Forging the West: A World History of Europe, 1215-1788
UndergraduateMAQ-MHIX10012024
Course information for 2024 intake View information for 2025 course intake
Explore a crucial period of premodern history. Analyse the religious, political, economic, and cultural events that contributed to the creation of Western society. Dive more deeply into an aspect of this era by penning a research-based essay.
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- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- No ATAR needed, No prior study
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Forging the West: A World History of Europe, 1215-1788
About this subject
On successful completion of this subject, you will be able to:
- Understand and explain the ways in which religion, trade, and empire connected the premodern world.
- Read, evaluate, and ask questions of a variety of historical sources, locating them in their appropriate contexts.
- Analyze and assess the impact that various events, movements and ideas had on the creation of the premodern world, producing a complex picture of this world.
- Synthesise primary and secondary sources to develop clear, specific, evidence-based arguments in response to historical questions.
- Week 1: Byzantium, Islam, and, Christianity
- Week 2: Creating Christendom
- Week 3: Structures of Hegemony in the Medieval World
- Week 4: The Century of Crisis
- Week 5: Renaissance and Renewal
- Week 6: European Exploration and Exploitation
- Week 7: Religion, Reformations and Politics
- Week 8: The Emergence of the State through Conflict
- Week 9: Republics, Science, and, Technology
- Week 10: Trading People
- Week 11: Enlightenment and Commerce
- Week 12: Coloniser and Colonised
- Week 13: Revision
In 1215 CE, a Mongol army led by Genghis Khan conquered the Chinese city of Zongdhu (present-day Beijing), creating the basis for the largest contiguous land empire in human history. That same year, leaders of the Latin Church met for the Fourth Lateran Council in Rome at the other end of Eurasia, establishing western European Christian doctrine for the next three centuries. These civilizations soon came into contact as the Mongol Empire enabled commerce and cultural exchange between east and west Eurasia. This unit explores how the increasingly complex network of connections that linked Europe and the wider world between the High Middle Ages and the eve of the modern era helped to create the particular society and culture that we today frequently refer to as “the West.” We focus on the historical contingency of this creation and the ways in which both European and non-European influences and factors forged the idea of the West. From medieval encounters between Christianity and Islam to eighteenth-century encounters between Pacific Islanders and Europeans, from the thirteenth-century Eurasian economic world system to the truly global economy that emerged after 1500, from the horseback empire of the Mongols to the martime empires built by European states, we explore the transformation of the premodern world. The unit considers these processes from both European and non-European perspectives.
- Short weekly quiz (20%)
- Document Exercise (30%)
- Reflective essay (50%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
No entry requirements
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Students who have an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion under Macquarie University's Academic Progression Policy are not permitted to enrol in OUA units offered by Macquarie University. Students with an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion who have enrolled in units through OUA will be withdrawn.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
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