Group 3 courses

Students should note that 100% attendance is expected and that various colleges will de-register students whose attendance falls below their required minimum.

Group 3 courses are 'special subjects' with a strong emphasis on the study of primary sources. Part at least of one paper in each course will be devoted to historical evidence and these questions will be compulsory for all candidates.

Most courses have an introductory meeting for new students in June of the preceding academic year and resume in the following Autumn term.

Note for courses held at Birkbeck College: Birkbeck students have priority registration and will be examined by one written paper. Students from other colleges will in addition be examined by a 10,000 word essay, if this is required by their School's programme. Assessment for coursework will vary according to the regulations of individual colleges.

Attention is drawn to 'Group 3 Long Essays: Notes for Candidates'

 

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The Assyrian Empire

• Karen Radner
• Not available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:000
• UCL: HIST3106 and HIST9106

A key player in the political geography of the Ancient Near East since the 14th century BC, the kingdom of Assyria had its heartland in what is today northern Iraq. In the course of the early first millennium BC, Assyria emerged as the unrivalled political power of the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean and came to control, directly or indirectly, the regions from Egypt to central Anatolia, from Cyprus to the Persian Gulf and from the Arabian Peninsula to Central Iran. Its modern designation as the first world empire matches the worldview of its rulers who habitually claimed the title of “king of the world”. The course will focus on Assyria’s political, administrative and institutional history from the 10th to 7th century BC. Teaching consists of 20 two-hour seminars, primarily in the shape of discussions and student presentations based on close reading of documents from the State Archives of Assyria, of royal inscriptions, of chronicles and other relevant source materials. Students will develop their ability to read, analyse and reflect critically and contextually upon texts and other primary sources, including visual and material sources. In addition, they will gain an understanding of the geography of the Middle East and how it influenced, and continues to influence, the region’s political history.

Assessment will be by one three-hour examination and one 10,000-word dissertation.

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War and Society in Ancient Greece, 750-350 BC

• Hans van Wees
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• UCL: HIST3105

This course investigates all aspects of war in its social context in archaic and classical Greece - from the causes of conflict, via the question of how to train, raise, maintain, and control citizen and mercenary armies, to the range of forms of warfare from ritual clashes to campaigns of annihilation. In particular, the course tackles some of the myths current in modern scholarship: the notions that war was the 'normal' state of international relations in Greece; that the citizen army was an essentially 'middle-class' body; that warfare was restricted to a game-like competition in the archaic period and became a destructive 'total' conflict only in the classical period; that the Athenian navy drove the development of radical democracy; and that the 'mercenary explosion' of the fourth century was a result of economic and political crisis in the Greek city-states. How the Greeks fought has been much-debated in recent research, and this too will be the subject of detailed study.

A crucial aim of the course is to provide an understanding of how Greek warfare was shaped by the social, economic, and cultural constraints of its time, how it developed, and why wars were so common in ancient Greece.

A second aim of the course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills to tackle this challenge, by enabling them to study the sources as coherent narratives while analysing their implications for any and all aspects of Greek war and society.

Students are expected to have passed at least Beginners' Greek, or an equivalent course, but all sources will be read primarily in English translation. Students are also expected to have completed at least one course in archaic and/or classical Greek history.

Students will be required to write two 1,500-word pieces of source analysis during the first term and one 3,000-word essay on a topic to be agreed with the tutor during the second term and to make two class presentations, one in each term. Assessment will be by one three-hour examination and one 10,000-word dissertation.

This course may not be taken by students who have already taken the former Group 2, Warfare and Society in Ancient Greece 750-350 BC (17/HIST2102).

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This Side of the Taurus: Seleukid Kings and the Cities of Western Asia Minor

• Riet van Bremen
• Not available in 2012-13
• UCL: HIST3103 and 9103

This course deals with the almost-century between 281 (Kouroupedion) and 188 BC (Apameia), during which major conflicts between Seleukids and other Hellenistic dynasties were fought out in Western Asia Minor. The region's cities had to adapt rapidly to new power-structures and new forms of diplomacy. Networks of royal officials developed through whom kings communicated with local communities. Several dossiers showing such chains of command survive. Among important developments of this period are the many enforced sympoliteiai, the specific, Hellenistic, form of asylia, kinship diplomacy, and arbitration by 'foreign judges'.

Despite the lack of a continuous historical narrative for much of this period which makes reconstructing the course of 'high politics' largely impossible, epigraphical documentation is considerable, and growing. Several recent collections have made access to what used to be widely dispersed source material now possible. They are most easily available for those parts of Asia Minor that were, for large parts of this period, under Seleukid rule.

A knowledge of Ancient Greek is desirable; students without Ancient Greek should consult Dr van Bremen before opting for this course. The course will be examined by one three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Alexander the Great

• Hugh Bowden and Lindsay Allen
• Available in 2012-13
• No fixed timeslot
• King's Classics: 6AACHI13

Alexander the Great (reigned 336-323 BC) is one of the most important figures in the history of the ancient world, both because of his achievements and because of his iconic status in subsequent history. The course examines Alexander’s life and achievements, including his generalship, his approach to empire and his religious activities. It also examines his posthumous reputation, from immediately after his death to the present day. As well as the accounts of ancient writers, more recent representations of Alexander will be looked at, including those in art, novels, and film. It requires substantial amounts of reading of the sources in preparation for all classes.

The course will be assessed by one three-hour unseen examination and a 10,000-word essay.

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Mechanisms of Power: Running the Roman Empire

• Benet Salway
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• UCL: HIST3104 and 9104

What held Rome’s provincial empire together through political revolution, civil wars, and crises of succession? This course focuses on the administration and management of this international empire of the pre-industrial age. The core of this course comprises the study of selections from the considerable volume of surviving documents produced in the dialogue between the central government, its provincial representatives, citizens, and subjects. Deliberately eschewing the position of Augustus and his successors as the sole reference point for the system by which Rome governed her empire, the starting point for the investigation is placed in the post-Sullan period. The end is drawn with the provincialisation of Italy, which heralded the beginning of the establishment of a new order in which urbs Roma was now part of rather than mistress over her empire.

Some knowledge of ancient Greek and/or Latin is recommended – although translations will be provided for all texts, a precise appreciation of the language can only be acquired by studying the original. Previous study of Roman history is also recommended.

The course will be examined by one three-hour paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Augustus: Power and Propaganda

• Dominic Rathbone
• Available in 2012-13
• King's Classics: 6AACHI07

The subject of this course is the establishment by Augustus of the autocratic regime known as the Principate, and the political and social consequences in Rome, Italy and the empire in the period 31 BC to AD 14. The primary aim is to study and to attempt to distinguish between the realities of power and the ways in which Augustus sought to influence public perception of his position through constitutional arrangements and written and visual media. Among extant evidence the later historical accounts of Augustus’ reign are fundamental, but close attention will be paid to contemporary poetry, inscriptions, coinage and art and architecture, and in particular to the Augustan building programme in Rome in the light of recent archaeological research.

Examination is by one three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words. In the essay candidates will be required to discuss in depth the evidence for a particular problem using and quoting texts in Latin or ancient Greek; some knowledge of Latin or ancient Greek is therefore required.

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The Roman Army

• Boris Rankov
• Not available in 2012-13
• Th., 11-1
• RH: 47/CL3357A and CL3358A

This course looks at the Roman army as an institution by close study of the primary sources – literary, papyrological and epigraphic – in translation, together with the archaeological evidence. It surveys the army’s origins and development under the Republic, but focuses mainly on the Principate, covering its personnel, organisation and operation in war and peace, but also its central role in the administration and policing of the empire and impact on provincial populations.

Assessment will be by one three-hour examination and by a dissertation of 8,000-10,000 words.

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Christians and Pagans from Constantine to Augustine (AD 306-430)

• David Gwynn
• Not available in 2012-13
• RH

This course explores the crucial transitional period in which Christianity came to dominate the Mediterranean world, from the accession of the first Christian Roman emperor Constantine in 306 to the death of Augustine of Hippo in 430. Students will explore the fundamental political, social and religious developments of these years through the close study of literary and material evidence. Particular attention will focus upon the great authors of this period, including Constantine’s biographer Eusebius of Caesarea, the last pagan Roman emperor Julian ‘the Apostate’, the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, the orator Libanius, and the Christian fathers Ambrose of Milan, Jerome and Augustine. We will also examine lesser known writers such as Ausonius, Prudentius and Claudian, the laws of the Theodosian Code, inscriptions, and an array of surviving examples of Late Roman art and architecture.

Assessment is by coursework (20%), an oral presentation (10%) and a three-hour examination (70%); and an essay of 10,000 words (100%).

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The Fall of the Roman Republic

• Dr. Valentina Arena
• Not available in 2012-13
• Time TBC (beg. Oct. 2012)
• UCL:

As the Roman Empire expanded, it became harder for the lower orders to gain access to the rewards of victory, while competition within the oligarchy became more intense. The peasant armies of Rome were drawn into the conflicts born of this competition and the Republic dissolved into anarchy. The course will also explore three other themes: the ideology of the governing class was one which facilitated change, including the abolition of republican government. At the same time, the central period of Hellenization of the oligarchy was the period of escalating competition which destroyed the system. The last generation of the Republic was a period of astonishing innovativeness in fields as diverse as Latin poetry and Roman law. Finally, the period is also one which saw the beginnings of philosophical analysis of Roman history and society. That process is part of the story of the replacement of a republic by a monarchy.

