History (with Foundation Year)

Year 1

Compulsory modules

• A People’s History of Britain

  You’ll uncover Britain’s rich, multicultural history - from the Tudors to today. You’ll explore the lives of families and individuals, investigating life histories, recorded memories and material objects of the time. You’ll explore famous figures throughout the centuries. And you’ll attend seminars where you’ll discuss new perspectives on themes including:

  • fashion and consumption
  • material culture
  • class
  • demography
  • welfare.

• Europe and the World, 1450-1750

  What was it like to live through the early modern witch trials? How did the Scientific Revolution affect society?

  In this module, you’ll explore a time of religious warfare, environmental change and political revolutions in Europe. You’ll encounter Europe’s history, and relations with the world in the early modern period, through texts, criminal records, art and buildings. And you’ll explore what life was like for people who lived through:

  • Wars between Christian and Muslim powers
  • European colonialism
  • The execution of the King during the British Civil Wars

• Ideologies of the Modern World, 1750-2000

  In this module, you’ll gain critical knowledge of the ideas and concepts behind the rise of the West, and modern Western society. You’ll get to know the competing ideologies in Western society and power since the mid-seventeenth century. And you’ll explore marginalised groups and the processes of empire-building. You’ll gain the key skills to succeed in your degree, as you learn to:

  • communicate knowledge
  • present arguments
  • solve problems in a scholarly way. 

• Superpowers: an International History of the Cold War

  Who won the Cold War? In this module, you’ll explore the rivalry between two global superpowers - the United States and Soviet Union. You’ll understand how the Cold War never featured any actual fighting between the two, yet resulted in the defeat of one. You’ll get to grips with International History, and learn about the realms of:

  • diplomacy
  • arms control
  • proxy wars
  • the creation and maintenance of alliances
  • leadership and the role of personality.

  And you’ll explore how people lived through the looming threat of nuclear destruction in the second half of the 20th Century.

• Why History Matters: Evidence, Interpretation, Impact

  What does it mean to think like a historian, and why does history matter in the real world? 
  
  You'll deepen your understanding of core historical concepts, including evidence, interpretation, continuity and change, and historical significance. Through hands-on engagement with primary and secondary sources, historiographical debates and independent research, you'll sharpen your ability to construct arguments, evaluate sources critically and communicate historical ideas with confidence.
  
  This is also a module about you as a historian. You'll explore your own motivations, academic strengths and strategies for success, culminating in a personal action plan to help you make the most of your studies and future career.
  
  Alongside disciplinary skills, you'll build practical competencies in critical reading, archival research, digital history tools and professional communication, equipping you for advanced study and employment in history and beyond.

• World at War: A History of the First World War

  Why was the First World War such a pivotal moment in History? In this module, you’ll gain valuable critical skills in the study of Modern History, as you explore the depth and extent of the First World War. You’ll examine:

  • the global reach of the war, particularly in the colonial territories of Asia and Africa
  • the culture of war on the home front and how it affected men, women, and children
  • the refugee crisis across Europe, and the plight of people in zones of conflict.
  • innovations in medical care and humanitarian relief
  • the birth of the idea of “crimes against humanity” and genocide
  • the history of the military conflict from 1914-1918

Optional modules

• Bloody Histories: Crime and Violence in the West

  You’ll discover crimes in the West from 1400 to 2000, including:

  • Piracy
  • Treason
  • Poisoning
  • Rape
  • Blasphemy

  You’ll get to know the key sources of crime historians, and the challenges in using them. You’ll connect law, crime, and punishment with the wider social context in Britain, Europe, and America. And you’ll gain key critical skills as you explore pressing debates around crime.

• Origins of the Climate Crisis: A Global History of the Environment

  You will engage with the ways in which the environment and the climate have changed over the past six centuries. Looking at:

  • sustainability
  • climate change
  • conservation.

  You will investigate environmental changes and how they were contested and experienced at communal, national and international levels. You'll think about the political, economic, social and cultural contexts of resource management, energy use and food production, including a focus on future policy solutions.
  
  You will engage with a wide variety of historical sources which we can use to understand environmental history, including:

  • demographic sources
  • institutional records
  • visual sources such as maps and plans.

  You will gain digital history skills, through the digital mapping technology you will use on the course.

• The Faiths of the West

  How have religious groups shaped the West, from the ancient to the modern world? How do different religious groups interact with each other? In this module, you’ll explore:

  • different religions groups and doctrines
  • witchcraft and paganism
  • religion in everyday life

  We’ll mainly focus on Christianity, but also on the role of other faiths, such as Judaism and Islam. We’ll also look at the idea of fascism as a political religion.

