HISTORY

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr F Pedersen

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Overview

This course analyses the so-called "Viking Age". It invites students to critically consider whether the concept of the "Viking" can be usefully applied in order to to understand the history of Europe and beyond in the period c. 800-1200.

This was a period of warfare and pillage, political turmoil and social transformation, but also economic expansion and cultural innovation. In 795 raiders attacked the Christian monastic community on Iona in the Scottish western isles. Their activities extended from Denmark, Norway and Sweden out to Continental Europe, North America, Russia, and the Mediterranean Basin. Over time they accepted Christian beliefs and gradually integrated into European society. 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. By the twelfth century, Christian national kingdoms had been created in Scandinavia. "Viking" cultures became fully integrated into the wider project of European Christianization, including active involvement in the Crusades. The Viking Age had come to an end.

The interdisciplinary course team will introduce students to a broad range of methods and approaches to primary sources, from archaeologicval remains and rune-stones to ships and bridges, and from legal texts and chronicles to praise-poetry and sagas. Scandinavian expansionism will be presented in the wider political context of Dark-Age Europe, rooted in the late-antique breakdown of Roman rule and the accompanying ‘barbarian’ incursions. Alongside the political developments students will be introduced to key aspects of so-called "Viking-Age" culture and society, which in turn helped shape the politics of the period. These include religions old and new, the relationship between law and blood-feud, the transition from oral to textual modes of commemoration and learning, the development of new maritime technologies, and the roles of women in society.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures (Mon, Tue, Thur at 12) and 1 one-hour tutorial (to be arranged) per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Chairing discussions, individual classroom presentations, individual essay return.

Feedback

The students are offered the possibility of one-to one essay return with written comments, advice on improvements and if nbecessary information about learnings support; Class meetings, Mixed tutor and peer assessment by students.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor J Stevenson

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Overview

Structure

Two lectures plus one seminar

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (60%), essay (30%) continuous assessment (10%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination 100%.

Formative Assessment

Mostly in connection with preparing and writing an essay.

Feedback

One-to-one essay returns.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr C Dartmann

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

none

Overview

Major events in European history and structures in European societies will be examined thematically. Whilst covering some aspects in chronological order, and providing some basic summary of main themes such as the two World Wars, social policies, economic upheaval, post-WWII reconstruction and others, particular emphasis will be placed on linking those developments to some wider interpretations of Twentieth Century European History as a whole.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures (Wed, Thur and Fri at 10 am) and one one-hour tutorial per week to be arranged

Assessment

1 two hour written examination (50%), continuous assessment (50%)

continuous assessment: 1 ca 2500 word essay (40%), active and meaningful class participation (10%)


1 two hour written examination (100%)

Formative Assessment

individual and group presentations;

Feedback

individual return and discussion of essays, and feedback on presentations; time set aside in at least one tutorial for discussion of assessment, and in one lecture for course related issues; staff-student consultative committee

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Mackillop

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Overview

Scotland is one of the oldest political units in Europe, emerging as a discernible entity by the later 10th century. The objective of this course is to chart the underlying continuities and radical changes that mark the nation’s historical development from the 12th century up to the present day. The course will explore underlying processes such as ‘industrialisation’ and ‘Clearance’ as well as clearly defined events such as the Wars of Independence or the Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707. In doing so the class assesses the value of, and the problems inherent in, studying societies through the prism of national history.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).

In course assessment 
· assessed essay (3,000 words) at 40% of the final assessment;
· meaningful tutorial participation (‘meaningful participation’ requires the delivery of a presentation AND the production of one brief source report) at 10% of the final assessment.

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Essay bibliography & Essay Plan.

Feedback

As formative pieces of work, which will be returned on a one to one basis with feedback, the essay bibliography and essay plan are designed to indicate how students are progressing in acquiring the key skills of identifying, sythesising and presenting their research and knowledge.

As part of the minor assessed arrangements for tutorial participation the source review will test students in the key historical skills of reading and analysing texts/other primary sources critically and emphatically, while addressing questions of genre, content, perspective and purpose.

The assessed essay will build upon the skills identified in the source review while also providing an opportunity to progress in those aspects that were less effectively delivered. The emphasis will be on testing academic attributes, inculding in-depth and extensive knowledge and understanding, the development of concise and coherent structured work which delivers a reasoned, effective and comprehensive analysis.

The exam will test specific academic and generic skills, with an emphasis on breadth of knowledge, the capacity to reformulate and express acquired understanding while also demonstrating a capacity for problem identification and the delivery of structured, coherent and fluent written work.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr K Friedrich

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Overview

The course provides a broad overview of the 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 the European Reformations, the radical and the magisterial reformations, European expansion, the growth of monarchies and republics, and the wars of religion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It concludes with the onset of the early Enlightenment and an analysis of absolutist court culture. A chronological approach is combined with a thematic survey of major historical movements, concepts, ideas and developments, such as monarchy, nobility, secularisation, serfdom and feudalism, urbanisation, sexuality and everyday life, witchcraft and popular belief, court culture, mercantilism, and warfare.