The course will be examined by a three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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The Transformation of the Roman World, 350-700

• Peter Heather
• Not available in 2012-13
• King's: 6AAH3001/6AAH3002

In the past, the end of the Roman Empire was always seen as a brutal if sometimes necessarily formative turning point in European history. By the fourth century, the Roman system had lost its vitality, and outsiders – barbarians – erected alternative structures in the west which were much more directly ancestral to medieval and hence modern Europe. Since about 1970, however, new evidence has shown that the late Roman world was neither so decadent nor so broke as had always been imagined, and this has reopened debate on the nature and significance of its disappearance. Were the barbarians really outsiders to the Roman system, and were the states they created on Roman soil anything more than the old Empire in new guise? The Transformation of the Roman World explores this major transformative period in European history in all its dimensions – political, economic, and cultural – and seeks to come to an overall judgment on its broader historical significance.

The course will be examined by one three-hour paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Carolingian Europe, c.750-900

• Alice Rio
• Not available in 2012-13
• King's: 6AAH3023/6AAH3024

This module will concentrate on Western Europe during the reigns of Charlemagne and his successors. The Carolingian empire was a period of bold political experimentation and a key formative moment in the history of Europe. It was marked by important developments in political thought, and turned the exercise of royal power into an ambitious new project. New challenges in the practicalities of ruling fundamentally altered the rules of the game. The course will feature, among other themes: territorial expansion and its abeyance; the problems faced by kings in controlling an empire which spanned most of Europe, leading to a new, more administratively-minded style of rule; ways of establishing consensus and keeping the peace at the level of both centre and locality despite relatively light-weight state structures; the use of ritual; the written word and the revival of learning; Christian kingship and monastic and church reform; and the relationship of kings and emperors with the papacy. The Carolingian period witnessed a significant growth in aristocratic power, combining office-holding, local power and family strategies: alongside the activities of kings, this course will also examine the nature of the control over property and people exercised by lay and ecclesiastical lords, and the material underpinnings of political power. The module will rely on a wide range of sources, from Einhard’s classicising biography of Charlemagne to the dark account of civil wars given by Nithard, from Dhuoda’s book of advice to her son to annals, poems, letters, laws and capitularies, sermons and liturgy, archives and documents, manuscripts, art and architecture, and archaeology.

Assessment is by means of one three-hour examination paper and one 10,000-word essay.

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The Norman Conquest of Britain

• Stephen Baxter
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• King's: 6AAH3003/6AAH3004

This course represents a unique opportunity to study one of the most cataclysmic events in the history of these islands. It aims to consider the causes, course and consequences of the Norman Conquest of Britain in a series of twenty seminars. The first of these will cover the major phases of conquest: England and Normandy before 1066, the claimants and their claims, the campaigns of 1066, resistance and rebellions, and Norman colonisation of England, Wales and Scotland. Subsequent seminars will address the impact of the Norman Conquest on different aspects of government and society, for example land tenure and lordship, military matters, secular and religious architecture, kingship, queenship, government, law, the church, the economy, the formation of national identities; and on different social groups such as the aristocracy, women and the peasantry.

This range of engaging subject matter is one reason to opt for this course, but there are several others: the profusion and richness of the sources; the modern relevance and resonance of this material, and the opportunities for meaningful research it creates; the quality of the historiography; and an optional field trip to Normandy.

Assessment is by means of one three-hour examination paper (50%) and one 10,000-word essay (50%).

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Religions, Law and the Papacy in the West: from the Christian Roman Empire to the Frankish 'Roman' Empire

• David d'Avray
• Not available in 2012-13
• UCL: HIST3202

A generation ago papal history concentrated on ideological continuity from late imperial times. In a subsequent reaction, historians of the papacy have devoted themselves to politics and the practical aspects of government. In fact the distinctiveness of the medieval papacy lay in its tight combination of ideological legitimation with bureaucratic routine. Historians need to explain this combination, which can be discerned already in the early medieval period and the late Roman empire. The course will adopt an analytical rather than a narrative approach to this formative period in the history of the medieval papacy.

The course will be examined by a three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Animals and the Medieval Imagination

• Sophie Page
• Not available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• UCL: HIST3204 and 9204

In this course we will look at different approaches to the history of animals and apply them to the late Middle Ages (c.1000-1500). In late medieval Europe, translations of Aristotle's works suggested new ways of thinking about animals and travellers returned from the East with knowledge of extraordinary and exotic beasts. We will look at how medieval people thought about animals from religious and philosophical perspectives and how their daily experiences of animals formed their attitudes. Medieval theologians emphasised the differences between humans and animals, especially the superiority of human rationality and the belief that human souls would have an afterlife. But the ecclesiastical authorities' notions of the correct interpretations of animal symbols or use of animal bodies did not always prevail, and attitudes to animals that contradicted the apparently stringent medieval policing of the border between human and animal can be found among all social groups.

The course will be examined by a three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Passages to Jerusalem: the Crusades and the Medieval World, 1095-1291

• Dr. Antonio Sennis
• Available in 2012-13
• Time TBC (beg. Oct. 2012)
• UCL:

Few features of the Middle Ages are as familiar, even to the most profane of observers, as the series of expeditions which, throughout the 12th and the 13th centuries, aimed at establishing Christian control of the holy lands. Although the word crusades was not used in the Middle Ages, in the course of the centuries the term has become a powerful tool to evoke policies and aspirations of an entire society. This course aims at observing these expeditions, and the world in which they took place, from a cultural perspective. In doing so, we will shed light to some key aspects of Western European society in the 12th and 13th centuries, such as the religious and political ambitions of the papacy; the new devotional aspirations of the laity; the development of a chivalric culture; the cultural expansion of parts of Western Europe.

The course will be examined by a three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Heresy, Crusade and Inquisition in Southern France, c.1140-1300

• Jonathan Phillips, Peregrine Horden
• Available in 2012-13
• M., p.m
• RH: HS3150/3151

Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) dedicated his pontificate to defeating the enemies of the Church. A profound challenge came from the Cathars of southern France – men and women who followed an austere lifestyle and believed in a Good God and an Evil God. When, in 1208, a churchman was murdered, Innocent unleashed the full force of the crusade; a decade of war followed as the northern French crusaders tried to defeat the heretics. After 1218 the conflict acquired a new dimension as the Capetian monarchy tried to extend royal authority into the south. In the late 1220s, the papacy unveiled a further weapon in the war against heresy: the Inquisition – the use of interrogation and close surveillance of communities to root out heresy. A rich body of contemporary material survives to illustrate all aspects of this struggle: narratives, Church decrees, letters, inquisitorial records, charters and songs.

Assessment for the taught unit is by one three-hour examination (90%) and an oral presentation (10%). The coursework unit is assessed by a 10,000 word essay.

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Reform and Rebellion in England, 1215-1267

• David Carpenter
• Not available in 2012-13
• King's: 6AAH3005/6AAH3006

The period between 1215 and 1267 determined the future shape of monarchy in England. The king became limited by Magna Carta but overthrew more radical restrictions on his authority. This paper considers how Magna Carta became implanted into English political life and why it was supplemented in 1258-59 by more radical schemes of reform, schemes which placed central government under magnate control and introduced wide-ranging changes in local government. The paper then examines in detail the period of reform and civil war between 1258 and 1267 to see how the king ultimately destroyed the limitations imposed in 1258. The paper is thus concerned with the personality, policies and government of King Henry III, the careers and outlook of his leading opponents, of whom the greatest was Simon de Montfort, and with the whole nature of English political society in the thirteenth century. A knowledge of Latin is not necessary for this paper but may be put to good use by those who have it.

The examination will consist of one three-hour paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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England in the Reign of Richard II

• Nigel Saul
• Available in 2012-13
• Time to be announced
• RH: 47/HS3131 and 3132

This course looks at the reign of Richard II from as many angles and in as many aspects as possible. In the first term the concern will principally be with politics, and each stage of the reign will be looked at through the eyes of the chroniclers. In the second term consideration is given to a variety of thematic issues, among them Lollardy, courtly literature and art, the Peasants’ Revolt, and the role of Londoners. It is an advantage, although not essential, for a student to have studied the relevant English and European papers. Virtually all of the set texts are available in English translation.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%) and the coursework unit by an essay of 10,000 words (100%).

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Faith and Fire: Religious Culture in England c.1375-1525

• Clive Burgess
• Available in 2012-13
• RH: HS3139/40

This course scrutinises an area of English social history that was once universally disparaged. Recent work, however, suggests that the Church in England from c1375-c1525 displayed remarkable resource in adapting to and satisfying the needs of contemporaries. As well as surveying some of the more vibrant areas of the Church’s institutional life (looking, for instance, at school, college and almshouse foundation), the course will dwell on the laity’s response, particularly as expressed through the parish. This will provide the opportunity to delve into areas such as popular belief and practice, parish government, and more informal activity in the foundation and management of lay confraternities. It will also afford the opportunity to consider material culture, as produced by a remarkable programme of church rebuilding, and exhibited in the generosity that contemporaries devoted both to equipping and beautifying their churches. To the extent that the laity took the initiative in managing and adapting their religious environment, this course will examine the provenance of their ideas, and the means by which they exercised their collective will in local communities.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%) and the coursework unit by an essay of 10,000 words (100%)

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The Age of Plague: Disease, Medicine and Society in Western Europe, 1348-1665

• John Henderson
• [No information received for 2012-13]
• BkC: 08/HICL122U

Plague is a topic of enduring fascination. As each age faces the challenge of new epidemic diseases, from cholera to tuberculosis to AIDS and Sars, plague remains a paradigm against which reactions to other epidemics are judged. This course will examine the measures taken by renaissance and early modern Europe society to cope with plague within the wider context of contemporary understandings of both endemic and epidemic disease. The geographical scope is western Europe, with the main focus on Italy and England, reflecting contemporary English admiration for Italian models of coping with disease. Though this course is framed by the Black Death and the Great Plague of London, it deals with much more than plague. In order to understand the complexity of society’s reactions to epidemics it is necessary to examine attitudes towards all types of disease as well as the full range of medical practitioners and treatments available at the time. These themes will all be examined within the wider context of changing reactions to the poor with the growing contemporary association between poverty and plagues.

