This unit introduces students to the material, social and political culture of the two major European powers - the British Isles and France - in a period of rapid change. We will investigate topics such as citizenship, consumerism, imperialism and industrialisation which are central to current historical enquiry into the emergence of the modern European world. In Britain, new concepts of wealth and innovative economic practices created a consumer society in which marketing and advertising techniques were deployed across a range of social and political activity. Revolution in France reordered institutions of government, redefined the relationship between the individual and the state and brought counter-revolutionary panic to Britain. Gender relations and social structures underwent fundamental change in both countries. Britain and France were significant Imperial powers, deeply involved with the slave trade, however their authority was challenged in America, Ireland and the Carribean.
We will examine these issues through a range of primary sources, including visual representation, fiction, diaries and memoirs.
Proposed Assessment: Based on written work submitted during the year, tutorial participation and one final examination.
Preliminary Reading:
Lecturer: Dr David Blaazer
Prerequisites: Two points in History
One 2-hour lecture and one 1-hour tutorial per week.
Syllabus: With the outbreak of war in August 1914, Britain's serious social and political conflicts were submerged in a wave of popular patriotism. Victory in the war vindicated that patriotism and was seen as powerful testimony to the strength of British institutions and culture. Yet the interwar years were characterised by widespread disillusionment, uncertainty, and bitter internal conflict in a context of economic slump and declining power. Despite the strength of pacifist ideas in the 1930s, the outbreak of the Second World War restored a sense of national pride and purpose and laid the foundations of consensus politics. In this course we will study the social, political and cultural discontents of the interwar period in the context of Britain's relative decline as a great power, while attempting to explain (and demystify) Britain's resilience and cohesion during the wars themselves.
Reading:
B. Porter, Britannia's Burden, London, Edward Arnold, 1994
P. Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory, Oxford University
Press, 1977.
Assessment: Students will be required to nominate one assessment model from a range presented in the course handbook.
Note: This course is incompatible with HIST2060 The Roots of War and Peace.
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