HIST 375 - Nineteenth-Century America at War

1 unit(s)

This course explores three military initiatives in the nineteenth-century United States and interconnections among them: violent dispossession of Native peoples between the 1830s and the 1890s; the U.S.-Mexico War; and Confederate secession and the Civil War. We consider questions such as: What factors drove each conflict? Who opposed these military operations and why? What results did the victors anticipate, and what outcomes actually unfolded? Who did the U.S. government seek to “Reconstruct” in peacetime? What were the long-term political, social, and cultural legacies, and how was each conflict remembered and mythologized? We also consider the grim toll of grief and suffering wrought by violence, as well as participants’ and observers’ responses. Readings include eyewitness accounts, works of fiction, films, and historical scholarship. Rebecca Edwards.

One 2-hour period and individual conferences with the instructor.

Not offered in 2024/25.

Course Format: CLS