Examination is by one three-hour paper.

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The Causes and Consequences of the Fall of Constantinople (1453)

• Jonathan Harris
• Not available in 2012-13
• RH: 47/HS3144 and 3145

In the late fourteenth century, as the Ottoman Turks overran the Balkans, Constantinople, capital city of the shrunken Byzantine empire, held out behind its formidable defences. The first part of this course will look at the decline of the Byzantine empire during the hundred years leading up to 1453. Key events such as the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, the crusade of Nicopolis (1396), and the journey of Manuel II to the West (1399-1402) will all be considered in detail and, where possible, through contemporary sources. The second part will make a detailed examinaton of the many contemporary accounts of the epic siege of 1453 and consdier the strategic and military factors that enabled the Turks to succeed. Finally the long-term repercussions of the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II will be considered.

Assessment for the taught unit is by one three-hour examination (90%) and an oral presentation (10%). The coursework unit is assessed by a 10,000-word essay.

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Later Medieval London, 1450-1560: Community, Politics and Religion

• Vanessa Harding
• [No information received for 2012-13]
• BkC: 08/HICL086U

This course focuses on the city of London at the end of the Middle Ages, when national tensions were reflected in city politics. It traces the changing relationship between the city’s government and inhabitants and the Yorkist and early Tudor state, and studies the impact of the Reformation on London’s social cohesion and the unity of its leaders. It examines the formation of groupings within the city to express common social, religious or economic interests, and investigates their relationship with the city’s rulers. The documentary sources chosen for study, which highlight the problems of identifying ‘community’ and ‘interests’ include the fifteenth-century ‘London Chronicles’, the records of the greater city companies and of parish, guild and fraternity associations, and contemporary wills.

Teaching is by lectures and classes. Students wishing to take this course should have studied British History in the same period. There is no language requirement, but some of the sources are in contemporary English. Examination is by a three-hour unseen written paper.

No student may take both this course and the Group 2 course ‘London: Urban Society, 1400-1600’ (RH: HS2132).

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Ivan the Terrible and the Russian Monarchy in the Sixteenth Century

• Sergei Bogatyrev
• Available in 2012-13
• SSEES, UCL: 17/SEHI3006 and SEHI9006

The main aim of this course is to provide students with in-depth knowledge of the rule of Ivan IV the Terrible (1533-1584), one of the longest reigns in Russian history. Ivan the Terrible, the first Russian ruler who assumed the title of tsar, is known as one of the most controversial figures in Russian history. Historians, writers and artists portrayed Ivan as a Machiavellian statesman, a national democratic leader, a Renaissance-type writer, a bloody tyrant, a paranoid who saw enemies all around him. To put Ivan’s rule in a wider historical and cultural context, we will also examine the reigns of his immediate predecessors and successors, Vasilii III (1505-1533) and Fedor Ivanovich (1584-1598). The focus will be on the place of the monarch and his dynasty in the political regime of autocracy which formed in Russia in the sixteenth century. Care will also be taken to compare the development of the Russian monarchy with contemporary early modern European states. The set texts for the course include chronicles, legal codes, edicts, administrative records, polemical works, legal charters, household rules, proceedings of church councils, epistles, diplomatic papers, and foreign accounts. The sources utilised during the course will also include a large amount of visual material, like works of iconpainting, architecture, portraits, engravings, and films. Students will contribute presentations, and will write a short essay and document commentaries.

Assessment is by coursework (25%), one three-hour examination paper including compulsory source commentaries (75%), and an essay of 10,000 words.

As the sources are all available in English translation, there are no language requirements for the course.

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East and West through Travel Writing: the Limits and Divisions of Europe

• Wendy Bracewell
• Available in 2012-13
• SSEES, UCL: 17/SEHI3001 and 9001

This course explores the ways travellers have constructed ideas of Europe, concentrating on the seventeenth century to the present. A body of source material has been selected from the rich variety of travel writings and related genres which deal with ideas of European identity and alterity. In particular, the course includes the writings of those from Europe’s eastern margins, comparing and contrasting them to more familiar works by Western travellers.

The course aims to introduce students to a selection of travel writing and related genres; to encourage critical analysis of travel writing, focusing especially on the ways Europe (and particularly its eastern limits and divisions) has been perceived and represented; and to introduce students to a variety of methodological and theoretical tools for the study of travel writing. Because of the nature of the sources themselves, and because the issues of identity, difference, representation and power have been the subject of discussion in a number of disciplines, the course is conceived as interdisciplinary (bringing together historical, literary and anthropological perspectives).

There are no prerequisites or language requirements. It is assumed that students will have a general knowledge of modern European history, but also that their areas of expertise will vary (and this is taken into account in the course’s approach). Examination will be by one three-hour paper (including compulsory gobbets) (75%) and assessed coursework (25%); and by an essay of 10,000 words.

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The Origins of Reformation in England

• Lucy Kostyanovsky
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• King's: 6AAH3007/6AAH3008

The course will examine this contentious and complex subject, and through the study of both religious ideas in the abstract, and their application in government, church and parish, will explore the intricate interweaving of religion and society. The course will study the origins of religious change in England from the late fifteenth century until the making of the Elizabethan Settlement. The customary division between the late medieval and early Reformation eras will be transcended by an array of sources dealing with religious belief and practice from c.1480 to c.1560. The more traditional sources for the origins of Reformation will thus be placed in the context of late medieval piety and some of the less well-known manifestations of religious change. The influence of Lollardy will be studied alongside that of medieval mysticism, and the first stirrings of Protestantism will be seen against the background of humanist developments, and viewed alongside the Catholic reform movement. Sources will range from published and manuscript sermons, letters and chronicles, polemical publications and devotional works, through official proclamations and parliamentary statutes, to the records of heresy trials and visitation returns. It is hoped that these sources will provide an understanding of the changing patterns of belief and worship, and also an insight into the social response to religious innovation.

The course will be examined by one three-hour paper, which will include extracts from primary sources, and an essay of 10,000 words. Some acquaintance with early modern English history or with religious history would be an advantage.

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Reformation and Revolt in the Low Countries, c.1520-1620

• Ben Kaplan
• Not available in 2012-13
• UCL: HIST3313 and 9313

The course examines the religious and political upheavals that rocked the Low Countries in the sixteenth century – the Reformation and the Revolt against Spain. It pays special attention to what was unique about the religious scene in the Low Countries: the protean character of the early Reformation there, the mass following that Anabaptism won, the influence of Erasmus, the unparalleled harshness of religious persecution, the ambitious ‘new bishoprics’ scheme for reforming the Catholic Church, the mass flight of Protestants into exile, the uncompromising selectivity of the Dutch Reformed churches, the ‘Libertine’ resistance to Calvinist discipline, the controversy over predestination, and the practice of toleration. The course also looks for patterns behind the complex course of political events: the attachment of Netherlanders to their ‘privileges’, their goals and justifications for rebellion, the swing vote cast by the so-called ‘middle groups’, the dilemmas posed by the question of sovereignty, and the functioning of the new republican polity that formed in the northern provinces.

No foreign languages are required, although students who have a relevant one will be encouraged to use it. While not essential, it would help to have some previous knowledge of early modern European history.

The course will be examined by a three-hour written paper which will include a compulsory question on gobbets, and by an essay of 10,000 words.

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When Kings were Gods: Early Modern Islamic Political Ideas

• Evrim Binbas
• Not available in 2012-13
• RH: HS3356 & HS3357

One of the unresolved conundrums of Islamic history has been the intellectual, religious, and ideological background of the formation of the early modern Islamic regional empires, i.e., the Ottomans in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Safavids in Iran, and the Timurid Mughals in India. Emerging from a common background shaped by the Islamic and Mongol political ideals in the Late Medieval period, each one of these empires formulated a different solution to the political and ideological problems that Middle Eastern Islamic polities had faced since 1258, when the Mongol armies effectively destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. This course traces the intellectual and religious lineages of the ideas of empire and discusses the different shapes that they took in the early modern period under the light of a wide range of original texts in English translation, including political, theological, and legal treatises as well as visual, numismatic, and epigraphic sources.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%). The coursework unit is assessed by a 10,000-word essay.

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Women and Gender in Early Modern England

• Laura Gowing
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• King's: 6AAH3009/6AAH3010

This course examines the roles and relations of women and men in England, c.1550-1700. Against the backdrop of the print revolution, demographic and economic change, urbanisation, the Reformation, the Civil War, and the Restoration, it considers the enforcement of household order and changing definitions of family; the exclusion of women from politics and the roles they played in rioting, petitioning, the Civil War, and the radical sects of the 1650s; the gender politics of religious reformation, recusancy, martyrdom, and Puritanism; the ways that people understood sexual differences, the body, and reproduction; the power of insults, honour, and reputation; and the narratives of crime, violence and disorder. Using a wide range of sources, from sermons, legal treatises, and household advice to popular literature, diaries, letters, and legal testimonies, we will consider how women and men understood, enforced, and challenged gender roles. Some study of early modern England would be helpful.

