Empires, Modernity, and Mass Violence

This course examines the political, economic, and cultural forces that shaped Europe and the world from the French Revolution to the First World War. By studying the rise and decline of imperial systems, it explores how imperialism, nationalism, socialism, and democracy interacted and contributed to new ideas about class, citizenship, and human rights. The course places particular emphasis on modernisation processes and the structural, technological, and ideological conditions that made genocide and other forms of mass crimes possible. The empirical focus includes different types of colonial mass killing and the Armenian genocide, used to illustrate how 19th-century transformations created frameworks for later mass atrocities. By gaining a foundational understanding of modernisation and its consequences, students develop insight into how political, economic, and ideological change contributed to genocides and other massive human rights violations in the 20th century. The course encourages reflection on the ethical and societal implications of studying these historical processes and their relevance today.