Countries of Europe Series: (11 lectures)

Countries of Europe Series England Part 1: Selected theme: How do the views of some historians contrast with Shakespeare's depiction of Richard III as a monstrous villain? England Part 2: Selected theme: What is the impact of the Enclosure Act, which allows large land owners to grow cash crops replacing peasants' small farms, on the increasing industrialization in mid-19th century England? Ireland: Selected theme: How did the 1927 Home Rule agreement after the 1916 Easter Rebellion during World War I, result in dividing Ireland and England into civil war? France part 1: Selected theme: What is the broader meaning of chivalry and how does it hold together the pyramidal political system of feudalism for the nobles? France Part 2: Selected theme: What is the basis of the horror of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, and why did the Jacobins give it their blessing? France Part 3: Selected theme: Why is trench warfare which occurred for 4 years on French soil during World War I considered a disaster for France's future history? Germany Part 1: Selected theme: How does the "realpolitik" of Prussia's Chancellor Bismarck become the basis for the unification of Germany? Germany Part 2: Selected theme: Why did the partnership between government and business provoke violent anti-Semitism in Italy and Germany but not in the Western democracies? Russia Part 1: Selected theme: In 1860s Russia, how does the political opposition Nihilists based on hopelessness contrast with the emerging opposition based on the ideas of Karl Marx? Russia Part 2: Selected theme: Why do the Russian peasants strongly support the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 though they do not identify at all with the Bolshevik ideas of the Proletariat? Russia Part 3: Selected theme: In the Russian purge trials of the 1930s, what could be another stunning reason the defendants confess to charges that are patently absurd on their face, in addition to the usual reasons for false confessions?