Imperialisms, Ancient and Modern: Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction
Outline of the course.
Defining "imperialism".
Survey of imperialisms through history.
Introduction to modern "theories" of imperialism.
Hobson, Lenin, Schumpeter and beyond.
Readings:
Definitions of Imperialism.
Overview of Imperialism.
Theories of Imperialism.
Doyle, Michael W., "Imperialism and Empire," from Empires (Cornell 1986) pp. 19-47.
Week 2: Early Imperialism
Primitive and Tribal contexts.
Early Mesopotamian Empires.
The Expansion of Egypt.
The Assyrian Empire.
The Persian Empire.
The Ch'in Empire.
Primary Readings:
Kish, Umma, and Lagash (c. 2500 B.C.)
Sargon of Akkad (c. 2334-2279 B.C.)
Biography of Ahmose Pen-Nekhbet (c. 1475 B.C.)
Third Campaign of Sennacherib (669 B.C.)
The Collapse of Assyria (616-607 B.C.)
Secondary Readings:
Olmstead, A.T., "Oriental Imperialism," The Amerian Historical Review 23 (1918) 755-762.
Adams, William Y., "The First Colonial Empire: Egypt in Nubia, 3200-1200 B.C.," Comparative Studies in Society and History 26 (1984) 36-71.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 3: Greek Imperialism I
The Archiac Age - colonization.
The Origin of the Persian Wars - the "balance of justice".
Athenian Imperialism.
Spartan and Theban "hegemony".
Greek Political Thought - tryanny and democracy.
Primary Readings:
Herodotus: The Origins of the Persian Wars
Thucydides: Thucydides: The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (432 B.C.)
Thucydides: The Funeral Speech (430 B.C.)
Thucydides: The Mytilenean Debate (427 B.C.)
Thucydides: The Melian Dialogue (416 B.C.)
Secondary Readings:
Finley, M.I., "The Fifth Century Athenian Empire: a Balance-Sheet," in P.D.A. Garnesey and C.R. Whittaker (eds.), Imperialism in the Ancient World (1978) 103-126.
Forde, Steven, "Thucydides on the Causes of Athenian Imperialism," The American Political Science Review 80 (1986) 433-448.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 4: Greek Imperialism II
The Rise of Macedon.
The Empire of Alexander.
The Diadochi.
The Hellenization of the East.
Primary Readings:
Demosthenes: Speech Against Philip of Macedon (351 B.C.)
Isocrates: Speech to Philip of Macedon (346 B.C.)
Diodorus: The Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.)
Arrian: Alexander the Great (c. 331 B.C.)
Arrian: Alexander the Great and the Indian Wise Men (c. 327 B.C.)
Secondary Readings:
Brunt, P.A., "The Aims of Alexander," Greece & Rome 12 (1965) 205-215.
Austin, M.M., "Hellenistic Kings, War, and the Economy," The Classical Quarterly 36 (1986) 450-466.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 5: Roman Imperialism I - the Republic
The Ethos of Imperium.
The Mechanics of Imperium.
The Consequences of Imperium.
The "Terror" of Imperium.
Primary Readings:
Livy: The Preface
Livy: On the Roman Method of Declaring War (c. 650 B.C.)
Livy: The Practice of Deditio
Polybius: The Rise of Rome to World Power (220-167 B.C.)
Polybius: The Roman Constitution (c. 150 B.C.)
Polybius: The Customs of the Romans (c. 150 B.C.)
Cicero: On the War against Mithridates (66 B.C.)
Sallust: Letter of Mithridates on Roman Expansion (c. 66 B.C.)
Vergil: Selections from The Aeneid (19 B.C.)
Secondary Readings:
North, J. A., "The Development of Roman Imperialism," The Journal of Roman Studies 71 (1981) 1-9.
Hölkeskamp, Karl-J., "Conquest, Competition and Consensus: Roman Expansion in Italy and the Rise of the Nobilitas, Historia 42 (1993) 12-39.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 6: Roman Imperialism II - the Empire
The Limits of Empire.
The Consequences of Empire.
Romanitas and Cultural Imperialism.
Primary Readings:
Augustus: The Expansion of the Roman Empire (A.D. 14)
Tacitus: Provincials Added to the Roman Senate (A.D. 47-48)
Tacitus: Tacitus: Calgacus' Speech to his Troops (A.D. 85)
Aelius Aristeides: To Rome (143 A.D.)
Secondary Readings:
Lintott, Andrew, "What was the 'Imperium Romanum'?," Greece & Rome 28 (1981) 53-67.
Miles, Gary B., "Roman and Modern Imperialism: A Reassessment," Comparative Studies in Society and History 42 (1990) 629-659.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 7: MID-TERM EXAM
Week 8: Medieval Imperialisms
Islamic Expansion.
The Crusades.
Consolidation of European Nation States.
