History BA (Hons)

If you’re a full-time student, in your second year, you will begin to deepen your knowledge about the history of Europe and the US. You will explore their cultures, conflicts and key social changes.

If you are a part-time student, you will develop an understanding of the key social and political changes which shaped the US. You will also study the relationship between humankind and the natural world and the international history of Europe.

Modules

• The Making of the United States – 20 credits

  The aim of this module is to provide an outline history of the United States from Contact to the end of the twentieth century. The major themes of this module are: political change and institutions; key leaders; war and diplomacy; economic and social development.

  Optional

  Assessment: Coursework and podcast

• The International History of Europe since 1900 – 20 credits

  The aim of this module is to introduce students to the history of the relations between the major European powers in the twentieth century. The foreign policies of Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the Soviet Union will provide the focus of this module.

  Optional

  Assessment: Coursework and exam

• The Shadow Warriors: Modern Britain and Espionage – 20 credits

  From the Victorian period to the end of the Cold War, espionage has played an important role in the diplomatic, military, political and commercial deals of states. This module charts the professionalisation of Britain's intelligence organisations from the Great Game to the early Cold War. We will examine the formation of the intelligence services in Britain, and their relationship to allies in the United States and enemies in the Soviet block.

  Optional

  Assessment: Coursework and presentation

• Humanity and the Natural World: A History

  This module discusses how the debates surrounding environmental history have evolved and proceeds to deal with the impact of environmental groups, human societies, modes of production, the Columbian Exchange, industrialism, war, the birth of environmental groups, and the debates surrounding climate change and humanity’s ethical relationship with the natural world.

  Optional

  Assessment: Coursework and exam

• Optional modules

  Optional modules- 1 from the following:

  A History of International Crime – 20 credits

  This module aims to provide students with a basic understanding of international organised crime groups. Analysing the historical developments of the traditional criminal organisations (such as the Sicilian mafia, US mafia, Japanese Yakuza, Russian clans). Each week, the module will provide knowledge and insight about the nature and the extent of organised crime, the social and legal consequences, the dynamic relationship between organised criminal groups, law enforcement organisations, states and civil societies.

  Assessment type: Coursework

  Contemporary Far Right in Western Europe – 20 credits

  This module focuses on the rise of Far Right political parties in West European countries. The focus will be on the different explanations put forwards for their success or failure to acquire electoral support, their influence on the behaviour of mainstream political parties and politics in general in the case study countries.

  Assessment type: Coursework, exam

  War and the Media in Britain 1875-2003

  How should historians ‘read’, use and understand the media? How far does newspaper content reflect the attitudes of its intended readers towards their own societies and towards conflicts both domestic and foreign? Or to what extent does readership shape content? This module will introduce students to these issues and debates.

  This module also improves the employability of students beyond providing them with advanced research skills, by also providing them with an understanding of the media and its role in society. This will be an advantage for students wishing to enter the media (as journalists or otherwise), as well as students wishing to enter a career that requires a strong understanding of the mediatised world such as, inter alia, politics, law and marketing.

  Assessment type: Coursework

  Optional

• Part-Time Option

  Part-time students will study The Making of the United States; Humanity and the Natural World; and

  The International History of Europe in their third year. You will study Shadow Warriors: Modern Britain and Espionage; Optional Module; and Add+vantage module in their fourth year.

  Optional

After your second year, you have an opportunity to take a sandwich year, studying abroad or on professional placement*.

You can opt to go on a work placement or study abroad year, you will be registered onto a module. You must have a confirmed placement or study abroad opportunity two weeks before the start of the academic year to participate in the study abroad/placement year. However, we encourage international students to confirm their placements earlier to ensure they are able to meet any applicable visa requirements. You can only progress onto the relevant work placement or study abroad module if you successfully complete the first two years of the course (i.e. having accumulated 240 credits).

If you opt for either the work placement or study abroad module, you will be registered on a non-credit- bearing module and no additional tuition fees apply. These modules are not credited, but they require you to complete a marked assessment reflecting on your placement/study abroad or work-placement experience. Once you have successfully completed this assessment, your module selection will appear on your final academic transcript. This means that you could graduate with 360 credits in total, assuming successful completion of their final year.

Your studies culminate in a dissertation, the production of a documentary film, or by launching a curated exhibition. You will choose the topic of your dissertation, film, or exhibition, allowing you to explore and research an area of interest to you. Past students have chosen fascinating topics such as prisoners of war

Students studying the part-time option will study the history of race, resistance, and civil rights and complete the first part of their Final Project.

