The Global First World War

The First World War has often been thought of as a European War, but it was fought on four continents and reverberated around the world.  This course examines the global nature and impact of the war, paying particular attention to the way it destabilized or affected imperial, national, and ethnic/racial solidarities and hierarchies, and ushered in new transnational norms, hazards, movements and practices.  Students will read selected recent historical work on the war, and will delve into and contextualize a wide array of primary materials:  diplomatic treaties or declarations; collective petitions or claims; combatants’ diaries; observer accounts; official and humanitarian investigations; and novels, poetry, photography, and paintings.  This seminar will function as a collaboration among its members, with the aim of producing not only individual work but a handbook of primary materials for a lecture-course version of the course which will be offered as a Global Core in 2023-4.