Battlelines: Combatants and civilians in the history of war

War has been at the centre of human experience since time immemorial, with profound and lasting effects on politics, the economy, and culture. It shapes the course of individual lives for both combatants and non-combatants. In this unit, we will explore key issues and debates in a comparative context. We begin by introducing core questions and concepts in the history of war: defining what war is, what questions historians ask, and what kinds of sources they use to answer them. To delve into the impact of war on society across time and place, we then turn to two case studies: one premodern and one modern. The case studies are the Crusades and the Vietnam War (subject to change). By taking a comparative approach, this unit will breach what is often treated as a hard premodern/modern divide to highlight similarities and differences that would not otherwise come to the fore. The unit thus grounds in very specific historical contexts one of the biggest questions of history—what has war meant to humanity?