War Studies
Introduction
The School of History gives you the opportunity to study a range of modules that focus on war and conflict. These modules range across a wide chronological sweep and geographicl zones, providing an extremely broad field of study. As wll as looking at the causes and effects of war, the School also offers modules that examine military history and operational aspects of warfare.
The University library has a vast collection of relevant material which includes a rare complete set of British official histories of both world wars, a complete run of Second World War Ministry of Information pamphlets on the armed services and a comprehensive collection of Nazi, Soviet, American and British propaganda films, all of which are used in teaching and study. The School of History also has close links with the National Army Museum and can provide you with access to its unique archive and the modern British Army.
The War Studies degree is based in the School of History and is focussed primarily on giving students a historical perspective on war. However, the School works closely with both the Politics and International Relations Department and the School of Law to provide alternative perspectives on war and combat. The School is particularly keen on increasing its Military History content and will be adding new courses in this field over the coming years.
War is often thought to be the engine of change in human activity, from political structures to society, economics, technology and science.
Like other students at the University, a War Studies student's degree course will be made up of various module options, some compulsory, some strongly recommended and some chosen (see Degree Structure).
Degree Structure
Stage 1 (Level C: a total of 120 Credits)
You will take two compulsory core modules:
HI380: War in History: concepts of war, its art and conduct in European and North American History, 1700-2000
PO305: International History and International Relations
You will then be strongly recommended to take at least one of the following:
HI321: The Early Crusades
HI349: The Barbarian West: Violence, Religion and Society in Sixth-Century Gaul
HI377: The Hundred Years' War
HI342: Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, 1789-185
HI359: Empire in Africa 1922-1980
HI353: Britain and the Second World: the Home Front
You are then recommended to take one of the following:
HI346: Monarchy and Aristocracy
HI378: Atlantic Exploration
HI390: The Emergence of America from European Settlement to 1880
HI391: The Rise of the United States since 1880
HI397: Cinema and Society: Britain and the USA in Depression, War and Affluence, 1930-1960
If you would like to make other choices from the School of History's offerings, you are free to and can examine them on the School's main webpages. You are also free to make a 'wild' choice from across the University's offerings as listed in the Faculty of Humanities Stage One handbook, which you will receive on your arrival.
Stage 2/3 Modules Available
(I and H levels, 120 credits per year)
Depending on calendar year, a War Studies candidate would take at least one of the following as a compulsory unit:
HI742/HI947: The Cold War, 1941-1991
HI703/HI735: War, Revolution and Dictatorship in Europe, 1870-1945
HI707/HI737: Britain and the Falklands War
HI767/HI768: Churchill's Army: the British Army in the Second World War
HI769/HI770: From Blitzkrieg to Baghdad: armoured warfare in theory, practice and imagery, 1916-2003
You will then be strongly recommended to take at least one of the following during your second and third years:
HI613/HI718: Conflict and Stability in Seventeenth-Century Britain
HI669/HI729: Cinema and Society: Britain at War, 1939-1945
HI743/HI748: Cinema and Society: America at War, 1941-1945
HI750/HI752: Politics, War and the State in Early Modern Europe
LW550: Armed Forces, Law and Society
PO559: Ethics in International Relations
PO586: New World Orders and International Relations
PO588: The Ending of Wars
PO599: European Security and Co-operation since 1945
PO608: Introduction to Strategic Studies
PO613: Methods for Peace and Conflict Research
If you would like to make other choices from the School of History's offerings, you are free to and can examine them on the School's main webpages. You are also free to make a 'wild' choice from across the University's offerings as listed in the Faculty of Humanities Stage Two handbook
Stage 3 (H level, 120 credits) Project
The major part of your third year will be taken up in a year-long research project on a War Studies subject of your choice. An accompanying seminar programme will assist and guide you during this process
Compulsory unit:
HI757: Dissertation
Entry Requirements
Offer level:
A/AS level 300 points or BBB (3.5 A level equivalents), IB 33 points (15 at Higher)
Required subjects:
A level History grade B if taken
History to at least GCSE level