Modern Germany (HIST2407)

Course overview

Rise of Prussia-Germany to its collapse in 1918, the democratic Weimar Republic, and the Nazi dictatorship, 1933-1945.
This course may not run if there are fewer than 20 enrolments.

The course aims to give students an understanding of the development of modern Germany from the unification of the German Empire in 1870-71, through a period of rapid economic and social development in the following decades, the emergence of Germany as a power with global imperial ambitions by 1914, the collapse of the empire, the unsuccessful experiment of the first German democracy, and the Nazi dictatorship from 1933 to 1945.

Course requirements

Assumed background

No specific pre-requisites, but it is recommended that students should have completed at least one semester of 1000-level courses before attempting a 2000-level course.

Course contact

Course staff

Timetable

The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.

Aims and outcomes

The course aims to give students an understanding of the development of modern Germany from the unification of the German Empire in 1870-71, through a period of rapid economic and social development in the following decades, the emergence of Germany as a power with global imperial ambitions by 1914, the collapse of the empire, the unsuccessful experiment of the first German democracy, and the Nazi dictatorship from 1933 to 1945.ﾠ

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment details

Research Essay

Mode

Written

Category

Essay/ Critique

Weight

40% 2,500 words

Due date

Due 14:00, 7 October 2025

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03

Task description

Submission guidelines

Submission through Turnitin.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

• Extension applications must be via my.UQ –> Manage my program - > exams and assessment -> Applying for an extension. 
• Extension requests may take up to 48 hours to be assessed (not including weekends and public holidays).

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

• Late submission of assessment will incur a penalty of 10% of the marks available for the assessment item, per calendar day or part-day after the due date, for a maximum of 7 days, after which a mark of zero will be recorded.
• For further information, refer to my.UQ:   https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/manage-my-program/exams-and-assessment/applying-extension

Tutorial participation

• In-person

Mode

Activity/ Performance

Category

Participation/ Student contribution

Weight

10%

Due date

Weekly from Week 2 to Week 13.

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03

Task description

Submission guidelines

In class, weekly.

Deferral or extension

You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.

Tutorial exercise

• In-person

Mode

Written

Category

Tutorial/ Problem Set

Weight

10%

Learning outcomes

L02, L03

Task description

Submission guidelines

In class, weekly.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Extension possible with medical or other relevant documentation.

Exam

• Identity Verified
• In-person

Mode

Written

Category

Examination

Weight

40%

Due date

End of Semester Exam Period

8/11/2025 - 22/11/2025

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03

Task description

Exam details

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to defer this exam.

Course grading

Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.

Additional course grading information

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Research essay

Your essay will be assessed according to the following criteria: 

1.                 Ability to construct a well-reasoned argument.

2.                 Depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding of central issues.

3.                 Ability to form a well-structured essay.

4.                 Engagement with academic sources and evidence.

5.                 Insight and/or creativity in interpreting texts or constructing a point of view or argument.

6.                 Capacity to produce a coherent and well-written essay using correct grammar and syntax.

7.                 Appropriately referenced, as per discipline conventions.

To achieve a grade of 7 (High Distinction, 85-100%), your essay will reflect an exceptional level of achievement. It will demonstrate that you have undertaken extensive, high-level research, that you are able to form a very rigorous, well-organised argument, and that your discussion is original and creative. It will also demonstrate that you are able to evaluate and organise data and/or evidence in a critical manner and that you have a sophisticated and insightful understanding of problems and issues. Your essay will be very well written, clear and concise, pay strict attention to discipline conventions and have minimal, if any errors in referencing, expression, grammar, spelling and punctuation. Your work must demonstrate your own personal analysis, argumentation, and use of evidence through thoroughly verified sources. You must demonstrate close engagement with sources in their disciplinary context.