Examination will be by one three-hour paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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The British Civil Wars and Interregnum, 1627-60

• Jason Peacey
• Available in 2012-13
• UCL: HIST3312 and 9312

The decades of the British civil wars and interregnum continue to exert a profound grip on the popular imagination, as well as a powerful influence over at least some aspects of contemporary politics, and this course will explore what is unquestionably one of the most exciting, complex and contentious periods in our history, and which boasts some of its most controversial and charismatic individuals, from Charles I and Cromwell to John Milton and John Lilburne. It will explore how and why Britain experienced civil war during the 1640s, and the political and religious ramifications during the late 1640s and 1650s, when Britain witnessed a republic, a written constitution, and the emergence of a ‘fiscal-military state’ and a major world power. Students will trace the political and religious changes in Britain during the mid-seventeenth century; engage with political, constitutional, and religious ideas, both mainstream and radical; examine elite and popular politics, both nationally and locally; explore issues and factors determining political consciousness, motivation and allegiance across the social and political spectrum; trace the emergence of new institutional structures and media; and assess the period’s historical significance and influence. Central to this course will be examination and analysis of a variety of original source material, in terms of official documents, diaries, private letters, and memoirs, as well as early newspapers and political tracts, not least in order to engage with some of the most important historiographical debates of the last half a century, as well as recent trends in research and scholarship.

Assessment will be by one three-hour examination and one 10,000-word dissertation.

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Blasphemy, Irreligion and the English Enlightenment, 1650-1720

• Justin Champion
• Not available in 2012-13
• RH: 47/HS3134 and 3135

This course will examine the intellectual and political consequences of the radical ferment (both popular and philosophical) of ideas spawned in the English Revolution of the 1650s. The course texts will include clandestine manuscripts, like the subversive 'Treatise of Three Impostors' which argued that Moses, Mahomet and Christ were all religious frauds, and printed works by critics like James Harrington, Thomas Hobbes and Charles Blount. The primary objective will be to study the anticlerical, heterodox and openly irreligious components of the Republican attack upon established Christianity. The second line of inquiry will explore how the attack on Christianity of the 1650s developed into a systematic rejection of all revealed religion in the later seventeenth century. Attention will focus upon arguments that set out to destroy the authority of the priesthood and to reject the authenticity of the Bible, as well as their accounts of 'other religions' like Islam and Judaism which were used to criticise Christianity.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%) and the coursework unit by an essay of 10,000 words (100%).

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Political Arithmetic in Britain, 1660-1800

• Julian Hoppit
• Not available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• UCL: HIST3315 and HIST9315

In Restoration England considerable effort was expended in trying to detail accurately the nation’s full potential so as to enable effective policies to be devised to maximize ‘power and plenty’. This was closely associated with the foundation of the Royal Society in 1660 and the practice of ‘political arithmetic’, that is attempts to quantify social and economic realities and potentials. A little over half of the course focuses upon the hey day of political arithmetic between 1660 and 1714. The second part of the course explores the continuing but changing significance of political arithmetic, as well as with other modes of the empirical study of society employed. The institution of the first census in 1801 provides the course’s terminal point. Both parts of the course will consider relevant European and imperial contexts.

Students will gain an understanding of the role of infant ‘social science’ in Britain and its importance to the growth of the state. The course also seeks to develop the skills of critically evaluating and using primary sources, including manuscript sources. Through the long essay, students will further their research skills amongst both primary and secondary sources.

Assessment will be by one three-hour examination and one 10,000-word dissertation.

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The Enlightenment

• Dr Niall O'Flaherty
• Not available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• King's: 6AAH3027/6AAH3028

The eighteenth century in Europe was a period of bold intellectual experimentation in which some of society’s most cherished social, political and religious ideas were challenged. The transformation of intellectual culture which ensued was partly the result of a revolution in scientific method, but attempts by prominent thinkers in the period to place the study of man on these newly-laid natural philosophical foundations were equally important. The core aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the debates arising from this enterprise in their historical and intellectual contexts, with particular emphasis being placed on the social, political and religious dimensions of such controversies. The module will feature themes such as the sceptical assault on religion, ‘rational Christianity’, the science of politics, attitudes to Commercial society, the American and French Revolutions and the impact of contact with non-European civilisations on European thought. Students will become familiar with a number of key interventions in debates on these issues through a detailed study of primary texts. The course treats the Enlightenment as a European-wide phenomenon, and therefore includes works by thinkers from across the continent, including David Hume, John Locke, Voltaire, Vico, Rousseau, Kant and Bernard Mandeville. As well as engaging in detailed historical analysis of Enlightenment texts, the course will explore historiographical debates about whether the diversity of preoccupations of eighteenth-century men of letters and the variety of historical contexts in which they wrote means it is no longer possible to talk meaningfully about the Enlightenment, but only about Enlightenments. Such reflections will give an impetus to comparative study.

Assessment will be by one three-hour examination and one 10,000-word dissertation.

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Great Britain and the American Colonies, 1760-1776

• Stephen Conway
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• UCL: HIST3301 and 9301

This course examines the conflict of attitudes, interests, and policies between Great Britain and the British North American Colonies, from its emergence during the last stages of the Seven Years War up until the American Declaration of Independence.

Teaching is closely orientated to consideration of the set texts. These texts have been chosen to illustrate the Anglo-American confrontation. From the British side, they depict the instruments of colonial rule, the formulation of new policies and the great debate stimulated by American disaffection. From the American side they enable the student to study how grievances were articulated and claims to a new status were defined.

Examination is by a three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Monarchs and the Enlightenment in Russia and Central Europe

• Simon Dixon/Richard Butterwick
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• SSEES, UCL: SEHI3009/9009

'The Enlightenment' in France is most often associated with the philosophes - notably Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, d'Alembert, and Rousseau - who were, more often than not, highly critical of the French monarchy and sometimes persecuted by the French state. Rightly or wrongly, they were subsequently blamed for undermining the Ancien Regime. In Central Europe and Russia, however, 'Enlightenment' was usually promoted by monarchs in order to strengthen their states. In articulating 'enlightened' statements of intent and implementing 'enlightened' policies, they were cheered on by the same philosophes who often criticized the monarchy in France. Indeed, Voltaire and Diderot even came to the provocative conclusion that under the rule of wise and 'enlightened' monarchs, the 'light' of reason and toleration now shone from 'the North'. This course opens with a study of the eighteenth century's most influential work of political and social thought, Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. It will then examine the impact of the ideas and language of 'the Enlightenment' in the Russian Empire, the Prussian Monarchy, the Habsburg Monarchy, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the reigns of Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great, Maria Theresa and Joseph II, and Stanislaw August Poniatowski. It will also analyse those monarchs' ambiguous relationship with the philosophes and consider the applicability of the terms 'enlightened absolutism' and 'enlightened despotism' in the specific social and religious contexts of those territories. It will conclude with a survey of the opposition faced by 'enlightened' ideas and policies in Russia and Central Europe, compared to the 'Anti-Enlightenment' in France.

Assessment will be by one essay of 2,000-2,500 words; two commentaries on documents of 1,000-1,500 words and an extended essay of 10,000 words.

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Antipodean Encounters: Aborigines, Convicts and Settlers in New South Wales, c.1770-1850

• Prof. Margot Finn
• Available in 2012-13
• Time TBC (beg. Oct. 2012)
• UCL

The module explores the encounters between Europeans and Aboriginal peoples in colonial New South Wales, c. 1770-1850. It emphasises the significant differences both within and between European and Aboriginal populations, and the ways in which processes of colonisation both consolidated and eroded these differences. Substantial emphasis is placed upon the ways in which Enlightenment thought helped to frame the colonial encounter: Enlightenment conceptions of human nature, science, economy and civilisation are all examined in this context. The impact of legal structures also receives substantial attention: the conviction of criminals in Britain, their transportation to Australia and the operation of the criminal law in New South Wales all shaped the structure, function and perception of colonial Antipodean society. The emergence of a society of ‘free’ settlers and labourers from these convict origins provides an additional topic of focus for the module. Throughout the course, attention will be paid to historiographical debates within Australian history.

The course will be examined by a three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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France, 1774-1794: Reform and Revolution

• Julian Swann
• [No information received for 2012-13]
• BkC: 08/HICL052U

This course is intended to provide a manageable survey of French history in its many facets from 1774-1794. Attention will be concentrated upon the structure of French society and the organisation of its religious, cultural and economic life, and it is against this background that the political crisis of the monarchy will be examined. The historiographical debate about the origins of the revolution and its progress will be viewed in relation to these structures in order to assess the extent of change in French society between the accession of Louis XVI and the fall of Robespierre. Lectures and seminars will be broken down into three main sections. The first will examine the structure of French society between 1774 and 1789. Topics to be discussed will include the church, the court at Versailles and the royal government. Part two of the course will take a broad view of the political crisis which beset France between 1774 and the fall of Robespierre in 1794. The final section will concentrate upon the daily reality of life in revolutionary France, and will examine themes such as revolutionary violence, art and culture, and counter-revolution. Although some knowledge of French would be an advantage, the plentiful supply of both primary and secondary sources in English means that there is no language requirement. Students will be expected to have taken a Group 1 survey course covering eighteenth-century European History.

Examination is by a three-hour unseen written paper.

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The Making of a Colonial Regime: Eastern India, 1780-1820

• Jon Wilson
• Not available in 2012-13
• King's: 6AAH3013/6AAH3014

What is colonialism? This course asks that question by examining British government in India during the period in which the East India Company began to consolidate its authority there. The course concentrates on the province of Bengal. Students will study British debates about the nature of Indian society and how they should govern it. By examining the way the East India Company raised revenue, administered justice and governed religion, they will also examine the changing relationship between Britons and Indians in practice. Students will gain a sense of the changing shape of the East India Company's regime in Bengal, and how Indians responded to British rule. There are no language requirements.

