Week I: The Origins of the British Empire

Aug 30: Introduction: How do we view the British Empire?
Sep 1: England's early overseas expansion
Sep 3: Commerce, competition, and the beginnings of the "First British Empire"

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 6: LABOR DAY (NO CLASS)
Sep 8: Sugar, slaves, and the economies and cultures of the Atlantic
Sep 10: 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 Barbadoes" (1657)
John Wesley, "Thoughts upon slavery" (1774)
Adam Smith, "Of colonies" and "The cost of empire" in Wealth of Nations (1776)

Suggested film: Adanggaman (2000)

Week III: War, Revolution, and Realignment

Sep 13: The eighteenth century and the clash of empires
Sep 15: The American Revolution and its aftermath
Sep 17: Discussion

Reading:
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 20: The East India Company and the conquest of Bengal
Sep 22: Liberal Imperialism and the birth of the "Second British Empire"
Sep 24: Discussion

Reading:
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

Sep 27: Science, technology, and empire
Sep 29: The Indian Revolt of 1857 and the making of the British Raj
Oct 1: 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 4: The Famine and the Exodus
Oct 6: Home Rule campaigns and the growth of Irish nationalism
Oct 8: FALL BREAK (NO CLASS)

Reading:
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 11: Indian society under the British Raj
Oct 13: The rise of nationalism in British India
Oct 15: 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 18: The "scramble" for Africa
Oct 20: Gold, diamonds, and war in South Africa, 1895-1902
Oct 22: MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Reading:
Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Headrick, 105-126, 150-156, 192-210

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 25: Theories of imperialism
Oct 27: Empire and British national identity
Oct 29: Discussion

Reading:
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 1: The Empire in the Great War, 1914-1918
Nov 3: From rebels to statesmen: Ireland, 1905-1922
Nov 5: Discussion

Reading:
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/Willie McBride"

Memorials:
ANZAC Commemorative Site (Goverment of Australia)
The Somme Heritage Centre of Northern Ireland
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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 8: Imperialism, Zionism, and the creation of the Modern Middle East
Nov 10: The Dominions and the rise of the British Commonwealth
Nov 12: NO CLASS

Reading:
Butler, xi-xv, 1-27
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)
Statute of Westminster (1931)

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

Week XII: Internal and External Challenges

Nov 15: Gandhi and Non-cooperation in India
Nov 17: The Empire at war, 1939-1945
Nov 19: Discussion

Reading:
Butler, 28-62
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 22: A bloody birth: independence and partition in the Indian subcontinent
Nov 24: The partition of Palestine and the creation of Israel
Nov 26: THANKSGIVING (NO CLASS)

Reading:
Butler, 63-96
Ian Talbot, "Literature and the Human Drama of the 1947 Partition" in Talbot & Singh (eds.), Region and Partition

Documents:
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

Nov 29: Independence in Africa and Asia
Dec 1: The empire within: multicultural Britain and the Commonwealth
Dec 3: Discussion

Reading:
Butler, 97-170
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)
Kwame Nkrumah, "I speak of freedom" (1961)
Gamel Abdul Nasser, "Speech regarding the Suez Canal" (1956)
Harold Macmillan, "The Wind of Change" (1960)
UN declaration granting independence to colonial countries (1960)

Video: Hong Kong Handover Ceremony (1997)

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

Week XV: Legacies and Lessons

Dec 6: Postcolonial perspectives; legacies and lessons of the British Empire
Dec 8: Discussion

Reading:
Butler 171-197
Edward Said, "Knowing the Oriental" in Orientalism
Fareed Zakaria, "The Future of American Power" in Foreign Affairs (May 2008), 18-43
Niall Ferguson, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, 357-370

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