To achieve a grade of 6 (Distinction, 75 – 84%), your essay will reflect an advanced level of achievement. It will demonstrate that you have undertaken wide research, that you are able to form a rigorous, well-organised argument, and that your discussion is coherent and convincing. It should also demonstrate that you are able to evaluate data and/or evidence in a perceptive manner, and that your understanding of problems and issues is perceptive and insightful. Your essay will be well written, clear and concise, follow discipline conventions and have few errors in referencing, expression, grammar, spelling and punctuation. Your work must demonstrate your own personal analysis, argumentation, and use of evidence through thoroughly verified sources. You must demonstrate close engagement with sources in their disciplinary context.

To achieve a grade of 5 (Credit, 65 – 74%) your essay will reflect a proficient level of achievement. It will demonstrate that you have undertaken the expected level of research, that you are able to develop or adapt convincing arguments and justify them adequately, that you are able to evaluate data and/or evidence in a proficient manner, and that you have a proficient understanding of problems and issues. The presentation and referencing of your essay will largely follow discipline conventions, perhaps have some errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation, and demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively. Your work must demonstrate your own personal analysis, argumentation, and use of evidence through thoroughly verified sources. You must demonstrate close engagement with sources in their disciplinary context.

To achieve a grade of 4 (Pass, 50 – 64%) your essay should reflect a functional level of achievement. It should demonstrate that you are able to apply fundamental concepts and skills, that you have undertaken a basic level of research and have the basic ability to evaluate data and/or evidence, to identify problems and issues, to offer insights and to develop routine arguments. Your organisation, writing, referencing, spelling and grammar will be adequate and use some of the discipline conventions to communicate appropriately. Your work must demonstrate your own personal analysis, argumentation, and use of evidence through thoroughly verified sources. You must demonstrate close engagement with sources in their disciplinary context.

To achieve a grade of 3 (Marginal Fail, 45 – 49%), your essay should reflect developing levels of achievement. It should demonstrate that you have a superficial knowledge of fundamental concepts and skills, that you have undertaken a basic level of research, made some attempt to evaluate data and/or evidence, to identify problems and issues, and to offer insights. Your arguments, while underdeveloped, show your emerging ability to apply knowledge and skills. Your organisation, writing, spelling and grammar will be adequate, perhaps poor, and your referencing and use of discipline conventions poor/and or inconsistent.  Your work will fail to adequately demonstrate independent analysis and argumentation that arises from your own personal engagement with and synthesis of source materials or assessment stimuli. You will demonstrate a mostly stereotypical and/or superficial understanding of concepts, ideas, and source materials/stimuli, failing to demonstrate engagement with sources in their disciplinary context. The overall response will not adequately address the task.

To achieve a grade of 2 (Fail, 25-44%) your essay will reflect deficiencies in skill acquisition and in your understanding of the fundamental concepts of the course. It will demonstrate that you have not undertaken adequate research, that you are unable to evaluate data and/or evidence, to identify problems and issues, or to offer insights adequately. Your arguments will be unsupported and/or inappropriate, your organisation and writing will be poor and/or inappropriate, and referencing and use of discipline conventions poor/and or inconsistent.  Your work will fail to adequately demonstrate independent analysis and argumentation that arises from your own personal engagement with and synthesis of source materials or assessment stimuli. You will demonstrate a mostly stereotypical and/or superficial understanding of concepts, ideas, and source materials/stimuli, failing to demonstrate engagement with sources in their disciplinary context. The overall response will not adequately address the task and will have overt inconsistencies and contradictions.

To achieve a grade of 1 (Low Fail, 0-24%), your essay will reflect that you have failed to meet the minimum learning requirements and skill acquisition for this course. Your essay will demonstrate an absence of research, evaluation of data and/or evidence, and lack argumentation. Use of discipline conventions will be absent, poor or inappropriate, and written expression poor or inappropriate. Your work will show no original analysis or evidence of independent thought, with factual errors and misrepresentation of source material and no meaningful correspondence to the assignment prompt.

