This subject introduces students to the major events and ideas that have shaped Europe in the late modern period. There is a strong focus on the dramatic events of the twentieth century following the demise of empire, and the subsequent rise of competing nationalisms and radical politics. The subject is concerned equally with the cultural and social contexts in which these events occurred. Students will study the diverse ways in which historians have approached the history of the twentieth century from the study of high politics to the focus on daily life. Methodological questions that will be addressed include the relative role of individual agency and of structural constraints in explaining historical change. The subject will encourage students to evaluate the period as a whole, drawing on scholarship which engages the modernity - democracy - violence nexus.