BA History

This unit looks at how the understanding of historical time has developed in different societies, and how the interpretation and writing of history has evolved over the centuries.

This course looks at changes and continuities in the social framework and fundamental concepts of the non-western world during the 19th and 20th centuries. It focuses particularly on five main areas: the modernisation of the state; the re-ordering of society; the role of religion; the nature of the family and the role of women; the development of individualism.

This half course will consider aspects of British social and economic history 1945‐97, and the focus will be on the basics necessary to help students understand the nature and workings of economies at the national level, and formation of economic and social policy by governments. This will be done through consideration of some of the recurring themes in modern economic and social history ‐ growth, labour supply, overseas trade and national accounting. The course will also introduce students to aspects of social science and quantitative methods they may not have come across before, which are particularly relevant to twentieth century history. A range of different authors and approaches within the field of economic and social history will be used to achieve this, to broaden students’ understanding of the interaction between economic and social policy and the well-being of the nation.

This course aims to introduce students to a variety of approaches to modern history. It takes a thematic path through such topics as revolution, imperialism, war and social change, nationalism, ethnicity and gender. It covers both Europe and the non-European world, and puts its emphasis on new approaches and new interpretations.

This course looks at the inter-relation of church, society and government in a key period of the evolution of Europe. The main themes are: the formation of the Christian Roman Empire; the place of the Church in the new era of the early-medieval successor states; the role of Christianity in the transmission of culture; the empire of Charlemagne; the challenge to Christian Europe from the Vikings; the nature of kingly authority; and the revival of learning and literacy in the Twelfth-Century Renaissance.

This course investigates the origins of our ideas about human rights and duties, revolution and democracy, consent and liberty, etc. A number of key writings are studied: ranging from Plato and Aristotle in the ancient world to Machiavelli, More, Hobbes, Locke and the Enlightenment in the transition from the early modern to the modern world. Analysis of the development of fundamental ideas about politics and society through these examples sharpens the mind and throws light upon the present in the perspective of the past.

This course aims to direct students to some of the most exciting writing in the recent social history of early modern Europe; to introduce students, week by week, to analytic concepts (space, gender, status, identity, etc.); and to familiarise students with primary source material. Topics covered will include masculinity, femininity, sexuality, violence, poverty, life and death, body and mind. The unit does not purport to provide a complete coverage of social history in the period, nor indeed of European history between c. 1500 and 1780, and it draws on material from both Continental Europe and England.

This course aims to provide a survey, largely political and religious, of the history of England from the accession of Henry VII to the execution of Charles I. Focusing mostly on England in the 15th and 16th centuries, it broadens to include Scotland after the Union of the Crowns in 1603. Wales and Ireland are also discussed where relevant to the main narrative. The principal themes considered are the political changes wrought by the successive dynasties of Tudors and Stuarts, and the opposition they aroused; the chronology and pattern of religious developments with the coming of the Reformation; the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne and its consequences; the impact of demographic, agrarian and commercial developments; the origins, outbreak and course of the ‘British civil wars’, concluding with the execution of the king and the abolition of the House of Lords.

Is Britain a class-ridden society? Why does Britain still have its royal family? Is Britain culturally closer to Europe or to America? Could Britain's decline after 1945 have been averted? This course is essential for anyone wishing to understand the political, social and cultural make-up of modern Britain. It offers a broad survey of modern British history, from the reign of King George III through to the fall of Mrs Thatcher in 1990, through the prism of five underlying themes: politics, society, culture, gender and national identities. In doing so it seeks to guide students through the formative events of modern British history, and introduce them to the main historical controversies and debates. Among topics covered are British reactions to the French Revolution, Victoria and the re-invention of the British monarchy, the rise (and fall?) of the Labour party, the Irish question, Appeasement in the 1930s, the impact of two world wars on twentieth-century Britain, and the legacy of the 'Swinging Sixties'. Take this unit to learn why the future Napoleon III served as a British police constable in 1848, to discover which Victorian Premier roamed the streets at night to carry out 'rescue-work' with prostitutes, to understand who or what a 'flapper' was, and to find out why feminist activists lobbed flour-bombs at Bob Hope in 1970. Or simply take this unit to be better able to understand the complexities of the society in which we live today.

