BA History

Programme overview

Entry requirements

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

Programme specification

The School of History has a long-established international reputation for excellence in research and teaching. Our programme is notable for its chronological, geographical, and thematic range. You will have access to the outstanding resources of the university’s Brotherton Library, which houses one of the UK’s largest historical research collections.

This programme will:
· Provide you with an understanding of a range of societies and cultures across a broad chronological and geographical span;
· Enable you to identify and appreciate difference and diversity in interpretations of the past;
· Offer you a wide choice of specialist topics covering many periods, approaches and cultures, drawn from the research expertise of staff in the School;
· Develop your skills in the selection and interpretation of primary sources and historical scholarship;
. Develop your understanding of the range, value and challenges of primary source material available for historical study;
· Expand your knowledge of the uses of the past and the challenges of the historical discipline;
· Allow you to present interpretations based on historical sources, in a variety of formats;
· Offer you the (optional) opportunity to develop and enhance your transferable skills via a year spent in an industrial placement or at a host University abroad; Develop your skills with respect to inclusive historical practice;
· Offer you the opportunity to conduct a supervised research project.

As well as developing students’ subject-specific knowledge and proficiencies, the School of History is committed to promoting students’ wider skills across five specific skill domains. Our graduates will:

Communication:
. Communicate clearly and persuasively with a variety of audiences and through a variety of means, including digitally enabled communication
. Articulate well-reasoned interpretations and arguments in answering meaningful questions about the past and, by implication, the present and future.

Collaboration:
· Work as part of a team as an effective collaborator;
· Engage respectfully in constructive debate.

Research & Analysis
· Formulate clearly defined research questions;
· Conduct structured research enquiries that consist of setting tasks, and locating, synthesising and analysing evidence.

Independence and reflection:
· Work independently, while engaging positively with supervision and guidance;
· Apply effective learning strategies that demonstrate intellectual integrity, maturity, and self-direction;
· Reflect on and evaluate progress and respond positively to constructive feedback;
· Plan and mobilise resources effectively to meet deadlines.

Inclusivity and accessibility:
· Engage positively with issues raised by academic integrity and ethics and the responsibilities that arise through research and the use of the research and writing of others;
· Critically navigate the challenges faced in interpreting complex, ambiguous, conflicting, and often incomplete materials and evidence.

Year 1

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Students must study 120 credits in total.

These 120 credits will comprise any compulsory modules stated as well as a mix of optional and/or University designated Discovery modules as set out below.

Compulsory Modules

Candidates are required to study the following compulsory modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST1000	Exploring History	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST1065	Diverse Histories of Britain	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Optional Modules

Students are required to study 20-40 credits from the following optional modules:

Basket 1

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST1310	The Medieval World in Ten Objects	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST1320	Medieval Lives: Identities, Cultures and Beliefs	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MEDV1081	Religion and Culture: Medieval Christianity, Judaism and Islam	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students are required to study 20-40 credits from the following optional modules:

Basket 2

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST1060	Faith, Knowledge and Power, 1500-1750	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST1510	Global Empires	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students are required to study 20-40 credits from the following optional modules:

Basket 3

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST1520	Global Decolonization	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST1530	The Making of the Twentieth Century	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students may study up to 20 credits from the following optional history modules offered in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARAB1150	Early and Medieval Islamic History	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
EAST1241	Premodern East Asia	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
GERM1200	20th Century German History	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ITAL1040	Italy from Fascism to the Present	10	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL1070	World Histories	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
SPPO1045	The Historical Development of Spain and Hispanic America	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Candidates may study up to 20 credits from the following optional History of Science modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HPSC1015	Magic, Science and Religion	10	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HPSC1030	History of Psychology	10	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HPSC1046	Introduction to the History of Science	10	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HPSC1050	Darwin, Germs and the Bomb	10	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HPSC1080	History of Modern Medicine	10	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Students may study up to 20 credits of discovery modules if needed to bring their overall credits for Level 1 up to 120 credits.

Year 2

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Students must study 120 credits in total.

These 120 credits will comprise the compulsory module stated as well as a mix of optional and/or University designated ‘Discovery Modules’ as set out below.

Compulsory Modules

Students are required to study the following compulsory modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST2025	History in Practice	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Optional Modules

Students will choose one module each from baskets 1, 2, 4, and 5. These optional modules will vary year on year.

Students will also choose either one module from basket 3, one module from LCS History basket, or 20-credits of University designated ‘Discovery modules’. These optional modules will vary year on year

Basket 1 - MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN HISTORY
Students choose one module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST2035	Medieval Masculinities: Sex, Violence and Learning 1000-1200	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2083	Voices of the People: Language and Speech in the Early Modern World	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2090	Sin in Spanish America, 1571-1700	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2105	Medieval Romans and the shape of Afro-Eurasia today	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2170	Patient Voices: Medicine and Healthcare in the Middle Ages	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2260	Digital Methods for History, Art and Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 2 - MODERN HISTORY
Students choose one module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST2011	Mud, Blood and Poetry: The Cultural History of War in Britain	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2309	Communist Eastern Europe, 1945-89	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2360	Bass Culture in Modern Britain	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2420	Nationalism, Colonialism and 'Religious Violence' in India, 1857-1947	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2432	Lost Colonists: Failure and the Family in Southern Africa, 1880-1939	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 3 - CROSS LISTED WITH BA INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND POLITICS

Students may either choose one module from this basket OR 20 credits of University designated ‘Discovery Modules’(which may include modules listed in the LCS basket below).

