Università Roma Tre

The course deals with the History of the Relations between Europe and the US in the 20th century through the study of US foreign policy and the relations with the European powers, with particular reference to the first half of the 1900s and the Cold War. At the end of the course students will be able to critically read some essential aspects of the Transatlantic Relations in what goes by the name of "American century". Starting from an analysis of the establishment of the United States as an great power, the Spanish-American war of 1898, Wilson's politics in the first world war, and the experience of the USA with Europe during the rise of the Nazi-fascist regimes the Second World War, the course arrives then to face the crucial point of the Cold War. The course will, therefore, deals with both the confrontation with the Soviet Union and the politics of the blocs, as well as the construction of the EU and the transformation of the American attitude towards a geopolitical entity initially viewed favorably. Particular attention will also be given to the issue of political and cultural interaction during the Cold War: some lessons will therefore be devoted to the history of protest movements in the United States and Europe between the 1950s and the 1980s. Finally, the question of the "Americanization" of Europe and the historiographical debate on the role of the United States on the continent in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War will be addressed.

Text book:

Nolan, Mary. The Transatlantic Century Europe and America, 1890-2010. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2012.



Books for presentations and final paper:


1. Del Pero, Mario, and Federico Romero. Le Crisi Transatlantiche: Continuità E Trasformazioni. Storia E Letteratura, 2007.

2. Ennio Di Nolfo, Il mondo atlantico e la globalizzazione, Mondadori Università, Milano, 2014.



3. La Feber, Walter, The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations. Vol. II. The American Search for Opportunity, 1865-1913, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.



4. Johnston, Seth A. How NATO Adapts Strategy and Organization in the Atlantic Alliance since 1950. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2017



5. Lundestad, Geir, The United States and Western Europe since 1945: From "Empire" by Invitation to Transatlantic Drift, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.



6. Schmitz, David, The United States and Fascist Italy, 1922-1940, Durham: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.



7. Sayle, Timothy, Enduring Alliance: A History of NATO and the Postwar Global Order, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2019.



8. Sloan, Stanley R. Defense of the West NATO, the European Union and the Transatlantic Bargain. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2016.