War, Peace, and Power : Diplomatic History of Europe: 1500 - 2000
( course # 8820 )
The complete course of 36 lectures on 6 DVDs, and the guidebook.
Condition: BRAND NEW, SEALED
As a bonus for the next buyer ( bonus offered to US residents only ) I will include
my mint 446-page hardcover book by Col Oliver North
"Under Fire"
Shipping 6 days a week
I offer combined shipping : $2 off the shipping on each additional item
For much of the past five centuries, the history of the European continent has been a history of chaos, its civilization thrown into turmoil by ferocious wars or bitter religious conflicts—sometimes in combination—that have made and remade borders, created and eliminated entire nations, and left a legacy that is still influencing our world.
Is there an explanation for this chaos that goes beyond the obvious:
political ambition, religious intolerance, the pursuit of state power,
or the fear of another state's aspirations? Can we discover a hidden
logic that could possibly explain the Thirty Years' War, the Napoleonic
Wars, two World Wars, and other examples of national bloodletting? Is it
possible to formulate a meaningful rationale against which to order a
history as tumultuous as Europe's, gaining insights that enrich our
understanding of Europe's past and future, and perhaps even of ours as
well?
In War, Peace, and Power: Diplomatic History of Europe, 1500–2000,
Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius answers these questions and more as
he offers everyone interested in the "why" of history a remarkable look
into the evolution of the European continent and the modern state
system. In 36 provocative lectures, he allows us to peer through the
revealing lens of statecraft to show us its impact on war, peace, and
power and how that impact may well be felt in the future—an approach
that historians have been using for thousands of years.
"Diplomatic
history is one of the oldest varieties of historical analysis,"
Professor Liulevicius notes. "Indeed, it's sometimes traced back all the
way to Thucydides and the vision that he offered of Greek state
interaction and politics.
"Diplomatic history offers a
tremendously powerful intellectual tool to understand how states relate
to one another. Because states are still relating with one another
today, it is of undiminished relevance for our own times. ...
"As
we conclude our course, we'll be able to ask, 'Where is Europe headed
today, and what implications will follow for the world at large?' as we
survey what had begun as a European state system [but which] has now
become a global system of states in international politics."
Far more than just a history of ambassadorial missions and other
diplomatic efforts, this course re-creates Europe's most pivotal
historical moments—in the context of their times—showing how
contemporary pressures and historical precedent combined to influence
individuals, governments, structures, and even non-state organizations.
These
events would happen not only on history's bloodiest battlefields but
also in quieter settings where so many of the factors that would govern
Europe's future would be set into place:
Each of these key points on history's timeline represents an attempt to establish a lasting idea of order in the European world, a task with which Europe's states have been wrestling since the birth of modern diplomacy in Renaissance Italy.
In examining how these and other attempts have succeeded or failed,
Professor Liulevicius offers a key to understanding the dynamics of
international politics, as well as how such key concepts as the balance
of power, power itself, sovereignty, and "reason of state"—the raison
d'état first enunciated by France's powerful Cardinal Richelieu—fit into
those dynamics. There's even a fascinating discussion on the
implications of instantaneous communications technology—not only for the
practice of diplomacy, but also for whether that technology makes
diplomats themselves more important or less so; historians line up on
both sides of the debate.
Beginning with a snapshot of where
Europe stood at the dawn of the 16th century, Professor Liulevicius
weaves his analysis of statecraft into a vast tapestry of international
history.
It's a tapestry that includes not only 500 years of
military outcomes, the long-term impact of their settlements, and the
"grand strategies" of which they were a part but also the many issues
against which statecraft and diplomacy cannot help but brush. These
include peacemaking; international law; the passions—even wars—so often
brought about by intractable religious differences; the defense of human
rights and minorities, including the abolition of slavery; the efforts
of international organizations like the Red Cross; the challenges
smaller states face when trying to implement foreign policy; and the
efforts at achieving a stable European order that have culminated in
today's European Union.
Throughout these lectures, as great and
small states feint and clash, as ambitions are realized or thwarted, and
as Europe's map is drawn and redrawn several times over—very often in
blood—Professor Liulevicius returns to several key themes that tie
together this wide-ranging array of material:
Educated not only in the United States but also in Denmark and
Germany—with award-winning teaching skills, tremendous experience in the
subject matter of this course, and a wonderful command of both the
visual and audio media—Professor Liulevicius creates vivid images of the
figures whose actions, whether overt or subtle, onstage or off, helped
shape the Europe we know today, including:
As War, Peace, and Power: Diplomatic History of Europe, 1500–2000
underscores, the impact on history of each of these figures—along with
many others—was profound. But as Professor Liulevicius notes, our own
impact as citizens, even if less momentous, can also be critical.
"Public
involvement in and knowledge of foreign affairs—whether by ordinary
citizens taking out a passport to travel, or seeking understanding of
the past as well as the present in its diplomatic dimension—all of this
is perhaps also a diplomatic act of participation and promise for the
future.
"This is an undertaking open to all of us: to seek to
understand diplomatic history in its past and present as we seek to
understand the scourge of war, even when it seems necessary; the
profound gift of true peace, when it's achieved; and the potentiality—as
well as the perils—of the use of power."