Category Archives: European History

Americans’ (Politicized) Ideas of Europe

Posted on February 4, 2012 by briansandberg

Americans hold many preconceived notions about Europe and Europeans, often based on movies and tourism. During U.S. election cycles, American politicians frequently play on American stereotypes about Europe to score points against their rivals. Martin Klingst, a German journalist based … Continue reading →

Posted in European History, European Union, Globalization, Political Culture | Leave a comment

Renaissance Art and Modern Banking

Posted on January 31, 2012 by briansandberg

Italian Renaissance bankers arguably invented the concepts and tools of modern banking, including bills of exchange, letters of credit, deposit banking, branch banks, and double-entry bookkeeping. A recent exhibition on Money and Beauty: Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities … Continue reading →

Posted in Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, European History, History in the Media, Noble Culture and History of Elites, Renaissance Art and History | Leave a comment

Playing Politics with History

Posted on January 30, 2012 by briansandberg

Politicians frequently use historical references and analogies to support their political positions and policy programs. Sometimes legislative bodies act to interpret historical events, attempting to reshape the historical memory of controversial periods of the past. Recently, French politicians have been … Continue reading →

Posted in European History, European Union, French History, History in the Media, Human Rights, Political Culture | Leave a comment

Movement for De-Baptism in France

Posted on January 29, 2012 by briansandberg

A movement promoting de-baptism is growing in France, challenging the authority of the Catholic Church and presenting quandaries for historians who use baptismal records as sources. A French man named René LeBouvier has sued the Catholic Church in order to … Continue reading →

Posted in European History, European Union, European Wars of Religion, French History, French Wars of Religion, Human Rights, Religious Violence | Leave a comment

English Translations of the Iliad

Posted on January 25, 2012 by briansandberg

Homer’s The Iliad has been translated and re-translated into English numerous times.  Willis G. Reiger, director of the University of Illinois Press, points out that “according to The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation, the Iliad is among the … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, Empires and Imperialism, European History, History in the Media, History of the Book, Mediterranean World, Noble Culture and History of Elites, War, Culture, and Society, Women and Gender History | Leave a comment

Commemorating Frederick the Great

Posted on January 25, 2012 by briansandberg

Germans are commemorating the 300th anniversary of the birth of Frederick II “the Great”, king of Prussia in the mid-eighteenth century. Frederick the Great is known above all for his generalship in a series of wars against the Habsburgs over … Continue reading →

Posted in Early Modern Europe, European History, History in the Media, War, Culture, and Society, Warfare in the Early Modern World | Leave a comment

Coffee in the Early Modern Mediterranean

Posted on January 18, 2012 by briansandberg

We take coffee shops for granted today. From global chain like Starbucks to classic Parisian cafés and local American diners, coffee shops deliver caffeine to people around the world. Coffee consumption became global in the seventeenth century, when a coffee … Continue reading →

Posted in Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, European History, Food and Cuisine History, Mediterranean World, Renaissance Art and History | Leave a comment

Wreck of the Costa Concordia in the Mediterranean

Posted on January 15, 2012 by briansandberg

A gigantic cruise liner with 4,234 passengers aboard ran aground near Isola del Giglio, a tiny island off the Tuscan coast, over the weekend. The Costa Concordia had sailed from Civitavecchia, heading on cruise of the western Mediterranean. As the … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental History, European History, European Union, Globalization, Maritime History, Mediterranean World | Leave a comment

New Diplomatic History and Neorealism

Posted on January 13, 2012 by briansandberg

Historians of the “new” Diplomatic History tend to clash with Political Science approaches to International Relations, and especially with Neorealists—who often depict states as “billiard balls” acting against each other on a global pool table. Paul W. Schroeder, a prominent … Continue reading →

Posted in European History, Globalization, Political Culture, State Development Theory, War, Culture, and Society | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Article Prize in European History

Posted on January 10, 2012 by briansandberg

The Council for European Studies (CES) seeks nominations for its inaugural European Studies First Article Prize. The First Article Prize honors the writers of the best first articles on European studies published within a two-year period and will be awarded … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Publishing, European History, Graduate Work in History, Grants and Fellowships | Leave a comment