Structure

Lectures 3 one-hour lectures weekly for 12 weeks to provide a larger context and introduce to new themes (such as 'serfdom' or 'republicanism'), often across national borders and historiographies and reflect on larger debates.

1 one-hour tutorials are held weekly from the second week of term, for ten weeks. Tutorials are designed to give students an opportunity to study particular topics in greater depth and to raise questions about documents that will improve their knowledge of the subject area. Students are expected to undertake preparation for tutorial discussion every week by reading select articles, thinking about the relevant documentary extracts and scrutinising the context through secondary literature.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Assessment is based on:
· written essay at (30%) of the final assessment;
· 50-minute documents test at (10%);
· tutorial participation at (10%);
· two-hour degree examination at (50%).
Details: Essay: 2,000 words
Documents Test: comment on 2 documents (from a selection of five) during a one-hour test
Tutorial participation: (10%) to encourage attendance and practice preparation and presentation skills
1 two-hour final examination: answer 2 questions from a choice of 8.

Resit: Final examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

A book-review (formal) or a draft essay (informal) to return feedback on writing examples before students hand in their essays. Also possible forms: chairing of discussion and presentation sessions, etc., role play assuming historical characters and debates.

Feedback

One-to-one essay return as soon as possible, with plenty of comments, advice in improvement and, if necessary, information about learning support courses at the university; office hours, class meetings, mixed tutor- and peer assessment by students and discussion thereof.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor F Murphy & Dr J Heath

Pre-requisites

none

Co-requisites

none

Notes

Overview

Epic I: Homer's Iliad

Epic II: Homer's Odyssey

Epic III: Vergil's Aeneid

Epic IV: Dante's Divinia Commedia

History I: Herodotus

History II: Thucydides

History III: Livy

History IV: Eusebius

Philosophy I: Plato

Philosophy II: Aristotle

Philosophy III: Plotinus

Philosophy IV: Greek Philosophy in the Latin West and the Islamic East

Structure

2 one hour lectures, one seminar

Assessment

Two hour written examination 60%, essay 30%, coursework 10%

 


Two hour written examination 100%

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M-L Ehrenschwendtner

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Overview

Between 1100 and 1500 western Europe was undergoing 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 with lectures and tutorials focussing 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.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (60%); examination (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Brown

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Overview

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, Empire, Romanticism and Ideology with interrelated developments in politics, culture, science and the world beyond Europe 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, colonialism and secularisation.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (60%); examination (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Dilley

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 and above.

Overview

The construction of different forms of global empire (territorial, commercial and cultural) has come to be seen as a major dynamic of modern world history. This course will offer students an overview of many of the key developments of this phenomenon in the long nineteenth century. It will also introduce students to the rich and varied literature surrounding the study of empire. The course will focus on a range of empires and regions, particularly the British, but its heart will be the phenomenon of global empire rather than any particular case. Contributors will focus on four key themes:

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); and continuous assessment (50%) made up of tutorial participation (10%), book review of 1,500 words (15%) and 3,000-word essay (25%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr E Macknight

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Overview

What does it mean to be a 'man' or a 'woman' in Western societies and how have the definitions and expectations of 'manliness' and 'womanliness' changed over time? This course addresses those questions for the period from 1750 to the present. It begins with the late eighteenth-century transition in scientific understanding from the one-sex to the two-sex model of human biology. Students are then introduced to the use of gender as a tool of historical analysis through chronological case studies drawn chiefly from Europe, Britain, and America. The course concludes with an examination of sex and gender issues in Scotland today.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial (to be arranged) per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (60%); examination (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Heywood

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 and above.

Overview

This will provide students with a broad comparative understanding of the emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as the first two global superpowers by 1945 and their subsequent Cold War confrontation. It concentrates on seven main sections (the Age of Empire; World War I and the Russian Revolution; Economic Crisis and the Crisis of Imperialism; World War II; the Cold War; Détente; the Triumph of the West?) introducing essential knowledge and key concepts concerning the development of their military and economic strength, together with their respective ideologies of capitalism and communism.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (60%); examination (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Friedrich

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

This course will be available in 2010/11.

Overview

Composed of hundreds of principalities, cities, bishoprics and other territories, the ‘Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation’ seemed an incoherent patchwork, but functioned as a political entity for centuries. This course studies the diversity of German history at a time of profound transformation, from the Reformation to Napoleon’s destruction of the Empire in the early nineteenth century. Topics covered include religious conflict, social rebellion, warfare, the role of cities, the relationship between Empire and territorial states, Baroque culture, the impact of the early Enlightenment, the changing idea of Empire and the development of early national identity.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week; 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Friedrich

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2010/11.

Overview

Modern Germany has often been called the ‘belated’ nation-state. During the first half of the nineteenth century three main political ideologies proved influential: liberalism, socialism and nationalism. Prussia’s successful domination of German politics led to the creation of the ultimately ill-fated German Empire in 1871. This course analyses the Empire’s political structures and institutions, the influence of the Kaiser and his ‘court camarilla’, the military, the composition of imperial German society, its unprecedented industrial and economic expansion in the 1890s, and the origins of the First World War, with particular emphasis on the lively fin-de-siècle culture, the history of ideas and political and social movements.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures per week; 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Atttempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor D Dumville

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in the second half-session of 2010/11.

