1. Historians often refer to the year 1945 as marking the end of the Age of Europe. What do they mean? How (or how not) has Europe's post-war history followed a fundamentally different political, economic, social, and military trajectory from earlier periods?
2. Chart the growth of the "European idea" and the emergence of a supra-European state over the past 60 years. Upon what kinds of foundations and assumptions has the new Europe been built? What challenges has it encountered? What threats has it perceived over the past half-century?
3. Compare and contrast the political cultures of socialism and fascism in the inter-war period. How did each of those political movements see themselves as overcoming the allegedly inherent weaknesses of liberal democratic values and institutions?
4. Why was the First World War so destructive of human life? How did soldiers' experiences in that war differ from those in earlier conflicts? Why?
5. In what ways did the intellectual and artistic temperament of end of the century Europe contribute to the outbreak of the First World War?