Spring 2027

The First World War and the Shaping of Twentieth-century Europe

Examines how WWI shaped twentieth-century Europe through social, cultural, and political transformations, analyzing primary sources like memoirs and films to situate 1914-1918 within broader historical contexts.

offering recorded3–4 credits

Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Daniel Ussishkin4.1/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Daniel Ussishkin

The course required mandatory lectures and papers asking for independent analysis of readings. There were no exams, and the material was not conceptually hard, but effort was needed for good grades.

What you’ll be able to do

Identify and explain the major trajectories in twentieth-century European history and the ways in which they were affected by the First World War, and more broadly, engage critical questions that animate the field of war and society studies today.
Identify and critically engage with the major interpretive frameworks that historians have used in their study of the First World War, and of total war more broadly.
Analyze primary sources from the history of the First World War, both written and visual, and evaluate or critique interpretations of these sources.
Produce original historical arguments, in both written and oral communication, and properly mobilize evidence to support these arguments.
Evaluate interpretive frameworks, in both the historiography as well as the popular cultural memory of the war, and situate the emergence of such frameworks within a broader history of representations of the war and contestations over such representations.
Interpret and evaluate key scholarly debates in the historiography of the First World War.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades

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Course details

Credits3–4 credits

Typically offeredFall

Subjects

History

About this course

The experience and legacy of the First World War has been linked to nearly every social, cultural, and political transformation that marked the short century that followed: mobilization and the experience of total war transformed the relations between governments and citizens, between men and women, and between social classes. Europeans experienced death on an unprecedented scale and came to terms with new forms of industrialized warfare, from the use of poison gas to modern practices of genocide. Europeans now learned to live with violence, both during as well as after the war, and found new ways to mourn or remember the dead. Using a wide variety of contemporary sources -- memoirs, essays, poems, or cinematic representations -- situates the upheaval of 1914-1918 within the larger framework of twentieth-century European history.

Professors

Spring 2027

Daniel Ussishkin

Adjusted rating

RMP difficulty

captured reviews

About this rating

Raw average: 4.29/5 from 56 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.

For this course: 4.5/5 raw quality · 2.8/5 difficulty · 6 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Daniel Ussishkin

Daniel Ussishkin taught the course using papers and a course reader, with one student noting no exams while another reported tests. Reviews described clear grading and manageable difficulty, stating that consistent effort led to strong results. The online format involved frequent assignments and discussions.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.61 GPA, 87.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.78 GPA, 90.6% A/AB (n=64 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.79 GPA, 90.8% A/AB (n=65 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

DANIEL USSISHKIN is recorded teaching in Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. 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.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity
LEC 001	Online Only	0 / 72
DIS 301	Online Only	0 / 18
DIS 302	Online Only	0 / 18
DIS 303	Online Only	0 / 18
DIS 304	Online Only	0 / 18

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

Meeting source records

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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Daniel Ussishkin

Daniel Ussishkin teaches this WWI course with a cultural focus rather than solely military. Students found the material engaging and appreciated his accessibility and passion for the subject.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.61 GPA, 87.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.78 GPA, 90.6% A/AB (n=64 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.79 GPA, 90.8% A/AB (n=65 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Daniel Ussishkin

The course required mandatory lectures and papers asking for independent analysis of readings. There were no exams, and the material was not conceptually hard, but effort was needed for good grades.

Past student reviews · Daniel Ussishkin

As an online course, it had many assignments and discussions, requiring students to stay on top of their work. Grading for tests and papers was clear, making it manageable to achieve high marks.

Topics

Total war and its impact on social structures and gender relations
Industrialized warfare, mass death, and violence in Europe
Memory, mourning, and cultural representations of the war

Skills

Analyzing and critiquing written and visual primary sources
Producing original historical arguments using evidence
Critically engaging with historiographical interpretive frameworks

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · 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

1316 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.

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Selected offering source records

HISTORY 350 · Spring 2027

The First World War and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Europe

Recorded 2026-10-14

Raw records

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    "course_id": "HISTORY 350",
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "023855",
    "source_subject_id": "448",
    "title": "The First World War and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century Europe",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]

Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Model outputs & technical records

Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B

LLM outputs across runs

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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance

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The First World War and the Shaping of Twentieth-century Europe

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Daniel Ussishkin

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

The First World War and the Shaping of Twentieth-century Europe

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Daniel Ussishkin

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to UW–Madison

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

Where this course fits relative to