History, Modern BA (Hons)

Level 4 core modules
Modern World History explores major events in the long 19th century from c.1780 to 1914. including revolution, war, empire, nationalism, societal development and interaction, globalisation.
History of the USA 1776-1941 explores the development and politics of the United States including the War of 1812, Industrialisation and Competition, Imperialism(s), and Art and Cultural development along with cooperation in the First and Second World Wars.
World Politics examines the development of the modern international system. It considers the unique features of international politics, and explores the origins of the state system. This includes attention to concepts such as sovereignty, power, terrorism, war, peace and cooperation.
History of Political Thought introduces you to some of the important political thinkers and some of the major political ideologies of the modern era. It covers a period of several centuries until the late 19th century.
Consumer Society and the Industrial Revolution: Consumer society brought coffee-houses, clubs and societies, pleasure gardens, and the middle-class cultivation of science, art and literature. And yet consumer products like sugar and chocolate could come from slave plantations in the Empire, while new factories for mass produced consumer goods drew extensively on the use of child labour. This module asks, what kind of class society had been created in this consumer and industrial revolution?
The USA and the World: 1941-Present examines the foreign policy of the USA since it entered the Second World War. It focuses on the Cold War, the period after the collapse of Soviet and Eastern European communism, and the response to the attacks on 11 September 2001.
Level 5 core modules
Advanced Historical Practice: The First World War uses the example of the First World War to illustrate the advanced historical skills required in undergraduate historical research. Students will develop the skills they will need in their final year. In the second half of the module content is driven entirely by the interaction between students’ own research topics.
Interrogating the Modern explores the history of 'modern', 'modernism' and 'modernity'. Themes include: The Enlightenment 'project' of modernity, global commodity exchange, the nation-state, modern science and medicine, and Darwinian evolution and religion.
Level 6 core modules
Modern History Dissertation
Option modules
Option modules 2016/17 (PDF)