HIS T2305

Heavy readings, usually between 80-120 pages, required discussion section, a midterm and a final (take-home, 2 essays).

This class is amazing, if you approach it in the right way. Tooze lectures for the entirety of class but the key is not to get bogged down in the details of his lectures. The midterm and final are two essays for each, and are both take-home, which means that there is no need to take notes on everything during class. You can always return to the slides later if you need a specific detail. Instead, you should try and grasp the overarching argument that he's making in each lecture, and do most of the readings, so that when you have to write your own essay, you can make an argument. Despite the density of his lectures, Tooze provides enlightening insights into Germany's history of militarism, specifically in his lectures on Nazism, where he argues that the Nazi's alleged military invention, the Blitzkreig, is nothing more than a propaganda myth. I would recommend taking this class if you really like history and are fine listening to lengthy lectures.

The readings are a lot I think one time he just assigned us to read the entirety of Mein Kampf in like a week. We had a midterm and final paper all based off of the readings so no outside research.

Never went to office hours so can't judge his personality but he was pretty friendly and always made time at the end of class for questions. He is super knowledgable and has a lot of interesting stories about the figures we talk about in class. The only difficulty was that he talks kind of fast and goes through the material quickly which can be hard if you are totally unfamiliar with european history. But it's definitely doable if you're willing to put in the work.

Heavy lectures and readings. Midterm and final.

Important info first: Do not take this class if you enjoy history. Despite being a motivated history major, this class drained my desire to pursue any further study in the field of German history. The material for the class was incredibly dry, although Tooze tried to inject humor into the lectures, it did not change the fact that he did not stop talking for the entire 75-minute lecture. Usually, that's no problem, but the dense content and text heavy slides (usually 50-60 slides per class) made it impossible to keep pace. This is before considering the weekly 100 pages of (obviously) dry reading. Now, think of the above. Not terrible right? Considering there is only a midterm and final (typical: 12 IDs/pick 6 and 4 essay questions/pick 1), should be cake. Wrong. Tooze will not provide any list of terms that may be on the exams. Leaving you to pore over hundreds of lecture slides, pages of readings, and personal notes to find what he may have considered to be relevant enough to appear on the midterm/final. That said, most people I knew in the class did well (I got a B+), but I feel like it very much depends on the TA you get. I do not believe it was worth the effort, especially considering the other great class offerings within the Columbia history department. Side note: Once, during lecture, a student tried to ask a question. This only happened once, as Tooze's response was to…

standard. reading every week but no reading response required. midterm + final in class.

Tooze is a great professor. This class will teach you a lot, from 30 years war to WW2. Very eye-opening. Tooze is one of the most charismatic profs I met at Columbia (and I'm a senior) and he brings his dog to class sometimes.