Postgraduate Course: The British at War, 1939-1945 (PGHC11153)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will examine the British experience of the Second World War through primary source materials, such as diaries, films and memoirs, to be studied in conjunction with the secondary literature. |
| Course description |
Having begun with a review of the major sources and archives, the course will explore a number of major areas relating to the experience both of civilians and members of the armed forces.
The topics covered include:
The Battle of Britain
The Blitz
Evacuation
The films of Humphrey Jennings
War industry
Women's Wartime Experiences
The films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Politics: the 1945 general election
The bombers' and soldiers' war
Armed forces' film trilogy
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate in seminar participation and coursework a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge concerning the Second World War in Britain
- Demonstrate in coursework and seminar participation an ability to analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship concerning the Second World War in Britain and, in particular, an ability to critically evaluate primary source materials and their relationship to the historiography of the period
- Demonstrate the ability to develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in oral and written form in seminar discussions and coursework by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course
- Demonstrate in seminar discussions and coursework originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy
|
Reading List
P. Addison, The Road to 1945: British Politics and the Second World War (1977)
P. Addison and J. A. Crang (eds), The Burning Blue: a New History of the Battle of Britain (2000)
P. Addison and J. A. Crang (ed), Listening to Britain: Home Intelligence Reports on Britain's Finest Hour, May-Sept 1940 (2010)
Angus Calder, The People's War (1969)
Geoffrey G Field, Blood, Sweat, and Toil: Remaking the British Working Class, 1939-1945 (2011)
M. Francis, The Flyer. British Culture and the RAF 1939-1945 (2011)
K. Jackson, Humphrey Jennings (2004)
R. Mackay, Half the Battle: Civilian Morale in Britain during the Second World War (2002)
A. Moor, Powell and Pressburger: a Cinema of Magic Spaces (2005)
Sonya O Rose, Which People' War? (2003)
P. Summerfield, Reconstructing Women's Wartime Lives: Discourse and Subjectivity in Oral Histories of the Second World War (1998)
J. Welshman, 'Evacuation and Social Policy during the Second World War: Myth and Reality' Twentieth-Century British History, 9 (1998) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | British At War |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Wendy Ugolini
Tel: (0131 6)50 3766
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: |
|
|
University Homepage