Module Directory

This module explores experiences, representations, and legacies of the two world wars and the cold war in multiple contexts.

Lectures will examine themes such as citizenship, trauma, and memory across these conflicts, while seminars focus on specific case studies from across the globe.

The aims of this module are:

• To help students to understand:
  
  
  
  • Arguments about war and social change.
  
  
  • Concepts including ‘total war’, ‘experience’, ‘representation’, and ‘memory’.
  
  
  • The shaping role of war in twentieth-century global history;.
  
  
  • Diverse experiences of war, including the influence of gender, “race”, and class.
  
  
  • How to synthesise secondary scholarship on the social and cultural history of war.
  
  
  • How to build understanding of aspects of different conflicts into coherent arguments on the effects of war on individuals and society.
  
  

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Students will have awareness of the importance of the world wars and the cold war in shaping twentieth-century global history.


2. Students will be able to demonstrate critical understanding of secondary scholarship on the social and cultural history of war.


3. Students will be able to synthesise secondary scholarship on different aspects of war.


4. Students will be able to formulate independent arguments on the effects of war on individuals and society across the twentieth century.


5. Students will be able to better present their findings orally in seminar discussions, and in writing as part of their assessment.

The seismic upheaval of two world wars shaped twentieth-century society, culture, and politics across much of the globe. While the world wars raged, states directed the resources of all their citizens towards achieving victory, meaning that a range of actors beyond combatants were directly touched by conflict.

In turn, those affected by war sought new relationships with nation-state, empire, and each other as they tried to come to terms with its legacies. The world wars therefore also inspired new visions of political and social life, generated subsequent conflicts and battles for independence, and caused the redrawing of borders in Europe and beyond.

The aim is to understand not only how these wars affected different groups and individuals, but to trace the legacies of these conflicts in multiple arenas, and shed new light on how they continue to affect the world today. In emphasising society and culture, and the relationship between the local and the global, War and the Twentieth-Century World challenges conventional views of twentieth-century warfare and introduces students to diverse voices and perspectives.

Indicative syllabus

Lectures

• War and Social Change in the Twentieth Century.


• Soldiers, Workers, Citizens: Experiencing Total War.


• War, State, and Nation 1: Class, Gender, and Citizenship.


• War, State, and Nation II: Empires and Independence.


• Trauma and its Legacies.


• Genocide and the Holocaust.


• Representing War: Tradition and Modernity.


• Remembering War: Memory and Commemoration.


• The Cold War and the New World Order.


• From 1945 to 1989: Legacies of War.

Seminars

• Introduction: Why War?


• Total War: Non-Combatants and Aerial Bombardment.


• The Soldier's Tale: Life on Different Fronts.


• Gender, Citizenship, and the First World War.


• Indian Independence.


• From "Shell-Shock" to PTSD.


• The Holocaust: Testimony and Witness.


• War Art and Propaganda.


• War Memorials.


• The World Wars Today.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 50-minute lecture per week.

• One 50-minute seminary per week.

Lectures will provide an overview of themes as they relate to one or more conflicts in diverse geographical settings. This will help students to place their independent reading in broader perspective.

Seminars will discuss more limited case studies, sometimes with a comparative element. This will help students to negotiate between microhistory and panoptic studies. Lectures and seminars therefore complement each other and ensure that students are exposed to diverse perspectives.

All Module information will be available via Moodle. Key readings will be digitised an available on Talis Aspire.