COURSE TITLE: Diplomatic History, 1815 to the Present
PREREQUISITES: Sophomore Standing
PROFESSOR: Albert Wu
CLASS SCHEDULE: Tuesdays, 9:00-10:20
CLASS SCHEDULE: Fridays, 9:00-10:20
OFFICE HOURS: Wednesdays, 14:00-16:00
OFFICE NUMBER: Pierre Villey 204
OFFICE TEL EXT:
COURSE NO: HI/PO 3054
SEMESTER: Fall 2013
CREDITS: 4
ROOM NO: Combes-12
PERIOD: 1
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course critically examines diplomatic history: the history of inter-state negotiations and relations. Through class
discussions, readings, lectures, debates, and other presentations we will survey the history of diplomacy and war from
the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna through the present. Although our primary focus is on
Europe, we will also study diplomacy in other parts of the world. The central questions that this course attempts to
answer are: what explains war and conflict? What accounts for peace and cooperation?
This is an upper-level course, cross-listed by the Department of History and the Department of International and
Comparative Politics. The only formal prerequisite is sophomore standing, but students who do not have any basic
knowledge of European history should be prepared to do some general background reading.
STUDENT LEARNING GOALS:
In this course students will learn:
• The major diplomatic events and topics in nineteenth- and twentieth-century European history, and the
global dimensions of these events.
• The main theoretical approaches to diplomatic history and the history of international
relations, and in particular, recent historiographical changes and challenges to
traditional diplomatic history.
• To analyse, critique and interpret both secondary and primary sources, through
individual reading and writing and through group seminar discussion.
This course is also designed so that students will improve at the following skills, all of which can only be developed
with repeated practice and feedback:
• Analysis: students will learn to evaluate different arguments, facts and opinions, and to build and defend
their own arguments. Every aspect of the course will reinforce and model good analytical skills.
• Research: students will learn how to find, evaluate and organize different sources of information. The
research paper will particularly help students to find and use sources, as will our primary source analysis in
class.
• Communication: students will learn how to communicate ideas more clearly and persuasively through writing
and speaking. Written assignments and presentations formally give formal practice in communication skills,
but everyday class participation – actively listening, thinking and responding – is also vital.
TEXTBOOKS:
REQUIRED:
• Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy.
• I will also provide readings in a course reader, all available online. Readings marked with an * are available
online.
ATTENDANCE:
Class attendance is a requirement, more than 2 unexcused absence will lower your participation grade (25% of your
final grade) by one-third of a grade per absence. Four unexcused absences will lead to a 0 for the participation grade.
All readings must be prepared for the class session. Printing out all readings and bringing them to class will count as
part of your participation grade. All assignments must also be handed in on time and exams taken on the assigned
day. Late papers will be discounted one-third for every day they are late. Make-up exams may only be taken with a
note from a doctor or student affairs.
GRADING:
Participation (Attendance, Quizzes, Participation in Discussions) 25%
Annotated Bibliography Due During Mid-Term 20%
Weekly Short Writing Assignments 25%
Final Paper 30 %
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Students studying at The American University of Paris are expected to attend ALL scheduled classes,
and in case of absence, should contact their professors to explain the situation. It is the student’s
responsibility to be aware of any specific attendance policy that a faculty member might have set in the
course syllabus. The French Department, for example, has its own attendance policy, and students
are responsible for compliance. Academic Affairs will excuse an absence for students’ participation in
study trips related to their courses.
Attendance at all exams is mandatory.
IN ALL CASES OF MISSED COURSE MEETINGS, THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMUNICATION WITH
THE PROFESSOR, AND FOR ARRANGING TO MAKE UP MISSED WORK, RESTS SOLELY WITH THE
STUDENT.
Whether an absence is excused or not is ALWAYS up to the discretion of the professor or the department.
Unexcused absences can result in a low or failing participation grade. In the case of excessive absences, it is up
to the professor or the department to decide if the student will receive an “F” for the course. An instructor may
recommend that a student withdraw, if absences have made it impossible to continue in the course at a
satisfactory level.