The course will be examined by one three-hour paper, which will include questions from primary sources, and an essay of 10,000 words.

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The French Revolution

• Colin Jones
• [No information received for 2012-13]
• QMUL: 13/

The course provides an in-depth examination of one of the most formative events in world history. The Revolution will be analysed in its origins, processes and outcomes, in the context of European and Atlantic history as well as of the French past. The political narrative of events from 1787 to 1799 will form the organizing thread of themodule, but social, economic, intellectual, religious, ideological and cultural aspects of the period will also feature. A particular focus will be on how and why the Revolution drifted towards Terror – and how Terror was ended. A short, optional research trip to Paris will allow students to explore key Revolutionary sites.

There are no prerequisites for the course. Students with a working knowledge of French are welcome, but equally those with none.

Assessment will be by one three-hour examination, including an element of documentary analysis through gobbets, and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Colombia: from the Revolution for Independence to the Drugs Terrorists

• Christopher Abel
• Not available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• UCL: HIST3307 and 9307

This course looks at the political, economic, social and international history of Colombia from independence to the present. Students will be introduced to documents available in English, e.g. translations of letters and speeches of Simón Bolívar, British Parliamentary Papers, UK banking documents, travellers' accounts, newspaper cuttings, despatches from UK ambassadors, and reports by human rights organizations. At least one class will be conducted in each of the following:

1. UCL MS room, which houses the archive of the Bank of London and South America;
2. the National Archives at Kew, which houses British diplomatic archives. [Students will have to finance the return trip to Kew];
3. Senate House, Parliamentary Papers collection.

Students are required to have completed successfully at least one course in Latin American History.

The course will be assessed by a three-hour written examination consisting of gobbets and essays (one unit), plus an essay of 10,000 words (one unit).

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The Revolting French: British and French Responses to Revolutions

• Pamela M. Pilbeam
• Not available in 2012-13
• RH: 47/HS3255 and 3256

The course compares contemporary British and French responses to the revolutionary upheavals in France from Napoleon’s Hundred Days to the Paris Commune, 1871, via the July revolution, the Lyon silkworkers’ rebellions in the 1830s, the events of 1848 and Louis Napoleon’s coup in 1851. We shall look at ambassadors’ comments, British newspapers, illustrated papers, cartoons and waxworks and a range of French views, lithographs, cartoons and songs. Everything is in English, except the songs – but they have good tunes!

Assessment for the taught unit is by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%) and the coursework unit by an essay of 10,000 words.

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Comparing Religious Fundamentalisms in the 19th and 20th centuries

• Markus Daechsel
• Available in 2012-13
• RH: HS3330/31

Ever since the Islamic Revolution in Iran happened to coincide with the greater prominence of Christian nationalist rhetoric in Ronald Reagan's White House journalists, policy makers and academics have suggested that the end of the 'short' twentieth century brought about a global return of religious radicalism. This fashion receded to the background for a while in the 1990s, but in the aftermath of 9/11 has returned with a vengeance, leading to the publication of an avalanche of books about what is 'wrong' with public religion the world over. This course will discuss the utility of 'fundamentalism' as an analytical category as it seeks to explain a wide range of radical political cultures around the globe under one master category: from the new wave of Islamic terrorism to settler intransigence in and religious Zionism in Israel, from communal violence in India committed under the banner of a muscular Hinduism to the neo-Imperialist agenda of the Christian Right in the US. We will investigate the complex pasts of these movements and religious tendencies, which take us back to the 19th century and beyond, and attempt to sketch an ideological landscape of 'fundamentalists' by analyzing their own writings and pronouncements. The overall approach of this course is thematic and comparative, using the findings of this cross-religious and cross-regional survey and debate them in a more general and conceptual framework.

NB – Not to be taken in conjunction with Group 2 HS2232 Lahore and Istanbul: modernity in the Muslim Imperial city, c.1850-1960.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by best two of four coursework essays (20%), an oral presentation (10%) and a three-hour exam (70%), and for the coursework unit an essay of 10,000 words (100%)

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Caribbean Intellectual History, c.1800 to the Present

• Richard Drayton
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• King's: 6AAH3015/6AAH3016

The course surveys the intellectual history of the Caribbean from the beginning of creole revolts against colonialism to the contemporary period. It aims to introduce students to how the Caribbean has constituted itself from within through a body of sources in the principal languages of the region, using both written sources and popular oral sources in order to suggest how intellectual history may be constituted from below as well as above. It further examines the relationship of cultural life to power and politics, since all these intellectual interventions were generated in response to European and American imperialisms and their aftermaths.

The course will be examined by one three-hour paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Living the Empire: Metropole and Colony in the 1830s

• Keith McClelland
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• UCL: HIST3309 and 9309

This course is focused on Britain and its empire. It investigates the relation between metropole and colony in the 1830s and the impact of empire on the making of Britons. Through an exploration of a series of key topics it focuses on the differentiated ways in which men and women both in the United Kingdom and across specific sites of empire, were constituted and constituted themselves as British subjects. Using different kinds of documents, from parliamentary debates and select committee reports to novels, sermons, essays, diaries and travel writing we shall investigate how identities were constructed both for Britons and their 'others'. In the process we shall be examining the making of class, gender and racial differences. The topics range from Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform to the abolition of slavery and the treatment of Aboriginal peoples, from women's relation to politics to the presence of the Irish in Britain.

The course will be examined by two essays (50%) and a three-hour written paper (50%), and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Putting off the Pauper, Putting on the Man: Poverty, Dress and Identity in Industrial England

• Vivienne Richmond
• Available in 2012-13
• M., 2-4
• GC:

For 'the poor', who formed the majority of the population in the long nineteenth century, clothing was a potent vehicle for the construction of individual and collective identities, a marker of success and failure, a determinant of 'respectability' and a key capital investment, yet expensive and difficult to obtain and retain. This course considers changing definitions of poverty and examines what the poor wore, what clothing meant to them, how it was 'read' by others and the many strategies employed to obtain it. We will read working-class autobiographies and diaries to understand how the acquisition, possession and display of clothing impacted on multiple facets of proletarian life. We shall also look at sermons and religious tracts, Parliamentary papers, instruction manuals, psychiatric texts, institutional records, magazines, prints, photographs and garments themselves, to examine the attitudes and policies of the many wealthier contemporaries who interested themselves in, and sometimes controlled, the dress of the poor. In so doing we shall discover that the study of popular clothing, fascinating in its own right, also opens a new window onto numerous aspects of nineteenth-century cultural and social history including the Poor Law, class relations, gender, regional variation, religion, philanthropy, education, consumption, retailing, work and leisure..

The course will be examined by a three-hour written paper and by an essay of 10,000 words.

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Victorian Social and Political Thought

• Gregory Claeys
• Available in 2012-13
• RH: 47/HS3251 and 3252

This course concerns the leading thinkers, and principal themes, of social and political thought in Victorian Britain, with an emphasis upon the development of liberalism and socialism and individualist and collectivist approaches to social and political problems. Examining in particular the question of extending the franchise, poor relief, and attitudes towards commerce and industry, culture and 'character', the course focusses on T. R. Malthus, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, Matthew Arnold, William Morris, and John Hobson, with an excursion into Social Darwinism. Readings are from published primary sources, though an acquaintance with the relevant secondary literature is desirable. The lectures/seminars will, however, also discuss other texts by these writers and other authors. Other matters touched on, for example, include science and Social Darwinism, the development of political economy, secularism and the crisis of religious faith, and the general issue of 'Victorian values'. The teaching will be by weekly seminars.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%) and the coursework unit by an essay of 10,000 words (100%).

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Victorian Intellectual History

• Georgios Varouxakis
• Available in 2012-13
• M., 2-4
• QMUL:

The course offers an advanced understanding of the major issues, debates and controversies, currents of thought, thinkers and ‘public moralists’ in Victorian intellectual life. These will be closely connected with their broader political, social, economic, and cultural contexts. Themes and controversies focused upon include responses to the gradual advent of democracy, the ‘condition of England’ question, the role of political economy, socialism, the importance of evolutionary thinking, the reception and fate of Positivism in Britain, religious orthodoxy, nonconformity and unbelief, debates around biblical scholarship, the ‘Religion of Humanity’, the role of ‘culture’ and the search for new sources of authority, the meanings of ‘race’ and the significance attributed to it at the time, discourses of ‘national character’, and a wide range of debates on the meanings and merits of patriotism, cosmopolitanism, nationality, Empire and imperialism, and the divergent visions of global order and international relations advanced by Victorian public moralists.

Assessment is by one three-hour examination (50%) and two x 5,000 word research essays (50%).

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The Empire in Victorian Britain, c.1830-1870

• Zoe Laidlaw
• Not available in 2012-13
• RH: 47/HS3248 and 3249

This course examines the changing place of the Empire in British politics and society in the mid-nineteenth century. Between 1830 and 1870 the political relationship between Britain and the colonies was recast, while understandings of ‘race’ also changed profoundly. Drawing on a wide range of textual and visual sources – including official papers, cartoons, explorers’ diaries, newspapers, maps, parliamentary debates, novels and letters, students will examine British responses to imperial events such as the emancipation of slaves, indigenous rebellions in India and Jamaica; David Livingstone’s exploration of Africa; and the settlement of New Zealand. These will be placed alongside debates over emigration, prostitution, convicts, evolution and government which connected metropolitan and colonial societies. Students will be encouraged to address large themes such as the relationship between metropolitan and colonial societies, and changing definitions of 'Britishness'.

