance, and Police
Stories: Making the French State, 1815-1851. He is
currently at work on Dynamite: Emile Henry, the Café
Terminus, and the Origins of Modern Terrorism in Fin-de-Siecle
Paris. In 2000, Professor Merriman was the recipient of the
Yale University Byrnes-Sewall Teaching Prize.