The course will explore problems of modernity in European society, culture, and politics from the First World War to the fall of communism in Russia and East Central Europe. Part I will consider: the impact of the Great War, the crisis of liberal ideas and institutions, the ascent of communism and fascism. Part II deals with: post World War II justice and reconstruction, the cultural, and political divisions of the Cold War, and the Central European revolutions of 1989.