This course covers the economic developments affecting the UK and the wider world in the twentieth century. The first term is devoted to the UK; topics covered include the Edwardian period and the First World War; the long post-1945 boom; the problems of the 1970s and 1980s; and the Major and Blair years. The second term covers the same period, but extends the discussion to cover the wider developments in the world economy, with particular reference to the ending of free trade and the rise of economic protection in the 1930s, and the factors making for the reconstruction and revival of the world economy since 1945, culminating in the recent performance and problems affecting the world economy since the 1980s.

This course can be considered in two parts. The first part looks at the major political developments that took place in different parts of Asia during the twentieth century, focusing on China, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Asia. It explores the impact of imperialism, nationalism, decolonisation, and independence in order to understand the resurgence of Asian nations by the end of the 1990s. The second part looks at the history of the non-western twentieth-century world from the vantage point of developments in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. From empire-building to de-colonization and revolution in the Middle East, to intersections between politics and race in Southern Africa, to radical movements and US intervention in Latin America, much of what it explores complements the first part of the course by making sense of political developments in other continents where the long term trends were both similar but, in some ways, noticeably different.

This course offers an overview of US history since 1877. It examines the social, cultural, economic and political contours of that history, incorporating topics such as westward expansion, industrialisation and urbanization, the progressive era, the First World War, the Great Depression and the New Deal, the Second World War, the Cold War, domestic developments in the 1960s and 1970s, and the rise of the New Right in the 1980s. It concludes with a contemporary examination of US foreign and domestic policy. Particular attention is given to the shaping experiences of race, ethnicity, gender and class in the American experience.

The triumph of the First Crusade (1099) resulted in the establishment of a Latin Christian community in the Levant for almost two hundred years. This unit is primarily concerned to examine how the settlers maintained their hold on a region which was spiritually, economically and politically important to the Byzantine empire and the Muslim world as well. The reaction of these groups to the crusades and the development of their relationship with the settlers is an integral part of the subject. The ‘jihad’ became the channel for Muslim opposition and the Latins discovered that their own resources were insufficient to meet this threat and they appealed for help to Western Europe. The response and the consequences of this reaction for settlers’ tenure of the Holy Land will be analysed. The Frankish way of life will be studied; its institutions, the economic position of the Christian settlements; the role of women, and whether the Latin states represent an early form of western colonialism will be discussed. The preaching and preparation of crusading expeditions, the evolution of the crusading idea, crusading warfare and criticism of crusading will also be studied. The unit will utilize a variety of primary material from European, Byzantine, Muslim and Syriac sources in translation.

This course examines the mental and material world of English women in a period of rapid social, economic and cultural transformation. It exploits the wealth of secondary literature which has appeared on the subject in recent years, and evaluates the dominant interpretations of continuity and change in women’s history. Attention focuses on the diversity of roles women played, the changing scope of female experience, and the different languages available to articulate that experience. Topics covered include: Love and Marriage, Sexuality, Masculinity, Divorce, Motherhood, Work, Consumerism, Material Culture, Print, Polite Culture, Feminism, Politics and Religion. Students will be encouraged to engage critically with the categories, modes of explanation and chronology of recent women’s history.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and functioning of multi-ethnic Britain. It covers the history of immigration and settlement of minorities and explores contemporary issues which concern Black and Asian groups. Students will re-examine their own identity to understand immigrant experience and ethnic conflict. The ways in which racism and ethnicity have affected Britain and the effectiveness of public policy are covered. Ethnic groups' reaction to British society is considered.

The course examines the main currents of political thought in Modern European and World History from Rousseau to the present, e.g. The Eighteenth Century and the French Revolution; Commercial society and its enemies (Hume, Smith, Rousseau); the French Revolution (Paine, Wollstonecraft); reactions to the revolution (Hegel); The Nineteenth Century, Early socialism (Owen, Fourier, Saint Simon); Tocqueville and the American model; Marx and communism; Mill and liberalism; Nietzsche and modernity; Bakunin and anarchism; The Twentieth Century - Anti-imperialist theorists (Fanon, Gandhi); Orwell and dystopia; green political theory.

The triumph of the First Crusade (1099) resulted in the establishment of a Latin Christian community in the Levant for almost two hundred years. This unit is primarily concerned to examine how the settlers maintained their hold on a region which was spiritually, economically and politically important to the Byzantine empire and the Muslim world as well. The reaction of these groups to the crusades and the development of their relationship with the settlers is an integral part of the subject. The ‘jihad’ became the channel for Muslim opposition and the Latins discovered that their own resources were insufficient to meet this threat and they appealed for help to Western Europe. The response and the consequences of this reaction for settlers’ tenure of the Holy Land will be analysed. The Frankish way of life will be studied; its institutions, the economic position of the Christian settlements; the role of women, and whether the Latin states represent an early form of western colonialism will be discussed. The preaching and preparation of crusading expeditions, the evolution of the crusading idea, crusading warfare and criticism of crusading will also be studied. The unit will utilize a variety of primary material from European, Byzantine, Muslim and Syriac sources in translation.

