Programme

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.

Core Documentation

Text book:

Mario Del Pero, Libertà e Impero: Gli Stati Uniti e il mondo 1776-2006, Bari, Laterza, 2008, (part II & III).

or

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

For the final presentation, students can chose one of the followings:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Students who will attend less than 70% are required to get in touch with the professor before the oral exam to discuss the required readings. They will have to study the following material:

- Text book: Mario Del Pero, Libertà e Impero: Gli Stati Uniti e il mondo 1776-2006, Bari, Laterza, 2008 (whole book)

- One of the books suggested for the class presentations

Reference Bibliography

No additional readings provided.

Type of delivery of the course

The first part of the course is dedicated to a general introduction to the history of Europe-US relations, with particular reference to the assumptions that helped characterize these relationships during the 20th century. The second focuses on the cold war and the highlights like the Berlin issue, the creation and role of NATO, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union and the development of European integration. The module concludes with a reflection on the consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the ten years after 1989. Starting from an analysis of US foreign policy in the second half of the nineteenth century, the course takes into consideration some salient moments of Europe-US relations, with particular reference to the war for Cuba (1898), to the Corollary of Roosevelt (1904), to the World War I and fascism. The relations with Great Britain, France and Italy in the first half of the 20th century are in evidence. The Spanish-American War of 1898 marked an important step in relations between Europe and the United States, while Theodore Roosevelt's policy consolidated the US vision of Europe. The Wilsonian turning point in World War I inaugurated a new season of transatlantic relations which, despite the pause of the Fascist period, contributed to redefining both the international vision and the relations with the European powers for the rest of the century. The course includes lectures and class discussion of assigned texts. In the last two weeks, attending students will prepare group reports to deepen the topics covered by the lessons through some of the monographs indicated below. The presentation and discussion of these texts is an integral part of classroom work. It will also include the viewing of films that will have the purpose of stimulating reflection on the issues addressed during the course. - Week I Introduction to the main topics of Europe-US relations. 1898. The conditions. Theodore Roosevelt is Wilson's first term - Week II Wilson and the First World War The Treaty of Versailles and the choice of the US Congress - Week III The United States and fascism FDR and the rise of Nazism In the second half of the twentieth century the cold war was undoubtedly the defining feature of Europe-US relations. Starting from an analysis of the immediate repercussions of the 2nd World War and of Yalta, the course examines the Soviet-American confrontation on the continent and the choices of the containment policy. Part of the lessons of this second part of the course also address the important issue of building the European community and the position of the United States in this regard. Post-1989 is a sort of corollary for understanding the perspectives of transatlantic relations. - Week IV The end of the conflict and the first years of the Cold War: The problem of reconstruction The beginning of the Cold War and the question of Germany - Week V - The Atlantic Pact, NATO and the first steps of European integration: The origins and motives of the Atlantic Alliance; The militarization of the Pact: NATO European integration in the 1950s and the US perspective - Week VI The crisis of the Alliance in the 1960s: The unresolved issues of transatlantic security; De Gaulle's projects and the tear with the United States; The second Berlin crisis and the stabilization of the Cold War on the European continent: Is Europe still central to the US? The peace movement in the United States and Europe - Week VII From détente to the second cold war: The protest movements in the sixties and seventies The Ostpolitik and Nixon's foreign policy; The end of the dollar standard, the energy crisis and the crisis of détente; Transatlantic tensions and the "new" anti-nuclear movement during the first Reagan administration - Week VIII The end of the Cold War and the nineties: The end of the Cold War and the transatlantic relations; The role of NATO and the birth of the CFSP The Balkan wars; week Student presentations - Week IX Conclusions: 1989-2001

Attendance

To be included in the group presentations, students should attend at least 70% of the classes (for more information on the final presentation, see the "grade" section)

Type of evaluation

Students attending at least 70% of the course The participants will have to give an in-class presentation on one of the essays that illustrate, according to different points of view, the transformations of Europe-United States relations. They will also have to write a paper (2000 words max.) based on their final presentation. Finally, all attending students will have to take an oral exam on the rest of the program indicated. The evaluation for the final grade, is therefore based on these 3 parts. Students attending less than 70% of the course Students who will attend less than 70% of the classes will have to take an oral exam on the entire program (the whole textbooks and one of the texts of their choice). They will have to get in touch with the professor before the oral exam in order to discuss the course requirements