Overview

The English arrived in Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. But English history (as opposed to prehistory) traditionally begins with the arrival of Christian missionaries from Rome in 597; and the kingdom of England was not created until 927. The three intervening centuries saw the building of a new culture in ‘South Britain’ (including a large part of what is now Scotland) which laid the foundations for the English nation-state. We study all this with close reference to original source-materials.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week; 1 one-hour tutorial per week; 1 one-hour source-class per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (100%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr C Dartmann

Pre-requisites

Avaialble only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2010/11.

Overview

Some selected major issues of domestic policies, important in a common way to the three countries, will be examined in a comparative way. Themes may include: social policies, threat of instability/civil war, political parties, experiences of demobilisation and mobilisation, reactions to the world depression, reactions to international developments, in particular eg the Spanish Civil War, developments in art.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment (100%) NB new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor R Frost

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2010/11.

Overview

The course will look at the development of warfare in early modern Europe in the light of the theory that Europe in this period saw a military revolution which had profound effects not just on the way wars were fought, but on European state formation and social development. It will look at the supporters and opponents of the theory, examine the technological changes seen in warfare in this period, and look at the conduct of war at the tactical and strategic levels, before going on to examine the changing culture of war and its impact on state and society. The course will consider a range of military conflicts across the whole continent of Europe, and will also consider the impact of European warfare outside Europe in the first great age of European imperial expansion.

Structure

Two seminars of 1½ hours each per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr E Macknight

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the first half-session of 2010/11.

Overview

Experiences and memories of conflict have played an important role in shaping the development of France from 1900 to the present. This period of French history is marked by two world wars, Occupation and Liberation, colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria, the student revolt of May 1968, the strike wave of 1995, and the riots of November 2005. In this course we study the underlying causes and nature of the wars and civil unrest. We investigate links between conflict, cultural production, and social change; and we examine the legacies of conflict in debates about what it means to be 'French' and France's relationships with other parts of the world.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr M Brown

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

The Enlightenment represents a key moment in the emergence of a recognisable modernity. Thinkers like Voltaire, Rousseau, Hume, Smith and Burke provide a distinct approach to society, politics, gender, culture and ethics. Celebrated and condemned, Enlightenment still remains a hotly contested term. This course investigates the Enlightenment across a series of national contexts. It highlights similarities in thought while remaining sensitive to regional variation. The course introduces students to the main thinkers and themes, and examines current debates about the content and legacy of the movement. Lecture topics include anti-clericalism, coffee shop culture, rethinking domestic life, and Enlightenment and Revolution.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous Assessment (100%).

Resit: Continuous Assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr C Dartmann

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

This course may not be included in a graduating curriculum with HI 3049 / HI 3549. Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in session 2010/11.

Overview

This history of the Holocaust will be studied through a detailed analysis of contemporary sources, as well as of the major debates and analyses since 1945. Specific emphasis will be placed on the historiographical development of the subject.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment (100%) NB new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Stevenson

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2010/11.

Overview

This course introduces students to the formation of Europe, analysing how, in the East, the Roman Empire became the Byzantine Empire and how modern political units such as Spain, France and Germany came to exist in the West. The Roman Empire was bureaucratic, centralised and highly organised. In the West, its collapse and the developments which followed eventually produced what is now called the Middle Ages, and also the forms and foundations of the modern world.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor T Bartlett

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course is available in the second half-session of 2010/11.

Overview

This course offers a study of the main political, constitutional, social and economic developments in the history of the United States from the ratification of the US constitution in 1787 to reconstruction after the Civil War in 1870. Within these broad themes, special attention will be devoted to the paradox of the existence of slavery in a nation dedicated to freedom and to the huge sectional tensions, ending in Civil War, that these gave rise to. Detailed attention will also be paid to the Civil War itself: was this the real American Revolution?

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week; 1 one-hour tutorial per week; 1 one-hour source-class per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and course work (40%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr E Macknight

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the second half-session of 2010/11 as HI 301P.

Overview

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. It deals with the power of political and military leaders to legislate and lead armies. It investigates the gendered implications of power operating within families and between men and women. It also unpacks the ways in which class shaped power relations, and the significance of class-based traditions, within the social fabric of nineteenth-century France.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor S Brink

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2010/11.

Overview

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 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.

Structure

2 hours of lecture contact and 1 hour of tutorial contact per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (100%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Heywood

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the second half-session of 2010/11.

Overview

This course examines the main political, social and economic problems confronting the Russian Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: should government be by an enlightened bureaucracy or by representative institutions? To what extent is modern warfare, which seemingly demands the mobilisation of the whole population, compatible with an autocratic framework? Is democracy a stimulus or a handicap to rapid industrialisation? How important are individual/social/moral values to the modern state? The format of the course is chronological but these and similar questions constantly recur.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Primary source exercise (1,500 words) (20%); Annotated bibliography (1,500 words) (20%); Essay (4,500 words) (60%).

