Introduction to Modern Britain and its Empire

Catalog description

This seminar covers the history of Britain at the height of its political and industrial power and the history of the expanding and contracting British Empire. Britain was a nation of great technological, economic, and military power, but it also experienced extraordinary stresses. Industrialization meant material prosperity for some, but hardship and dehumanization for others. Many questioned how overwhelming poverty and ignorance could be allowed to stand beside such vast affluence. And subjects of the British in India, Ireland, and elsewhere struggled for independence from an empire that claimed to bring freedom, reason, and equality. The British learned to their cost, too, that decolonization often meant being caught in the crossfire of ethnic rivals. This course will explore the many paradoxes of the history of the British at their most dominant. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course. Counts as a Communication Intensive course. Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course.