History BA (Hons)

You’ll discover the dramatic changes that disrupted people’s lives in Europe from the fifteenth century to the mid-eighteenth century, including religious controversy, international and civil wars, European colonialism and climate crisis.

Explore how people at the time grappled with new ways of thinking about identity and status, along with complex notions of gender and ideas of 'race'.

Learn about how people who lived through this era of change and conflict understood their world and how they sought to adapt to or change it.

You'll investigate formative political, social and cultural developments through time.

By locating events within both their specific regional contexts and also their broader global trends, you'll start to see some of the connections shaping the development of the modern world.

With guidance, you'll explore and challenge narratives of the national and regional histories to gain new perspectives on the underappreciated complexities of these histories.

On this module, you’ll learn about the social, cultural, economic and political changes which took place from the mid-eighteenth century until the end of the twentieth century, covering periods of war and peace, revolution and protest, and imperial rivalry and national unification.

You’ll explore how individuals and different communities in countries such as Britain, France, or Germany were affected by the challenges and conflicts of their times but also consider how people actively shaped the events and times they lived through.

On this module, you’ll discover how to step-up from your previous learning to the independence that's essential for success in your degree.

Reflecting upon the historical topics you’ll study each week across the degree, this module will help you gain confidence in discussing the past, presenting arguments, and in the foundational skills of university study.

On this module, you'll use a wide range of primary sources, ranging from written texts to a diverse array of non-written materials, to learn more about the lives of people in the past.

You'll also look at the uses to which historians have put primary sources, and explore questions of why and how interpretations of the past constantly evolve.

You’ll discover how within historical study our understanding constantly evolves, and how these changing understandings help us to think about the importance of history in the present.

You’ll hear your lecturers introduce important historical debates in their own field of research.

Through discussing, exploring and bringing to life a number of case studies which draw on a variety of chronological and geographical areas, this module will help you to advance your critical skills in reading and argument.

On this module, you’ll learn how the practice of academic history can be transferred and applied to a vast range of practical projects that involve thinking about, working with, or drawing-upon knowledge and understanding of the past.

You’ll also carry out a self-guided project, with support from tutors and potentially in collaboration with internal or (subject to availability) external partners. Your project will reflect the opportunities that history will provide for your future career.

You’ll explore ideas around modernisation, colonialism and nationalism and how they shape education, gender roles, ethnicity, class, sexuality and everyday life in this part of the world.

By comparing the experiences of different countries when it comes to industrialisation, democratisation and conflict, you’ll learn how to appreciate complex regional dynamics.

You’ll get familiar with the big issues and contemporary debates in education studies as well as the role and expectations of a teacher.

You’ll develops fundamental knowledge and skills that teachers require, as well as your capability to structure and critique a lesson plan.

Although this module focuses on the teaching of English, it can apply to other languages too.

If you’re doing the Trinity course, this is the second of three modules you’ll need to complete to achieve the internationally recognised professional teaching qualification, Trinity College London Cert TESOL.

You'll explore early modern Europe's complex world through everyday objects, analysing diverse artefacts - shoes, monuments, religious objects, food - and how they offer new perspectives for our understanding of the past and the present.

You'll consider how the study of objects can lead to new interpretations of historical narratives such as 'the consumer revolution', the development of a global economy, the emergence of new forms of inequality, and changing understandings of public and private.

You'll unearth the multiple lives and 'afterlives' of objects, engaging with debates about their significance and importance in heritage contexts in the 21st century, with access to some of the rich material culture available within the city, including the Mary Rose Museum.

You’ll evaluate sources such as legal records, cheap print, newspapers and novels, to discover what was considered a crime during this period and explore changing approaches towards ‘deviant’ behaviour.

You’ll see how behaviours we now consider private were publicly policed, and how this involved religion and the community. You’ll analyse changes from corporal punishment and torture towards modern ideas of policing.

You’ll also consider debates about the impact of urbanisation on patterns of crime, and the use of criminal prosecution as a means of social control, for example in relation to enforcing gender roles and controlling the poor.

You’ll explore the rise of the US across the twentieth century from a regional power to a global superpower and the domestic and international pressures upon the USA that caused it to go through alternating periods of isolationism and global engagement.

You’ll also delve into the two global wars and why the US entered them later than most other nations, the isolationist interwar years, the start of the Cold War, the Vietnam Conflict and the War on Terror.

You will look at what a wide range of artefacts, from automobiles and advertising to music and television, can tell us about the changes and challenges that faced ordinary people in twentieth-century Europe.

These cultural artefacts not only changed the ways in which people perceived and understood the world around them, they also provide the means to explore the profound and transformative changes wrought by the destruction and renewal of Europe's turbulent century.

You’ll dig into the cultural context of violence in Shakespeare's age, analysing how poetry and performance play on complex dynamics of authority, resistance and ideology.

Through Shakespeare’s works, you’ll develop your own perspectives on the role of war and peace in sixteenth-century English culture.

In this module, you’ll explore European colonisation of Africa, asking questions like - how did they justify colonial rule, and how did African peoples respond to these colonisers?

You’ll learn how, after World War II, colonial rule was increasingly challenged from both within the empire, by growing African demands for political rights, and in the international arena, with the global trend towards trusteeship, development and self-determination.

