Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Advanced Option: Britain’s Wars of Colonisation and Decolonisation
School	History and Cultures
Department	History
Module Code	09 38741
Module Lead	Dr Daniel Whittingham
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module will examine Britain's conduct of its wars of empire from 1815 onwards. Britain emerged from its 'second Hundred Years' War' with France (1688 – 1815) as a world power. Between 1815 and 1914, Britain fought only one war against a European enemy (Russia, in the Crimean War) but conducted a whole host of colonial campaigns across the globe. The twentieth century saw the British Empire reach its greatest territorial extent, in the aftermath of the First World War; but in the years that followed, challenges emerged which saw the British fight a series of bitter colonial counter-insurgency campaigns. This module will consider Britain's imperial wars from the expansion of the empire in India in the first half of the nineteenth century, to the campaigns in Malaya and Kenya in the 1940s and 1950s. It will consider these conflicts within the broader context of scholarly debates on the character of British imperialism, as well as within the wider framework of developments in the conduct of war. The module will consider a series of British imperial wars from within the date range, from the perspectives of both the British and their various opponents.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: analyse and explain key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny, analyse and explain reasons for and implications of these events and processes (including analysis of primary evidence where appropriate) compare and evaluate the main scholarly views on the subject under investigation, critically evaluate the historiographical context and trends of the subject under exploration work with an appropriate degree of learner independence to explain and analyse the material under scrutiny summarise, analyse and evaluate the subject material clearly and effectively in writing, synthesise and evaluate themes across a wide range of diverse material
Assessment
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: S1 = 1 x 3,000 word essay (100%)
Other
Reading List