HIS 333 - Empire Jews: From False Messiahs to Fascism

Empire, as a political structure, shaped the experience of Modern Jewry in ways that continued beyond the collapse of the major European empires after World War I. This course explores the Jewish experience of living within three major European Empires-the Russian, Habsburg, and Ottoman Empires. What social, cultural, and economic realities did Jews face as citizens of diverse and expansive bureaucratic empires? It explores religious, cultural, and political developments through the early modern and modern period, focusing particularly on promises of salvation (both political and religious); Jewish, Christian, and Muslim coexistence; and how modernization and a changing world affected Jews’ every day realities within the empire. The course begins with the arrival of false messiah Shabtai Tzvi in 1648 and continues until after World War I, when Jews were viewed suspiciously for having been loyal citizens of their respective Empires in their new nation states. It focuses on topics such as religious movements, secularization, economic realities, communal structures and the development of modern Jewish cultures, the careers of merchant traders, intra-Jewish prejudices, the rise of Zionism and socialism, and living with anti-Semitism.

Satisfies a History major and minor requirement.
Satisfies a Center for Interdisciplinary Studies major requirement.
Satisfies a Russian Studies minor requirement. 
Satisfies the Historical Thought Ways of Knowing requirement.
Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement.