European History Commons^™

Censorship, Information Networks, And The Courrier Extraordinaire During The French Revolution, Kent Friel

History Undergraduate Senior Theses

In 1790, as France neared a year of revolution, a former book dealer named Joseph Duplain announced plans for a new venture: a newspaper called the Courrier extraordinaire that would get the news from Paris to major provincial cities hours or even days earlier than other newspapers by using its own express information network. This thesis argues that the Courrier extraordinaire provides a new view of how information moved during the French Revolution. Not only has the specific story of the Courrier extraordinaire never been told at length before, but the intense rivalry among newspaper publishers to physically get the …

Strategic Silence: The Greek Left's Avoidance Of The 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe During The Refugee Crisis, 2015–2019, Harry Courts

College Honors Program

This thesis examines why the Greek political left, and specifically the SYRIZA government under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during the time period from 2015 to 2019, made near-absent reference to the 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe when addressing the refugee crisis of those years. The Catastrophe, in which approximately 1.3 million Orthodox Greeks were displaced from Anatolia, is the foundational trauma of modern Greek nationhood and a living presence in Greek political culture. When hundreds of thousands of Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi refugees arrived on Greek shores from 2015, the historical parallel was widely noted. That SYRIZA rarely drew it requires …

Erinnerungskultur And Pathways Of Division, Christopher C. Wacker

Senior Theses

This paper aims to explain the current political divide between East and West Germany and to investigate whether Erinerungskultur (memory culture) plays a role in this divide. This paper argues that Erinerungskultur played a crucial role in perpetuating the divide. After many years have passed since the reunification, several notable differences between the regions have persisted, particularly in politics. One such difference is the politics of both regions, especially after the most recent election demonstrated a clear blue sweep in the East. This paper will examine the history of both the Federal Republic of Germany (the Western and current state) …

Thomas Mann’S Unbound Bodies: A Formal Analysis Of Disease In The Magic Mountain, Julia Shi

Student Theses and Dissertations

My senior thesis argues that disease is a formal element in Thomas Mann’s novel, The Magic Mountain, through the lens of a newly theorized genre: the “Bindungsroman” (“binding-novel”). The scholar Jonas Rosenbrück proposed the Bindungsroman as the successor genre to the Bildungsroman after the latter fell out of public favor after World War I.  Whereas the Bildungsroman narrates its hero’s maturation as a process of integration into society, the Bindungsroman’s hero is ontologically unstable and does not achieve normative resolution. This paper examines The Magic Mountain’s protagonist’s development as defined by the doubled play of binding and …

Within Melbourne: Landscape, Labor, And Material Culture In A Derbyshire Parish, 1650-1750, Mia Powell

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

In May of 1695, a group of inhabitants walked the grounds of the English locality of Melbourne (Derbyshire) and collected demographic data from every household within the parish boundaries. From this perambulation came a uniquely detailed census-type listing. Combining that listing with other available sources, including probate records, criminal litigation, property disputes, financial papers, antiquarian accounts, maps, and enclosure agreements from across seven record offices, this project uncovers the complex social and economic developments experienced by those who lived in Melbourne from 1650 to 1750. To analyze this well-documented parish, this thesis utilizes various methodologies. Nominal record linkage connects Melbourne’s …

Constructing Imperial Connectivity: State Infrastructure Projects And The Imperial Gaze In Bengal Presidency, 1849-1856, Richard William Bradley Gaspers Iii

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The construction of roads, canals, and supporting infrastructure in British India connected urban environs of power to interior peripheral spaces. The conclusion of the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 saw the East India Company stand alone as the paramount power over the Indian subcontinent. A century of conquest gave way to a century of internal management. This shifted the state’s ‘gaze’ inward. Public infrastructure construction skyrocketed after 1849, transforming the role of the colonial state as it built roads, canals, bridges, courthouses, police stations, and jails on an unprecedented scale. This thesis will explore how these physical constructs bolstered connectivity, …

