Goucher College 2017-2018 Undergraduate Catalogue 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
Goucher College 2017-2018 Undergraduate Catalogue PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived catalog. Programs are subject to change each academic year.

HIS 288 - Empires of Difference (4 Cr.)

(LER DIV)(GCR RPP)
The term “European empire” often conjures up images of exploration and colonization across the globe, with an ultimate goal of sameness and homogenization.  In other areas of the Eurasian continent, however, we see a very different sort of model: diverse ethnocultural groups, with long histories of tension and disagreement, under a single political roof.  In these empires, goals of cultural assimilation often took a backseat to more immediate priorities of security and stability.  This course will examine three such empires–the Russian, Austrian, and Ottoman–over the entire course of their existence.  We will examine the ways in which they confronted issues related to religious and cultural diversity, political loyalty, and interethnic conflict.  We will consider the challenges posed by citizenship, secularization, and nationalism during the 19th century, and conclude with their collapse into ethnic violence during the two world wars. Fall semester. Corcoran.