Assessment for the taught unit is by one three hour examination (70%), an oral presentation (10%) and two coursework essays (20%). The coursework unit is assessed by a 10,00-word dissertation.

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Family, Society and Culture in Britain 1832-1918

• Sean Brady
• [No information received for 2012-13]
• BkC: HICL197S6

This course introduces students to the study of Victorian family life, and examines themes such as: childhood; old age; the Victorian way of death; education; married life; developments in gender expectations; feminism and the family; the franchise and masculinity; the state and motherhood; housewifery and the male breadwinner wage; suffrage and women; the First World War and the family. This course also looks at the family and its discontents, exploring themes such as: divorce; homosexuality; the ‘new life’ of the 1880s; the ‘New Woman’ and the “crisis in masculinity”; bastardy; birth control; bachelorhood; and the spinster and her enemies. The course will involve study of documentary evidence, and the historiography of the family, gender, class and sexuality.

Examination by a three-hour unseen written paper.

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Migration, Identity and Citizenship in Modern Britain

• Humayun Ansari
• Available in 2012-13
• RH: HS3346 & HS3347

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the role that migration has played in British life since the nineteenth century, with particular focus on the evolution of identities and notions of citizenship. It looks historically at the arrival, reception and impact of migrants – such as the Irish, Jewish and people from different parts of Britain’s global empire - in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, before focusing on the experiences of those migrant groups that arrived after World War II and the various ways in which successive governments have sought to manage their presence in Britain. From immigration legislation, to race riots, from multiculturalism to Islamaphobia, this course engages with key aspects of modern British life and the various factors, historical as well as contemporary, that have shaped them.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%). The coursework unit is assessed by a 10,000-word essay.

Not available to students who have taken Group 2 course 'Ethnicity, Identity and Citizenship' (HS2254).

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Abraham Lincoln and the Crisis of the Union, 1854-1865

• Adam Smith
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• UCL: HIST3314 and 9314

The Civil War remains the defining event in American history. Over 600,000 combatants died in a war that ravaged the United States for four years and challenged the very survival of the nation. America’s greatest moral, political and constitutional crisis raises profound questions about the intersection of race, religion, nationalism and constitutionalism in the nineteenth century. The set texts include government documents, political speeches, polemical pamphlets, newspaper commentaries, private correspondence, sermons, cartoons and lithographs, songs, and selections from private diaries and journals.

Examination is by one three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

This course may not be taken by students who have taken HIST2313 ‘The Crisis of the American Republic, 1857-1877’.

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Urban, Culture and Modernity: Vienna-Prague-Budapest 1857-1938

• Egbert Klautke
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• SSEES, UCL: SEHI3007 and 9007

This course will examine the history of major cities in the Habsburg monarchy and its successor states during the period of classical modernity. It will focus on the emergence of a particularly modern urban culture in Central Europe around the turn of the century. Taking turn-of-the-century Vienna as a starting point, the seminar will discuss the emergence of leading modernist movements and ideas in the ‘backward’ Habsburg empire. We will look at the particularly modern aspects of Vienna’s, Prague’s, and Budapest’s urban landscape and culture, and, where appropriate, compare these with developments in other cities in Central Europe that had specific relations with Vienna, Prague, or Budapest (e.g. Munich, Berlin, Dresden, Brno, Bratislava, Budweis, Zagreb). Students will study the development of capital cities as centres for the arts and popular culture, science and technology, industry and commerce; analyse their architectural and spatial development as well as the ideas that guided it; look at intellectual circles and networks of avantgarde artists, and study the different forms of nationalism within the cities. The course will make students familiar both with urban history and cultural and intellectual history. To this end, a wide range of sources will be used, from specialised academic literature to diaries, memoirs, and novels; from maps and photographs to reproductions of modernist art and architecture, to feature and documentary films. There is no language requirement.

Assessment is coursework (25%), one three-hour examination (75%), and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Reconstruction, Land, and Labour in the United States, 1863-1887

• Bruce E. Baker
• Not available in 2012-13
• M., p.m.
• RH: HS3294

The United States was transformed in the decades that followed the Civil War. Traditionally, the study of the processes by which this transformation occurred have been broken into separate topics: Reconstruction; industrialisation; westward expansion. This course treats these various aspects of the nation's history as integrally linked. Our focus will be to understand the processes by which control and allocation of resources of labour and land were contested by African Americans, Native Americans, industrial workers, and immigrants on the one hand and the business and political representatives of a maturing system of industrial capitalism on the other hand. Although centred on the political struggles of Reconstruction in the South, it analyses a wide variety of sources to illuminate connections between what was happening in the South and what was happening elsewhere in the country and to construct explanations that do not rely on notions of regional exceptionalism.

Assessment is by one three-hour written paper and a 10,000 word essay.

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Popular Culture in American History, 1870 to the Present

• Marybeth Hamilton
• [No information received for 2012-13]
• BkC: 08/HICL102U

This course explores the history of American 'mass culture'; entertainment marketed to a national audience, spanning class, race, and gender divides. Beginning in the late nineteenth century with an exploration of mass culture's emergence, it moves to a series of twentieth-century case studies, moments when mass culture caused problems - when it blurred the distinctions between 'good taste' and 'bad taste', 'folk culture' and 'commercial amusement', or 'popular' and 'serious' art. In the process, the course will explore the history of cultural criticism - the relation between popular culture and intellectuals and their attempts to define the boundaries of popular art.

Examination by a three-hour unseen written paper.

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The French Civil War

• Tutor TBC
• Available 2012-13
• QMUL: HST6308

On 6 February 1934, demonstrators gathered in Paris to protest against government corruption. The demonstration turned violent, the police opened fire and fifteen people were killed. The left-wing government claimed that it has thwarted an attempted fascist uprising; the right wing claimed that the government had massacred innocent patriots. This event inaugurated ten years of instability and division in French politics. This is the civil war which this module examines. Among the themes to be covered are the impact of fascism in 1930s France, the reasons why France was defeated by Germany in 1940, the extent of collaboration with Germany, the role of the Resistance, anti-Semitism and the deportation of the Jews, and the Liberation of France in 1944 (looking in particular at the role of General de Gaulle). Finally it will look at changing way in which this period has been remembered in France since 1945 - how the myth that France was a nation of resisters has been replaced by a counter myth which is no less simplistic. One of the purposes of the module will be to examine the validity of these concepts of resistance and collaboration. The sources to be used will include diaries and memoirs, novels, (for example the famous Resistance novel The Silence of the Sea), films (The Great Illusion, The Crow) and official government archives.

Assessment is by examination, two essays of 3,500 words each, and an extended essay of 7,000 words.

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Modernity and Modernism

• Axel Körner and Nicola Miller
• Not available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• UCL: HIST3310 and 9301

This course explores the philosophical, theoretical and historiographical debates surrounding the concepts of modernity and modernism, and the relationship between them, with specific reference to Europe and Latin America. The set texts are all written documents - philosophical essays, manifestos, letters, novels, plays and poetry - but during the course students will also discuss painting, music and architecture. Discussion will focus on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, although some examples will be drawn from both earlier and later periods. Topics covered include modern philosophies of history (especially by Hegel and Marx); the role of Latin America in European constructions of modernity; modern concepts of aesthetics and knowledge; the modernist revolution in the arts, both in Europe and Latin America; the primitive and the modern; cultural expressions of modernity in Europe and Latin America.

Students should normally have taken a relevant course in European history and/or Latin American history. If you do not have this background please consult with the teachers before enrolling. A knowledge of one or more European languages would be an advantage, especially for the dissertation, but is not a requirement.

Teaching will be by weekly seminars. The course will be examined by two essays of 2,500-3,000 words each (25%) and a three-hour written paper (75%), and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Berlin: A European Metropolis from Kaiser to Kohl

• Rudolf Muhs
• Available in 2012-13
• M., p.m
• RH: HS3257/3258

Berlin was one of the focal points in the history of the 20th century. The notions associated with the German capital appear far from unequivocal, though. Across Europe and the world it served, and continues to serve, as a byword for both modernity and decadence; for civic pride and civil unrest, reactionary as well as progressive movements; for war and genocide; for tyranny, but also for freedom and, above all, for the unexpected turn of events. Based on a wide and diverse range of primary source material (from diplomatic documents and political discourses via journalistic, autobiographical and literary texts to cabaret songs and feature films), the course extends, chronologically, from the making of metropolitan Berlin before 1914 to the ramifications of reunification after 1990. Topics include, among others: Berlin society, its classes, milieus and communities; women across the decades and regimes; high culture and (ethnic, artistic, sexual and criminal) subcultures; the built environment from Wilhelmine grandeur, Republican sobriety, Nazi and Communist showcase architecture to post-war and post-wall reconstruction; the flowering of Jewish Berlin and its extinction; revolution, counter-revolution and the 'golden twenties'; political activism in the Weimar, Nazi and Communist eras; anti-fascist resistance, East Berlin dissent and West Berlin non-conformism; conquest, occupation and division; four-power-status, cold war and détente; the Wall and its fall; in short - everything from high politics to low life.

Assessment for the taught unit is by one three-hour examination (90%) and an oral presentation (10%). The coursework unit is assessed by a 10,000 word dissertation.

This course may not be taken simultaneously with the Group 2 course 'Nationalism, Democracy and Minorities' (HS2264).

