Students must achieve the following learning results:

1.Describe and explain the main events that unfolded the 20th century world History

2.Distinguish process from historical event.

3.Understand the conflict, the inequality and the change, especially referring to the gender or sexual orientation.

4.Collaborate with other classmates by writing an essay.

1.Second industrial revolution, old and new nation-states, imperialism and European expansion, 1885-1914. The origins of the First World War

2.The First World War, 1914-1918

a.The causes of the conflict

b.The conflict

c.Social and political aspects

d.Peace treaties and their consequences

3.The Bolshevik Revolution, 1861-1922

a.The Czarist Russia

b.The revolutionary process

c.The making of the URSS

4.Society and Politics during the inter-war period, 1919-1939

a.The Great Depression, 1929. Social and economic changes

b.The crisis of the democracies

c.The rise of totalitarianism

5.The Second World War, 1939-1945

a.Two ways of full scale war: classic in the Western Front, extermination in the Eastern Front

b.The Genocide of European Jews

c.The defeat of Germany, Italy and Japan, and its consequences

6.The Cold War. The division of the World into two blocks. 1945-1989/91

a.Divided Europe

b.The making of the Welfare State in the Western World

c.The URSS and the Popular Democracies after the Second World War

7.The new international order, 1989/1991-2001

a.The end of the communism

b.The new Europe: From the European Economic Community to the European Union

c.Old and new powerful countries

d.New wars

e.Geopolitics between two centuries

8.The postmaterial society, 1968-2001. Social change, globalization and new capitalism

This subject is based on master and practical lessons. During the master classes, there will be exposed the theoretical contents of the subject. To deepen in those contents, bibliography will be provide to the students. This bibliography appears in the teaching guide. The bibliography will provide the foundational basis for the comprehension of the contents, so students are strongly recommended to read it before the class, so they can follow it under optimal conditions. In addition to it, the Professor will provide complementary materials in the master class (audiovisual, literary, artistic, popular culture), for the students improvement of their knowledge of each topic.

In the classroom practices, the Professor will introduce the rudiments of scientific work, and specifically she/he will explain how to development a scientific essay (structuring of the text, adequate semantic formulations, forms of citation, scientific databases). In those sessions, the Professor will also help the students to solve specific problems generated by the elaboration of the collective works that the students –those who choose continuous evaluation- must elaborate. In those sessions, students may be required to do an oral presentation.

In these practices, the Professor will paid special attention to the improvement of oral and written expression, as well as how the students introduce themselves in the scientific debate.





There are two ways to grade students, continuous and final (based on the UPV/EHU December 15, 2016 regulation). The grading criteria is ruled according to the following guidelines:

1.There are two calls: one in January (ordinary call) and another one in June (extraordinary call).

2.The ordinary call may be done via continuous and final grading ways. The deadline for choosing the latest is 9 weeks after the course starts, and the student MUST tell the Professor his/her decisión.

3.Those students that go for the continuos grading way are recommended to attend the master lesson. The assistance to the practical lessons (every 15 days) is COMPULSORY. Missing classes without proper documentation (i.e. a doctor’s note) will affect students´ participation grade. During these lessons, students will collaboratively develope an essay (exceptionally individually) that must be submited at the end of the semester. The guidelines will be given by the Professor at class. The essay counts 50% of the final mark. Should the student has not attend the practical lessons, the final mark will be 0.

4.For those who choose the final grading way, they must submit an essay on the exam day, based on scientific bibliography. For the exam be graded, this essay must be passed. Yet, this mark does not count for final grading.

5.The exam counts 100% of the final grade for those students who choose the final grading, and 50% for those who opt for the continuos grading.

6.All students will be evaluated the same day and through the same exam type.

Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes. The short Tweentieth Century, 1914-1991, London, 1994.

Michael Howard y W. Roger Louis (eds.), The Oxford History of the XX century, New York, 1998.

Mark Mazower, Dark continent. Europe´s Tweentieh century, London, 1999.

