The British Empire: 1776 - 1956

Over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Britain forged the largest empire the world has ever known. At its height, Britain governed roughly one-quarter of the world's population and a near equal proportion of the globe's landmass, all while dominating the seas with its naval might.

This course will examine the British Empire in a historical context by means of a balanced approach. Empires have been capable of laudable accomplishments including technological innovation, scientific and medical discovery, and economic prosperity. They have also left however a trail of terrible deeds and crimes in their wake including wars, genocides, economic underdevelopment, and systemic racism. This course is divided into four parts, beginning with an examination of the end of Britain's "first empire," when the thirteen North American colonies achieved independence and became the United States of America. The second segment of the course addresses the construction of Britain's "second" or free-trade empire of the nineteenth century; it analyzes abolitionism and the end of slavery, the opening of China to the West during the Opium Wars, the colonization of India, and white immigration to Canada, Australia, and South Africa. The third segment covers Britain at its imperial zenith following the Congress of Berlin (1885) when European nations began carving up continental Africa. The final segment of the course examines why the Empire came to such an abrupt end following World War II in 1945. Students will discusses the decolonization of Ireland, India, the White Dominions, Egypt, and the Middle East. Moreover, this segment will pay close attention to the Balfour Declaration (1917) and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 when Great Britain ceded to the United Nations the role in creating homeland for the Jewish people. The course ends with the Suez Crisis in 1956 when the United States and the Soviet Union definitively replaced Britain and France as the dominant world powers during the Cold War.

Although the course focuses on Britain, it addresses broad themes engaging with theories of empire and exploring the relationship between modernity, development, and oppression. This course will allow you to reflect critically upon quasi-imperial institutions in the world today which have continued to impose free-trade on countries. While this imposed free-trade has resulted in steady economic growth, the extension of global networks of knowledge and finance, and impressive technological developments, it has also played a role in creating or exacerbating problems of inequality, racism, and even slavery. Students will reflect on the roots of today's globalized world and cultivate a sense of global citizenship.