HI 384 - British Empire

The British Empire took a leading role in globalization throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. In this course we will investigate how the British and various colonized peoples made the empire together. At the same time, we will study the various tensions and forces that made empire difficult and eventually impossible to sustain. Along the way, we will familiarize ourselves with various interpretations of imperialism, sample the empire’s impact on art and literature, confront some of the moral dilemmas associated with the empire, and come to understand why the empire inspired such devotion and hatred among people throughout the world.

Four credits.