MO4940 Britain in the Era of the Great War
   
Lecturer Professor Gerard De Groot (St Katharine's Lodge, room 1.18)
   
Credits 60
   
Availability 2009-2010 - semesters 1 and 2
   
Class Hour Wednesday 10 - 12
   
Description This course will deal with the effects of the Great War upon British politics and society. Topics will include: preparation for war, militarism, political and military leadership, the war in the trenches, war poetry, the effect of the war upon women and the working class, the legacy of the war, etc. Military campaigns will not be studied in great detail.

   
Basic Reading G. J. De Groot, Blighty: British Society in the Era of the Great War
D. Winter: Death's Men
J. Turner: British Politics in the Great War
G.J. De Groot: The First World War
   

Course Structure

Semester 1 and Semester 2
1. Introduction
2. Preparation for War
3. Business as Usual
4. Improvisation
5. Lions
6. Donkeys
7. Home Fires
8. Victory?
9. Social Legacy
10. Political Legacy
   
Assessment 60% examination - two 3-hour papers
40% coursework - 4 essays or the equivalent, and 6 gobbet assignments
   

Learning Outcomes
  • Skills necessary in analysis of military history
  • Incorporation of non-traditional documentary evidence (eg posters and poems)
  • Reflection on how to take account of contemporary myth in analysing a period which remains powerfully emotive
   
Restrictions Available only to students in the second year of the Honours programme and cannot be combined with Option on "Britain in the Era of the Great War" (MO3404)