Week I: The Origins of the British Empire

Sep 5: Introduction: How do we view the British Empire?
Sep 7: England's early overseas expansion

Reading:
Colley, 1-98
Nicholas Canny, "The Origins of Empire" in Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol I (OHBE:I), 1-33

Documents:
Richard Hakluyt, "Discourse of Western planting" (1584)
Edmund Spenser, "A view of the present state of Ireland" (1596)
Thomas Mun, "England's treasure by foreign trade" (1664)

Suggested film: The New World (2005)

Week II: The Atlantic World

Sep 10: Commerce, competition, and the beginnings of the "First British Empire"
Sep 12: Sugar, slaves, and the economies and cultures of the Atlantic
Sep 14: Discussion

Reading:
Colley, 99-134
Patrick O'Brien, "Inseparable Connections: Trade, Economy, Fiscal State, and the Expansion of Empire" in OHBE:II, 53-77
Marcus Rediker, "African Paths to the Middle Passage" in The Slave Ship: A Human History, 73-108

Documents:
First Charter of Virginia (1606)
Richard Ligon, "A true & exact history of the island of Barbados" (1657)
John Wesley, "Thoughts upon slavery" (1774)
Adam Smith, "Of colonies", "The cost of empire" in Wealth of Nations (1776)

Suggested film: Adanggaman (2000)

Week III: War, Revolution, and Realignment

Sep 17: The eighteenth century and the clash of empires
Sep 19: The American Revolution and its aftermath
Sep 21: Discussion

Reading:
Brendon, 3-31
Colley, 137-238
Alan Taylor, "Imperial War and Crisis, 1739-1775" in American Colonies, 420-443

Documents:
Maj. Gen. James Wolfe, "To the citizens of Québec" (1759)
Edmund Burke, "On Conciliation with America" (1775)
Declaration of Independence (1776)

Suggested films: The Bounty (1982), Last of the Mohicans (1992)
The War that Made America (2006), Master and Commander (2003)

Week IV: The Rise of the Second British Empire

Sep 24: The East India Company and the conquest of Bengal
Sep 26: Liberal Imperialism and the birth of the "Second British Empire"
Sep 28: Discussion

Reading:
Brendon, 32-118
Colley, 241-307
Andrew Porter, "Trusteeship, Anti-Slavery, and Humanitarianism" in OHBE:III, 198-221

Documents:
Robert Clive, Letter to William Pitt regarding British policy in Bengal (1759)
East India Company Act of 1767
Robert Clive, Speech in the House of Commons on India (1772)
Warren Hastings, Letter to Court of Directors of the East India Company (1773)
Edmund Burke, Speech in the House of Commons on India (1783)
John Stuart Mill, "On Colonies and Colonization" (1848)

Suggested film: Amazing Grace (2006)

Week V: Inside the Pax Britannica

Oct 1: Science, technology, and empire
Oct 3: The Indian Revolt of 1857 and the making of the British Raj
Oct 5: Discussion

Reading:
Colley, 308-379
Headrick, 3-104

Documents:
T.B. Macauley, "Minute on Education" (1835) and Resolution of Lord Bentinck (1835)
Mountstuart Elphinstone, "Indian Customs and Manners" (1840)
Earl of Dalhousie, Report on the Administration of India (1856)
Eliza Greathed, An Account of the Indian Mutiny at Meerut (1857)

Suggested films: Shatranj ke Khilari (1977), The Deceivers (1988),
The Rising (2005), River Queen (2005)

Week VI: The Empire and its Discontents: Ireland

Oct 8: The Famine and the Exodus
Oct 10: Home Rule campaigns and the growth of Irish nationalism
Oct 12: FALL BREAK (NO CLASS)

Reading:
Brendon, 119-140
Ward, 1-81
Kevin Kenny, "Introduction" in Ireland and the British Empire, 1-25

Documents:
Daniel O'Connell, "Justice for Ireland" (speech to the House Commons) (1836)
"Summer of Sorrows" from Gerald Keegan's Diary (1847)
William Bennett, "Narrative of a recent journey in Ireland" (1847)
Parliamentary Proceedings, "The state of famine and disease in Ireland" (1846)
Cork Reporter, "The apprehended scarcity" (1846)
Times of London, "The Irish question" (1846)

