Undergraduate History 2025-2026

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 coast to East Central Europe and Russia. These changes include: a changing image of the world and its relationship to the spiritual during the Renaissance; a time of unrest triggered by European Reformations; European expansion; and the growth of monarchies and republics.

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

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

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

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. In addition, the course offers a window into the day-to-day life of a Scottish town in this period, through study of Aberdeen’s late medieval records and recent research using these records.

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.

In 2025/26 this course will have one group with a focus on Russia only.

The body is often considered as something tangible, material, somehow ‘natural’. However, our understanding of the function and appearance of body parts and bodily phenomena is heavily shaped by social and cultural expectations connected with ideas of sanity and illness, beauty and ugliness, normativity and deviancy. This course invites students to explore the historical development of these ideas, in order to question the supposed naturalness of the meaning we give to different body parts, body shapes, and bodily practices.

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

Since 2012, #BlackLivesMatter protests have renewed the struggle for racial equality in the US. This module illustrates a longer history of efforts to establish rights and equality for US African Americans since emancipation. We will explore a diverse range of movements and approaches, and will interrogate the common (mis)understanding of Black civil rights activism.

This course explores some of the major developments in the history of the modern Middle East, from the late 19th century, through the collapse of the Ottoman Empire to the formation of modern nation states. The course will then focus on the latest phase of the history of the Middle Eastern Empires, the subsequent changes in the political systems over the course of the 20th century, colonialism, the struggle for independence, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The course follows a chronological structure and aims at strengthening critical thinking skills and interrogating contextual understanding of the role of culture as well as modernisation in the region.

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.

The course investigates Anglo-Scottish relations from the death of Alexander III (1286) to the union of the crowns (1603). Political, diplomatic and military relations are examined as well as a wide range of social and cultural issues. An introductory section covers important events in chronological order before weekly themes are examined in detail. The lecturer provides a general framework of essential knowledge while students give seminar presentations on particular illustrative examples of the weekly themes. The mentalities and attitudes underpinning Anglo-Scottish relations are carefully explored and key themes include warfare, diplomacy, identity, religion and culture.

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

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.

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

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.

Historians concur that ideas about the nature of children and the place of childhood have changed over time. This course explores both how modern societies have understood childhood and the way in which this has shaped the treatment of young people. It places a particular focus upon how ideas and understandings of childhood have spanned regional and national borders, as well as the ways in which the concept of youth has been adapted to suit new cultural contexts.

This Special Subject explores the ways in which youth has been represented in Western popular cultures from the 1920s to the present day, to understand both the increasing social and political role of young people in Western societies, and the cultural and political use of youth as an ideal. Weeks 1-2 concentrate on the history of the changing meanings of youth as an ideal in culture and political propaganda, by exploring historical examples from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. The subsequent classes examine the changing perception of youth – both as an ideal and a social subject – in Europe and the United States in the 20th and early 21st centuries. Students will be invited to engage with a variety of popular texts (including film, literary texts, television programmes, songs and magazines) from different decades and present them in class. Alongside gaining an understanding of the recent history of youth in the Western world, students will learn how to approach and analyse popular primary sources and self-produced, subcultural productions, which are often overlooked in historical research. To do so, they will be introduced to notions of cultural theory and media studies.

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 critically evaluates representations and functions of Old Norse myth and legend in both medieval and modern contexts. It will enable students to better understand the myths, beliefs and stories of Viking and medieval Scandinavia in their own historical contexts, and to analyse the political and cultural implications of their endurance, significance and popularity into the modern world.

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.