HIS 101 B Foundations of Western Civilization I

Section 2                                                          Prof. E. Boia

Spring 2008                                                     Office RT 1911 Ph # 523-7192

MWFB9:45 -10:50 am                                     Hrs. MWF 11:00-11:50 am or by appointment 

Room SR 152                                                  HIS Dept Ph # 687-3920 

 

This course is a general survey of western civilization to 1715, with emphasis on Greek and Roman civilization, the medieval world, the Renaissance and Reformation, and the transition to the modern era, including the development of absolutism, scientific thought, and rationalism. 

 

Required Reading: 

$                   Text: Kagan/Ozment/Turner, The Western Heritage, Vol. I: to 1740, Brief Fifth Edition (Teaching & Learning Classroom Edition). 

$                   Docs: Select documents from Western Civilization Documents CD-Rom (included with Text). 

$                   Sowards:  J. Kelly Sowards, Makers of the Western Tradition:  Portraits from History, Vol. 1, Seventh Edition. 

 

Online material:  CSU History Dept. http://www.csuohio.edu/history/web_courses spring 2008

Outlines          GUIDE I         GUIDE II       GUIDE III      GUIDE IV      GUIDE V

 

Examinations: 

There will be three examinations: two one hour "mid-terms" and a final.  Each exam consists of three parts. 

$                                           Part I   is worth 50% of the exam grade, and consists of a choice of 5 out of 9 short-essay identification questions in which the answers must identify (1) who or what it was, (2) when and where it happened, and (3) the historical significance. 

$                                                                   Part II (35%)   consists of a choice of 1 out of 2 or 3 longer essay questions. 

$                                           Part III (15%) is a mandatory question on one of the readings in the Makers of the Western Tradition book by Sowards. 

 

$                   The tentative dates are indicated in the course assignments.  Material from both lectures and readings will be covered.  The final examination will not be comprehensive. 

$                   Makeup examinations will be given only to those students who have an official excuse for missing an exam and have contacted the instructor directly prior to the scheduled exam. 

$                   Please bring blue or green examination books to exams and use ink pens only! 

 

Quizzes: 

There will be two quizzes (10 minutes each) on the Docs. 

$                                                                   First quiz:        February 8

$                                                                   Second quiz:   April 18 

$                   There will also be three unscheduled quizzes (without makeup option)Bthe two highest scores will be credited toward your final grade. 

 

Grading Policy:

$                   the first and second examinations will count 20% each toward the final grade 

$                   the final examination will count 30% 

$                   2 quizzes on the Docs. 10% each 

$                   2 unscheduled quizzes (5% each) 

 

A = 90-100      B = 80-89        C = 70-79        D = 60-69        F = 0-59   

 

 

A GUIDE ABOUT CONDUCT IN A LARGE CLASS 

This is a large class but you are not a small part of it! 

To make our time together as valuable as possible, we both have to work hard at it. 

The following basic principles may give us some guidelines: 

 

Every student has the right to learn as well as the responsibility not to deprive others of their right to learn. 

Every student is accountable for her or his actions. 

 

In order for you to get the most out of this class, please consider the following: 

 

1.  Attend all scheduled classes and arrive on time. 

Late arrivals and early departures are very disruptive and violate the first principle listed above.

 

2.  Please do not schedule other engagements during this class. 

You probably would not like it if I did!  I will try to make class as interesting and informative as possible, but I cannot learn the material for you. 

 

3.  Pagers and cellular phones are neither to be seen nor heard. 

The sound of a pager or a cellular phone going off in a classroom is extremely disruptive and will not be tolerated! 

 

4.  If you have trouble hearing the lecture or media presentation because of distractions around you, quietly ask those responsible for the distraction to stop. 

If the distraction continues, please let me know.  It is often impossible to hear such things from my position in the classroom. 

