Cost and Registration Information

Early Registration Price (by September 1): $285
Regular Price (after September 1): $314

Section A is full. Please call (312) 255-3700 if you would like to be on the wait list.
Register Online for Section B

Seminar Description

This course will explore both the long and short term causes of the First World War. Among the topics to be treated will be the emergence of rival alliance blocs; the naval arms race between Britain and Germany; imperial rivalries in Africa and Asia; the gradual disintegration of such multi-ethnic states as Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire; the growth of nationalism, especially in the Balkans; the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; and the “July Crisis.” Ten sessions.

Frank A. Biletz received his PhD in history from the University of Chicago, with a primary specialization in modern British and Irish history and secondary fields in modern German and Spanish history. He is currently Adjunct Instructor in History at Loyola University Chicago and has been teaching seminars at the Newberry since 1994.

Materials List

Required:

• Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. New York: Harper Perennial, 2014. ISBN# 978-0061146664.
• Additional relevant materials will be distributed to the class via email in the form of PDF documents.

First Reading:

• For the first class, please read Part I, chapter 1 of Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914.

This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.