The Modern World
Overview
- Credit value: 30 credits at Level 4
- Convenor: Professor Frank Trentmann
- Assessment: a 500-word summary of a scholarly article (20%), a 1000-word book review (20%), a 1500-word essay (20%) and a 48-hour online examination (40%) with 60% attendance requirement
Module description
The aim of this course is to provide you with a basic knowledge of the history of Britain, Europe and the world in the long nineteenth century. The lectures are arranged chronologically and thematically. They are followed by classes focusing on a key text related to the subject.
Indicative module content
Term 1: The Age of Revolution (1776 to 1848)
- Introduction: the birth of the modern world
- The crisis of the ancien régime
- Revolutions and popular politics
- Global war and restoration
- Agrarian and industrial revolutions
- Slavery and serfdom
- The making of the working class?
- Peoples and parliaments
- Worlds of faith
- Visions of progress
Term 2: The Age of Empire (1848 to 1914)
- Introduction: expansion and crisis
- Nations and states
- The new imperialism
- Resisting empires
- Trade and globalisation
- The modern city
- Mass politics
- Migration and mobility
- Cultures of modernity
- The origins of the First World War