Six major wars have been fought in Europe since the French Revolution. A seventh was fought all over the world though Europe contributed to its outbreak and provided one of the fields of combat. Many of these wars had long backgrounds or, as one historian has written, "profound causes"--conflicting creeds, public opinion, nationalism, militarism, imperialism mass psychology preaching the glories of war, historians themselves, to name but a few. But there is also a more staid version of the origin of war: the precise moment when government officials set their names to the declaration of it. Sometimes the actual signing has little to do with the profound causes. This course will examine the immediate origins of the following wars: Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire (1789-1815); Crimea and Italy (1853-56, 1859); Bismarck's Wars (1863-64, 1866, 1870-71); The First World War (1914-18); The Second World War (1939-45); The Cold War (1946-1991). We will view documentaries and films dealing with the outstanding personalities in all of these: Napoleon, Cavour, Bismarck, Wilson ,Mussolini, Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, and Gorbachev. Midterm, final, and short paper.