Britain and the Geopolitics of the Baltic, c. 1450- present- Prof Brendan Simms
The Baltic – defined here as the littoral of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden – has been an area of considerable importance to England, Scotland and then the United Kingdom. During the middle Ages, the Hanseatic League was one of England's main trading partners. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Baltic was a vital trading partner and source of fish, timber, furs and many other products. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Royal Navy drew most of its naval stores from the Baltic, watched jealously over the balance of power in that region and intervened against Russia. In the twentieth century Britain encouraged the independence of the Baltic states in 1918-19 and fought both the Bolsheviks and the Nazis there. Later, the Baltic states, which regained their independence from the Soviet Union in 1990/1 and then secured membership of the European Union and NATO, were supported by the British government. Today British forces today provide the backbone of NATO deterrence against Vladimir Putin in Estonia. This course is designed to provide an understanding of this history and its implications for today. The course will be taught in two-hour seminars centred on problems and spaces and will involve exegesis of primary documents as well discussion of the secondary literature. There will be opportunities to interact with policy-makers through simulations and additional seminars.
See Also
Slovenia - SELA