Failing Criteria and Academic Misconduct

Fabrication or misrepresentation of sources will result in an automatic maximum grade of 2 for this assessment, regardless of performance in other criteria. This includes but is not limited to: citing non-existent sources or attributing false quotes to real sources. Such issues demonstrate failure to meet the core learning outcomes for the course and may also be referred for academic misconduct.

Tutorial Participation

Your tutorial participation will be assessed according to the following criteria: 

1.     Evidence of participation in discussions.

2.     Evidence of preparation for the tutorial, most notably through completing the set readings.

3.     Quality of contributions to discussions.

4.     Fostering of group discussions, through courteous and respectful interactions with staff and    students.

5.     Attendance is necessary to fulfill the above criteria, as per the course requirements, but marks cannot be awarded for attendance alone.

To achieve a grade of 7 (High Distinction, 85-100%), your attendance will be flawless and your participation exceptional. This grade reflects exceptional levels of preparation, mastery of course materials, and very high quality contributions to, and fostering of, group discussions. You should be able to engage with your peers very effectively.

To achieve a grade of 6 (Distinction, 75-84) your attendance will be excellent and your participation very substantial. This grade reflects excellent levels of preparation, knowledge of course materials, and high quality contributions to, and fostering of, group discussions. You should be able to engage with your peers effectively.

To achieve a grade of 5 (Credit, 65 – 74%), your attendance and participation will be good. This grade reflects proficient levels of preparation, good knowledge of course materials, and good quality contributions to, and fostering of, group discussions.

To achieve a grade of 4 (Pass, 50 – 64%) your attendance and participation will be satisfactory. This grade reflects adequate levels of preparation and knowledge of course materials, and an acceptable quality of contributions to, and fostering of, group discussions.

To achieve a grade of 3 (Marginal Fail, 45 – 49%) your attendance and participation will be unsatisfactory. This grade reflects irregular attendance and/or participation and superficial knowledge of course materials and basic levels of preparation. However, when in attendance, there is evidence of your ability to demonstrate developing achievement in contributions to, and fostering of, group discussions.

To achieve a grade of 2 (Fail, 25-44%), your attendance and participation will be very unsatisfactory. This grade reflects irregular attendance and/or participation, minimal knowledge of course materials, little evidence of preparation, and mixed to low quality of contributions to, and fostering of, group discussions.

To achieve a grade of 1 (Low Fail, 0-24%), your attendance and participation will be unsatisfactory. This grade reflects irregular attendance and/or participation, an no evidence of preparation, and little or no evidence of quality of contributions to, and fostering of, group discussions.

Critical Review and Reflection Assessment Criteria (for Tutorial Exercises)

Your critical review and reflection will be assessed according to the following criteria:  

1.        Evidence of comprehension of the reading or readings under review.

2.        Contextualization of the readings, locating them in the relevant field(s) of literature.

3.        Critique of the reading or readings.

4.        Insight and creativity.

5.        Clear and concise written expression, well presented.

To achieve a grade of 7 (High Distinction, 85-100%), your critical review of and reflection on readings should demonstrate exceptional comprehension of the works under review; it should locate them precisely and comprehensively in the relevant field or fields of literature; it should be highly persuasive and clear in its critique and should demonstrate exceptional levels of insight and creativity. Your writing will be very clear and concise, pay strict attention to discipline conventions and have minimal, if any errors in referencing, expression, grammar, spelling and punctuation.

To achieve a grade of 6 (Distinction, 75-84%), your critical review of and reflection on readings should demonstrate an advanced comprehension of the works under review; it should locate them perceptively and comprehensively in the relevant field or fields of literature; it should be very persuasive and clear in its critique, and should demonstrate advanced levels of insight and creativity. Your writing will be clear and concise, pay strict attention to discipline conventions and have minimal, if any errors in referencing, expression, grammar, spelling and punctuation.

