Syllabus
1. Central Europe on the threshold of the modern age. On the way to a modern state and nation
2. Reformation and Catholic reform
3. The emergence of the Habsburg monarchy. The Thirty Years' War and its consequences. Conflicts of the 17th century
4. The Habsburg monarchy in a struggle with the Ottomans and France. Baroque art in Central Europe
5. Enlightenment and absolutism. The Polish Revolution
6. Power rise of Prussia. Partition of Poland
7. Napoleonic era and German reforms. The Congress of Vienna and the restaurant period
8. Nation-building process in Central Europe
9. The Revolution of 1848 and its defeat. Relations in Russia and Poland. Slavonicity
10. Unification of Germany. Czech and German society in the 19th century. The Habsburg Monarchy in the Liberal Era
11. The First World War and its consequences for Central Europe in the interwar period
12. Nazi occupation of Central Europe. Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War
13. Central and Eastern European countries in the vassalage of the USSR
14. Final summary
Annotation
The lecture series introduces the main tendencies, ideas and traditions of the history of Central Europe in the period from the 16th to the 20th century to the students. It emphasizes key places and important personalities of the national past in the changes from the accession of the Habsburgs to the Czech throne until the World War II.