The First World War

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• understand and critically evaluate the different ways in which different sub-disciplines have contributed additional understanding to our knowledge of the First World War
• actively engage with the secondary literature on the history of the First World War, its history and its interpretation
• analyse a variety of primary sources relating to the First World War, its history, and their interpretation

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• utilise and develop your time-management skills
• locate and use effectively textual and visual sources in the library and on-line
• research and communicate your findings convincingly and concisely in written reports

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The origins, development and impact of the First World War in the European theatre
• some of the key historiographical debates that have centred on the history of the First World War
• the ways in which different sub-disciplines of History have added new perspectives on the conflict over time

The history of the First World War will be studied through consideration, in turn, of the literature concerning its diplomatic origins, its nature as a military conflict, the social history of warfare, the nature of the home front, its impact on gender relations, its impact on the landscape, and its memorialisation and commemoration. Seminars will introduce you in turn to diplomatic history, military history, social history, medical history, gender history, landscape history, cultural history, the study of material culture. In each case, a key source will be considered; for example, on medical history an excerpt on shell-shock from The Lancet. The emphasis of this module is on your close reading of a set of defined primary texts which illustrate well the different types of history under discussion. In addition, a core set of historiographical readings will be focussed upon. These texts are chosen to illustrate how the historiography of the particular field has developed. Where possible, articles or monographs which refer to, and are to be understood in the context of, pre-existing scholarship discussed in previous seminars are used to underpin the cumulative and developmental aspects of the learning process. Emphasis is placed on research-based articles to encourage you to acquaint yourself with journal literature.

Teaching methods include - lectures - seminars - independent study - production of written work and preparation for exam. Training on the use of original sources will be integrated into the seminars, and you will be expected to produce short commentaries on selected documents. Learning activities include - intensive reading, guided by annotated reading lists - independent study supported by a course website and email discussion list.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.