杏吧论坛

Dr David Motadel SAR 3.16

This course is available on the MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, MSc in History of International Relations, MSc in International Affairs (杏吧论坛 and Peking University), MSc in International and Asian History, MSc in International and World History (杏吧论坛 & Columbia) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

The course examines the history of the European empires in the Second World War. It covers the history of the war fought in the imperial world and its impact on the lives of millions of colonial civilians; the political, military, and social history of colonial soldiers who fought in Europe’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious armies; the history of anti-colonial movements during the war, from Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh to Gandhi’s Quit India movement; and the history of the war’s impact on decolonisation and the twentieth century world order. Overall, the course explores the non-European experience of the Second World War, examining the ways in which the conflict shaped societies and political orders in Africa, Asia, and beyond. Drawing on key secondary texts, primary sources, and visual material, the course provides a broad introduction to the most destructive and cataclysmic conflict in modern global history.

Seminars will be taught on campus, with online teaching via Zoom as a back-up if required.

There will be reading weeks in the MT and the LT. 

Students will be expected to produce one essay (2,500 to 3,000 words) in MT; one presentation in MT; and one presentation in LT.  Students will also be required to prepare short summaries of the readings (bullet points) for the weekly meetings.

C. A. Bayly and Tim Harper, Forgotten Armies: Britain’s Asian Empire and the War with Japan (London, 2004).

Judith A. Byfield, Carolyn A. Brown, Timothy Parsons, and Ahmad Alawad Sikaing