Primary Readings:
Anonymous: Attila and Leo the Great (A.D. 452)
Tarik: Address to His Soldiers on the Invasion of Spain (A.D. 711)
Chronicles: The Battle of Poitiers (A.D. 732)
Leo IV and John VIII: Dispensations for Those Who Die in Battle With the Heathen (9th century)
Urban II: Speech at Council of Clermont (1095)
St. Thomas Aquinas: Whether It Is Always Sinful to Wage War?
Secondary Readings:
Cahen, Claude, "Introduction to the First Crusade," Past and Present 6 (1954) 6-30.
Jones, W. R., "The Image of the Barbarian in Medieval Europe," Comparative Studies in Society and History 13 (1971) 376-407.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 9: The Age of European Expansion
Exploration and Expansion.
The Conquest of the Americas.
The Spanish Hegemony.
The French Hegemony.
The Beginnings of the British Empire.
Primary Readings:
Pope Alexander VI: The Division of the World (1493)
King Ferdinand: Letter to the Taino/Arawak Indians (c. 1500)
Bartolome de las Casas: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1542)
Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda: Concerning the Just Cause of the War Against the Indians (1547)
Thomas Mun: England's Treasure By Forraign Trade (1664)
Anonymous: French Memoir on the English Aggression (1750)
Secondary Readings:
Carney, James J., "Early Spanish Imperialism," The Hispanic American Historical Review 19 (1939) 138-146.
Cave, Alfred A., "Canaanites in a Promised Land: The American Indian and the Providential Theory of Empire," American Indian Quarterly 12 (1988) 277-297.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 10: The "New Imperialism"
The Far Eastern Experience.
The Scramble for Africa.
The Economics of Colonialism.
Primary Readings:
John Stuart Mill: On the Treatment of Barbarous Nations (1874)
Jules Ferry: On French Colonial Expansion (1884)
European Powers: The Conference of Berlin (1885)
Rudyard Kipling: The White Man's Burden (1899)
Wilfred Scawen Blunt: Britain's Imperial Destiny (1896-1899)
The Earl of Cromer: On the British Acquisition of Egypt in 1882 (1908)
Secondary Readings:
Headrick, Daniel R., "The Tools of Imperialism: Technology and the Expanision of European Colonial Empires in the Nineteenth Century" The Journal of Modern History 51 (1979) 231-263.
Gallagher, John & Robinson, Ronald, "The Imperialism of Free Trade" The Economic History Review 6 (1953) 1-15.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 11: An Empire of Liberty - the American Experience
Indians, Mexicans, and Spaniards.
The United States as a Colonial Power.
Isolationism and World Power.
America's Rise to Global Power.
Primary Readings:
John Quincy Adams: The Monroe Doctrine (1823)
John O'Sullivan: "Manifest Destiny" (1839)
Horace Greeley: Our Country, Right or Wrong! (1846)
Josiah Strong: On Anglo-Saxon Predominance (1891)
Albert Beveridge: The March of the Flag (1898)
Carl Schurz: Platform of the American Anti-lmperialist League (1899)
Elihu Root: The Platt Amendment (1901)
Secondary Readings:
Zevin, Robert, "An Interpretation of American Imperialism," The Journal of Economic History 32 (1972) 316-60.
Paterson, Thomas G., "United States Intervention in Cuba, 1898: Interpretations of the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War," The History Teacher 29 (1996) 341-361.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 12: Imperialism in the 20th Century
The World Wars.
The Colonial Wars.
The Cold War.
The Impact of Economics.
Primary Readings:
John Hobson: On the Economic Basis of Imperialism (1902)
Great Britain and Russia: The Anglo-Russian Entente Concerning Persia (1907)
Vladimir I. Lenin: Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)
Joseph A. Schumpeter: The Sociology of Imperialism (1918)
Adolf Hitler: On the Defense and Expansion of Germany (1924)
United Nations: Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (1960)
Secondary Readings:
Von Laue, Theodore H., "The World Revolution of Westernization," The History Teacher 20 (1987) 263-279.
Hauner, Milan, "Did Hitler Want a World Dominion?," Journal of Contemporary History 13 (1972) 15-32.
Identifications & Discussion Questions
Week 13: Imperialism in an Era of Globalization
The Emergence of a new "Concert of Powers"?
The Rise of China.
Islam and the West.
The United States and Neo-Imperialism.
Primary Readings:
G. John Ikenberry: The Grand Strategy of Liberalism (Spring 1999)
George W. Bush: The State of the Union Address (January 29, 2002)
Ivan Eland: The Empire Strikes Out - The "New Imperialism" and Its Fatal Flaws (November 2002)
Jed Rubenfeld: The Two World Orders (Autumn 2003)
Pat Robertson: Suggestion Concerning Chavez (August 2005)
Secondary Readings:
Rothkopf, David, "In Praise of Cultural Imperialism?" Foreign Policy 107 (1997) 38-53.
Boniface, Pascal, "Reflections on America as a World Power: A European View," Journal of Palestine Studies 29 (2000) 5-15.
Cumings, Bruce, "Is America an Imperial Power?," Current History (November 2003).
Janowski, Louis, "Neo-Imperialism and U.S. Foreign Policy," Foreign Service Journal (2004) 55-60.