Undergraduate History 2016-2017

A comprehensive treatment of this enormous subject is obviously impracticable in an introductory course within the space of one semester, so we aim to highlight a selection of six key political, economic, social and other themes. The selection varies from year to year, but is likely to include the rise of Bolshevism, reconstruction and European integration after WW2, and the Cold War. The twice-weekly lectures introduce the topics, while the eight tutorial meetings emphasise the development of practical transferable research and presentation skills as well as the building of historical knowledge. Download course guide.

This course will introduce students to the subject of university level history. Team taught lectures will introduce students to approaches, sources, and the dilemmas facing academic historians. Download course guide.

The course provides a broad overview of the changes which the Renaissance and Reformations introduced to European culture, politics, religion, society and understandings of humanity's role in the world. It traces these developments comparatively, from Europe’s Atlantic coast to East Central Europe and Russia, throughout a changing image of the world and its relationship to the spiritual, brought on by Renaissance, a time of unrest triggered by European Reformations, the radical and magisterial reformations, European expansion, the growth of monarchies and republics, and the religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Download course guide

This course introduces students to a period of warfare and pillage, political turmoil and social transformation, but also economic expansion and cultural innovation. In 795 Viking raiders attacked the Christian monastic community on Iona in the Scottish western isles. From then on their activities extended from Denmark, Norway and Sweden to Continental Europe, North America, Russia, and the Mediterranean Basin. Over time they became transformed from heathen raiders into Christianized settlers. In Iceland they created a republic which has remained Scandinavian in culture; elsewhere, for instance Britain, Ireland, and Russia, they adopted and modified the host culture. Download course guide

This course introduces students to the crucible of the modern age. Hinging on the American, French and 1848 Revolutions, it explores how men and women in elite and popular communities generated new modes of living, experience and expression and how they understood and manipulated the natural world. Attention will be given to the Enlightenment, Revolution, Empire, Romanticism and Ideology with interrelated developments in politics, culture and science also being explored. Students will be introduced to the works of figures such as Newton, Voltaire, Paine, Goethe, Marx, Darwin and Nietzsche. Topics will include Salons, the Terror, nationalism and secularisation. Download course guide.

Between 1100 and 1500 western Europe underwent fundamental transformations: new technical, economic and political challenges, fresh developments in religious and intellectual life and catastrophes like wars, diseases and climate change fundamentally shaped European societies for centuries to come. This course offers a thematic survey of medieval western societies, focusing on religion, kingship and warfare, economy and environment, cultural renaissances and intellectual novelties, the emergence of national states and identities and the discovery of new worlds. Download course guide.

The  long nineteenth century (c.1760-1914) saw dramatic rises and falls in political units and power systems (empires) bringing together a range of peoples and territories.  Generally, but not exclusively, they were dominated by Europeans (or those who at least claimed European descent). These global empires are now recognised by historians as a key feature of modern history, and have generated an increasingly rich and varied literature. This course offers you the chance to examine this crucial and controversial phenomenon which, for better or worse, made the modern world. Download course guide

This course looks at the main debates in the history of Scotland from c.1000-2000AD. It focuses on a number of themes and moments in Scotland's history, such as 'feudal' and 'Gaelic' influences in the making of the Kingdom from c.1100-1300; the Wars of Independence in the fourteenth century, the Protestant Reformation of the 1560s, the Union of the Crowns and Parliaments in 1603 and 1707; the Highland Clearances; and the effects of global war, empire and democracy in the twentieth century. It shows how historians use sources to advance different interpretations and create new understandings.

This course provides an opportunity to examine 'icons': great figures past and present that are part of our cultural, intellectual, political and religious vocabulary, helping us to narrate our lives. Stripping away the myths and popular understandings, how, where and why did such figures originate? A key aim is for students to take one such figure and explore critically the icon's biography, historical origins or cultural derivations. Examples may include prominent figures in history or contemporary culture, such as Marilyn Monroe, Hitler, Michelangelo, Napoleon, Elizabeth I, Darwin and Buddha. Download course guide

This course follows Icons I: Great Figures Past and Present. Student will examine the way in which their chosen 'icon' has been transformed after death, or period of initial construction, up to the present day. Key aims of this course are for students to: discuss the different representations of their icon and the meanings assigned to that icon, in changing historical, cultural and religious contexts. A successful student will produce an extended analytical review of the ways in which a particular 'icon' has been reconstructed and the reasons for that reconstruction. Download course guide

This course uses sport as a way of trying to understand the historical past as well as viewing it as an active agent in producing historical change. The main chronological focus is on the development of modern sports from the nineteenth century onwards. Geographically, the focus is on western Europe, but there is also detailed consideration of the British Empire, the United States and other areas. Issues addressed include social class, 'race', gender, violence, senses of identity and governmental policies. A comparative and interdisciplinary approach is encouraged. Download course guide.