Music:
Sinéad O'Connor, "Skibbereen" (1998)

Week VII: The Empire and its Discontents: India

Oct 15: Indian society under the British Raj
Oct 17: The rise of nationalism in British India
Oct 19: Discussion

Reading:
Headrick, 129-149, 157-191
Bernard S. Cohn, "Representing Authority in Victorian India" in Hobsbawm and Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition, 165-209

Documents:
Queen Victoria, "When Queen Victoria became Empress of India" (1877)
Lord Roberts, "When Queen Victoria became Empress of India" (1877)
Francis Younghusband, Convention between Great Britain and Tibet (1904)
B.G. Tilak, "Address to the Indian National Congress" (1907)
M.K. Gandhi, "Indian Home Rule" (1909)

Video: Coronation Durbar of King George V as Emperor of India (1911)

Suggested films: Lagaan (2001), A Passage to India (1984)

Week VIII: Africa and the Changing Face of Empire

Oct 22: The "scramble" for Africa
Oct 24: Gold, diamonds, and war in South Africa, 1895-1902
Oct 26: MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Reading:
Brendon, 141-218

Documents:
Chief Moshweshewe, Letter to Sir George Grey (on the establishment of Basutoland) (1858)
Earl of Cromer, "Why Britain acquired Egypt in 1882" (1908)
Alfred Egmont Hake, "The death of General Gordon at Khartoum" (1885)
Capt. F.D. Lugard, "The rise of our East African empire" (1893)
Winston Churchill, "The Battle of Omdurman" (1898)

Suggested films: Mountains of the Moon (1990), Zulu Dawn (1979)
Zulu (1964), Khartoum (1966), Breaker Morant (1980)

Week IX: The "New" Imperialism

Oct 29: Theories of imperialism
Oct 31: Empire and British national identity
Nov 2: Discussion

Reading:
Brendon, 219-253
Headrick, 105-126, 150-156, 192-210
John Gallagher and Ronald Robinson, "The Imperialism of Free Trade" in Economic History Review VI (1953), 1-18
John Mackenzie, "The Popular Culture of Empire in Britain" in OHBE:IV, 212-231

Documents:
Benjamin Disraeli, "The Maintenance of Empire" (1872)
Joseph Chamberlain, "The True Conception of Empire" (1897)
J.A. Hobson, "Imperialism: A Study" (1902)
V.I. Lenin, "Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism" (1916)
Rudyard Kipling, "Gunga Din" (1891) and "The White Man's Burden" (1898)
Thomas Hardy, "Drummer Hodge" (1899)
George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant" (1936)

Music:
Edward Elgar, "Pageant of Empire" (1924), "Imperial March, op. 32" (1924)

Suggested films: The Four Feathers (1939), The Man who would be King (1975), Kim (1950)

Week X: The Empire's Wars

Nov 5: The Empire in the Great War, 1914-1918
Nov 7: From rebels to statesmen: Ireland, 1905-1922
Nov 9: Discussion

Reading:
Brendon, 254-293
Ward, 82-173

Document:
Proclamation of the Irish Republic (1916) [image]

Music:
Brian Warfield, "A Soldier's Return"
Eric Bogle, "The Band played Waltzing Matilda" and "No Man's Land"

Memorials:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Australian War Memorial
Canadian National Vimy Memorial
ANZAC Commemorative Site (Government of Australia)
The Somme Heritage Centre of Northern Ireland

Suggested films: Michael Collins (1996), The Last September (1999)
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006), Gallipoli (1981)

Week XI: From Empire to Commonwealth

Nov 12: Imperialism, Zionism, and the creation of the Modern Middle East
Nov 14: The Dominions and the rise of the British Commonwealth
Nov 16: Discussion

Reading:
Brendon, 294-378
John Darwin, "A Third British Empire? The Dominion Idea in Imperial Politics" in OHBE:IV, 64-87

