War and Empire in History
T. Bianco, "L'ogre d'Orient," c. 1900. Postcard, public domain.
Empire does not always entail war, and war is not always about empire, but the two are tightly linked in history. This field explores the many ways in which empire has been understood and defined, and the many ways it has entailed war, both to secure empire and to resist it. It includes the familiar Euro-American wars of empire, but also those of the Ottoman, Japanese, Chinese, and other imperial realms. The American historian William Appleman Williams once titled a book Empire as a Way of Life (1980). War has been a big part of our global “way of life,” and historians at Northwestern seek to understand it.
