Handbook

Genocide, massacre, extermination, ethnic cleansing: are they all the same? Should we attempt to distinguish between them?

This topic examines the historical phenomenon of deliberate mass killing outside conventional warfare. It seeks to explain why instances of mass killing have occurred by placing them in their historical context. In dealing with the theoretical issues of definition and comparison, presenting a number of case studies and explanatory frameworks, the topic introduces students to a wide range of historical debates, as well as to contemporary issues of memory, prevention, denial, prosecution, intervention, categorisation, and reconciliation. Students will also be encouraged to reflect on a deeper historical question with regard to incidents of mass violence in history: in explaining the circumstances that surrounded them, are we justifying the killings themselves?

In this topic, students will study mass killings from the classical past to modern times, in the context of ancient civilisations, medieval crusades, early modern religious violence, revolutionary and post-revolutionary turmoil; in the pursuit of empire, during the end of empire, and in postcolonial settings. Through a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including documentaries, students will explore case studies such as the Roman destruction of Carthage, the massacre at Jerusalem by the First Crusade, the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, the Armenian Genocide, the Ukrainian Famine, the Cypriot Civil Wars, and the Cambodian Killing Fields.