 

5.  The use of electronic notebooks is limited to course related work. 

 

6.  Please let me know immediately if you have any problems preventing you from performing satisfactorily in this class. 

 

I am looking forward to working with you this semester. 

 

 

WEEK            Lecture Topic                                     Readings and GUIDES

January 14-18  COURSE INTRODUCTION 

ANCIENT CULTURES 

MESOPOTAMIA; EGYPT; PALESTINE       Sowards, AMoses@ 

Text, Ch. 1 

Docs.  1.2; 1.3; 1.5 

 

January 21     Martin Luther King Day B NO CLASSES

January 23-25  MINOANS and MYCENAEANS; 

GREECE UNTIL CITY-STATES 

Text, Ch. 2 

Docs.  2.2; 2.5 

 

January 28-30  GREEK EXPANSION; 

   February 1    ATHENS and SPARTA;                                  Sowards, ASocrates@ 

Text, Ch. 3 

Docs.  3.1; 3.4; 3.5 

 

February 4-8    the HELLENISTIC PERIOD                           Sowards, AAlexander the Great@ 

February 8       First Quiz (last 10 min.)                                   GUIDE I

 

February 11-    ROMAN WORLD; 

15        THE ROMAN REPUBLIC                              Sowards, AJulius Caesar@ 

Text, Ch. 4 

Docs.  4.3; 4.4; 4.5  

 

February  18            Presidents= Day B NO CLASSES 

FEBRUARY 20           FIRST EXAMINATION                  GUIDE II 

February 22     ROMAN EMPIRE; 

RISE OF CHRISTIANITY                                Sowards, AConstantine@ 

Text, Ch. 5 

Docs.  5.1; 5.2; 5.5; 5.6

 

February 25-    continued; 

29        CRISIS AND DECLINE;  INVASIONS 

 

March 3-7        BYZANTINES and MUSLIMS 

 

MARCH 9-16            Spring Recess B NO CLASSES 


 

March 17-21    FRANKISH STATE;                                        Sowards, ACharlemagne@ 

FEUDALISM and MANORIALISM 

Text, Ch. 6 

Docs.  6.1; 6.2; 6.3; 6.4; 6.6.; 6.7  

COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION 

Text, Ch. 8 

Docs.  8.5 

 

March 24-28    THE ASCENDANCY OF THE CHURCH;     Docs. 7.1; 7.3; 7.5  

THE CRUSADES; 

MONARCHY: THE EMPIRE,                         Sowards, AEleanor of Aquitaine@ 

ENGLAND, FRANCE, RUSSIA         Text, Ch. 7 

 

March 31         SECOND EXAMINATION                          GUIDE III 

April 2-4          HUNDRED YEARS= WAR;

DECLINE OF THE CHURCH=S POWER      Text, Ch. 9 

 

April 7-11        RENAISSANCE                                              Sowards, ALeonardo da Vinci@   

AGE OF DISCOVERY                                    Sowards, ACortés@ 

Text, Ch. 10 

Docs.  10.2; 10.3; 14.3; 14.4 

 

April 14-18      LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION;          Sowards, AMartin Luther@ 

ENGLISH REFORMATION 

ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND;                          Text, Ch. 11 

Docs.  11.1; 11.2; 11.3; 11.6; 12.6 

Sowards, AElizabeth I@ 

April 18            Second Quiz (last 10 min.)                               GUIDE IV 

 

April 21-25      RELIGIOUS WAR; 

THIRTY YEARS= WAR                                     Text, Ch. 12 

Docs.  11.5; 12.2; 12.4 

April 28-          AGE OF ABSOLUTISM                                 Sowards, ALouis XIV@ 

May 2                                                                          Text, Ch. 13 

Docs.  12.7; 15.1; 15.2; 15.3 

SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT;

THE ENLIGHTENMENT 

Text, Ch. 14 

Docs.  13.4; 13.5 

 

May 7,

   Wednesday  FINAL EXAMINATION, 8:30-10:30 am  GUIDE V