Questions about who exercised power and why resonated at every level of nineteenth-century French society. The Revolution of 1789 had brought about fundamental reforms to the political and social order in France. It set down the roots of the French republican tradition whose supporters became locked in an ongoing ideological struggle against conservative political and social elites. This course examines the myriad forms that power took in French society, from Napoleon’s coup d’état of 18 Brumaire to the early Third Republic. Download course guide.

Questions of national identity have been thrown into high relief by devolution and potential independence, so how might we explain contemporary Scotland?  Assessing what Scotland and Scottishness are today requires a thematic approach to historical understanding.  This course provides a case study of how ideas about of the development of nations stand up against the evidence since the mid-eighteenth century.  It addresses popular myths about difference from England, industrial development and decline, education and empire, immigration and emigration, sectarianism, political allegiance, tourism and heritage as well as the images and icons constituting ‘Scottishness’. Download course guide.

This course examines the history of the First World War in an international comparative perspective through detailed study of contemporary as ell as secondary sources. Following a series of introductory lectures on various aspects of the war, the students taking this course will be divided into sub-groups with normally a maximum of 20 students per group. Each group will focus on either the war experience of a particular country such as Russia or France or undertake comparative study of selected themes such as political, social and cultural transformations and the peacemaking process. Download course guide.

This course looks at how crime was perceived by contemporaries, and what this meant for narratives of order and authority in this period. It considers the problems involved with examining primary sources written by the authorities, or for profit, as well as the different approaches that scholars have taken in the history of crime. It allows students to assess the usefulness of employing methodologies from other disciplines, most notably literature and anthropology. It is designed to provide honours history students with an essential understanding of early modern society and the relations between crime, order, and state formation. Download course guide.

This course offers a study of the society, culture and religion in Viking Age Scandinavia. Within these broad themes, special attention will be devoted to the situation during the Viking Age in Scandinavia, and also the impact from the continent and the Isles, especially regarding the change of religion, the introduction of literacy and the social links between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. Detailed attention will also be paid to the Christianization process. Download course guide.

Food is such a basic human necessity that we can easily take for granted the huge variety of produce available in our supermarkets. This course explores how familiar foods like coffee, chocolate and citrus were introduced to European tables. Why, in past cultures, has food been so bound up with questions of ethnicity, class, race and religion? How have recipes and diets changed with time, how have people written about and discussed food? And what meanings have been ascribed through the ages to food, eating and cookery? If you are hungry for knowledge, this is the course for you. Download course guide.

What impacts did women have on violence — and violence on women — in Scandinavia and the British Isles, during Antiquity and the Middle Ages? What sorts of women were thought to enact, incite, suffer or resist violence? Did artistic representations of links between women and violence match realities, or not? How can we tell? And what roles did men play in all this? Throughout this course, students will investigate a selection of primary sources from across the North (0-1300 AD) and compare and contrast relevant examples from different regions, periods, and source types. Download course guide.

This course examines the Jacobite movement in a British and European context from the defeat and exile of James II in 1688 through to last days of Charles Edward Stuart a century later. It will explore the Jacobites in a three kingdoms context: England, Scotland and Ireland and will put events in a wider European context examining power and politics within the courts of Paris and Rome. Download course guide.

This course examines Scotland in the last two centuries of its dynastic independence. Organised chronologically, it will address the rule of the realm under the Stewart dynasty. Kingship, nobility and the exercise of power on the national, regional and local levels will form major themes of this course. It will also examine regicide, regency, and resistance to authority, the relationship between crown, church and nobility, and the development of governmental institutions and offices. Attention will also be given to exploring social and political change, especially with regard to landowners and other power-holders. Download course guide

By the late seventeenth century London was already one of Western Europe's largest and most important cities; by 1832 it was indisputably a 'world city', dominating processes of imperialism, finance, and international trade. This course focuses on the social and cultural processes that underpinned the city's 'metropolitan' status. It explores how the city acted as human magnate, drawing in immigrants from Britain, Europe, North America, Africa and Asia while acting as the controlling metropolis for Britain's increasingly global empire. It assesses eighteenth-century London politics, elites, the emergence of the 'middling sort', as well as its criminals and its social-sexual outcasts. The class concludes by examing how the city was represented within the vibrant medium of caricature and in the novel by focusing on the themes of life, death and the possibilities of a new 'urban' morality.

