A module informed by research-led teaching, ‘Nationalism and Empire: Britain and Germany, 1815-1914’ explores some of the most interesting and complicated aspects of modern European history. Rivalry between Britain and Germany found intense, violent expression in two world wars. The century preceding the outbreak of war in 1914, however, was marked not by rivalry and suspicion alone (of which there was a good deal), but also by shared interests political and diplomatic, social and cultural. What mattered to one of those countries was often also of interest to the other. Britons and Germans had more in common than might be assumed from their relationship in the years since 1914, not least a preoccupation with nationhood and with overseas empire. Reflecting this variety and complexity, the module ranges widely within and beyond Britain and Germany, also taking in the European and imperial contexts. Through contemporary and historical accounts and primary source materials, it examines over the course of a hundred years the varied ways in which Anglo-German and international affairs influenced politics, the economy and society in two major European states.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Weekly lectures, providing background and contextual information, are are combined with seminar workshops in which students analyse and discuss issues, notably through the use of contemporary source materials. Students learn from the work of historians, and also undertake their own historical interpretation, through engagement with sources that help reveal how people in Britain and Germany interpreted events through which they lived during the period 1815-1914.
Definitive UNISTATS Category | Indicative Description | Hours |
---|---|---|
Scheduled learning and teaching | 20 two-hour combined lecture and seminar workshops | 40 |
Guided independent study | Student independent study | 260 |
Total (number of credits x 10) | 300 |
Summative assessment takes the form of a portfolio , which comprises 100% of the marks for the module. Formative assessment takes the form workshop exercises in historical document and source analysis. y Regular feedback and feed forward enables students to develop through tutor and peer feedback understanding not only of historical matters and primary sources but also of their own learning experience, through the study of Anglo-German relations, 1815-1914.
Learning Outcome | Assessment Strategy |
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Identify the context in which Anglo-German relations occurred during the period 1815-1914. | Assessed summatively by a portfolio. Assessed formatively through seminar workshop discussion and activity. |
Describe the political, social and economic implications for Britain and Germany of Anglo-German relations, 1815-1914. | Assessed summatively by a portfolio. Assessed formatively through seminar workshop discussion and activity. |
Evaluate contemporary and historical debates and controversies about Anglo-German relations, 1815-1914. | Assessed summatively by a portfolio. Assessed formatively through seminar workshop discussion and activity. |
Identify, access and interpret source materials relating to the history of Anglo-German relations, 1815-1914. | Assessed summatively by a portfolio. Assessed formatively through seminar workshop discussion and document analysis. |
It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module
Farmer, A (2001). An Introduction to nineteenth-century European History, 1815-1914. Hodder and Stoughton.
Hall, C and Rose, SO (eds.) (2006). At Home with the Empire: Metropolitan Culture and the Imperial World. Cambridge University Press.
Blanning, TCP (2000). The Nineteenth Century – Europe 1789-1914. Oxford University Press.
Breuilly, J (2001). Nineteenth Century Germany: Politics, Culture and Society, 1780-1918. Arnold.
Hyam, R (2003). Britain’s Imperial Century, 1815-1914. Palgrave.
Porter, B (2006). The Absent-Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society and Culture in Britain. Oxford University Press.