You’ll also explore European relations with Africa in the post-colonial era, looking at themes which may include ideas about civilisation, universalism and race, modern attempts to 'rehabilitate' empire in the media, and the legacies of colonialism in Britain, Europe and Africa.

The learning objectives of this module are to be confirmed.

With a minimum 80-hour commitment, you’ll apply what you’ve learned so far on your degree to real-world professional settings within our community of local businesses, social enterprises, and third-sector organisations.

You’ll have support from interactive workshops, tutorials, and guest speaker events, encouraging you to set achievable professional goals and evolve your professional identity.

Led by a subject specialist, you'll study how the practice and ideas related to empires and/or identities shaped the lives of people in a specific time period, and how they themselves resisted or negotiated the impositions of forms of inequality.

Example topics include:

The Opium War, 1839-1842

Explore how two empires – Great Britain and China – came into direct confrontation for the first time in the nineteenth century and how the military campaign has been remembered by successive regimes in generations afterward.

Reformers, Rebels and Refugees: Religious Identities in Elizabethan England

Investigate how a range of people supported, resisted or conformed to a period of profound religious and political change, and how identities and communities were formed and reformed in late 16th century England. 

Racism and Anti-Racism in Post-war Britain

Discover how questions of migration, race, identity, and belonging were being understood and negotiated as Britain transitioned away from its role as an imperial power. Examine the various ways in which people experienced racism, and as well as the myriad means by which this discrimination was challenged. 

The Making of the German Nation: Germany during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century

Examine the fluid concept of German national identity across a turbulent history spanning war, empire, division and crisis. You’ll discover how Germans defined themselves and their nation from the early 19th century through Nazism's ascent and the difficult rebuilding of broken post-war societies. 

In doing so, you'll explore how they were impacted by political change, and also how they challenged inequalities.

You'll start by studying two topics for the first half of the module. For the second half of the module, you'll choose to focus on one of the strands to prepare for the module’s final assessment.

Example topics may include:

Sex, Gender and Power in Early Modern England

Explore how gender and sexuality were debated and understood, and how these ideas impacted the lives of people across English society c.1450-1700. Examine the role that sex and gender played in the exercise of power and influence in early modern society.

Shock Cities: Slums, Crime and Cultural Conflict in Victorian Britain, c.1850-1914

Delve into fears that the modern city was spiralling out of control due to slums, crime, class and racial tensions, and how these were seen as threats to civil order and the Empire. Investigate urban elites’ attempts to stem this threat by categorising the urban poor, and promoting local and imperial loyalty through schools, pageantry, and civic architecture.

Thomas Jefferson and the Making of the Early American Republic

Discover the era of the American Revolution by examining the life and actions of Thomas Jefferson - politician, statesman, reformer, intellectual and enslaver - which helps to reveal how state and society were transformed by revolutionary upheaval.

These cultures reflected perspectives on the world and changing values, revealing important insights into the hopes, fears, and identities of people and society.

Many forms of popular culture have substantial historical roots - including literature and music - whilst others are very modern - such as film and television.

You'll start by studying two topics, before deciding to specialise in one of these for your final assessment.

Example topics may include:

Cinema-Going in Wartime Britain

Explore how cinema functioned as both a form of propaganda and escapism in wartime Britain, and examine the ways that class, gender and national identities were challenged, negotiated and reinforced on and off the screen. 

Accidents and Safety in Britain, c.1850-1970

Examine how accidents and risks tell us about the ways modern British society was structured, including people’s day-to-day concerns, how they lived their lives and how aspects such as class and gender had an impact on people’s safety.

Magic and Modernity: Supernatural Britain, 1800-1920

Investigate the changing nature of magic, the occult and supernatural beliefs in the nineteenth century. This history of the modern supernatural causes us to rethink how we view Victorian and Edwardian society and culture.   

Led by a subject specialist, you'll study a specific example of how a society was transformed by the forces of revolution: the political, social, and cultural pressures that fomented a revolutionary response leading to new ways of conceiving and ordering society.

Example topics that you may study include:

Britain in Revolution: the impact of the British Civil Wars, 1637-1662

Explore a defining event in the history of the British Isles: a violent and traumatic struggle which affected the lives of everyone who lived through it, and which unleashed ideas which transformed British society and had a profound influence worldwide.

Civil Rights USA

What makes a successful civil rights movement?  This module explores and contrasts a range of social movements, from African American, second-wave feminism, Native American, Asian American, Hispanic, LGBTQ+ and youth movements.

The French Revolution, 1789-1799 

Study the events and individuals that drew France into the great Terror of 1793-94, assess the political ideals and social goals that brought such deadly conflict, and consider the complex question of the Terror's legacy to the politics of radicalism and revolution throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

You'll develop a research project which can take many forms, depending on the aims and focus of the dissertation. As an extended project requiring significant levels of critical engagement with subject knowledge, independent research and initiative, ethical research practice, and project management, this module enhances many key areas of knowledge and critical skills.

This real-world, project-based module lets you address an identified need or gap by designing an innovative product, service or resource.

With support from university staff and external partners, you'll demonstrate critical thinking, ethical awareness and project management abilities.

Your final project and presentation will showcase your employability and capacity for high-impact solutions.

You'll learn about the job application process from the perspective of both candidates and recruiters, thinking about what employers look for in graduates and how you can optimise your own professional profile.

Through mock interviews and assessments, you'll hone your skills and learn how to communicate your achievements and career goals, ready to take the next step after you graduate.