Old Norse is the Latin of the North: it preserves a wide range of some of the most important and exciting texts for understanding early Scandinavian history, society and religion. Students will get an understanding of the different types of sources in Old Norse and the kinds of historical and social information about early Scandinavia that can be gained from them. The language component of this course focuses on using the language for reading and understanding real Old Norse texts from the beginning, with the aid of printed and web-based resources. Download course guide

This course will examine the economies, cultures, religions, and socio-political structures of the three ‘great’ civilizations of Meso- and South America: Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas. Their concepts of wealth, civilization, history, and overall worldviews will be examined in detail. The course will close by considering the status of these empires on the eve of contact with Europeans and the extent to which inherent factors within the empires may have contributed to their collapse and subsequent conquest by the Spanish. Download course guide

This course looks at how history is written. It considers the problems involved in studying and explaining the past, and the many dilemmas faced by historians in reconstructing it. By examining the ways in which history has been written from the Ancient Greeks to Postmodernism, it considers the limits of historical study, asks whether history can ever be a science, and reveals the assumptions behind the various approaches to history that inform its writing. It is designed to provide honours history students with an essential understanding of what they are doing when they study history. Download course guide

This course looks at how modern terrorism and the threats attributed to radical political thought were experienced and debated in contemporary media, societies and politics. It considers the problems historians face when studying and explaining acts of terror in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The course is designed to provide honours students with an essential understanding of historical contextualization. Comparing various national case studies allows for an analysis of acts of terrorism as a European – even global – phenomenon. Download course guide

This course examines the events known collectively as the “Irish Troubles”. That is, the origins, development and partial conclusion of non-violent and violent opposition to the continuation of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the mid-1960s until the present day. Download course guide.

Photography and film are synonymous with industrial modernization, but how did these new forms of technology affect the ways in which the nation was understood? With a focus on sources and interpretation, this course examines how culture is produced in the dialogue between historical narrative and visual representation. Having considered the contribution of pre-existing forms such as painting in conveying a distinctive iconography, the analysis investigates the work of commercial photographers during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This is followed by an exploration of the documentary, firstly via photojournalism, and secondly through film. Download course guide.

This course examines the emergence and the variations of Enlightenment thinking in Scotland and Central Europe (with particular emphasis on the German and East Central European Enlightenment, to which the Scottish Enlightenment had strong historical links). It emphasises the varieties of the European Enlightenment, against the traditional assumption that the Enlightenment was exclusively 'located' in France. Download course guide.

This course will address a number of themes, including modern studies of marriage; the western medieval church and marriage law, sexuality and gender in the middle ages; attitudes to love, marriage and the family; and sex roles and gender differences. We will examine the way in which gender and ideology influence the lives of both ordinary and not-so-ordinary people in the middle ages by examining a variety of primary and secondary sources. Download course guide.

Hitler is omnipresent in modern life. He appears everywhere in the media and he is invoked all the time in public and private discourse. Yet Adolf Hitler remains an enigma. While he tends to be reduced to a one-dimensional cardboard cutout villain outside of academia, inside academia there has been a tendency in recent years to diminish Hitler’s importance and to push Hitler to the sidelines. Download course guide.

In 1286 Alexander III of Scotland was found dead at the foot of a cliff and Scotland was engulfed in a period of political instability and eventually war that was to have a profound impact on the future development of the British Isles. The course considers key stages of the ‘wars of independence’ period in chronological sequence until the final triumph of Robert I in 1328. Due consideration will be given to international perspectives in trying to understand the Anglo-Scottish struggle, notably in relation to Ireland, France, Flanders and the Papacy. Download course guide.

This course will take a chronological approach to the three Stuart kingdoms in the seventeenth century from the regal union in 1603 to the Anglo-Scottish parliamentary union in 1707. It will begin with the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne in 1603 and the creation of the Stuart monarchy of Britain and Ireland. It will continue to examine the collapse of the Stuart monarchy in 1638- 42 leading to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the rise of Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s and 1650s. Download course guide.

This course uses sport as a way of trying to understand the historical past as well as viewing it as an active agent in producing historical change. The main chronological focus is on the development of modern sports from the nineteenth century onwards. Geographically, the focus is on western Europe, but there is also detailed consideration of the British Empire, the United States and other areas. Issues addressed include social class, 'race', gender, violence, senses of identity and governmental policies. A comparative and interdisciplinary approach is encouraged. Download course guide.