Resit: Primary source exercise (1,500 words) (20%); Annotated bibliography (1,500 words) (20%); Essay (4,500 words) (60%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Newby

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will examine the way in which various forms of identity developed in Scotland after the extension of the franchise in 1832. This will include political identities - in particular regional identification and forms of nationalism and unionism - as well as gender- and class-based identify, as manifest through popular protest, political participation, sport, leisure, and various areas of civil society. Furthermore, there will be an examination the construction of identity in Scotland, through art, archaeology and antiquarianism, literature (including travel literature) and the development of 'scientific' historical writing. Students will also be invited to consider how these nineteenth century identities survived and made and impact in the twentieth century, and indeed in the present day.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: In-course assessment (100%), includes book review (25%), 3000 word essay (75%).

Re-sit: In-course assessment (100%), includes book review (25%), 3000 word essay (75%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Armstrong

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course will examine the diverse political and social changes that shaped England in the later middle ages. It will explore topics including crown and nobility, lordship and social structures, law and peacekeeping, war and diplomacy, and national and regional identities. Presented within a chronological framework, major units of study will concern war with France and within the British Isles, experimentation with and development of parliament and other mechanisms of governance, the impact of the Black Death and the Peasants' Revolt, the role of the church in society, dynastic usurpations and constitutional change.

Structure

Two 1½-hour seminars per week (times tba).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Armstrong

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course examines Scotland in the last two centuries of its dynastic independence. Organised chronologically, it will address national and regional identities as well as war, truce and peace with England, and relations with France and other European powers. It will examine regicide, regency, and resistance, the relationship between crown, church and nobility, and the development of governmental institutions and offices. It will also explore social and cultural change, especially with regard to education and literature, population growth, and rural and urban life. The origins, process and consequences of the Scottish Reformation will form a major theme of the course.

Structure

Two 1½-hour seminars per week (times tba).

Assessment

1st attempt: one 3-hour examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).

Resit: One 3-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Andrew Dilley

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course will examine the decline of British imperialism in the twentieth century. It will consider the nature of that decline from a number of perspectives, and consider the different meanings and timings of decolonization in different regions of the empire. The course will also consider the effects of decolonization for both Britain and its former colonies. The course will draw widely on secondary and primary source material, especially BDEEP (British Documents of the End of Empire Project).

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor William G Naphy

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to the approval of the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

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.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor William G Naphy

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to the approval of the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course will examine the beginnings of the 'witch panic' in the mid-fifteenth century. The relationship between religious change during the Reformation and developing ideas about witchcraft, magic and the demonic will also be considered. Finally, the course will consider reasons why witch-hunting ceased in Europe during the course of the seventeenth century.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Karen Bek-Pedersen

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to the approval of the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course offers a chance to get to grips with one or two stereotypes concerning the Vikings by exploring the culture and literature of early medieval Iceland. It provides an overview of early Icelandic history from the time of the settlement through the adoption of Christianity and into the medieval period. An important component of this will be an introduction to the famous saga literature which describes life amongst the first settlers who came to Iceland during the Viking Age with its emphasis on law, lawlessness and bloodfeuds alongside marriage, adultery and sexual insult. The course will also provide insights into the ritual life and religious beliefs of the early Icelanders by way of exploring Old Norse mythological texts.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: Continuous assessment (100%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr C Erskine

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course will examine the changes that the revival of classical and biblical scholarship connected with the Renaissance and Reformation wrought upon Europe. In particular, it will consider resistance against monarchs or other civil leaders who were accused of being tyrannical or heretical. Successive weeks of study will move chronologically and geographically through Reformation Europe, from Geneva to the Scottish and English Reformations, to the French Wars of Religion and the Dutch Revolt. The focus will be upon contexts where the depositions and assassinations of monarchs took place, and upon the ideas used to justify or oppose these actions.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%): The ASC has previously approved the capping of level 3 options in History.
Assessment format:
- oral participation (10%);
- essay of 3,000-3,500 words (30%);
- end of course, three-hour examination (60%).

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr G D Smithers

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to the approval of the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course examines the historical significance of race and racism in modern America. A flurry of recent scholarship and journalistic reporting has suggested that the United States has entered a new post-racial era in its history. The election to the presidency of Barack Obama has thus unleashed a wave of optimism about the end of racism in American society and history. This course will use Barack Obama's rise to the presidency as the focal point for historically analyzing race and racism in American society. What made Obama's rise (and that of other black politicians) possible? Ca the election of black officials to the highest offices in the nation be used as evidence that the United States is now a post-racial nation? What, indeed, is post-racialism?

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%); assessed essay (3,500 words (50%)); comparative review of journal articles (1,500 words (20%)); Portfolio of documentation arising from the presentation with self-evaluation (1,500 words (20%)); Presentation (10%; of which 5% is by the course co-ordinator and 5% from peer assessment).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr G D Smithers

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to the approval of the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course examines the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the subsequent era of 'Reconstruction' (1865-1877). This was one of the most turbulent eras in American history; it was also one of the most important. We will examine the causes of the Civil War, the major political and military turning points in the war, and look closely at the often bloody efforts to rebuild the South during 'Reconstruction' (1865-1877). We will also examine Native American and African-American involvement in the Civil War and Reconstruction, and consider the diplomatic role played by Great Britain during this most turbulent era in American history.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%); Assessed essay (3,500 words) (50%); Comparative review of journal articles (1,500 words) (20%); Portfolio of documentation arising from the presentation with self-evaluation (1,500 words) (20%); Presentation (10%; of which 5% is by the corse co-ordinator and 5% from peer assessment).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr G D Smithers

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to the approval of the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course examines the rise and fall of Jim Crow segregation in the United States between the 1890s-1960s. De facto segregation had existed in the North prior to the 1890s, but it was the American South and West that a legal (or de jure form of segregation emerged. This module will examine the political, legal and sociocultural basis for Jim Crow segregation. We will examine the impact of de jure segregation on race relations in the South and West, and we will ask how African-Americans responded to Jim Crow segregation.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: Continuous assessment (100%): Assessed essay (3,500 words; 50%), comparative review of journal articles (1,500 words; 20%), portfolio of documentation arising from the presentation with self-evaluation (1,500 words; 20%), presentation (10%; of which 5% is by the course co-ordinator and 5% from peer assessment) .

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr G D Smithers

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to the approval of the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

Recent scholarship has focused attention on the presence, and role of, mixed-race people and mixed-race communities in the American colonies and United States. Gary Nash, for example, argues that the American republic was a mixed-race nation because of the interracial mixing tha occurred in colonial America. This course examines race-mixing in the Americas from 1619 to 1789. Students will examine the different types of race-mixing - sexual, social, and political - that occurred in the Americas, and be urged to investigate why some forms of 'race-mixing' were encouraged, while others were frowned upon.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: Continuous assessment (100%): Assessed essay (3,500 words; 50%), comparative review of journal articles (1,500 words; 20%), portfolio of documentation arising from the presentation with self-evaluation (1,500 words; 20%), presentation (10%; of which 5% is by the course co-ordinator and 5% from peer assessment).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Weber

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course seeks to investigate whether the international system was by and large the source of relative stability in the era between the Crimean War and 1933 or whether the international system made the outbreak of the First World War and the advent of totalitarian fascist and communist regimes all but inevitable. What strategies of collective security were employed during this period? What role did the "rise and fall of great powers (P. Kennedy) play in upsetting the international system? What were the underlying mentalities in the pursuit of foreign policy, i.e., what was the role of, e.g., social Darwinism, rising nationalism in a world of multi-ethnic empires, the emerging Wilsonian model of international relations, or of militarism in shaping the international system of this era? Did economic and financial considerations lead to the collapse of the system? Did the world experience a first era of globalisation (and if it did how did globalisation affect international relations?) Why did globalisation sink? Does John Mearsheimer's brand of realism capture realities between 1880 and 1933 successfully? What was the link between public opinion and the formulation of foreign policy (primacy of domestic or of foreign policies)? Is the period of 1880 to 1933 best described as an era with a lack of collective security?

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%) (3,000 word essay (30%); oral contribution(5%); presentation(5%)).

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Weber

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 of above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course explores anti-Semitism and philo-Semitism in Europe and North-America from the age of the French revolution to the present. At the core of the course is the question of how prejudice against Jews (and since 1948 also against Israel) has been tied to the fate of Liberalism and 'Progressive' Thought in Europe and North-America. The first half of the course examines the development of Jewish-gentile relations until the Holocaust. We will, however, try to avoid applying a teleological approach to the period between 1789 and 1941 that reduces the history of gentile attitudes towards Jews to a pre-history of the Holocaust. The second half of the course examines attitudes towards Jews since 1945 in a Europe without a sizeable Jewish community but with an increasingly assertive Jewish Community in America. The course finishes by looking at the 'New Anti-Semitism' and by the involvement of the West in the Middle East Conflict since 1967. The course asks the question whether attitudes and policies towards Israel are best understood in terms of the 'New Anti-Semitism' or in terms of a post colonial sentiment.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%) (30% 3,000 word essay, 5% oral contribution, 5% presentation).

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Dilley

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course will examine the decline of British imperialism in the twentieth century. It will consider the nature of that decline from a number of perspectives, and consider the different meanings and timings of decolonization in different regions of the empire. The course will also consider the effects of decolonization for both Britain and its former colonies. The course will draw widely on secondary and primary source material, especially BDEEP (British Documents of the End of Empire Project).

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous Assessment (40%), 1 two-hour Written Examination (60%).
Details:
One essay, 3000-3500 words, (30%), one book review of around 1000 words (10%), and 1 two-hour end-of-course examination (60%).

Resit: Examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor J Stevenson

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the first half-session of 2010/11 as HI 301E.

Overview

1. Introduction
2. Library session
3. what was a man? legally, socially and culturally
4. What was a woman? legall, socially and culturally
5. Medical theories of gender and sexuality
6. Christianity and sexuality
7. Case study: St Augustine's Confessions
8. Sex and sainthood
9. Virgins: a 'third sex', or superwoman?
10. Subwomen: prostitutes, actresses
11. Eunuchs, legally, socially and culturally
12. Eunuchs in fantasy: Case study: Claudian, In Eutropium
13. Eunuchs in fact
14. 'Eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven'
15. Angels
16. The Virgin Mary
17. Motherhood
18. 'Transcending her sex'
19. Basileus/basilissa: women as rulers
20. 'Passing for a man'
21. Case study: Perpetua's Prison Diary
22. Male homosexuality
23. Lesbianism
24. Deviance and Identity
Both selections from primary texts (in translation) and visual material (slides of portraits, coins, mosaics, statues, ikons, etc) will be used throughout.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture, 1 two-hour lecture and seminar.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Seminar presentation (10%), two essays, BOTH of 2,500 words, the first worth (40%) the second worth (50%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr K Bek-Pedersen

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to the approval of the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course offers a chance to explore the culture and traditions of the Northern Isles. It provides an overview of the history of Orkney and Shetland from pre-historic times to the 20th century with particular emphasis on the roles played by both archipelagos as centrally located to all North Atlantic coastal communities. An important component will be an introduction to the Scandinavian past of the Northern Isles and the ways in which this part of the islands’ history continues to shape their identity in the present. The course will also provide insights into the linguistic, political, maritime, legal and literary history of Orkney and Shetland by way of studying key texts, maps, pictures and other materials.

Structure

1 two-hour seminar + 1 one-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%) comprising:

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A G Newby

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

This course examines the diverse political, social and economic developments which have taken place in the Nordic region since the Napoleonic Wars. It will take a dual perspective: that of the area as a whole; and that of the individual nation-states and regions which make up the Nordic region. In this way, students will examine the position of ‘Norden’ in a North Atlantic, North Sea and North European context, be able to account for different rates of economic development, differing attitudes towards war and neutrality, and the shifting perceptions of national, regional and local identities over two centuries.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 two-hour seminar per week (times to be confirmed).

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1three-hour examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%).
Assessment format:

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

Initial discussion will focus on the revolutions of February and October 1917, the ensuing Civil War and foreign intervention. Thereafter attention will shift to the emergent Soviet state: its institutions, the New Economic Policy, and the leadership struggle, which paved the way for Stalin’s assumption of power. Stalin’s regime and its policies within Russia, including collectivization, industrialisation and terror, will be analysed before the focus shifts to the Second World War (the Red Army after the purges, the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and Soviet Russia’s prosecution of ‘total war’). The final topics to be addressed will include the Cold War, social economic and political developments during the Khrushchev-Brezhnev years and the rise and fall of Gorbachev.

Structure

Two 1½ hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Presentation (10%); portfolio based on the presentation (10%); essay (2,500 words maximum) (30%); essay, (3,500 words maximum) (50%).

Resit: Two 750-word book reviews (each 10%); 2,500-word essay (30%); 3,500-essay (50%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Mackillop

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

By the late 17th 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 magnet, forcing Africans across the Atlantic while drawing in immigrants from Britain, Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. It assesses eighteenth-century London’s elites, as well as its criminals and its outcasts, concluding with a general assessment of life and death in an early modern city.

Structure

1 one-hour seminar per week; 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous Assessment (100%): Essay (50%); Class Presentation Report (20%); Source Review (20%); Class participation (10%).
The specifics of assessment are:
50% = 5,000 word essay;
20% = 1,500 word review on a contemporary source;
20% = 1,500 word report on class presentation;
10% = class participation (including attendance).

Resit: Continuous Assessment: Essay (50%); Essay in lieu of Class Presentation Report (25%); Source Review (25%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr C Dartmann

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the first half-session 2010/11. This course may not be included in a graduating curriculum with HI 301L / HI 351L.

Overview

To study the on-going historical debates on the Third Reich. In this course we will study political, social, and economic aspects of the history of Germany between 1933 and 1945, and put them into a historical, comparative, and European background. Recent historiographical trends and conceptual attempts to grasp the history of the Third Reich will form an integral part of this course.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment (100%). NB: new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Macdonald

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course seeks to investigate Anglo-Scottish relations in the period between Malcolm III’s enigmatic submission to William the Conqueror in 1072 and the Anglo-Scottish treaty of 1560. The emphasis will be on political and diplomatic developments, especially those of the mid-thirteenth to early sixteenth centuries, but attention will also be given to economic, social, religious and cultural interaction between the two kingdoms, especially those which occurred in the frontier regions.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

To be advised

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

This course examines the political, social and diplomatic history of the United States from the Age of Jackson to the Spanish-American War. Major themes will include: the rise and fall of political parties; the impact of key Supreme Court decisions; sectionalism, expansion and the frontier thesis; the causes and consequences of the Civil War; slavery, abolition and changing race relations; military and naval affairs; foreign relations and changes in the diplomatic policy and international standing of the United States.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

To be advised

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

The nature and problems of military and naval history with special reference to the United States. The European military background. Technological impact. The US military and naval experiences wars covered include:

Indian and colonial wars; War of Independence; Barbary Wars; War of 1812; Mexican War; The American Civil War; Spanish-American War; 19th century Indian Wars; World Wars I and II; Korea; Vietnam; and the Gulf War.

