Spring 2027

Europe and the Modern World 1815 to the Present

Survey of political, economic, social, and cultural history of modern Western civilization, focusing on Europe from 1815 to the present.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Emma Kuby4.0/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Mary Roberts, Laird Boswell

One student noted there was a good amount of reading but it was not bad, while another advised being prepared for several readings.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe major developments in the political and cultural history of Europe since 1815.

  • Discuss how historical thinking includes interpretation and analysis, not simply names, dates, and facts.

  • Assess the significance of war and revolution, nationalism and the nation-state, and colonialism and imperialism as forces of change in modern European history.

  • Defend a historical argument based on primary sources in clear and compelling prose.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
HISTORY 120

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

Emma Kuby

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.50/5 from 14 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.71 GPA, 89.4% A/AB (n=47 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.77 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=125 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

EMMA KUBY is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

GIULIANA CHAMEDES is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LAIRD BOSWELL is recorded teaching in Spring 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARY LOUISE ROBERTS is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2008, Fall 2010, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Spring 2018, Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 720
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Mary Roberts

Past students described lectures as interesting and engaging, with instructors using novels and short readings instead of standard textbooks to teach history.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.71 GPA, 89.4% A/AB (n=47 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.77 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=125 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.41 GPA, 78.4% A/AB (n=51 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Mary Roberts, Laird Boswell

One student noted there was a good amount of reading but it was not bad, while another advised being prepared for several readings.

Past student reviews · Mary Roberts

Students reported that Professor Roberts was passionate and enthusiastic, with one stating she made them love history and another declaring a history major because of her teaching.

Topics

  • Modern Western civilization
  • Political and cultural history of Europe since 1815
  • War, revolution, nationalism, colonialism, and imperialism

Skills

  • Historical interpretation and analysis
  • Assessing historical forces of change
  • Writing arguments based on primary sources

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 4 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.15 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
HISTORY 120 · Spring 2027

Europe and the Modern World 1815 to the Present

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:448:009055",
    "course_id": "HISTORY 120",
    "course_uid": "course_74d27dbe14c68ae655b14b27",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "009055",
    "source_subject_id": "448",
    "title": "Europe and the Modern World 1815 to the Present",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "50dd33e4c151facb1f5bcb5c71d429901192d4b3046d0a5fe5ea3711e99604c6",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}