Questions about who exercised power and why resonated at every level of nineteenth-century French society. The Revolution of 1789 had brought about fundamental reforms to the political and social order in France. It set down the roots of the French republican tradition whose supporters became locked in an ongoing ideological struggle against conservative political and social elites. This course examines the myriad forms that power took in French society, from Napoleon’s coup d’état of 18 Brumaire to the early Third Republic. Download course guide.

Questions of national identity have been thrown into high relief by devolution and potential independence, so how might we explain contemporary Scotland? Assessing what Scotland and Scottishness are today requires a thematic approach to historical understanding. This course provides a case study of how ideas about of the development of nations stand up against the evidence since the mid-eighteenth century. It addresses popular myths about difference from England, industrial development and decline, education and empire, immigration and emigration, sectarianism, political allegiance, tourism and heritage as well as the images and icons constituting ‘Scottishness’. Download course guide.

This course examines the history of the First World War in an international comparative perspective through detailed study of contemporary as well as secondary sources. Following a series of introductory lectures on various aspects of the war, the students taking this course will be divided into sub-groups with normally a maximum of 20 students per group. Each group will focus on either the war experience of a particular country such as Russia or France or undertake comparative study of selected themes such as political, social and cultural transformations and the peacemaking process. Download course guide.

This course looks at how crime was perceived by contemporaries, and what this meant for narratives of order and authority in this period. It considers the problems involved with examining primary sources written by the authorities, or for profit, as well as the different approaches that scholars have taken in the history of crime. It allows students to assess the usefulness of employing methodologies from other disciplines, most notably literature and anthropology. It is designed to provide honours history students with an essential understanding of early modern society and the relations between crime, order, and state formation. Download course guide.

This course offers a study of the society, culture and religion in Viking Age Scandinavia. Within these broad themes, special attention will be devoted to the situation during the Viking Age in Scandinavia, and also the impact from the continent and the Isles, especially regarding the change of religion, the introduction of literacy and the social links between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. Detailed attention will also be paid to the Christianization process. Download course guide.

This course examines the Jacobite movement in a British and European context from the defeat and exile of James II in 1688 through to last days of Charles Edward Stuart a century later. It will explore the Jacobites in a three kingdoms context: England, Scotland and Ireland and will put events in a wider European context examining power and politics within the courts of Paris and Rome. Download course guide.

Food is such a basic human necessity that we can easily take for granted the huge variety of produce available in our supermarkets. This course explores how familiar foods like coffee, chocolate and citrus were introduced to European tables. Why, in past cultures, has food been so bound up with questions of ethnicity, class, race and religion? How have recipes and diets changed with time, how have people written about and discussed food? And what meanings have been ascribed through the ages to food, eating and cookery? If you are hungry for knowledge, this is the course for you. Download course guide.

What impacts did women have on violence — and violence on women — in Scandinavia and the British Isles, during Antiquity and the Middle Ages? What sorts of women were thought to enact, incite, suffer or resist violence? Did artistic representations of links between women and violence match realities, or not? How can we tell? And what roles did men play in all this? Throughout this course, students will investigate a selection of primary sources from across the North (0-1300 AD) and compare and contrast relevant examples from different regions, periods, and source types. Download course guide.

The undergraduate dissertation is the final-year major research undertaking, based on primary and secondary material and providing a critical analysis of a specific subject chosen by the student. It is obligatory for Single Honours students, whereas Joint Honours students choose to write their dissertation in either of the two subjects. After initial sessions about the nature of the dissertation and research approaches, students develop a topic with the help of a member of staff, who will also supervise their project throughout.

History is not simply a dry, academic study of the past; it shapes contemporary political, economic and cultural attitudes and is vital to the tourist and heritage industries - one of the largest employment sectors in western societies. This course gives an understanding of the theoretical and practical links (as well as clear distinctions) between 'academic' History and 'public' History. This is done by having students assess how heritage and tourist businesses construct a particular version of the past. Students then undertake another project to present their ‘public’ version of an aspect of History. Download course guide

History is not simply a dry, academic study of the past; it shapes a host of contemporary political, economic and cultural attitudes and is a central underpinning to the tourist and heritage industries - now one of the largest sectors of employment among mature western economies. This course is designed to give a critical understanding of the theoretical and practical links (as well as clear distinctions) between the practice of 'academic' History and 'public' History. This is done by having students assess how heritage and tourist businesses project a particular version of the past.