Students must be mindful of this policy when making their travel arrangements, and especially during the
Drop/Add and Exam Periods.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY STATEMENT: As an Anglophone university, The American University of
Paris is strongly committed to effective English language mastery at the undergraduate level. Most courses
require scholarly research and formal written and oral presentations in English, and AUP students are expected
to strive to achieve excellence in these domains as part of their course work. To that end, professors include
English proficiency among the criteria in student evaluation, often referring students to the university Writing Lab
where they may obtain help on specific academic assignments. Proficiency in English is monitored at various
points throughout the student's academic career, most notably during the admissions and advising processes,
while the student is completing general education requirements, and during the accomplishment of degree
program courses and senior theses.
OUTLINE:
WEEK 1
Tue, Sept 10
Introduction: Methods and Concepts
READINGS:
Fri, Sept 13
PDF/Online: * Paul Schroeder, International History: Why Historians do it Differently than
Political Scientists; *Robert Jervis, “International Politics and Diplomatic History.”
Why States?: Westphalia, Richelieu, and the Raison D’Etat
Kissinger: Ch. 1, Ch. 3.
PDF/Online: *Excerpts from Machiavelli, The Prince; * Richelieu, Political Testament.
th
Assignment 1 Due on Sunday, September 15 .
WEEK 2
Tue, Sept 17
Napoleon and the World He Created
READINGS
PDF Online: * Napoleon Documents; * Selections from David Bell, Total War.
Fri, Sept 20
Debate: Was Napoleon a Criminal?
READINGS
PDF Online: *Harold T. Parker, “Why Did Napoleon Invade Russia?” *Paul Schroeder,
Napoleon’s Foreign Policy: A Criminal Enterprise.
Assignment 2 Due on Sunday, September 22
th
WEEK 3
Tue, Sept 24
The Congress of Vienna
READINGS:
Kissinger, Ch. 4
PDF Online: * Selections from Metternich's Memoirs * Holy Alliance Treaty. *Treaty of Paris,
1815.
Fri, Sept 27
Debate: Did the Congress of Vienna Actually Create a Balance of Power?
PDF Online: * Schroeder, "Did the Vienna Settlement Rest on a Balance of Power?" * Contra
Schroeder: Charles Ingrao, * Jervis response to Schroeder.
Assignment 3: Due on September 29.
WEEK 4
Tue, Oct 1
Nationalism and the Challenge of a Unified Germany
READINGS:
Kissinger, Ch. 5.
PDF Online: * Stacie E. Goddard, “When Right Makes Might: How Prussia Overturned the
European Balance of Power”; * Schroeder, “The Lost Intermediaries” * Primary sources on
German Unification; *Selections from Bismarck's Memoirs.
Fri, Oct 4
NO CLASS
WEEK 5
Tue, Oct 8
European Imperialism and Great Power Diplomacy
READINGS
Kissinger, Ch. 6
PDF Online: * Eric Weitz, From Vienna to Berlin; *Jules Ferry, On French Colonial Expansion;
*Kaiser Wilhelm, “A Place in the Sun” speech.
Fri, Oct 11
Weak-State Diplomacy: What Can a Weak State Do?
READINGS:
PDF Online: * Lin Zexu, Letter of Advice to Queen Victoria; *Meiji Constitution; *Unequal
Treaties; *Emperor Guangxu, Attempted Reforms; *Treaty of Shimonoseki; *Boxer Protocol;
*Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910.
Assignment 4: Due on October 13
WEEK 6
Tue, Oct 15
The July Crisis and World War I
READINGS:
* Kissinger, chs. 7-8;
PDF Online: * July Crisis Packet *Chronology of Events *Companion to International History,
"The July Crisis," ch. 8; *Christopher Clark, “The First Calamity.”
Fri, Oct 18
Discussion: Could World War I Have Been Prevented?
READINGS:
* Schroeder, Galloping Gertie. * Schroeder, "Embedded Counterfactuals";
Assignment 5: Due on October 20
WEEK 7
Tue, Oct 22
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the End of the War
READINGS:
Kissinger, Ch. 8
PDF Online * Treaty of Brest-litovsk; * Treaty between Germany and Turkey * Ch. 9-10
Wartime Diplomacy.