This course examines the mental and material world of English women in a period of rapid social, economic and cultural transformation. It exploits the wealth of secondary literature which has appeared on the subject in recent years, and evaluates the dominant interpretations of continuity and change in women’s history. Attention focuses on the diversity of roles women played, the changing scope of female experience, and the different languages available to articulate that experience. Topics covered include: Love and Marriage, Sexuality, Masculinity, Divorce, Motherhood, Work, Consumerism, Material Culture, Print, Polite Culture, Feminism, Politics and Religion. Students will be encouraged to engage critically with the categories, modes of explanation and chronology of recent women’s history.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and functioning of multi-ethnic Britain. It covers the history of immigration and settlement of minorities and explores contemporary issues which concern Black and Asian groups. Students will re-examine their own identity to understand immigrant experience and ethnic conflict. The ways in which racism and ethnicity have affected Britain and the effectiveness of public policy are covered. Ethnic groups' reaction to British society is considered.

The course examines the main currents of political thought in Modern European and World History from Rousseau to the present, e.g. The Eighteenth Century and the French Revolution; Commercial society and its enemies (Hume, Smith, Rousseau); the French Revolution (Paine, Wollstonecraft); reactions to the revolution (Hegel); The Nineteenth Century, Early socialism (Owen, Fourier, Saint Simon); Tocqueville and the American model; Marx and communism; Mill and liberalism; Nietzsche and modernity; Bakunin and anarchism; The Twentieth Century - Anti-imperialist theorists (Fanon, Gandhi); Orwell and dystopia; green political theory.

This course examines the intellectual and political consequences of the radical ferment (both popular and philosophical) of ideas spawned in the English Revolution of the 1650s. The unit texts include clandestine manuscripts, like the subversive ‘Treatise of Three Imposters’ which argued that Moses, Mahomet and Christ were all religious frauds, and printed works by critics like James Harrington, Thomas Hobbes and Charles Blount. The primary objective will be to study the anticlerical, heterodox and openly irreligious components of the Republican attack upon Christianity. The second line of enquiry will explore how the attack on Christianity of the 1650s developed into a systematic rejection of all revealed religion in the later 17th century. Attention focuses upon arguments that set out to destroy the authority of the priesthood and to reject the authenticity of the Bible, as well as their accounts of ‘other religions’ like Islam and Judaism which were used to criticise Christianity.

‘Martin didn’t make the movement, the movement made Martin’, noted veteran civil rights activist Ella Baker. Baker’s perceptive comment goes to the very heart of contemporary historiographical debates. On the one hand, scholars have increasingly viewed the mass black movement for civil rights in the United States between the 1940s and 1970s as a grassroots phenomenon that was rooted in local communities and based upon local leadership and local needs. On the other hand, scholars still emphasize the vital national leadership role played by Martin Luther King Jn, in the black struggle, particularly from the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott to King’s assassination at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. This unit looks at both strands of this scholarship and seeks to assess the dynamics of the movement at both local and national levels, and examine the tensions that often existed between them, by using a wide range of written, spoken and visual sources.

This course examines the ups and downs in Sino-American relations during the Cold War. It looks at how and why Communist China and the United States were transformed from hostile enemies in the 1950s and early 1960s into tacit allies by the late 1970s. Events to be covered include their direct and indirect confrontations over Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam; the role of the Soviet Union in their changing relationship; and their divergent policies towards such issues as Third World revolutions, nuclear weapons, and international trade. At a thematic level, the course will consider how ideology, personalities, domestic considerations, cultural stereotypes, and alliance politics influenced their respective policies and the dynamics of their interactions. Students are expected to approach the subject not only from the American perspective but also from the Chinese one, by exploring both Western and Chinese (translated into English) primary sources, such as diplomatic documents, memoirs, public speeches, newspapers, and political cartoons. By placing Sino-American relations in the wider domestic and international contexts, this course will enhance our understanding of how the two great powers – and two different cultures – shaped, and were shaped by, the global Cold War.