Burning of Arochukwo, Nigeria, 1901.  Imperial arson was widespread.

Before the World Wars, before D-Day, Stalingrad, Verdun, and the Somme, the major western powers of Europe and the Americas enjoyed decades of relative peace.  but this era of peace was actually a period of almost incessant war:  by the turn of the last century European imperial powers and states with predominantly European settler populations, had taken control over vast areas of the globe in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. This class will examine this era of global war, focusing on both methods of conquest and on the emergence of multiple forms of resistance. We will look at both similarities and differences between conquest and resistance in regions including, the Great Plains, the Pampas or grasslands of Argentina, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia.

Topics will include:

• Argentina’s “Conquest of the Desert”
• The fall of the Comanche and Sioux “Empires” of the Great Plains
• Russian military expeditions to Central Asia
• The Scramble for Africa and resistance
• Dutch imperialism and resistance in Sumatra
• The United State and the Philippines
• The global origins of concentration camps

Instructor:

Benjamin Lieberman

Professor Lieberman has taught classes and published on topics, including the Holocaust, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. For more information, please contact Professor Lieberman at blieberman@fitchburgstate.edu