Module Identifier HY13220  
Module Title BRITAIN AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR  
Academic Year 2001/2002  
Co-ordinator Dr Sian Nicholas  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Course delivery Lecture   18 Hours  
  Seminar   5 Hours  
Assessment Essay   2 x 2,500 word essays   40%  
  Exam   2 Hours   60%  

Learning outcomes


On completion of this module, students should be able to:
a) Identify and explain the key historiographical debates concerning the British experience of the First World War
b) Demonstrate their knowledge of the principal political, social, cultural and military developments of the period
c) Reflect critically on the impact of the war on key areas of British society and politics
d) Analyse and evaluate a range of primary sources (including press coverage, diaries and memoirs, newsreels and oral reminiscences) related to the British domestic experience of war 1914-1918
e) Gather and sift appropriate items of historical evidence
f) Develop and sustain historical arguments – in both oral (not assessed) and written work
g) Work both independently and collaboratively whilst being able to participate in group discussions (not assessed).

Brief description


This course will introduce students to the social and political history of twentieth -century Britain by an in-depth study of Britain during the Great War. It will consider the reasons behind Britain's involvement in the war and outline the main features of the military conflict. It will then focus primarily on the social and political history of the period : the military, industrial and political mobilisation of the nation towards 'total war', and the ways in which the war affected ordinary civilian life. Specifics topics to be covered will include the rise of Lloyd George to the Premiership, the wartime industrial unrest in Scotland and Wales, the impact of the war on the lives of British women, and the enduring legacy of the 'lost generation'. Comparison will also be made between the British experience of the Great War and that of the other major belligerents, France, Germany, Russia and the USA. Throughout the semester, students will be encouraged to evaluate the 'war and social change' thesis propounded by Marwick and others, and the course will end by assessing the extent to which the Great War marked a 'watershed' in modern British history.

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
G de Groot. (1996) Blighty: British society in the era of the Great War. Longman
A Marwick. (1991) The Deluge: British society and the First World War . Macmillan
J Keegan. (2000) The First World War. Vintage