HIST 1108 - Empires in World History

From the beginning of recorded history to the twentieth century, the world has been shaped by the rise and fall of empires. They are our first attempt at a political unit larger than city or ethnic identity, and the concept has been remarkably resilient across the globe. This course explores how and why this idea of empire developed; how they were organised, how they were kept together, how rulers and ruled interacted, and how and why empires disintegrated. We will focus on a small number of world empires, beginning with two which have had an enduring cultural impact, that is, the empire of Alexander the Great and of Rome. We will then move to more recent empires from across the world. This is more than political history. We investigate the impact of empire on language, art, culture, religion, the economy, the environment and, of course, political ideas of identity. The course has three main objectives. Firstly, it provides an introduction to the study of history at university level. Students will receive training in the practice of history by learning how to interpret and use primary and secondary sources (in translation) and how to frame an evidence-based historical argument. Secondly, the course furnishes students with an overview of the 'big picture' of world history across the last 2,500 years. Students will acquire essential contextual knowledge which will enrich their understanding of almost any subsequent course they take in history, classical studies or the humanities. Thirdly, the course introduces students to civilisations that are quite different and in some ways alien to our own, and yet which in many ways are similar. In our interconnected world, an understanding of the historical roots of different cultures is a prerequisite for global citizenship.