Assignments

Papers

Students are required to write two short ungraded response papers that react to course material, and two longer papers on questions arising from course material. The two response papers each will be two pages long (double spaced). The longer papers should total about 16 pages–roughly 8 pages each.

Response Papers

Your 2-page response papers should make an argument relevant to the course. Specifically, your argument can dispute or agree with an argument(s) advanced in the reading or lectures; can assess or explain policies or historical events described in the reading and lectures; or can address current events that are relevant to course materials or issues. So your choice of topic is pretty open. Evaluating policies or ideas covered in the reading or lecture is encouraged. In your first paragraph please offer a 1–2 sentence summary of your argument. These papers will not be graded but are mandatory and must be completed to receive full credit for class participation.

The response papers are due during Session 7 and Session 9.

8-Page Papers

We require that you submit a finished draft of at least one of your longer papers 7 days before its due date in order to get comments for rewrite from your TA or writing tutor .You are wise to submit all longer papers to your TA or writing tutor early for comments–you’ll learn from it! So please leave yourself time to get comments on drafts of your longer papers from our staff before you submit final drafts.

The longer papers are due during Session 13 and Session 24.

For detailed information on the graded papers, see First Paper Assignment and Second Paper Assignment.

You have been transported in a time machine back to the year 1730 and made director of the Lebon Peace Fund, a large philanthropic foundation located somewhere in Europe. The Lebon Peace Fund was created by Derfla Lebon, a peace-loving tycoon who made a fortune in the arquebus trade and wants to atone for the mayhem she caused. She created the Lebon Fund to conceive and conduct projects that would prevent wars. What projects would you pursue?

Specifically, what projects might prevent the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War in 26 years? Since you come from the future you know how that war broke out. This knowledge should help you devise solutions.

A “project” can take many forms: sponsoring research, starting a department in a university, funding a political party, developing an industry, organizing a political movement, creating a government institution, plotting an assassination, funding propaganda, starting a religion, you name it. Lebon puts no limits on the way you spend her money. She just wants results.

Please describe your project(s) in a memo to Lebon of 2000–2200 words–about eight double-spaced pages–that summarizes what you propose to do and why.

Ground rules: Please propose projects that people could execute with technologies of the time or with plausible improvements on those technologies. Refrain from proposals that rely on radically new technology (“Please invent nuclear weapons and give them to Britain and France.”)

The point of the exercise is to identify causes of the Seven Years’ War that would have been manipulable in 1730 and to propose practical ways to manipulate them.

Your papers are due during Session 13. You are not required to do outside reading, but it might help.

An informative extra-reading article:

Higonnet, Patrice Louis-René. “The Origins of the Seven Years War.” Journal of Modern History 40, no. 1 (1968), pp. 57–90.

Two additional extra readings:

Anderson, Fred. The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War. Penguin Books, 2006. ISBN: 9780143038047. [Preview with Google Books]

Black, Jeremy, ed. The Origins of War in Early Modern Europe. John Donald, 1987. ISBN: 9780859761680.

You may confer with each other as you gather your thoughts. Several heads are better than one. However, we will be bored if you all reach the same conclusions.

You should get a draft of your paper to your TA by Session 11 (earlier is better) to get feedback.

Make sure your paper includes a clear summary introduction, of perhaps a paragraph. This paragraph should clearly state your question and should summarize your answer.

Please footnote statements of fact, using an abbreviated footnote style if you wish. Footnotes do not count toward the length-limit on your paper so use them freely.

If you want to write on another topic, say so and we will consider it.

Also, please familiarize yourself with the rules of citing sources and make sure you follow them. Failure to cite sources properly is plagiarism.

For more great writing advice, MIT students should consult the MIT Writing and Communication Center.

Student Example

“Lebon Peace Fund Proposal” (PDF)

Note: This example appears courtesy of a MIT student and is anonymous by request.

Please write an 8-page paper (double spaced with normal 1" margins and standard typeface) that answers one of the following two questions. Alternately, if you want to write on another topic please say so and we will consider it.

1. The Nuclear Revolution and World War II in Europe

Imagine that nuclear weapons were invented in 1920, and by 1933 Germany, Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States had large nuclear second-strike countervalue capabilities, like those possessed by the U.S. and Soviet Union late in the Cold War. No other powers possess nuclear weapons in 1933. Which causes of World War II in Europe would have been affected, and in what way? Which would not have been affected? Overall, would a war have been more or less likely in 1939? More or less intense? More or less likely to become a world war?

2. The Bioweapons Revolution and World War II in Europe

Imagine that potent offensive biological weapons were invented in 1918 or so, and by 1933 Germany, Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States had deliverable offensive bioweapons capable of killing millions of people, while none had strong defenses against these weapons. No other powers possess these bioweapons in 1933 but others might soon develop them. Which causes of World War II in Europe would have been affected, and in what way? Which would not have been affected? Overall, would a war have been more or less likely in 1939? More or less intense? More or less likely to become a world war?

You are free to posit that the 1933 bioweapons employ contagious diseases (like smallpox) or non-contagious diseases (like anthrax). You can also posit whether the bioweapons of 1933 could be used anonymously or could be traced back to the attacker; and whether this makes a difference.

Your papers are due during Session 24. You are not required to do outside reading but it is not discouraged.

You may confer with each other as you gather your thoughts.

Make sure your paper includes a clear summary introduction, of perhaps a paragraph. This paragraph should clearly state your question and should summarize your answer.

Be sure to provide historical evidence supporting your argument.

You should get a draft of your paper to your TA a week before the due date deadline to get feedback.

You should footnote statements of fact, using an abbreviated footnote style if you wish. Footnotes do not count toward the length-limit on your paper so use them freely.

For more great writing advice, MIT students should consult the MIT Writing and Communication Center.

Student Example

“A More Disastrous World War II” (PDF)

Note: This example appears courtesy of a MIT student and is anonymous by request.

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Causes and Prevention of War