Documents:
Theodore Herzl, "On the Jewish State" (1896)
Sir Henry McMahon, Letter to Sherif Hussein ibn Ali (1915)
Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916)
Balfour Declaration (1917)
Palestine Mandate (1922)
T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922) [Introduction, Chs. 1-2]
Statute of Westminster (1931)

Images:
Sir Mark Sykes and Georges Picot, Map proposing the postwar reconstruction of the Middle East (1916)
T.E. Lawrence, Map proposing the postwar reconstruction of the Middle East (1918) [description]
Map of the Mandate System in the Middle East (c.1930)

Suggested films: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)

Week XII: Internal and External Challenges

Nov 19: Gandhi and Non-cooperation in India
Nov 21: The Empire at war, 1939-1945
Nov 23: THANKSGIVING (NO CLASS)

Reading:
Partha Chatterjee, "Gandhi and the Critique of Civil Society" in Ranajit Guha (ed.) Subaltern Studies III, 153-195
Ashley Jackson, "The Approach of War" and "Imperial War" in The British Empire and the Second World War, 11-40

Documents:
Subhas Chandra Bose, Plan for cooperation between the Axis powers and India (1941)
Joachim von Ribbentrop, Brief for the Führer on "British India" (1941)
M.K. Gandhi, "Quit India" Resolution [original draft] (1942)
US State Department, Orders to American Forces in India (1942)

Suggested films: Bhowani Junction (1956), Gandhi (1982)
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Empire of the Sun (1987)

Week XIII: The Crisis of Empire, 1945-1948

Nov 26: A bloody birth: independence and partition in the Indian subcontinent
Nov 28: The partition of Palestine and the creation of Israel
Nov 30: Discussion

Reading:
Brendon, 379-443, 466-486
Ian Talbot, "Literature and the Human Drama of the 1947 Partition" in Talbot & Singh (eds.), Region and Partition

Documents:
Government of the United Kingdom, "White Paper (on Palestine)" (1939)
Clement Attlee, "The end of British rule in India" (1947)
Winston Churchill, "Britain's shameful flight from India" (1947)
Jawaharlal Nehru, "A tryst with destiny" (1947) [Audio: BBC Radio Archive]

Images:
BBC Photo Archive, Photographs of the partition of India and Pakistan (1947)

Video and Audio:
BBC Radio Archive, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's address on Pakistan's independence (1947)
BBC Film Archive, Lord Mountbatten reads address by King George VI on Indian independence (1947)

Suggested films: Earth (1998), Mountbatten: Last Viceroy (1986)
Exodus (1960), Jewel in the Crown (1984), Staying On (1979)

Week XIV: Decolonization and the End of Empire, 1948-1997

Dec 3: Independence in Africa and Asia
Dec 5: The empire within: multicultural Britain and the Commonwealth
Dec 7: Discussion

Reading:
Brendon, 444-465, 487-574
Salman Rushdie, "The New Empire within Britain" in Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism

Documents:
Jomo Kenyatta, "The Kenya Union is not the Mau Mau" (1952)
Gamel Abdul Nasser, "Speech regarding the Suez Canal" (1956)
Harold Macmillan, "The Wind of Change" (1960)
UN declaration granting independence to colonial countries (1960)
Kwame Nkrumah, "I speak of freedom" (1961)

Video and Audio:
Movietone News, Crisis in Suez (1956)
BBC Four, The Other Side of Suez [documentary] (2004)
BBC Radio Archive, Harold Macmillan's "Wind of Change" speech (1960)

Suggested film: My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), The Kitchen Toto (1988)

Week XV: Legacies and Lessons

Dec 10: Postcolonial perspectives; legacies and lessons of the British Empire
Dec 12: Discussion

Reading:
Brendon, 575-662
Edward Said, "Knowing the Oriental" in Orientalism
Fareed Zakaria, "The Future of American Power" in Foreign Affairs (May 2008), 18-43
"Bagehot: The Tiger under the Table" in The Economist, 5 Dec 2009

Video:
Hong Kong transfer of sovereignty ceremony (1997)
The British Empire in the movies (film trailers)

Suggested films: Chinese Box (1997), The Last King of Scotland (2006)