Undergraduate History 2023-2024

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 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.

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.

The course provides a broad overview of changes which the Renaissance and Reformations introduced to European culture, politics, religion, society and people’s understanding of their role in the world. It traces these developments in a comparative way, from Europe’s Atlantic cost 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, radical and magisterial reformations, European expansion, growth of monarchies and republics, and the wars of religion of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  

The course examines the origins, growth, and development of the several civilisations of the Americas from the European invasion through to the present. The course is organized around the themes of ‘Inclusion and Exclusion’ which will pair a narrative history of the development of the United States of America with contrasting or countervailing narratives and topics that reflect other, alternative, or contrasting histories. Topics will thus include, among others, the American and Haitian Revolutions, the growth of the American Frontier and the Comanche Empire, the Cold War and the campaign for Civil Rights. The course will conclude with lectures on contemporary America as seen through an historical lens.

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.

This course will introduce recent approaches to studying the history of the “others” with a focus on their indigenous account of their histories, memoirs that forged their inter-communal relations, tensions and survival. It will consider a variety of groups and individuals who have been treated as ‘the other’ from the Reformation to the present-day. This may include: Kurds, Yezidis, Jews, heretics, women, Roma, and others failing to conform to socio-cultural norms (e.g., ‘homosexuals’). The course will examine how ‘the other(s)’ resisted marginalisation and subverted attempts to enforce conformity and/or segregation.

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 themes and moments in Scotland's history, such as  interaction of '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 a new understanding.  

The year 793: a surprise viking attack on the peaceful monastic island of Lindisfarne. This raid is often considered to mark the beginning of the so-called Viking Age, a time of turbulence and transformation with repercussions throughout Europe and beyond. This period saw violence and warfare, cultural contact and religious conversion, political overhaul, and literary and artistic creativity. As well as critically interrogating the concepts of the ‘viking’ and the ‘Viking Age’, this course provides an introduction to key themes and topics in the study of early Scandinavia, c. 800-1200.

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. 

This course is open to visiting students who have to finish their end-of-studies thesis at their home universities, and wish to develop this within the framework of this course. There is no formal scheduled teaching, but after an initial meeting to discuss individual topics, students will get some support and supervision in the area of their chosen research topic.

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 introductory lecture material 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.

This course offers a chronological survey of Ireland and the Irish from the Act of Union with Great Britain to the present day.  It will consider the social, political, cultural and economic aspects of that history, and will place the island of Ireland within its wider contexts, as part of the United Kingdom, as part of Europe, as part of the British Empire, and as the source of the global Irish Diaspora.  The course will focus on a number of central issues.

This course looks at the development of warfare in early modern Europe in the light of the theory, first proposed by Michael Roberts, that Europe in this period saw a military revolution that had profound effects not just on the way wars were fought, but on European state formation and social development. It analyses the views of supporters and opponents of the theory, the technological changes seen in warfare in this period, and the conduct of war at the tactical and strategic levels, before going on to consider the changing culture of war and its impact on state and society. The course will cover a range of military conflicts across the whole continent of Europe, and will also consider the impact of the new European methods of waging war upon the wider world in the first great age of European imperial expansion. The course is centred round a debate between historians, and is intended in part to develop skills in the weighing and critique of historical arguments in the secondary literature.

From the late sixteenth century until the early nineteenth century, Britain was the most prolific slave-trader in the Atlantic World. British colonies in the Americas were among the most brutal slave societies in world history. And yet, Britain was also the first major European state voluntarily to abolish its slave trade, and the first to resolve to emancipate its slaves. This course explores this tension between an empire of slavery and an empire of freedom.

With young people comprising a third of Scotland’s population in 1900, it is right that they have received growing attention from historians in recent years. Adopting a thematic approach, this course uses subjects such as labour, education, and war to explore concepts of childhood and children’s lived experiences. By drawing on a variety of sources (including memoirs, magazines, and portraits) it considers both how far we can access children’s voices and what they may reveal about Scottish society.

