Contemporary History
Lectures
Lecture 1: Striving for security
9 November is an important date in history in different years.
Part I: 20st Century:
1. Character A Janus-faced century; a double faced century.
2. Historiography How do optimists and pessimists think about the 20st Century?
Optimists Pessimists
Increasing world population A century only about war
ICT inventions Many deaths
Women and minorities were treated better
Urbanization
Civilization
Your look on history is made by when you were born, because your idea of the world is formed in
your twenties. When the world is doing great then, you probably will be an optimist.
3. Combining optimist and pessimistic: A security approach
The context of security raised in the 20st Century. Important keywords:
Security = ‘The anticipated state of being unharmed in the future’. It has a objective
(physical) and subjective (psychological) dimension.
Timescape = ‘The way individuals locate themselves in socio-historical time and space.
Security timescapes
1) Early modern, apocalyptical. Earthly and immortal sense of security.
2) Modern, utopian. Taming the future; became more open.
3) Postmodern, secular-apocalyptic. Near doom.
Part II: Perspectives on the WO I
1. Interpretation & memory: Kather Kollwitz
2. Historiography: WO I: the Centennial. Historiography has recently started to reconsider: war guilt,
scope of the conflict, war crimes and home front and de-civilisation.
Five theories in history over war and why war started:
- Arms race theory
- Military war planning theory: too many military plans and these plans were in conflict. And there
were too few political plans. For example: The Schlieffenplan disaster: it caused immediately
escalation.
- Spirit of the times theory: cultural explanation
- Conspiracy outcome theory
- Sleepwalker’s theory: man made disaster, fools stumbling over their mutual perceptions.
3. Multilevel approach: search for security through total victory
1) Domestic trigger factors: social dynamics, governmental legitimacy, imperialism and colonialism
and cultural factors.
2) International factors: rivalries, alliances and Balkan war.
3) Failing leadership: Stalemate on the Westfront
In sum: caught in the security dilemma.
, Part III: Towards the end, the Dutch connection, Total war and consequences
1. Towards the end of war: five years of fighting after which the Germans loose. In 1917 the
American entrance and the Russian revolution were important events. In 1918 there was the German
offensive.
2. The Dutch connection: Queen Wilhelmina & The German Kaiser in Huis Doorn
3. Total war: total mobilisation, total war goals, total war methods, total control all leads to total
disasters. this all leads to war in the Dutch newspapers; propaganda. This lead to the total disaster:
Diktatfrieden.
4. Consequences: a dissolution of empire. There was international instability. The war continues in
the Netherlands in large skilled fights and battles. A lot of conflicts were created. There was no
guaranteeing power. Besides that, there was domestic instability.
Lectures
Lecture 1: Striving for security
9 November is an important date in history in different years.
Part I: 20st Century:
1. Character A Janus-faced century; a double faced century.
2. Historiography How do optimists and pessimists think about the 20st Century?
Optimists Pessimists
Increasing world population A century only about war
ICT inventions Many deaths
Women and minorities were treated better
Urbanization
Civilization
Your look on history is made by when you were born, because your idea of the world is formed in
your twenties. When the world is doing great then, you probably will be an optimist.
3. Combining optimist and pessimistic: A security approach
The context of security raised in the 20st Century. Important keywords:
Security = ‘The anticipated state of being unharmed in the future’. It has a objective
(physical) and subjective (psychological) dimension.
Timescape = ‘The way individuals locate themselves in socio-historical time and space.
Security timescapes
1) Early modern, apocalyptical. Earthly and immortal sense of security.
2) Modern, utopian. Taming the future; became more open.
3) Postmodern, secular-apocalyptic. Near doom.
Part II: Perspectives on the WO I
1. Interpretation & memory: Kather Kollwitz
2. Historiography: WO I: the Centennial. Historiography has recently started to reconsider: war guilt,
scope of the conflict, war crimes and home front and de-civilisation.
Five theories in history over war and why war started:
- Arms race theory
- Military war planning theory: too many military plans and these plans were in conflict. And there
were too few political plans. For example: The Schlieffenplan disaster: it caused immediately
escalation.
- Spirit of the times theory: cultural explanation
- Conspiracy outcome theory
- Sleepwalker’s theory: man made disaster, fools stumbling over their mutual perceptions.
3. Multilevel approach: search for security through total victory
1) Domestic trigger factors: social dynamics, governmental legitimacy, imperialism and colonialism
and cultural factors.
2) International factors: rivalries, alliances and Balkan war.
3) Failing leadership: Stalemate on the Westfront
In sum: caught in the security dilemma.
, Part III: Towards the end, the Dutch connection, Total war and consequences
1. Towards the end of war: five years of fighting after which the Germans loose. In 1917 the
American entrance and the Russian revolution were important events. In 1918 there was the German
offensive.
2. The Dutch connection: Queen Wilhelmina & The German Kaiser in Huis Doorn
3. Total war: total mobilisation, total war goals, total war methods, total control all leads to total
disasters. this all leads to war in the Dutch newspapers; propaganda. This lead to the total disaster:
Diktatfrieden.
4. Consequences: a dissolution of empire. There was international instability. The war continues in
the Netherlands in large skilled fights and battles. A lot of conflicts were created. There was no
guaranteeing power. Besides that, there was domestic instability.
