Division and Reconciliation: European History since 1945

1945 arguably saw the start of the Cold War, whilst the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 symbolically marked the beginning of the end of Communist rule in Eastern and Central Europe, with the final collapse of the Soviet Union coming in 1991. This course asks important questions about the distinctions between resistance and collaboration, the nature of totalitarianism, and the transition from dictatorship to democracy in the Soviet bloc. But it explores Western European countries too, such as Britain, France, Germany, and Spain, and alternative themes, such as the legacies of the Second World War, and the impact and significance of the social and cultural upheavals of the Sixties. Towards the middle of the course we will also take a trip to visit Winston Churchill’s birthplace, Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, near Oxford.