Remembering Carlo Ferarai: Life, Community, And Death In Industrial London, William W. Wilder

Masters Theses, 2020-current

During the 19^th century English medical schools relied on resurrection men to provide dead bodies for anatomical dissection. While resurrection men typically took bodies from graveyards, there were also those who committed murder in order to sell the bodies of their victims. Carlo Ferarai, an unhoused immigrant child, was the victim of just such a murder, and his death contributed to many legal and social changes which have been studied by historians. This paper recontextualizes Carlo’s death by exploring his life as a social history. Using court transcripts, newspapers, and other sources, alongside insights drawn from urban history, and …

From Farewell To Fáilte: The Voices Of Iowa’S Irish Daughters, Katie Hermanson

History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

Irish women’s immigration to Iowa brought rich culture and lasting impacts, despite their contributions being silenced by history. Women left Ireland for economic opportunity and education abroad to support their impoverished families. Millions emigrated between 1830 and 1915, spreading across the world. The Irish women who came to the United States encountered discrimination and cultural stereotyping as they worked in domestic service, developed religious orders, taught school, owned businesses and raised families. Women bore the burden of supporting their families in Ireland by sending remittances home and communicating between countries. Their cultural identity as exiles dwelled in guilt for leaving …

The Missing Half: Gender-Based Gaps In Holocaust Remembrance, Lyndsey Gilbert

Honors Theses

This study examines the multi-modal methods of memorialization of female Holocaust victims as well as women's absences in Holocaust memorialization. It identifies patterns of representation and omission, examines which histories are preserved, and evaluates gaps in gender-based Holocaust memorials. For this study, memorialization encompasses not only honoring victims but also shaping historical narratives through data and artistic expression. Because the Holocaust targeted men, women, and children within certain categories of Nazi-identified enemies, its memorialization presents a complex dynamic; however, existing narratives and memory practices often prioritize male experiences.

This study examines key methods of memorializing female victims that play a …

Ireland Since 1690, Stephen F. Haller Phd

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

The Development Of The Hagiography Of Saint Servatius: From The 6th To 16th Century, David Krista

Theses

This paper follows the development of the hagiography of St. Servatius from its foundation in the sixth century until the sixteenth century. In this analysis eight different hagiographical works on St. Servatius are discussed including a previously unstudied French Vie de Saint Servais produced in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. First, the foundational work which introduced St. Servatius to the world of hagiography by Gregory of Tours will be explored in order to understand who St. Servatius was. From here the paper moves onto the Latin vitae tradition which consists of the Vita Antiquissima, the Gesta Antiquiora, and …

Road To Brexit: History Of Euroscepticism In The United Kingdom, Jake M. Flowers

2026 Spring Honors Capstones Projects

Scholars in recent years have attempted to understand why citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in 2016, with many taking interest in the history of Euroscepticism in the country. Previous research on the topic has considered the impacts of geopolitical trends after World War II, Eurosceptical political activity in the 1980s, and longer-term historical attitudes. This paper examines the long history of Brexit to consider these events as a whole instead of as separate parts. As this is a history research project, the primary methodology is an analysis of speeches and primary sources from across …

Nietzsche And Socrates: Reflections Of Redefined Virtue In Greek Tragedy, Kyle M. Lowry

Senior Honors Theses

The works of Friedrich Nietzsche were used to study how Greek Tragedy was “born” and “died,” particularly in relation to the rise of Socratic philosophy in Ancient Greece. The intoxicated “Dionysian” and disciplinary, artistic “Apollinian,” are the elements Nietzsche claims encompass and catalyze human experience; the former containing the primal nature of the Being, and the latter containing the ordering through which identity is formed and art is created. Tragedy, the art form perfectly balancing these two elements was “born” within the conditions of a Dionysian Pessimism, by which the inevitable life of suffering was redeemed aesthetically. Socrates introduced rationality …

Perceptions Of German Eugenics: An Analysis Of German Eugenics In The Eugenics Review, 1920-1945, Ally Iandolo

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research examines how the eugenics movement in Germany was perceived by academic peers. I utilize entries from the British journal, The Eugenics Review, from 1920-1945 to create a database of all journal articles, book reviews, correspondence, and other entries that mention German eugenics. Then, using this database, I determine how German eugenics was perceived and which topics were identified by the journal’s contributors. Further, I analyze the careers of the authors who wrote these articles to understand the scope of interest in German eugenics from the Eugenics Review.

