Aims:
• to familiarize students with major historical events of the past and develop critical understanding of the situations, their causes and effects;
• to teach students analyze current political, social events in Germany, Great Britain, the USA and France;

Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this course of study, students should be able to:

• identify main patterns of historical, cultural and social development of the society;
• know main historical events of the country;
• recognize historical, social and cultural characteristics of the society;
• apply historical, social and cultural knowledge in the professional activities;
• use the language as a tool of communication.

CONTENT

Countries in the prehistorical period and in the Middle Ages

Pre-historical period.
Pre-historical Europe. Development of European states in the early Middle Ages.
Countries in the Stone - Iron Ages. Celtic culture in Europe. European countries in the period of Christianity expansion. Charlemagne empire. Pre-Columbian America.

Countries in the High Middle Ages.
Norman conquest. Agrarian revolution. The Hundred Years' War.

Countries in the late Middle Ages
Centralization of political power in European states. Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Great geographic discoveries. The discovery of America.

Modern Age

Countries in the XVII century.
European migration to the USA. Bourgeois revolutions. The Thirty Years' War.

Countries in the XVIII century.
The French revolution. Ideas of the Enlightenment. The War of Independence in the USA

Countries in the XIX- early XX century.
Labor movement in Europe and the USA. Civil War in the USA. Imperialism in the Europe and the USA. German Union. Industrialization. Europe in the First World War.

Contemporary history.

Europe and the USA in the Second World War.
Onset of World War II. Invasion of Poland, France, USSR. Anti-Hitler coalition. Defeat of Nazi Germany.

Europe and the USA after the Second World War.
United Nations, NATO. Beginning of the Cold War. Arms race. Berlin and Caribbean Crises. Events of 1968.

Europe and the USA in the second half of the ХХth century.
Economic development of the European states and the USA. Neoconservative course in Great Britain. Mitterrand’s policy. Final stage of the Cold War. German reunification. The countries in the modern world.