To achieve a grade of 5 (Credit, 65 – 74%), your critical review of and reflection on readings should demonstrate a proficient comprehension of the works under review; it should locate them broadly in the relevant field or fields of literature; it should be effective and clear in its critique, and should demonstrate proficient levels of insight and creativity. The presentation and referencing of your review will follow/largely follow discipline conventions, have few/some errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation, and demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively.

To achieve a grade of 4 (Pass, 50 – 64%), your critical review of and reflection on readings should demonstrate a functional comprehension of the works under review; it should at least be able to identify them broadly in the relevant field or fields of literature; it should offer a coherent critique, and should demonstrate basic levels of insight and creativity. Your organisation, writing, referencing, spelling and grammar will be adequate and use some of the discipline conventions to communicate appropriately.

To achieve a grade of 3 (Marginal Fail, 45 – 49%), your critical review of and reflection on readings should demonstrate developing levels of achievement and a very basic level of research, but it falls short of meeting all the requirements for a passing grade. It should attempt to demonstrate a basic comprehension of the works under review; attempt to identify them broadly in the relevant field or fields of literature and attempt to offer a coherent critique. Your organisation, writing, spelling and grammar will be adequate/poor and your referencing and use of discipline conventions poor/and or inconsistent.

To achieve a grade of 2 (Fail, 25-44%), your critical review of and reflection on readings will reflect inadequate comprehension of the works under review; a minimal if any attempt to identify them broadly in the relevant field or fields of literature; an inability to offer a coherent critique or identify insights. Your organisation and writing will be poor and/or inappropriate and referencing and use of discipline conventions poor/and or inconsistent.

To achieve a grade of 1 (Low Fail, 0-24%), your critical review of and reflection on readings will not show evidence of understanding and comprehension of the works under review. It will fail to demonstrate a satisfactory understanding of the work’s relation to surrounding literature and will not provide a coherent critique or insight and creativity. Your organisation and writing will be poor and/or inappropriate and referencing and use of discipline conventions poor/and or inconsistent. 

Final exam

Essay Questions

Students will be assessed on:

1.                 Ability to recognize key issues in the question.

2.                 Ability to structure an argument.

3.                 Use of evidence.

4.                 Engagement with academic scholarship and/or debates.

5.                 Clear and concise written expression, well presented.

Individual exam essays and other exam questions are not awarded grades, but are assessed numerically (such as a mark out of five, or a mark out of ten). The overall grade achieved for an exam is arrived at by totalling the marks for the constituent elements of the exam.

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is available for this course.

Additional assessment information

• Failure to submit all major assessment items (those worth 15% and above) will result in a maximum grade of 2 (Fail).
• By submitting work through Turnitin you are deemed to have accepted the following declaration: ‘I certify that this assignment is my own work and has not been submitted, either previously or concurrently, in whole or in part, to this University or any other educational institution, for marking or assessment’.
• All students must ensure they receive their Turnitin receipt on every submission of any assessments. You must check that the receipt confirms that submission has been successful.
• A valid Turnitin receipt will be the only evidence accepted if assessments are missing. Without evidence, the assessment will receive the standard late penalty, or after sevenﾠcalendar days, will receive zero.ﾠIn the case of a Blackboard outage, please contact the Course Co-ordinator as soon as possible so that they can confirm the outage with ITS.
• It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they are submitting assessment items on a device that is capable of the task, and that appropriate internet bandwidth and speed is available. If you cannot be sure that your device or internet will enable you to complete or submit an assessment task, you must come onto campus and use one of the University Computers in the Library or Computer Labs.
• Plagiarism and asking or paying someone else to do your work is cheating and constitutes academic misconduct.
• Feedback against the assessment criteria in the form of comments on your script will be provided through Turnitin or on your script directly.
• For information on assessment remarks see: https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/manage-my-program/exams-and-assessment/querying-result

Learning resources

You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.

Library resources

Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

Policies and procedures

University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:

• Student Code of Conduct Policy
• Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
• Assessment Procedure
• Examinations Procedure
• Reasonable Adjustments for Students Policy and Procedure

Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.