HIST 20120 - Craft: War and the Limits of Empire

Course Credit: 1
If the British empire often presented its expansion as a benevolent civilizing mission, the threat of violence was rarely far from the surface. This course examines the history and memory of two of the most notorious wars of the British empire in Asia: the 1839-42 Opium War in China and the 1857-58 Rebellion in India. We will consider different explanations for the origin of the wars, how the wars affected British power in both India and China, the interpretation and re-interpretation of the wars with the rise of nationalism, and how marginalized histories have been (and wait to be) pieced together from the archival records. The rich body of secondary scholarship and primary sources available in English for both wars provides an excellent opportunity for students in a writing class to develop skills in writing and historical research. Prerequisite(s): 1 full credit course in History; or permission of instructor [C, HSS, W]