Faith Under The Führer: Protestant Pastors In Nazi Germany, Katie Cassady

Senior Honors Theses

This research examines Protestant churches in Nazi Germany and their varied reactions to Hitler’s Third Reich, tracing the Nazi rise to power, the Kirchenkampf (Church Struggle), the Confessing Church’s resistance, and figures like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemoller, and Karl Barth. Hitler campaigned on a platform purporting to support religious freedom, but the state-sponsored persecution of Christian churches later revealed such promises as a facade. The Kirchenkampf exemplifies the reactions of Protestant German churches to Hitler’s rule: The German Christian Movement (GCM) endorsed Hitler’s radical racial theories, while the Confessing Church confronted the unbiblical rhetoric used by the GCM.

“Thou Shalt Not Die”: The Evolution Of Vampires From Medieval Europe To The 21st Century, Maryn A. Tucker

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Medieval ideas about vampires continue to influence portrayals of them in modern media. Although modern vampires are portrayed with more powers and abilities than their medieval counterparts, the categories of traits remain consistent. This paper makes these points by using five characteristics (creation, physical characteristics, relationship to blood, social life, and death/weakness) to examine the evolution of vampires from Medieval European lore to modern day media. The sources examined range from the 13^th century to 2017. From the Medieval era through 1897, vampire characteristics changed little. Bram Stoker’s Dracula marks the first major change in vampire characteristics and provides …

Do Clothes Make The Man? Ftm Crossdressing In The 18th-19th C. Anglo-American World, Aidrian Graber

Theses and Dissertations

This paper seeks to analyze the legacy of "Female Husbands" and other female-to-male crossdressers in the 18/19th c. Anglo-American world and how such people can illuminate the field of transgender history.

Landscaping The Exotic And The Ancient Through Picturesque: Reconsidering The Impact Of David Roberts’S Egypt And Nubia, Sophie Cooke

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis considers David Roberts’s use of picturesque art for imperial Britain and analyzes the ways Egypt and Nubia played an influential role in the cultural transmission of ancient Egypt. By confronting both antiquity and modernity, his Egyptian landscapes are evidence of how Western picturesque artworks influence historical narratives.

The Resurgence Of Nationalism In Germany And The Alternative Für Deutschland, John L. Wardlaw Jr

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

I examine the rise of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) within the broader historical and ideological course of German nationalism. In doing so, I argue that following the Prussian-led unification of Germany in 1871, nationalism became entrenched as a constitutive feature of the German identity, not only as a political ideology, but also as a foundational sociocultural framework. Rather than emerging sporadically, nationalism persisted in a latent form throughout Germany’s modern history; latent in that nationalism could be reactivated and shaped through the intentional efforts of particular political parties during periods of sociopolitical and economic strain. To analyze this phenomenon, …

A Preliminary Study On A Variant British Recension Of De Excidio Troiae, Kailee M. Rowe

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

Dares Phrygius’s De excidio Troiae (“On the Destruction of Troy”) is a fifth or sixth century historical account of the Trojan War that gained significant attention during the medieval period in western Europe. Surviving in over 200 manuscripts, De excidio Troiae had been widely disseminated, developing different traditions in Latin as well as inspiring translations and adaptions in vernacular languages, such as Irish, Middle High German, and Old Icelandic. Dares was considered one of the most reliable sources on the Trojan War, partly because of the decline of Greek in Western Europe, but also partly because of its claim to …