History Modules

The History modules listed below will be offered in academic year 2012-2013. Please note that the modules listed may be subject to change and that final module selection will depend on academic approval of your module choice at both the point of application and the academic advising session before Matriculation.

Level 3

HY31033 - The Scottish Soldier: Image and Reality c.1870-1920

30 credits, Semester 2
The kilted Scottish soldier is an iconic figure that has become synonymous with Empire and Britain's military achievement. This module will consider Scottish soldiers' role in the British imperial project, focusing on their contribution to campaigns in Afghanistan, Egypt and the Sudan, India, South Africa and the First World War.

HY32028 - The Cold War

30 credits, Semester 2
This option examines the history of the Cold War from the collapse of the wartime alliance in the 1940s, to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, and break-up of the Soviet Union. The aim of this module is to enable students to understand the origins, development and culmination of the Cold War in ideological, strategic, political and economic terms.

HY32023 - Race and Region: The American South, 1865-1945

30 credits, Semester 1
This module offers the opportunity to study the history of one of the most complex regions of the United States. Race and Region traces the social, political, cultural and economic development of the South from the aftermath of the Civil War through to World War II. Central to the module will be the highly contentious question of the meaning of being 'Southern'. There will be an opportunity to study a variety of sources, including music and film.

HY31029 - Making History: Issues in the Study of the Past

30 credits, Semester 1
This Level 3 module aims to equip students to do three things in particular: (1) to recognise and critically assess different kinds of History, (2) to engage with fundamental issues about how historians 'make' History (including how they interpret and write about the past), and (3) to consider the role of History in the public sphere today, including the media and the heritage industry.

HY31016 - Reading Seventeenth-Century Scotland

30 credits, Semester 2
This module introduces you to seventeenth century Scotland through an examination of the sources. The main themes are government, politics, political ideas, religion and culture. A distinctive aspect of this module is archive-based training in the reading and interpretation of original manuscript sources.

HY31020 - Holland in the Age of Rembrandt

30 credits, Semester 1
This module serves as an introduction to seventeenth-century Dutch history covering political history and also exploring social stratification, women's history, religious strife and toleration, intellectual life, and, of course, Dutch art and culture.

HY31032 - Society and Politics in Italy 1860-1980

30 credits, Semester 2
There is much more to Italy than just the familiar pasta, opera and fashion. This course will introduce you to some key aspects of the history of this fascinating country in the 120 years following political unification. This period was characterised by huge change and upheaval, in which Italy was transformed from one of the poorest and most disunited states of Europe to one of the wealthiest nations in the world, but also by elements of continuity (such as the enduring strength of the family).

HY32026 - Restoration, Revolution, Union and Rebellion: Scotland 1660-c.1760

30 credits, Semester 1
The module focuses on a crucial period in Scotland's history that witnessed the restoration of monarchical government, significant religious upheaval, revolution and dynastic change, war, parliamentary union, the emergence of a British state, the rise and fall of Jacobitism and considerable economic change.

HY32017 - Imperial Spain 1476-1840

30 credits, Semester 1
At the end of the fifteenth century and the start of the sixteenth, Spain was united and acquired an overseas empire, and retained it until the early nineteenth century. This module explores the history of Spain in this period, paying particular attention to the impact of empire. While the main focus will be on political developments, attention will also be paid to economic, social and cultural issues.

HY31034 - Interpreting 19th Century German History, A normal country in Europe?

30 credits, Semester 1
Since the end of the Second World War, German historians have wrestled with the thorny questions of long-term continuities. Did social and political developments in Germany develop in the wrong way during the 19th century, and what was the connection between the Enlightened Absolutism of Friedrich the Great, the authoritarian semi-democratic rule of Bismarck and Hitler's dictatorship? And today, with Germany being a fully democratic country, can historians finally interpret the 19th century as something other than simply the prelude of the horrors to come? Can we study 19th century Germany as a 'normal' country, even if we know what came after?