Università Roma Tre

The course examines the fundamental moments and aspects of contemporary history of the 19th and 20th centuries starting from the revolutionary upheavals of 1848 to the formation of the European national states up to recent years. Particular attention will be paid to World History, that is, history in a global perspective.
Specific focuses will be dedicated to the topic of minorities and international migrations in the contemporary age, especially those that have involved Italy.
Detailed description:
Credits 1-2: The general characteristics of the contemporary age. Nineteenth century Europe and the formation of modern political cultures. The transition from the ancient regime society to the rule of law. Constitutionalism. Liberalism, socialism, nationalism. Mass society. The apogee of European projection in the world. Colonialism and imperialism. Democratic ideals. International relations from the "Concert" to arbitration to power politics. Liberal Italy. The Second Industrial Revolution. The precursors of the First World War.
CFU 3-4: Europe 1914-1945: a continent destroys itself. Outcomes of the First World War: the triumph of nations and the disappearance of empires. The spread of authoritarian and totalitarian contagion. Characteristics of illiberal regimes in Italy and Germany. Racism in Europe: origins and manifestations. The crisis of 1929. Towards a new European and world war. The Second World War, characteristics and progress. The Holocaust. The world enters the nuclear age.
Credits 5-6: The new international order after the Second World War: bipolarism, iron curtain, "second world", cold war. Republican Italy. The great questions of the contemporary world: the phenomenon of migration.

Manual: Lucio Caracciolo, Adriano Roccucci, Storia contemporanea, Le Monnier-Mondadori, 2017

All students must bring the following chapters of the Manual to the exam: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17,18, 19, 20, 21, 23.

Plus a book of your choice:
- E. Gentile, Il fascismo in tre capitoli, Laterza, 2009;
- I. Diamanti - M. Lazar, Popolocrazia. La metamorfosi delle nostre democrazie, Laterza, 2020