Fri, Oct 25
The Paris Peace Conferences
READINGS
Kissinger, Ch. 9
PDF Online: * Selections from Macmillan, Paris 1919; *Selections from Erez Manela, The
Wilsonian Moment.
Assignment 6: Annotated Bibliography Due on October 27
WEEK 8
Tue, Oct 29
A Fractured World
READINGS:
Kissinger, Ch. 11
*Trotsky, Permanent Revolution; *Selections of Hitler Speeches; * UN Charter; Selections
from pacifists.
Fri, Nov 1
No Class
WEEK 9
Tue, Nov 5
“Appeasement” and the Origins of World War II
READINGS:
* Munich Pact; *Nazi-Soviet Pact; *Chamberlain, Speeches * Mao Zedong, On Tactics
Against Japanese Imperialism.
Fri, Nov 8
Debate: Assessing Appeasement
READINGS:
*Paul Schroeder, “Munich and the British Tradition,”; Robert J. Beck, “Munich’s Lessons
Reconsidered.” * Paul Kennedy and Talbot Imlay, “Appeasement.” *Selections from Guilty
Men; *Selections from A. J. P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War. Selections from
Frank McDonough, Neville Chamberlan, Appeasement, and the British Road to War.
WEEK 10
Tue, Nov 12
Yalta and the Foundations of the Postwar Configuration
READINGS:
Kissinger, Chapter 17.
* Churchill, “Iron Curtain Speech”; *Truman Doctrine; *The North Atlantic Treaty;
Fri, Nov 15
A Cold War Case Study: The Cuban Missile Crisis
READINGS:
Kissinger,
*JFK, Address on the Cuban Missile Crisis; Selections from Documents Relating to American
Foreign Policy (Cuban Missile Crisis)
Assignment 7: Final Paper Proposal
WEEK 11
Tue, Nov 19
The Cold War: Colonization in Europe
READINGS:
Kissinger, 21-23; Kissinger, 25-27.
PDF Online: *Khruschev, Address, to the UN General Assembly;
Fri, Nov 22
The Cold War: Decolonization
READINGS:
Chapters 25-27.
*Sukarno, Speech at the Opening of the Bandung Conference; *Nehru, Speech to Bandung
Conference Political Committee; *UN Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial
Countries and Peoples; *Vietnamese Declaration of Independence;
WEEK 12
Tue, Nov 26
Détente and the End of the Communist Bloc
READINGS:
Kissinger, Ch. 29-30.
*Schroeder, “The Cold War and Its Ending in ‘Long-Duration’ International History.”;
Fukuyama, “The End of History
Fri, Nov 29
The EU
READINGS:
* Kissinger ch. 29-30
* John Mearsheimer, “Why is Europe Peaceful Today?”; * Michael J. Baun, ‘The Maastricht
Treaty as High Politics: Germany, France and European Integration,’ Political Science
Quarterly, Vol. 110, No. 4, 1995-1995, pp. 605-624. * Sheehan, Where Have all the Soldiers
Gone. Ch. 9: Why Europe Will Not Become a Superpower; *
WEEK 13
Tue, Dec 3:
Liberal Interventionism and Human Rights
READINGS:
* Samantha Powers; * Ian Buruma Critique of Liberal Intervention; * Sam Moyn; *n+1, “A
Solution from Hell.”
Fri, Dec 6
The Rise of China and the End of American Hegemony?
READINGS:
Kissinger, ch. 31
* Robert Keohane, “After Hegemony”; * Susan Strange, "A Critique of Regime Analysis";
Aaron Friedberg, “The Future of U. S.-China Relations”; Paul Schroeder, “The Mirage of
Empire vs. the Promise of Hegemony.”; John Mearsheimer, “China’s Unpeaceful Rise.”
WEEK 14
Tue, Dec 10
Some Conclusions: Diplomacy in an Age of Terrorism
READINGS:
*George Bush, “History’s Unmarked Grave of Discarded Lies”; *George Bush, Speech on Iraq
in Cincinnati; Schroeder, “Does the History of International Politics Go Anywhere?”
Final Paper Due December 13