Homepage for William L. Patch,

Kenan Professor of History at Washington & Lee University

Professor Patch enjoys the sun of Tuscany in March 2000

Welcome to my homepage.  I received my B.A. in history from the University of California at Berkeley in 1975 and my Ph.D. in modern European history from Yale in 1981.  I studied in Germany for my junior year at the University of Göttingen and later a year of dissertation research based at the University of Bochum.    After teaching at Yale for three years and Grinnell College in Iowa for twenty, I arrived at Washington and Lee in 2006.  My scholarly specialties are the history of Germany in the 20th century, the history of church-state relations and of Christian social movements, and the history of international relations.  I have published two monographs and several articles on German history and am now writing a book on the role of blue-collar workers in the Christian Democratic Union under Konrad Adenauer.  My office is in Newcomb 219.

You can e-mail me at patchw@wlu.edu. 

Click on "My Courses" at the top of the page for summaries of the courses I teach and links to my course websites. 

Click on "History Links" for recommended websites dealing with  European history.

FOR THE RISE AND FALL OF ADOLF HITLER: ALUMNI COLLEGE 2012

Click the links below to review our slideshows:

1. Initial Misconceptions about Hitler (cartoons from around the world)

2. The Education of the Dictator: Hitler's Youth, Character, and Start in Politics

3. The Rise of the Dictator: The Dissolution of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Seizure of Power

4. Realpolitik or Obsession?  Why Did Hitler Order the Invasion of the Soviet Union?

5. The Cross and the Swastika