There will be stress on the “New Military History” involving an examination of the role of the military in American society and economy.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

To be advised

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be not available in session 2010/11.

Overview

The course examines the politics, economy and culture of Ireland at the end of the Middle Ages; the impact of the Protestant reformation and counter reformation; the wars and rebellions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; ‘colonisation’ and ‘civilisation’ of Ireland by the English and the Scots; the Cromwellian and restoration land settlements; the ‘Protestant Ascendancy’; the Formation of ‘Irish’ and ‘British’ national identities; Anglo-Irish and Anglo-Scottish relations; and the demise of Gaelic Ireland.

Structure

Two 1½ to two-hours seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment (100%). NB: New in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Macdonald

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2010/11.

Overview

This course seeks to examine the practice and concept of kingship and queenship, between the dark ages and the renaissance. Lectures will concentrate on the exercise of monarchical power, as exemplified by kings and queens in the British Isles, and associated historiographical issues. Seminars will address the subject through a study of the expectations of contemporaries making use of visual representations (in the form of painting, seals and architecture) and written evidence (including the bible, chronicles, biographies, literature and theoretical tracts).

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: Examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%). NB: new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr F Pedersen

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the first half-session of 2010/11 as HI 3068.

Overview

This course is divided into four sections. The first examines medieval attitudes to sex, marriage and the family while consideration during the second is devoted to the church and the law of marriage in the middle ages. These are followed by an exploration of sex roles and sexual differences, including discussion of prostitution, homosexuality and the concept of childhood. The course concludes with an examination of modern interpretations of the medieval evidence.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%). NB: new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

To be advised

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

This course will examine the development of popular culture in the US since c1865. It will investigate changing attitudes to race and gender and the later growth of a youth culture (or counter-culture). Attention will be given to the growth of sport and recreation (and the roles of race and gender therein); to the history of entertainment as a reflection of and influence upon society (including the circus/Wild West show, radio and TV, the movies) to the growth of a popular press and advertising; to fashion; to the rise and fall of popular heroes/heroines; to popular religion. Also the American fascination with technology and its effects on popular culture will be discussed - the bicycle craze, automobiles, the telephone, etc.

Structure

Two 1½ to two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment: 2 essays of c3000-3500 words each (100%). NB: new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Macdonald

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the first half-session of 2010/11 as HI 3074.

Overview

This course seeks to investigate the impact of war on society in the medieval west between c1300 and c1450. Those were years when warfare was frequent and its impact profoundly altered the societies of western Europe. Emphasis will be placed on the experience of war in Scotland, England, France, Spain and Ireland, although not exclusively on those areas. The course will seek to explore the impact of war physically and mentally on the people who had to endure it. Cultural developments, concepts of national identity and collective mentalities will be explored, as well as more conventional societal developments.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%). NB: new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Harper

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2010/11.

Overview

Large-scale demographic upheaval has been a major feature of the social, economic, political and cultural history of the modern world. This course examines the causes and repercussions of emigration and immigration over more than two centuries, looking primarily at the British Isles, but also considering other European countries. Particular attention will be paid to the expectations and experiences of participants, and themes to be examined include exploration, military service, the transportation of convicts, indentured servitude, persecution and migration, famine-induced migration, and the impact of immigration on Britain since the late 19th century.

Structure

2 two-hours seminars weekly.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Harper

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in the session 2010/11.

Overview

Although clearance policies were effectively over by the 1850s, the ‘Highland Problem’ re-emerged in the 1880s, with the Crofters’ War and the appointment of a Royal Commission of Enquiry. The course covers a period of unprecedented government investigation and legislation in respect of the Highlands and Islands, and detailed attention will be paid to the effects of this involvement on economic and social developments in the region. Themes to be examined include land legislation, fishing, industrial developments, tourism, transport, migration and emigration.

Structure

2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr D Smith

Pre-requisites

Only available to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2009/10.

Overview

This course will focus on the history of medicine during the twentieth century, and will cover such topics as the shaping of the health services, successive therapeutic revolutions, medicine and war, the eugenics movement, the sciences of food and food safety, the rise of patient power and developments in medical ethics, and the trend towards alternative approaches to medicine. A variety of recent approaches to the history of medicine will be discussed.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%). NB: new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Brown

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2010/11.

