London Semester Course Description
British History 1815 to Present
This course introduces students to the main themes of British social history from the Napoleonic Wars to the end of the twentieth century, a period that witnessed the gradual acquisition and rapid dissolution of a global economic and political empire, underwritten by the world’s largest navy. Through seminars, lectures and site visits, students will examine the ways in which Britain’s global rise and fall effected the politics, culture and day to day lives of ordinary Britons. We will concentrate on the following themes: empire and national identity, the industrial revolution and the making of the British working class, the struggle for women’s suffrage, the impact of the first and second world war, and the impact of decolonisation on British society and Britain’s status in the world.