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST2140	Imperial Germany 1871-1918	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2152	Spain, 1898-1936: Disaster, Reaction and Reform	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2301	The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, 1921-1993	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2557	Thinking About History	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2565	Histories of Black Britain	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST2658	Mao Zedong and Modern China, 1949-Present	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

LCS HISTORY BASKET

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
ARAB2066	Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
EAST2007	Japan's International Relations	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
EAST2008	The Making of Modern Thailand	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
GERM2082	Dealing with difficult pasts: German memory cultures	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL2015	Black Europe	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 4 - MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN HISTORY

Students choose one module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST2037	Dread and Despair? Living with Disability in the Middle Ages	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2045	Transformations of the Roman World	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2073	Most Christian Kings: France, 1515-1715	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2220	The Body, Disease and Society in Europe, 1500-1750	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2580	Slavery Studies Through Autobiography	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MEDV2085	Medieval Narratives in the Modern World: Nationalism, Terrorism, Popular Culture	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 5 - MODERN HISTORY

Students choose one module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST2103	Later Victorian England: Politics, Society and Culture	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2315	Mughals, Merchants and Mercenaries: 'Company Raj' in India 1600-1857	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2353	America and the Sixties	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2430	The History of Africa since 1900	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2434	The Global Caribbean, 1641-1848	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Students may study up to 20 credits of discovery modules if needed to bring their overall credits for Level 2 up to 120 credits.

Year 3

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Students must study 120 credits in total.

These 120 credits will comprise any core modules stated as well as a mix of optional and/or University designated Discovery modules as set out below.

Optional Modules

Students will be required to study one of the following Final Year Project modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3075	Public History Project	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP
HIST3500	History Dissertation	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Students will be required to study 40 credits from one of the following special subject modules. These modules will vary year on year.

Basket 1 Medieval & Early Modern History

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3001	Conquest, Convivencia and Conflict: Christian and Muslim Spain, 711-1212	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3071	An Animal History of Byzantium, c. 1000-1200	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3498	Early Modern Media: Printing and the People in Europe c.1500-c.1800	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3687	The Later Elizabethan Age: Politics and Empire	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 2 Modern History – International

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3235	Dividing India: The Road to Democracy in South Asia, 1939-1952	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3330	Europe in an Age of Total Warfare	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3332	The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3590	White Africans: Intimacy, Race and Power	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3695	The Korean War	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3930	The First World War: A Global Conflict	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 3 Modern British History

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3076	Bodies on Display: Histories and Ethics of Human Exhibition in Britain	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3392	Eastern Subjects: British Attitudes to India, 1757-1857	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3440	The Photographic Age: Photography, Society and Culture in Britain, 1839-1945	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3685	Georgians at War	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 4 Modern World History

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3018	Pieces of A Man: the art, politics and life of Gil Scott-Heron (1949 – 2011)	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3220	Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3240	The Harlem Renaissance	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3390	The Soviet Sixties: Politics and Society in the USSR, 1953-1968	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 5 International History and Politics - Britain & Europe

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3747	The Iron Lady Abroad: Margaret Thatcher and UK Foreign Policy from 1979	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 6 International History and Politics - Global

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3015	Indonesia from Revolution to Dictatorship (1945-1967)	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3026	People, Water and Sand: An Environmental History of the Middle East	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3888	The Global Vietnam War	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students are required to study 20-40 credits from the following optional modules. Only one choice per basket is allowed. These optional modules will vary year on year.

Level 3 History options, Semester 1

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3100	Colonial Bodies: Life and Death in British India, 1757-1900	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST3450	American History, American Historians	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST3790	Gender and Slavery in Latin America, 1580-1888	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MEDV3411	Medieval Women Mystics: Visionaries, Saints and Heretics	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Level 3 History options, Semester 2

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3074	The Slave Trade, Slavery and Britain’s Atlantic Empire	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST3530	Mapping the Middle Ages: Space and Representation from the Pacific to the Atlantic	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MEDV3010	Medieval Origin Stories: From the Trojans to the Turks	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Cross Listed with BA INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND POLITCS

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3710	Nazism, Stalinism and the Rise of the Total State	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST3880	'Parasites' and 'Cockroaches': Genocide in the Twentieth Century	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST3920	People and Protest: Transnational Activism in the 20th Century and Beyond	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST3999	Doomed to Failure? European Great Power Politics from Bismarck to the Outbreak of World War I	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Candidates may study up to 20 credits of Discovery modules if needed to bring their overall credits for Level 3 to 120 credits.

Last updated: 08/05/2026 16:49:13

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