Baker nuclear explosion during Operation Crossroads nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll, 1946
Wars and revolutions are among the most transformative forces in world history. This survey course in world history starts from the Industrial Revolution, abolition of slave trade and emancipation of slaves and ends with the ongoing global war on terror, popular uprisings and other forces shaping our world today. In between, the course will explore colonial and anti-colonial wars, the two world wars, the Cold War, and nationalist revolutions. In the process, we will critically examine questions like: What is a revolution? How is it that a war can be ‘cold’? What is terrorism? Why are state-society relations progressively securitized? And what explains widespread trend of militarized police?