The nationalisation of military service during the long nineteenth century diversified the relationship between armed forces and civil societies: across Europe, men volunteered to serve as ‘citizens in uniform’, sailor suits became a fashionable dress for boys and girls, and charitable women supported new institutions like the international Red Cross, designed to alleviate the suffering of soldiers and civilians affected by war. This cultural history course is interested in how military service and warfare touched the lives of ordinary people in varied and complex ways.

The period from the sixth century to the sixteenth century saw fundamental changes in European Society, including the emergence of the outlines of states and kingdoms that are recognisable today. But the period also saw fundamental changes in conflict resolution. Using a mixture of chronicle, legal, and literary evidence this course provides a comprehensive overview of a millenium of conflicts and conflict resoution in a period which saw the development of fundamental concepts and methods which still shape legal practice. 

Composed of hundreds of territories, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation seemed an incoherent patchwork. Yet it functioned as a political entity for centuries. This course studies the profound transformation of Germany from the onset of the Reformation to the destruction of the Empire by Napoleon. We will look at religious conflict, the impact of war, the early Enlightenment and the development of early national identity. The question we have to ask is not why did the Holy Roman Empire fail, but why and how did it survive for such a long period?

This course is open to visiting students who have to finish their end-of-studies thesis at their home universities, and wish to develop this within the framework of this course. There is no formal scheduled teaching, but after an initial meeting to discuss individual topics, students will get some support and supervision in the area of their chosen research topic.

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. 

With defeat in the War of the Two Kings (1688-91), the court of James II and VII moved into permanent exile. This course examines the political, cultural and social history of the Jacobite movement, which retained loyalty to the Stuart claimant through much of the eighteenth century. It examines key events, like the 1715 and 1745 Risings; it compares the reach and depth of the movement in the various nations of the British archipelago; it identifies the European and Atlantic networks that sustained the culture of Jacobitism; and, finally, it traces the cultural legacy from Walter Scott to Highlander.

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.

This course considers the significance of the frontier as a concept and a reality in the historical development of the United States from 1763 until the “closing” of the frontier in 1890. Additionally, the course aims to consider the impact of American expansion across North America on the indigenous peoples of the continent and to consider the impact of that expansion on American culture and society. Among the issues to be considered: the contribution of the frontier to American democracy; the connection between the frontier past and violence in America

The course will involve each student working individually on a historical project of his or her own choice, under the supervision of the course co-ordinator.

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.

This course explores Britain's relations with Russia during the early years of the Soviet regime. It highlights a series of key developments in the relationship, especially major changes in British government policy that charted a course from military intervention to diplomatic recognition. Most of the seminars trace an aspect of the relationship within a fairly short time-frame, but some seminars investigate a particular issue through the whole period 1917–24. Several sessions will be used specifically for analysing gobbets. Knowledge of the Russian language is not required.

The modern West relies heavily on the Classical World in its art, architecture, law, and ideas. However, this is often filtered through later, Christian re-working. This course will try to understand the morals and mores of the Ancient World in their own, pagan context through an examination of its views, in particular, on sex and sexuality.  The course will deal with sensitive topics including: sexual violence, prostitution, perceived concepts of deviance, capital punishment and the (mis)treatment of children.

The course examines the origins of the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and its developments from multiple angles in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamic that constitutes ‘the conflict’. The course will investigate the causes of the Palestinian refugee crisis and of the Arab-Israeli wars. It will introduce students to the Arab-Israeli peace process and familiarise students with the polarised historiography surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict.

This course explores the relations between Portugal and Western Africa in the early modern period. It focuses on the period from 1415 to 1670 in which Portugal became the first European maritime power to establish contacts with societies in West and West Central Africa. Key themes include maritime navigation, Afro-European trade, and cultural contact. Particular focus will be placed on African responses and indigenous perspectives on European cultural contact.

'The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.’ So declared African American intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois at the dawn of that era.

In the period since this influential claim was made – and indeed in our own time – Black-led movements have challenged multiple structures of domination (racism, colonialism, patriarchy, capitalism) in the Americas, Africa, and Europe. This module focuses on the intellectual history of these transformative movements using the framework of a “Black Radical Tradition”.

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 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.