Javier Paredes (coord.), Historia universal contemporánea, vol. II, Barcelona, 1999.

Giulano Procacci, Historia general del siglo XX, Barcelona, 2000.

Ramón Villares y Ángel Bahamonde, El mundo contemporáneo. Siglos XIX y XX, Madrid, 2001.

Bernard Wasserstein, Barbarism and Civilisation, a History of Europe in our Time, New York, 2007
Arthur Koestler, Darkness at noon, New York, 2019

Oinarrizko bibliografia

First chapter


Ricardo Miralles: Equilibio, hegemonía y reparto. Las relaciones internacionales entre 1870 y 1945. Madrid, 1996.


Jurgen Tampke, A perfidious distorsion of History: The Versailles Peace Treaty and the success of the Nazis, Brunsbick, 2017


Christopher A. Bayly: The birth of the Modern World, Madrid, 2010



Second chapter


Álvaro Lozano, La Gran Guerra (1914-1918), Madrid, 2014


Hew Strachan, The First World War, New York, Viking, 2004




Thrid Chapter


José M. Faraldo, La revolución rusa, Madrid, 2017.


Richard Pipes, La Revolución Rusa, Barcelona, 2016.



Fourth Chapter


Martin Kitchen, Europe between the two wars, London, 2006.


Fernando del Rey y Manuel Álvarez Tardío (dirs.), Políticas del odio. Violencia y crisis en las democracias de entreguerras, Madrid,2017.


John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash, 1929, Boston, 1955


Keynes, John M, La Teoría General del Empleo, el Interés y el Dinero, Madrid, 1998.



Fifth Chapter


Xosé M. Núñez Seixas, Imperios de muerte. La guerra germano-soviética, Barcelona, 2007


Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. New York, 2010



Sixth Chapter


Francisco Veiga, Enric Ucelay-Da Cal y Ángel Duarte, La paz simulada. Una historia de la guerra fría, Madrid, 2006


John Lewis Gaddis, La Guerra Fría, Barcelona, 2008



Seventh Chapter


Xosé M. Núñez Seixas, Las utopías pendientes. Una breve historia del mundo desde 1945, Barcelona, 2015


Francisco Veiga, El desequilibrio como orden, 1991-2014, Madrid, 2015



Eight Chapter


Tony Judt, Postwar, A History of Europe since 1945, London, Vintage, 2010


Francisco Veiga, El desequilibrio como orden, 1991-2014, Madrid, 2015


Gehiago sakontzeko bibliografia

Eric Hobsbawm, Historia del siglo XX, Barcelona, 1995.
Michael Howard y W. Roger Louis (eds.), Historia Oxford del siglo XX, Barcelona, 1999.
Mark Mazower, La Europa negra. Desde la Gran Guerra hasta la caída del comunismo, Barcelona, 2001.
Javier Paredes (coord.), Historia universal contemporánea, vol. II, Barcelona, 1999.
Giulano Procacci, Historia general del siglo XX, Barcelona, 2000.
Ramón Villares y Ángel Bahamonde, El mundo contemporáneo. Siglos XIX y XX, Madrid, 2001.
Bernard Wasserstein, Barbarie y civilización. Una historia de la Europa de nuestro tiempo, Barcelona, 2010.

Aldizkariak

AYER.https://www.ahistcon.org/revistaayer.html
HISTORIA CONTEMPORÁNEA.https://www.ehu.eus/ojs/index.php/HC/index
HISPANIA NOVA (on line).http://hispanianova.rediris.es/
REVISTA DE LIBROS.https://www.revistadelibros.com/
HISPANIA.http://hispania.revistas.csic.es/index.php/hispania
CUADERNOS DE HISTORIA CONTEMPORÁNEA. https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CHCO
LA AVENTURA DE LA HISTORIA.https://www.laaventuradelahistoria.es/
BUSCADOR DE ARTÍCULOS, LIBROS Y ARTÍCULOS DE HISTORIA: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/