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Progressivism and Progressive Thought in America, c. 1890-1914

• Melvyn Stokes
• Not available in 2012-13
• UCL: HIST3305 and 9305

In the United States, progressivism was the long-running wave of reform that reached its crest just before the First World War. The movement generated great controversy and much new thinking on a range of subjects. Important issues of the time included: the role of government in social and economic affairs; the curtailment of irresponsible and anti-social practices by business corporations; muckraking journalism and the exposure of political corruption; urban reform; the conservation of natural resources; women's rights; the role of minority groups in American life, and issues relating to poverty, vice and crime. There were also recognizable 'progressive' attitudes towards foreign policy, education, religion, and sexual relationships. All these will be covered in the course, and it is hoped that students will choose particular areas of specialization which they may then develop for themselves in their long essays.

The course will be examined by one three-hour paper which will include a compulsory question on gobbets, and a 10,000 word essay.

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The Rise of US Imperialism in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1898-1933

• Nicola Miller
• Not available in 2012-13
• UCL: HIST3304 and 9304

This course will analyse the rise of US influence in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1898 to 1933 using a variety of primary source materials, mostly US government documents but also letters and memoirs of US policy-makers. All the set documents are in English, but students with a reading knowledge of Spanish will be encouraged to investigate other primary sources. The course will devote the first few weeks to a discussion of competing theories of imperialism and post-colonialism. The subsequent detailed examination of US interventionism in Latin America will be directed towards evaluating the nature of US imperialism in the context of both theoretical and historiographical debates.

Students should normally have studied a US history and/or a Latin American history course. Students without this background should consult with Dr Miller before enrolling.

The examination will consist of one three-hour paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Red, White and Blues: Jazz and the United States in the Twentieth Century

• Dr Dan Caplin
• Available in 2012-13
• Time to be announced
• KCL: 6AAH3028

Assessment will be by 1 x 3 hour examination (100%)

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Mass Culture in the Age of Revolution: Russia 1900-1932

• Susan Morrissey
• Not available in 2012-13
• SSEES, UCL: SEHI3008/9008

This course seeks to explore Russia's revolutionary era from the perspective of mass culture. It opens at the turn of the twentieth century, when Russia was experiencing a major industrialization drive that was accompanied by mass migration from the countryside, urbanization, and the emergence of mass political movements. At this time, the technologies and products of mass culture came into being, including mass entertainments, mass-circulation newspapers, and film. The course ends in 1934, when the political, social, and economic structures of the Soviet Union had been defined and victory declared in the struggle to build socialism. By this time as well, new forms of Soviet mass culture had emerged but these were deeply intertwined with the new institutions and mobilizational politics of the Soviet state.

Assessment will be by two 2,000-word essays (25%); one three-hour examination (75%) and an essay of 10,000 words

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Life in the Trenches: Perspectives on British Military History, 1914-18

• Professor Richard Grayson
• Available in 2012-13
• M., 2-4
• GC

Memories of the First World War remain strong, nearly a century after the war’s start, through the influence of popular culture. Images of slaughter, mud and poor leadership dominate a public view which thinks of the lucky few who came back, even though fatality rates were around 12% of those who served. This course is focused on the day-to-day experiences of soldiers in the British army, using battalion war diaries as the core sources. These diaries record the detailed movements of battalions once they had finished training. They provide both much detail and often, vivid description with the main focus being on four Irish battalions (2nd and 9th Royal Irish Rifles, 6th Connaughts and 7th Leinsters) which are central to the course convenor’s book Belfast Boys. These diaries will be used as one way of judging the accuracy of popular memory of 1914-18, which is so deeply rooted in popular culture. In so doing, the course will also use poetry, film and individual diaries. One option which students will be encouraged to explore for dissertations is that of creating an analytical narrative of a specific battalion during the war, telling the story of its role in relation to wider literature. A visit to the National Archive at Kew will be arranged to support such research

Assessment will be by: one two-hour examination (55%); one 2,500-3,000-word essay (35%); 500-750-word gobbet (10%); and one 10,000-word dissertation.

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Antonio Gramsci and Italian Politics, 1914-1925

• Toby Abse
• Not available in 2012-13
• GC: 82/HT53010A and 53011A

Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist political activist committed to bringing about a socialist revolution in his own country, not an academic political philosopher. Starting from this premise, this course will examine his political career and pre-prison writings, particularly the political ones, in their specifically Italian historical context. This will entail an investigation of Italy's experience of the First World War, the Biennio Ors of 1919-20, the rise of fascism in 1921-22 and the consolidation of the fascist regime in the years between the march on Rome in October 1922 and Gramsci's imprisonment in 1926. Gramsci's political positions, although in large measure a response to Italian realities, were influenced by international developments, so considerable attention will also be paid to the effects of the Russian Revolution of October 1917, the decisions of the Comintern and the rise of Stalinism on his political views and activities. Whilst the main focus will be on Gramsci's own writings, the prescribed texts will include relatively brief selections from the contemporary political writings of his fellow Socialists/Communists Bordiga and Tasca, the anarchist leader Malatesta and his fascist and Nationalist opponents such as Mussolini, d'Annunzio, Rocco, Corradini and Marinetti. All texts will be studied and examined in English translation. A knowledge of Italian, whilst desirable, is by no means essential.

The course will be examined by one paper, including compulsory gobbet questions and a 10,000 word assessed essay.

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The Russian Revolution

• Not available in 2012-13
• SSEES, UCL:

The Russian Revolution was a pivotal event in the history of the twentieth century. It ushered in an era of ideological conflict culminating in the Cold War and provided a model for liberation movements from China to Cuba. Consequently, the Revolution remained an especially politicised historical event. The years of perestroika and the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 finally transformed the Russian Revolution into an historical fact: one could say that the Revolution itself had come to an abrupt and uncertain end. These events combined with the recent opening of archives in the former Soviet Union have energised debates among historians, and a re-evaluation of the Russian Revolution is currently occurring. This course allows students to study the political, social, and cultural processes of the Russian Revolution from 1917 through the rise of Stalin in the early 1930s.

There are no prerequisites for this course, but students are strongly encouraged to take 'History of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union since 1856' as preparation. The course will be conducted in weekly seminars, and students will be expected to contribute oral presentations.

Assessment will be based on one three-hour examination (75%); coursework, including three essays (25%); and a dissertation of not more than 10,000 words.

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Literature, Culture and Society in Britain, 1914-1945

• Joanna Bourke
• [No information received for 2012-13]
• BkC: 08/HICL092U

This course focuses on social and cultural history, using novels, poetry, plays and films to examine British society between the wars. Students will be introduced to important historiographical questions concerning interpretations of literary texts. We will not be focusing on any one social group or genre but will analyse similarities and differences between genres, classes, and genders. Interest will centre on the social as well as the cultural understanding of texts and film. We will be examining a wide variety of books, including war literature, romance novels, bohemian tracts, crime fiction, the literature of manors and mortgages, imperial novels, thrillers, travel writing, science fiction, gay poetry. The literature of the depression, working-class autobiographies, new black writing, and the literature of the Spanish civil war. War films and documentary films are also studied.

Examination by a three-hour unseen written paper.

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Australia in the Second World War: Strategy, Politics and Diplomacy

• Carl Bridge
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• King's: 6AAH3019/6AAH3020

This course examines the evolution of Australian strategy, politics and diplomacy during the Second World War. It focuses on the high politics of critical episodes and campaigns, exploring how politicians, diplomats and military commanders coped, or failed to cope, in the planning for war and in its execution, and in the peace-making which followed. Particular attention is paid to the making of a grand strategy and to alliance management, to the ups and downs of relationships with major allies - the British and Americans - and minor ones - such as the New Zealanders and Dutch. The much-vaunted Anzac tradition is scrutinised and evaluated. Older imperial and more recent radical nationalist and revisionist historiographies are compared and assessed against the documentary record. We also take a critical look at the attempts by the authors of war memoirs to shape historical reputations.

Assessment is by a three-hour written paper, including questions requiring comments on extracts from primary sources, by short seminar presentations, and by an essay of 10,000 words.

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The History and Historiography of the Holocaust

• Zoe Waxman and Dan Stone
• Not available in 2012-13
• M., pm
• RH: 47/HS3264 and 3265

This is an unusual group 3 course in that its range of primary source material is very broad. Term 1 builds a conventional chronological narrative of the Holocaust, with students learning about the major events, such as the rise of Nazism and antisemitism, to ghettoisation and the development of the genocide process. The peculiarities of the Hungarian case, as well as resistance, are also examined. Term 2, however, broadens the course by encouraging students to think of the fierce debates in Holocaust historiography as being as important for our understanding of the events as 'historical study'. Hence, as well as using testimonies, diaries, literature, and photographs as historical evidence, several weeks are devoted to examining key historiographical debates, in order to help students understand the very real political stakes involved in writing about the Holocaust.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%) and the coursework unit by an essay of 10,000 words (100%).

This course may not be taken simultaneously with the Group 2 course 'Memory and Modern Europe' (HS2297).

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British Imperial Policy and Decolonisation, 1938-1964

• Sarah Stockwell
• Not available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• King's: 6AAH3017/6AAH3018

This course considers changing policies towards the colonial empire, and asks why did Britain cease to be an imperial power by the mid-1960s? It begins with the widespread colonial unrest of the 1930s. It then traces the evolution of ideas and policy under the impact of war and reconstruction, and concludes with the Macmillan government's reassessment of Britain's imperial role between 1957 and 1961. There are four main threads: (i) colonial political change leading to independence under nationalist governments; (ii) British attempts to anticipate this outcome; (iii) the relationship between decolonisation and Britain's own domestic or international circumstances; (iv) metropolitan debate, especially inside government, about colonial rule and imperial withdrawal. Special reference will be made to India, Malaya, the old coast, Kenya and Central Africa.

Assessed by 1 x 3-hour examination and 1 x 10,000 word dissertation.

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Sex and the African City: Gender and Urbanisation in Southern Africa

• Dr. Rebekah Lee
• Available in 2012-13
• Date and time TBC
• GC: HT53036A and 53036B

This course explores how the African city was both understood and experienced by its inhabitants. Throughout southern Africa, the 20th century was a time of rapid urbanisation and profound social and political change. Within this historical context, we examine how women and men differently negotiated the transition to urban life. Key themes include: gender relations and family structures; sexuality, race and ethnicity; religion and ritual; informal economies and livelihood strategies; health and development; urban politics and resistance. We consider the formation of new urban identities and we explore, through in-depth analysis of primary source material, how language and narrative gave voice to these changing identities. The chronological range of the course begins with the mineral discoveries of the late 19th century and extends to present-day debates around the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The geographical focus is mainly South Africa, but historical and cultural material from present-day Zambia, Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe are also incorporated

Teaching is by weekly seminars, which include student presentations and discussion. Students are required to submit three essays, and to write analyses of extracts from the set texts.

The course is examined by one three-hour examination and a dissertation of 10,000 words.

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Politics and Society in Palestine from c.1900 to 1948

• Vanessa Martin
• Not available in 2012-13
• RH: 47/HS3262 and 3263

This course looks at the interaction of politics and society in Palestine from the late Ottoman period until the establishment of the state of Israel. What was the impact of the politics of the West upon society in Palestine in the late Ottoman period? How did different social and religious groups react? What were the different interpretations of Zionism? What can we learn from the documents about them? Another theme we examine from study of the texts is the struggle of the British to control the situation and build a state in Palestine. How did the Arabs respond? We look at the forms of modern organisation and ideology they used and the problems of Arab identity and nationalism at both the local and regional level. Texts written by both Arab and Jewish women are examined to compare their role in political and social developments. The changes generated by the World Wars are a further theme, and include the debate on the impact of terrorism, as well as the effect of the growing involvement of America.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%) and the coursework unit by an essay of 10,000 words (100%).

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The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement, 1935-1955

• John Kirk
• Not available in 2012-13
• M., p.m.
• RH: HS3340/HS3341

This course examines the origins of the civil rights movement from 1935 to 1955 set against the backdrop of the New Deal, the Second World War, and the Cold War. The course focuses on the development of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP’s) legal strategy for racial change in the courts, devised and implemented by NAACP lawyers Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall, which paved the way for the emergence of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. It assesses critical campaigns in areas such as the equalization of teachers’ salaries; voting rights; lynching and criminal justice; and the desegregation of universities, transportation, and housing. Finally, it examines the NAACP’s role in the Brown v Board of Education (1954) school desegregation case, regarded by many as the most important U.S. Supreme Court ruling of the twentieth century.

The course will be examined by one three-hour paper and a dissertation of 10,000 words.

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Détente in the Cold War

• Dr. Sarah Snyder
• Available in 2012-13
• Time TBC (beg. Oct. 2012)
• UCL:

This course will attempt to define détente and evaluate its policy implications. Students will study the origins of détente and its evolution over time and in different international contexts. The course will begin examining early efforts in the late 1960s, continue through the successes of the Nixon administration and the challenges faced by Presidents Ford and Carter, and finish with the advent of the “new Cold War” in the first years of Reagan’s presidency. The course will compare key events in the Cold War, exploring different manifestations of détente across geographic boundaries.

The course will be examined by a three-hour written paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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The Marshall Plan, 1947-1952

• Kathleen Burk
• Not available in 2012-13
• UCL: HIST3303 and 9303

By means of the Marshall Plan, the US granted $13 billion to sixteen European countries to facilitate economic recovery. It was a defining episode in the Cold War, in European integration and in economic power in foreign policy. Substantial attention will be paid to American and British policy, but other countries, including the USSR and its allies, will receive attention, as will the Plan's European-wide impact. Teaching will be by student presentations and seminars, based on close reading of British and American documents as well as of printed sources. Knowledge of post-1945 history would be helpful, and students must be willing to grapple with questions of political economy as well as of politics and international relations.

Students will write a number of short pieces such as gobbets and topical essays. The final assessment will be based on one three-hour examination, comprising both gobbet and essay questions, and an essay of 10,000 words.

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The Clash of Powers and Cultures: Sino-American Relations during the Cold War

• Chi-kwan Mark
• Available in 2012-13
• RH: 47/HS3279A and 3280A

This course examines the complexities of Sino-American relations during the Cold War. It looks at how and why Communist China and the United States were transformed from hostile enemies in the 1950s and early 1960s into tacit allies by the late 1970s. Issues to be covered include their direct and indirect confrontations over Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam; the role of the Soviet Union in their changing relationship; and their divergent policies towards such issues as third World revolutions, nuclear weapons, and international trade. At a thematic level, the course will consider how ideology, personalities, domestic considerations, cultural stereotypes, and alliance politics influenced their respective policies and their dynamic interactions. You are expected to approach the subject not only from the American perspective but also from the Chinese viewpoint, by exploring both Western and Chinese (translated into English) primary sources, such as diplomatic documents, memoirs, public speeches, newspapers, and political cartoons. By placing Sino-American relations in the wider domestic and international contexts, this course will enhance your understanding of how the two great powers – and two different cultures – shaped, and were shaped by, the global Cold War.

Assessment for the taught unit will be by one three-hour examination with compulsory gobbets (90%) and an oral presentation (10%). The coursework unit is assessed by a 10,000-word essay.

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Britain's Thatcher

• TBC
• Available in 2012-13
• Mondays, 14:00-16:00
• King's: 6AAH3011/6AAH3012

Polls showed that the term ‘Thatcher’s Britain’ was almost always thought to have unpleasant connotations. It is a curiously deceptive phrase – implying that Thatcher created some new country that was quite separate from the unselfish, happy, consensual place that had allegedly existed before she arrived in her space capsule from the distant planet Grantham. This course will examine Thatcherism as something rooted in British society. It will examine the crisis of the 1970s, the shifting economic policies of the 1980s, the great struggles (against the miners, the argentines) and Thatcher’s eventual fall. It will draw on resources that are almost entirely available on line. This means, in particular, the documents collected by the Margaret Thatcher Foundation (these documents will expand over the next decade as the Cabinet papers from the 1980s are released). It also means back numbers of the journal Marxism Today (often said to have invented the term ‘Thatcherism’. It also means publications released on line by bodies such as the Institute for Economic Affairs. The 1970s and 1980s will be the front line of archival research on modern Britain for the next few years and it is hoped that this course will appeal particularly to those are contemplating postgraduate research.

The course will be examined by one three-hour paper and an essay of 10,000 words.

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Group 3 Long Essays: Notes for Candidates

Long essays, which shall refer to texts, be fully documented and normally typewritten with double spacing, are to be on a topic or topics selected by the candidate and approved by the teacher of the course, and shall be submitted to the 'host' college by the deadline set by that college and notified to students.

The essays shall be either one essay of 10,000 words or two essays of 5,000 words (depending on the course). Candidates who significantly exceed or fall short of these word lengths are likely to be penalised. The word limit includes footnotes but not bibliography. A word count must be put on the title page, along with the candidate's examination number. The title page must also be signed by the teacher concerned, stating that the subject of the essay has his/her approval, unless previously approved by a Board of Examiners. This signature must be obtained before the end of the course. The candidate’s name must not appear anywhere on the essay but may be submitted on a separate loose sheet which is not bound into the essay.

Attention is drawn to the requirement in University General Regulations, Section II (Examination Tests), that for essays written in a candidate's own time, the work submitted by the candidate must be his or her own and any quotation from the published or unpublished work of other persons must be duly acknowledged: failure to observe this requirement will constitute an examination offence. In the light of this requirement, any candidate deemed by the examiners to be guilty of plagiarism will be held liable to the penalties incurred by cheating

Presentation

Books published by leading university presses are good models to follow on questions of style and usage. Where there is no general agreement (e.g. 'judgment' or 'judgement', '4 July 1776' or 'July 4, 1776'), candidates should use their own conventions. It is important that the essay should be internally consistent, whatever conventions are used. If abbreviations are used, a list of them should appear at the beginning.

Quotations

These require footnotes indicating their source. Long quotations (fifty words or more) may be given in separate blocks in single spacing, indented from the margin, without quotes. Use single quotation marks for all other quotations. (Double quotation marks only for quotes within quotations).

Footnotes

These should either be placed at the foot of the page on which they occur or be numbered in one sequence throughout and placed at the end of the essay.

First references to books and articles in footnotes should include the following details: for books, the author's full name, title of the book, place and date of publication, volume and page reference; for articles, the author and title, full name and the journal, volume number and year, page reference. Examples:

S. Kent, The Election of 1827 in France (Cambridge, Mass., 1973), p. 40.

H. Wilson, Gladstone (3 vols, Cambridge, 1971), II, 41-6.

E. A. Reitan, 'The Civil List', Historical Journal, XIV (1971), 327-8.

For additional references give the author's name and a shortened title (e.g. Kent, Election of 1827, p. 40). Ibid. ('the same reference') should be used only for immediately consecutive references. A short title is better than the abbreviation 'op. cit.'

Bibliography

A bibliography must follow the essay. This is a full list of material used in the essay. It should normally be set out in two parts: 'primary sources', manuscript and published, and 'secondary works' (books and articles). List both alphabetically and give books and articles in full, as for footnotes.

Checking

The examiners give much weight to the technical accuracy of the essay. Check very carefully for spelling mistakes, wrong quotations and errors of typing. Ensure that the footnote numbers correlate with those given in the main text.

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