MA History

This module will acquaint students with a thorough understanding of the varying approaches of the Axis and Allied powers in the Second World War to the development and implementation of strategy. It will critically assess key aspects of coalition warfare, the development of strategic approaches to the prosecution of the war, and the link between wartime politics and diplomacy in the formulation of grand strategy. The module will introduce students to a range of primary sources and secondary historiographical issues and interpretations and further develop skills of critical analysis and interpretation. Students will discuss and debate these issues leading to a final essay.

This module will explore issues and debates relating to consumerism in Britain between the early years of the twentieth century and the outbreak of the Second World War. Themes to be considered include the relationship between consumption, poverty and working-class affluence, the impact of gender, class and ethnicity on consumer practices and opportunities and the changing nature of leisure, shopping and fashion as Britain developed into a ‘modern’ consumer society.

The  objective of this module is to introduce students to some of the key historical debates associated with politics and strategy in the First World War. At the end of the module students should be able critically to evaluate historians' contributions to these debates. Moreover, the module aims to provide the students with the methodological skills that they will need successfully to complete this Masters programme. Through a mixture of lectures, student-led presentations, and practical exercises, by the end of the module students should be equipped to handle the methodological and practical challenges they will encounter during their studies. In particular, students will be well versed in historiography, analysis and use of primary and secondary sources, using a library, and using the Internet as a research tool.

This module explores the history of poverty and attempts to alleviate poverty in twentieth-century Britain, including through health and welfare reforms. This history and its relevance to contemporary policy debates will be foregrounded throughout the module.

This module will investigate the significant changes made to the English penal system throughout the twentieth century; from the introduction of changes brought about from the findings of the influential Gladstone Departmental Committee on Prisons Report (1895), the abolition of hard labour in prisons from 1948 and the numerous problems with overcrowding experienced in the last quarter of the twentieth century. It will also focus on efforts both to reform the existing system and to instigate alternatives to imprisonment as the major form of punishment in English society.

This module will provide an analysis of the developments of societies under the conditions of total war. Special emphasis will be placed on Germany, the UK, the US and the USSR. Additionally, the contribution of women to war efforts will be examined as well as the civilian experience of occupation.

This module will analyse the conduct, impact, and outcome of the war between Japan and the Allies in the 1937-1945 era. It will examine the strategies of the belligerent powers, the effects of the war on civilian populations and societies, and the manner in which the conflict shaped the postwar world.

The objective of this module is to provide the students with a thorough understanding of the strategic and military issues involved in the British Empire’s war between 1914  and 1918.  By the end of the module students should be capable of demonstrating a clear understanding of these issues and to be able to critically evaluate the historiography of the subject.  The module also aims to introduce students to a wide range of historical interpretations, thereby providing a broad knowledge of the various schools of thought on the subject.  Students will critically analyse these differing interpretations and draw their own conclusions which will be presented in the form of oral presentations and a final essay. The ability to evaluate differing interpretations and synthesize a conclusion is particularly relevant to students planning a career in academia, professional analysis, or research in an applied setting.

The module will analyse some of the milestones in Holocaust historiography and the main academic controversies from the end of the Second World War to the present day. It will highlight the sources available as well as the methodological problems when using Nazi documents and survivors’ testimonies. Finally, it will focus on aspects of slave labour, mass murder and genocide, carried out in Germany and occupied Eastern Europe.

The module will focus on the main developments of the war in the east and Germany’s occupation policies in Poland and the Soviet Union. Special emphasis will be given to ideologically driven strategies and their translation into the practice of occupation realities, the role of the occupied areas for the German war economy, forced migration, forced labour, and the treatment of prisoners of war.

This module will examine the campaign in the Northwest European theatre of war from the D-Day landings in June 1944 through to the end of the war in May 1945. Students will critically analyse a range of key secondary and primary sources to assess the planning, conduct and impact of military operations prosecuted by the Allied and German forces throughout the campaign. Particular attention will be placed on historiographical debates concerning the Normandy campaign, Operation Market Garden and the Ardennes Offensive, but lesser known actions in the Autumn of 1944 and Spring of 1945 will also feature. The impact of the war on soldiers and civilians alike will feature, alongside the political / command levels. 

The objective of this module is to provide the students with a thorough understanding of the strategic and military problems that shaped operations on the Western Front 1914 - 1918.  By the end of the module students should be capable of demonstrating a clear understanding of the nature of the Western Front and to be able to critically evaluate the historiography around the subject.  The module also aims to introduce students to a wide range of historical interpretations, thereby providing a broad knowledge of the various schools of thought on the subject.  Students will critically analyse these differing interpretations and draw their own conclusions which will be presented in the form of oral presentations and a final essay. The ability to evaluate differing interpretations and synthesize a conclusion is particularly relevant to students planning a career in academia, professional analysis, or research in an applied setting.

This module examines youth subcultures and national identity in post-war English society (c1945-c1997). Sessions will examine various youth subcultures through a variety of primary and secondary sources. Students will explore representations of youth in newspapers, magazines, films, novels and popular music. The module will explore the historiographical debates relating to popular culture, national identity and youth in post- war England.