History BA (Hons) (with Foundation Year)

The Foundation Year is a great opportunity if you have the ability and enthusiasm to study for a degree, but do not yet have the qualifications required to enter directly onto our degree programmes. A significant part of the Foundation Year focuses upon core skills such as academic writing at HE level, becoming an independent learner, structuring academic work, critical thinking, time management and note taking.

Successful completion of the Foundation Year will enable you to progress into the first year (Level C) of your chosen honours degree. Further details can be found here.

Introduction to History: Twentieth-Century Europe

This module explores diverse topics, including the First World War and its aftermath, the rise of fascism, the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and the Holocaust, Anticolonialism, Decolonisation, the Cold War, post-war migration, hostile environments, and the revival of nationalism in the 1990s.

Introduction to History: Early Modern England c.1530–1651

In this module, students study major themes in English history, including the Tudors, Henry VIII and the Reformation, Elizabethan England, English expansion and colonialism in Ireland and North America, the early Stuarts, and the Civil War. You will also examine social, cultural, political, and religious history, covering topics such as popular culture, class, international diplomacy, religion, crime, gender, economy, and witchcraft. Field trips and lectures will give you hands-on experience of material culture.

Throughout the year, you will develop essay-writing skills and learn to engage with a wide range of sources, including texts, images, artefacts, and architecture. Also, students do not have a formal sit-down examination in Year One.

Single Honours History

Study of History 1

In the first 8-week block of this module, single honours students will be encouraged to explore the rich historical resources that Liverpool has to offer and to consider their importance to local, national, and international heritage. There will be several local field trips as part of this course (e.g. the International Slavey Museum). In the second 4-week block, you will learn about the kind of sources that historians use, with lots of hands-on practical sessions in our on-site archives and special collections, where you will have the opportunity to handle historical artefacts yourself.

Study of History 2

The module offers single honours students a comprehensive introduction to the wide range of sources, methodologies and skills relevant to the subject. You will be encouraged to explore the rich historical resources that Liverpool has to offer and to consider their importance to local, national, and international heritage. Students will also have the opportunity to learn from a series of in-depth case studies which illustrate how specialist historians use their sources and methods 'in action'. These case studies include: The Habsburg Empire; World Revolution; Colonial Resistance; and the Northern Ireland Conflict.

In your second year of the History degree, you will build on the foundations developed in your first year and deepen your understanding of key historical themes.

Current course options include:

Nationalism and Imperialism

Examine nationalism and imperialism from the late eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, exploring the origins of modern nationalism during the French revolutionary era, revolutionary developments in Europe and overseas colonies, and twentieth-century anti-colonial activism.

Britain and Ireland

Study the complex relationship between Britain and Ireland from the Cromwellian era to the Troubles, focusing on Irish nationalism, revolution, civil war, and the political and social developments of modern Ireland.

Single Honours History

Witch Beliefs and Witch Hunting in Early Modern England and America

Explore the development of witch beliefs and witch hunting from c.1540 to 1720. The course examines the medieval origins of witchcraft beliefs across Europe before focusing on English and North American experiences.

Gender and Politics in the Twentieth Century

Focused primarily on the UK and USA, this course examines changes and challenges to gender roles from the late nineteenth to the end of the twentieth century. You will study first-wave and second-wave feminism alongside changes and continuities in masculinity.

In the final year of the History degree, course options are closely linked to staff research specialisms, allowing you to engage with advanced topics in depth. Current courses include:

Ideology and Reaction: Fascism, Nazism, and the Holocaust 1919–1945

This course addresses the history of European Fascism, Nazism and the Holocaust (1914-1945) from a variety of perspectives (i.e. cultural, ethical,  geographical, political and socio-economic). Its main subject of inquiry will be the ideological and political history of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and other forms of interwar 'Fascism' in Western Europe, such as British, Irish and Spanish versions. The course also examines the reactionary relationship between Fascism and ideology, together with Fascism, antisemitism and race.

The Taste of War: Examining the Role of Food in Human Conflict

'Taste of War' is a global economic history which examines the role of resources in world history, from the earliest times to today's globalised marketplace. It pays particular attention to the human relationship with food, exploring its moral, political, economic and cultural value and the relationship between food and violent conflict.

The British Empire: Colonial Encounter, 1775–1947

The British Empire remains a controversial and important subject in contemporary society. This course will introduce you to the history and historiography of the British Empire from the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) to the partition of India (1947). It will follow a chronological approach, drawing on examples from the Pacific, Africa, Australasia, America and Asia, as well as Britain, to help demonstrate how colonial encounters affected both coloniser and colonised.

The Spanish Civil War and the Crisis of Democracy, 1936–1939

This course will examine the Spanish civil war in both a 'Spanish' and an international context. It will introduce the various understandings of the war put forward at the time, in eyewitness accounts, in international diplomacy and propaganda, and afterwards in historiography, memoirs and in Spain's 'memory wars'. We will reflect on the relationship of the war to equality (gender, economic and racial), and the extent to which democracy has proven effective in fighting fascism. A thread running through the course will be the relevance of the civil war to the challenges of today, in Spain, the UK and elsewhere.

Single Honours History

Britain and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1841–1987

This course traces the history and motives of British involvement in the Middle East from 1841 to 1987. It examines the Ottoman system of government and its reforms in the nineteenth century, as well as how Britain utilised it after the First World War, particularly in Palestine. The course also sheds light on how the current conflicts in the Middle East were partly shaped by the French and British division of the region after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It also addresses both the religious and political factors that have influenced the decisions of policymakers in London, starting with the Balfour Declaration. It also explores how British interests in India and Egypt shaped their policies in Palestine. Whilst the course relates to wider regional developments, such as the rise of Arab nationalism and political Islam, it focuses in greater detail on the implications of these developments for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict today.

The Tudor Conquest of Ireland

In the transformation of ancient Gaelic Ireland into a modern European State, no period has been as pivotal as the early modern period (c. 1500-c. 1750). The place where men like Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Edmund Spenser made their names, where survivors of the Spanish Armada found shelter, and where patriotic ideas of “faith and fatherland” found embryonic, yet violent, expression, Ireland was the experimental training-ground for Britain’s colonial empire as well as an internationally recognised theatre for the struggle between Europe’s old and new Christian traditions.

Starting with the rise of England’s Tudor monarchs and culminating with the Protestant Ascendency at the end of the seventeenth century, this course will survey the extraordinary social, political, cultural, religious, and demographic changes which marked the incorporation of Ireland into the wider British and European world. Exploring issues of assimilation and acculturation between natives and newcomers, this course will also draw attention to the differences between Irish and English society, including language, laws, social status, marriage, education, piety, and economic practices. And, by focussing on themes of social, political, and cultural conflict, this course aims to highlight the uniqueness of the Irish experience and the resilience of Gaelic social and political culture in the face of English colonisation, administrative reform, and military conquest.

Research Element

Single honours students complete a 10,000-word dissertation, while combined honours students either write an integrated dissertation with their other subject or a 5,000-word special study. All students receive individual guidance and support from an assigned supervisor throughout the research and writing process, developing key skills in independent study, critical analysis, and historical argumentation.