Course: General History of Early Modern Period

« Back
Course title General History of Early Modern Period
Course code KHI/PBH20
Organizational form of instruction Lecture + Seminary
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study 1
Semester Summer
Number of ECTS credits 4
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Stellner František, prof. PhDr. Ph.D.
  • Drška Václav, doc. PhDr. Ph.D.
Course content
lectures: 1. Renaissance Italy 2. Tudor England 3. European Reformation: causes, directions, interpretations. Catholic Reform and Trident 4. The Habsburg world (dynasties, the SDRN, Spain and overseas) 5. The Thirty Years' War and the 'crisis of the 17th century': causes, periodisation, results; socio-economic developments and possibilities of interpretation 6. Economic history of the 17th and 18th centuries 7. Absolutism on the example of France of Louis XIV. 8. The rise of Brandenburg-Prussia 9. Great empires on the edge of Europe - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia 10. Colonial empires and the emergence of the USA 11. Ideological currents of the 17th-18th centuries - Jansenism, Pietism, Enlightenment 12. Economic, ideological and political preconditions of the Great French Revolution 13. Everyday life in the 17th and 18th centuries Seminars: 1. Protoabsolutism as a problem of historical science: the nature of the modern state of the early modern period, its modes of governance, ideology. France and England as a paradigm of the problem? 2. European Reformation: causes, directions, interpretations. The Catholic Reform and Trident 3. The world of the Habsburgs: Spain and overseas, the medieval empire - attempts to reform it 4. European conflicts before the Thirty Years? War: from grat power rivalries to cinfessional struggles 5. The Thirty Years? War and the "crisis of the 17th century": causes, periodisation, results; socio-economic developments and possibilities of interpretation 6. Economic history of the 17th, 18th centuries - analysis of forms of economy in different parts of Europe (example England, Netherlands, France, Central Europe), new content of financial institutions (bank, stock exchange) and products (credit), agricultural "revolution" - categories, context 7. Mercantilism (Cameralism), formation of the first economic theories (Adam Smith, David Ricardo ...), analysis and effect in practice 8. the formation of the modern state - the change in the role of the state in the political, administrative, economic sphere, the consequences on th eexamples of France, Brandenburg-Prussia; the failure of this process-the example of Poland 9. Great empires on the margins of Europe - Russia and the Ottoman Empire - specifics, role of foreign policy 10. Forms and objectives of colonial policy in the 17th-18th centuries - importance of England?s growing role - colonial wars (Seven Years? War etc.) 11. Changes in the English colonies in North America - origins, typology, relationship with the mother country, economic development, struggle for independence 12. "Matrix of the Revolution" - economic ideological and political preconditions of the French Revolution - analysis of French specifics 13. Ideological currents of the 17th, 18th centuries - the impact of the "Little Ice Age", wars and epidemics on the social status of the majority of the population, diet, dress, travel

Learning activities and teaching methods
unspecified, unspecified, unspecified
Learning outcomes
The subject of the discipline is a more detailed discussion of the problems of modern history, in which emphasis is placed on the comparative analysis of various aspects of historical develpment in time and space, while necessarily defining the interrelationships and (causal) dependencies of the phenomena and events under study. During the course, the student will be introduced to key moments in European and world history from the onset of the Reformation to the outbreak of the Great French Revolution, the development of culture and thought, and the basic interpretive procedures of modern historigraphy.
The student will gain the ability to understand sources from the period and will be able to answer questions opened by their presentation in the seminars. In the course of the lectures, the student will noc only learn to navigate the period, but will also be introduced to the contemporary overlap of some issues that may lead up to today?s events, such as the role of the state, the issue of the colonies, etc.
Prerequisites
General History of Middle Ages

Assessment methods and criteria
unspecified
The award of credit will be conditional on active participation in the seminars and the presentation of a paper that will be an introduction to the discussion of the issue. For the oral examination, the student will bring a list of literature studied, including at least 6 texts. The student will be asked one question in the examination based on the literature studied, the other will be drawn. In order to pass the exam, both questions must be answered satisfactorily.
Recommended literature
  • Black, J. Evropa 18. století. Praha, 2003.
  • Blanning, T. C. W. The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture: Old Regime Europe 1660-1789. Oxford, 2003.
  • Braudel, F. Sozialgeschichte des 15.-18. Jahrhunderts: Der Alltag/Der Handel/Aufbruch zur Weltwirtschaft. München, 1999.
  • CRONIN, Vincent. Ludvík XIV. Král Slunce. Velký panovník z rodu Bourbonů. Praha. 1999.
  • Dülmen, R. van. Kultura a každodenní život v raném novověku, I - III. Praha, 1999.
  • FERGUSON, Niall. Britské impérium. Cesta k modernímu světu. Praha. 2007.
  • Ferro, M.. Dějiny kolonizací. 2007.
  • FURET, F. Francouzská revoluce, I, Od Turgota k Napoleonovi 1770-1814. Praha, 2004. ISBN 80-7203-452-9.
  • Hrbek, J. Evropa a absolutismus v 17. a 18. století (1648?1789). Praha, 2012.
  • Jan Křen. Dvě století střední Evropy. Praha, 2005.
  • Kennedy, Paul. Vzestup a pád velmocí. Ekonomické proměny a vojenské konflikty v letech.
  • Munck, T. Evropa sedmnáctého století. Praha, 2002.
  • PAULINYI, Á. Průmyslová revoluce. Praha, 2003.
  • R. MACKENNEY. Evropa šestnáctého století. Praha, 2001.
  • Radek FUKALA. Třicetiletá válka. Konflikt, který změnil Evropu. Opava, 2001.
  • Raková, Svatava. Dobrodruzi, puritáni a Indiáni. Praha. 1998.
  • STELLNER, František. Car je mrtev, ať žije carevna! Převraty na ruském dvoře v 18. století. Praha. 2014.
  • STELLNER, František. Fridrich Veliký. Cesta Pruska k velmocenskému postavení. Praha. 1998.
  • SUCHÁNEK, Drahomír, DRŠKA, Václav. Církevní dějiny. Novověk. Praha, 2018.
  • Ulrich im Hof. Evropa a osvícenství. Praha, 2000.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester