The purpose of this class is to introduce students to the causes, events, and consequences of World War I, or the Great War as contemporaries called it, and how it shaped the twentieth century.
The war’s unresolved legacies can be found in the Balkans, in the Middle East, in Africa, and in questions about the role of nationalism, and national self-determination, in international relations.
The war destroyed some empires-such as the German, Russian, and Ottoman-and helped propel the U.S. on a path towards becoming a world power. The war ushered in the first Communist regime in Europe, and unleashed new technologies that transformed the battlefields of the twentieth century.