Modules

• Race and Resistance in the United States: A History – 20 credits

  This module will examine the United States through its cultural and racial diversity, comparing and contrasting the historical experiences of American Indians, African Americans, Latinos, whites, and Asian Americans. An emphasis will be on how these groups were defined and treated in relation to each other. We will explore how the idea of race has helped to shape and direct American history.

  Optional

  Assessment: Coursework and exam

• Final Project in History – Part I – 10 credits

  This module, paired with 'Final Project in History Part 2' is designed to enable students to develop, enhance and to prepare to put into practice the research and analytical skills acquired in their previous years of study. The modules encourage the student to employ their skills in the gathering, synthesis and interpretation of information and knowledge to pursue an in-depth analysis of a subject of their own choosing.

  Optional

  Assessment: Coursework

• Part-Time option

  Part-time students will take Final Project – Part I; Optional Module in semester one (Post-War Germany; The Third Reich; or Global Organised Crime); Optional Module in semester two (Studytrip; An Inconvenient History; or Women’s Lives in Britain and the US), and Race and Resistance in the United States in their fifth year. In your sixth year, you will take Optional Module in semester one (Post-War Germany; The Third Reich; or Global Organised Crime); Add+vantage module; Final Project in History – Part II.

  Optional

• Final Project in History – Part II – 20 credits

  Allied to 'Final Project in History: Part 1', this module is designed to enable students to develop, enhance and put into practice the research and analytical skills acquired in their previous years of study. The module will encourage independent study on the part of student, with a particular emphasis on independent and critical judgement. The final project provides opportunities for the application of knowledge and understanding acquired at levels four and five. Students will also develop time-management and independent learning skills.

  Optional

  Assessment: Coursework

• Optional modules

  The Third Reich 1933-1945 – 20 credits

  This module will examine the rise to power of the Nazis and their domination of German political life. It will also analyse the changing nature of Nazism and the impact of Nazi ideas on various sectors of society. The priorities of the Nazis and the impact of those priorities on the German people and those who fell under their control in the Second World War will provide the focus of this module.

  Assessment type: Coursework, exam

  Women's Lives in Britain and the US 1800-1939 – 20 credits

  The aim of this module is to examine aspects of women’s lives in Britain and the US between 1800 and 1945 using an historical approach that will focus on the following areas of study: working lives and labour relations, education, women’s roles in war, peace campaigning, feminist campaigns.

  Assessment type: Coursework, exam

  Post-War Germany – 20 credits

  This module explores the political and economic history of the German nation from its division at the end of the Second World War to its reunification in 1990 and beyond. The particular geographic and political situation of Germany on the frontline in the cold war made her a test case for East–West relations, until the fall of the Berlin Wall gave her the opportunity to bring a century shaped by German aggression to a peaceful close.

  Assessment type: Coursework, exam

  An Inconvenient History: The Green Movement – 20 credits

  The aim of this module is to critically analyse the emergence and evolution of environmental ideas and movements in Britain and America since the turn of the twentieth century. The module traces the preservation and conservation movements of the 19th Century and examines their transformation following the expansion of the consumer society after the Second World War into new environmental movements during the 1960s and 70s.

  Assessment type: Coursework

  Global Organised Crime – 20 credits

  Organised is very much a transnational phenomenon. The module will examine the recent evolution of the traditional criminal organisations in comparative perspective (Sicilian mafia, American Cosa Nostra, Japanese Yakuza and Chinese Triads), the growth of the new wave of organised criminal groups (with a focus on the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Africa and the South American Cartels), the nature of criminality behind the human trade and piracy, the emergence of youth gangs and the evolution of organised crime in the UK.

  Assessment type: Coursework

  Study Trip – 20 credits

  This module aims to give students the opportunity to address and explore issues and themes in history, international relations, sociology, politics and linked disciplines, in a non-UK setting. For example, on a study trip to Sicily, issues in history would include the origins and development of Italian organised criminal organisations, themes in politics would include the relationship between politics and the mafia.

  Assessment type: Coursework, presentation

  Optional

• Part-Time Option

  Part-time students will take Final Project – Part I; Optional Module in semester one (Post-War Germany; The Third Reich; or Global Organised Crime); Optional Module in semester two (Studytrip; An Inconvenient History; or Women’s Lives in Britain and the US), and Race and Resistance in the United States in their fifth year. In your sixth year, you will take Optional Module in semester one (Post-War Germany; The Third Reich; or Global Organised Crime); Add+vantage module; Final Project in History – Part II.

  Optional