MABM103 Англия в миналото и днес

Анотация:

ANNOTATION

The course is a brief survey of the history of England and Great Britain from the early Middle Ages to the present. The basic idea is to acquaint the students with the development of England from a feudal to constitutional monarchy, to a colonial power and, finally, to a modern democracy with a specific way of integration within the European Union. Students will be encouraged to develop their creative thinking by comparing the historical fate of England and Great Britain with that of the other countries in Europe.

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Американистика и британистика. Сравнителни изследвания (на английски език)

Преподавател(и):

гл. ас. Методи Методиев  д-р

Описание на курса:

Компетенции:

EXPECTED RESULTS

After completing the course the students should have good knowledge about the history of England and Great Britain within European and world context. They would also have a critical view on the secondary sources about the history of England and Great Britain.
Предварителни изисквания:
PRELIMINARY REQUIREMENTS

English language proficiency; a minimum of knowledge about the political and diplomatic history of Europe and the world.

Форми на провеждане:
Редовен

Учебни форми:
Лекция

Език, на който се води курса:
Английски

Теми, които се разглеждат в курса:

Литература по темите:

SUGGESTED READINGS

Halevy, E. A History of the English People. London, ARK Paperbacks, 1987.

Fisher, D.J.V. The Anglo-Saxon Age. London, Longmand, 1995.

Trevelyan, G. A Shortened History of England. London, Penguin Books, 1942.

Tzvetkov, Pl.S. A History of the Balkans: A Regional Overview from a Bulgarian Perspective. Vols.1-2. San Francisco, The Edwin Mellen Press, 1993.

Цветков. Пл.С. Европа през ХХ век. Ч.1-2. София, Нов български университет, 2002-2003.

Средства за оценяване:

EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT OF THE STUDENTS' ACHIEVEMENTS

Debates on essays, presented by the students, seminar participation, quiz, end-term exam.

Participation in the forum of the course gives the student a bonus of one unit added to the final grade. The forum is located in the MOODLE system.

Essays should be written as an answer to one of the assignments, listed below. It should be sent by e-mail to the MOODLE system under the sign "PLease, send your essays here. An essay should not exceed 1800 characters or 100 Kb.

Essays should be defended, which means that at a special session each student should answer questions, asked by the professor about his or her text.

ASSIGNMENTS FOR ESSAYS:

N.B.: Essays should not exceed one printed page in Times New Roman, 12 pt.

1.Name the main ethnicities that formed the English people and describe in a couple of words the fate of the native Celtic population.

2.Do you find a similarity between the Germanic colonization of the British Isles and the way the Bulgarians (not the Slavs!) colonized the lands of today’s Bulgaria?

3.The 1215 Great Charter of Liberties contains many provisions, but only a couple of them formulate the basic principles of constitutional government and of human rights. Which are these provisions?

4.Can we talk about English Absolutism in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially if we compare the political development of England with that of France, Spain, Portugal, Prussia and the Hapsburg Monarchy from the 17th to the end of the 18th century and even later?

5.When did the English enjoy more freedoms and rights: under King Charles I (1625-1649) or under the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (1653-1658)?

6.When did the English enjoy a greater religious liberty: before or after the 1688-1689 Glorious Revolution?

7.Describe briefly the political, social and economic prerequisites that made possible the rise of England as a world power.

8.In 1867 the Liberal Walter Bagehot published a book under the title “The English Constitution”, where he made the following statement: “To state the matter shortly, the Sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy as ours, three rights – the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn. And a king of great sense and sagacity would want no others”. Do you think that Bagehot was right? Are the prerogatives of the Crown restricted to such an extent under Queen Victoria and her successors?

9.Who in Britain was in favor and who was against the Bulgarians during the 1876-1878 crisis and why? Did the division in Britain on the Bulgarian Question go along party lines or not?

10.What made Britain declare war on Germany on August 4, 1914? Was this act consistent with Britain’s foreign policy in the preceding decades?

11.In March 1915 Britain agreed to a future annexation of Constantinople and the Straits by Russia. In your view, what made the British abandon their strategy of opposing Russian aggression in the Balkans?

12.How did the First World War affect Britain’s position as a world power?

13.Which were the major changes that occurred in Britain’s political system after the end of World War I?

14.What do you think about the fate of the Irish under British rule? Is it comparable with the fate of the Bulgarians under Ottoman rule?

15.On December 10, 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated after a reign of less than twelve months. How did this crisis affect Britain’s home affairs and the British Commonwealth?

16.What does appeasement mean? Was there a real alternative to that policy in the late 1930s?

17.Who was guiltier of the outbreak of World War II: Stalin or Hitler? What did British Prime Minister Winston Churchill think about it?

18.Were the British interested in a war of Nazi Germany against Soviet Russia? Could the British agree to an unlimited expansion of National Socialist Germany to the East?

19.What did the British win and what did they lose in World War II?

20.How did and how do the British assess the end of the British colonial empire?

21.Try to compare briefly Indian with British democracy.

22.Try to describe briefly the arguments pro and con about Britain’s entrance into the European Economic Community.

23.Try to compare briefly the conservatism of Winston Churchill with that of Margaret Thatcher.

24.Margaret Thatcher was the first lady to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and she was also one of those prime ministers whose term of office was the longest in British history. In your opinion, what did she achieve and what did she fail to do as Prime Minister?

25.Why are so many British skeptical about the European Union?