HS 3470 - World War I: The War to End All Wars

This course examines the First World War’s history, cultural legacy, and memory from 1914 to the present. It does so through both traditional study of the causes, conduct, and consequences of the war, but also, through investigating the Great War as a cultural experience. We will study the integral role of nationalism and imperialism, liberalism and socialism, industrialism and militarism in provoking the Great War, and how these ideologies changed as a result of the conflict. Using letters and film, novels, art, propaganda, and policies to reconstruct lived experiences and events, we will spend a great deal of time examining the everyday lives of soldiers, women, medics, artists, captives, conscientious objectors, and peace activists. We will also attempt to understand the revolutionary developments which emerged out of the war, from technological and medical advancements to the seeds of women’s liberation, class struggle, and anti-colonial independence movements, not all of which were fully realized. Students will learn not only the history of the war itself, but how the war changed people, how it challenged and altered notions of national identity, how its legacies changed over time. Through detailed study of the war’s history, its cultural production, and its variable memory, students will understand not only the history of a conflict important in world history but gain lenses for understanding war that go far beyond the years 1914-1918.

Core Curriculum: (CT, IAC, GC)