Studying the history of the relationship between Britain and her soldiers since 1900 allows us to trace the development and impact of one of the country's central institutions, and to explore the clash between old and new that characterises much of Britain's modern history in microcosm. We focus in particular on five main questions: 1) What roles did the Army fill? 2) Who served? 3) Why did they do so? 4) How did society's attitudes to the Army evolve? 5) how did the Army affect British society and culture? Official documents and newspapers; personal letters and diaries; poetry, movies and pop music: all will help us uncover the political, social, cultural and human stories of the men and women from all over the world who served in the land forces of the Crown and thus let us explore the modern history of Britain at home and in the world.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
analyse and critically appraise key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny
analyse and critically evaluate a wide range of relevant primary source material
critically evaluate the historiographical context and trends of the subject under exploration
summarise, synthesise and evaluate the subject material in a sophisticated written form