Overview

This lecture and seminar course offers a chronological survey of Ireland’s political, social and economic history from the Union with Britain. It will focus on a number of issues: how confessional differences, especially between Catholics and Protestants, have influenced the course of Irish history; the slippery concept of Irish national identity; Anglo-Irish relations; the rise of Irish nationalism; and finally the role of the Irish migrant, especially in America.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment: (100%). NB: new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Weber

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the second half-session of 2009/10 as HI 3594.

Overview

This course offers students an opportunity to study World War One in a comparative context. Following a series of introductory lectures on various aspects of the causes, course and consequences of the war, a series of seminars will enable students to analyse either specialised themes or particular perspectives which may include Britain, France, Germany, the United States, and Russia.

Structure

12 one-hour lectures in weeks 1-4 and 10 two-hour seminars in weeks 5-12.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor R Frost

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in session 2010/11.

Overview

The Thirty Years War was one of the most protracted and devastating conflicts played out in central Europe before the twentieth century. Its conclusion in the Peace of Westphalia (1648) marks the single greatest watershed between the Reformation and the French Revolution, neatly dividing the early modern period of European history in half. This course will examine the causes, course and consequences of this great conflict, placing each of these topics in a broad chronological, geographical and thematic framework. Particular attention will be given to exploring the international ramifications of the conflict on politics, society and culture.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%). NB: new in-course assessment work must be submitted.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr C Dartmann

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

Detailed research on an historical topic agreed by the School and the home university.

Structure

4 one-hour supervision sessions.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Macdonald

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in the second half-session 2010/11.

Overview

This course invites students to consider the study of sport as a way of trying to understand the past. A broad chronological framework is adopted, tracing sporting activity and pastimes from the medieval period to contemporary times. The geographical scope is also wideranging, covering developments in Scotland, and elsewhere in Europe, as well as the relevance of sport to the British Empire and to twentieth-century American society. Issues addressed include social class, gender, race, morality and the efforts of various governments to control and use sport for political purposes.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (60%) and in-course assessment (40%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A MacKillop

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2010/11.

Overview

This course examines the development of British imperial interests in Asia. It begins by charting the development of the East India Company, examining its commercial activities and its impact on England. The Company was then colonised by Scots and Irish, whose contribution and impact will be considered in detail. Gradually the Company's Empire developed territorial interests and these, together with imperial interests in the Persian Gulf, Indonesia and China, are discussed. The final part of the course involves consideration of the impact of this Asiatic Empire on the politics, economy and society of the British Isles.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture and 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Newby

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2010/11.

Overview

This course offers students an opportunity to study World War Two in a comparative context. Following a series of introductory lectures on various aspects of the causes, course and consequences of the war, a series of seminars will enable students to analyse either specialised themes or particular perspectives which may include Britain, France, Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union and Japan.

Structure

12 one-hour lectures in weeks 1-4 and 10 two-hour seminars in weeks 5-12.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: In-course assessment (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Spelling

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Admission subject to approval by the Head of School. This course will be available at the discretion of the Department of History.

Overview

American Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, once stated that ‘America has no friends, only interests.’ This course looks at selected aspects of US Foreign Policy from c. 1898 until 2000, to see in what ways those policies changed and developed in the ‘American century’ and how they were perceived by others. Did the US become the ‘world’s policeman’ for altruistic reasons (e.g., spreading democracy), or were her motives self interested (e.g., economic and political gain) – or was it a mixture of both? Attention will be given to key individuals and groups and the corresponding events and themes that defined policy in these decades.

Structure

1 one-hour seminar per week; 1 two-hour seminar per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (50%); continuous assessment (50%) made up of one essay of 3,500-4,000 words (40%) and class participation/presentation (10%).

Resit: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Mackillop

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours candidates in History.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

An intensive study of a limited historical theme, problem or period on the basis of prescribed primary sources and other materials. Precise details of the subjects available reflecting current research interests of staff, will be announced to Honours candidates during the preceding session. Topics covered in previous years include: Vikings c800-1200; Canon Law and Lawyers in the Middle Ages; Scotland, England and Ireland 1286-1329; The Anglo-Scottish Frontier in the Later Middle Ages; The Revival of Millenariansism in Post-Reformation Britain, Europe & America; Irish Political Thought; Scotland, England and The Acts of Union, 1707; The American Revolution; The French Revolution; The Scot in Canada; The Indian Mutiny, 1857; Women, Work and Welfare in Europe c1918-39; The USA in the 1920s; Politics and Culture during the Wilson Years: Britain c1956-76.

Structure

2 one-and-a-half to two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour written examination (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Ehrenschwendter

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours candidates in History.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

A dissertation of about 10,000 words on a topic normally related to that studied in HI 4015.

Each student will be assigned a supervisor, who will make available regular consultation times.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Dissertation (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Weber

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours candidates in History.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

Problems of historical scholarship including the history of historical research, historiography, philosophy of history, links with other academic disciplines, and the relevance of history to the outside world.

Structure

6 two-hour seminars.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (60%) [made up of: one essay and three one-page response papers, totalling 3,500 words (40%); work placement or comparative seminar report (in lieu), 1,200 words (20%)]; 1 tow-hour timed examination (40%).