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• History in a Digital Age: Sources, Methods, and Debates

  How is the digital revolution changing the way we understand the past, and what does that mean for historians today?
  This module explores how digital technologies are transforming historical research, from the archives we access to the methods we use to analyse and present our findings. You'll develop core skills in finding and interrogating primary sources, engaging with digital repositories and archives, and applying digital methods of analysis to historical questions.
  Along the way, you'll grapple with the bigger debates: who gets to store and share historical data, whose voices are included in digital archives, and how historians navigate the ethical challenges of an increasingly digital discipline.
  The skills you build here, particularly in interpreting complex information and data, are transferable to careers that rely on digital resources and emerging technologies, including AI.

• Professional Development in Practice: Oxford Stories, or, Curiosity and Critical Thinking

  The world's most pressing challenges don't fit neatly into one subject or discipline. This module puts you at the heart of tackling them.
  
  You'll choose one of two pathways. Oxford Stories explores how narratives shape people, places and communities. Curiosity and Critical Thinking examines the role of evidence and information in contemporary challenges.
  
  Working alongside academics, fellow students and external partners, you'll engage in projects that develop critical, creative and transferable skills needed to address real-world issues. You'll learn to analyse problems, consider multiple perspectives and apply your knowledge beyond your subject area.
  
  Through collaboration and reflection, you'll deepen your understanding of yourself, your subject and the wider contexts in which you will live and work.
  
  The second in a series of three modules running throughout the programme, Professional Development in Practice builds on your first year and prepares you for life beyond graduation.

• Twentieth-century Britain: Democracy, Upheaval, Renewal

  In this module, you'll be introduced to key social, political and economic changes that made twentieth-century Britain. You will learn about the relationship between crisis and renewal, and will be encouraged to think critically about the nature of change and how, why and when this came about to forge the Britain we know today. You’ll explore how the politics of change and how key developments in the British state, society and economy, and the country’s place in the world, were contested, represented and resisted by some and championed by others. 
  
  The module aims to empower you to think independently about Britain’s twentieth-century past and twenty-first-century present and the relationship between the two. It can sometimes seem like Britain is experiencing unprecedented change and crisis; but Britons have lived through similarly challenging times in the past century.

• Information Revolutions: From Gutenberg to GenAI

  GenAI; the worldwide web; social media: we are living through a time of great change in how we generate and consume information, but we are not the first society to do so.
  
  Learn how information revolutions that have shaped the creation, consumption and communication of knowledge over the past 500 years. You'll explore how new technologies - from printing presses and cameras to computers and artificial intelligence - have transformed the way humans understand and interact with each other and the wider world, for good and ill.
  
  You will learn about how information has been:

  •  generated, stored and circulated
  •  created new forms of public discussion, identity and community
  •  used and abused by state and non-state actors 

  We'll think critically about the political, social and cultural impact of new information technologies and how they relate to the exercise of power and freedom, highlighting how they have profoundly shaped what we understand by knowledge, truth and facts.

Optional modules

• Witches: Religion, Power and Magic

  This module offers you the opportunity to study magic and witchcraft as central topics of social and cultural history. Covering more than 2,000 years of the history of magic, it invites you to investigate persecutions of so-called witches in their various political, social and religious contexts from Roman Antiquity to the present. 

  The module discusses witchcraft in the broadest sense of the word: from medieval concepts of heresy and the pact with the devil to the rise of demonology, from the British and European witch hunts of the Reformation age to the Satanic panic of the late twentieth century. 

  We also explore the contexts of spirit beliefs, learned magic and folk magic and discuss how organized religion and the states dealt with magic and (alleged and real) magicians. The module will develop your skills in using primary sources as well as introducing you to the most important debates in the history of witchcraft.

• Crime and Punishment through the Ages

  What causes people to commit crimes? And how have we punished criminals in the past? In this module, you’ll gain a fascinating insight into crime in the British Isles, as you examine:

  • gendered criminality
  • property crime
  • the history of violence
  • attempts to regulate morality. 

  You’ll explore: 

  • the birth of the prison
  • social crimes and social justice
  • moral and anti-social crimes
  • theories of punishment.

  You’ll also look at the substantial changes in law enforcement that occurred in early modern Britain, giving you the key critical knowledge to study crime history. 

• Jack the Ripper

  How did Jack the Ripper - the mass murderer of vulnerable women - shape Victorian culture? And how did Victorian Britain create the Jack the Ripper phenomenon? In this module, you’ll dive into the criminal underworld of the nineteenth century. You’ll investigate a time where public ideas on crime clashed with those of the authorities. You’ll explore:

  • attitudes towards the morality and immorality 
  • the origins of the concept of the criminal class
  • the introduction of policing
  • the development of punishment.

  And you’ll ask who the real Jack the Ripper was, exploring suspects and theories.

• Stigma and Dehumanisation: A Modern History

  This module aims to deepen your understanding of how certain individuals and groups of people have been targeted, stereotyped and stigmatised because of their different ethnic origin, sexual orientation or disability. The emphasis is on the role played by the medical and social sciences (e.g. anthropology, psychiatry, and psychology) in shaping the emergence of a dehumanising language about people considered to be ‘different’. 
  
  Certain groups of people such as Black people, Jews, women, the lower classes and individuals with learning disabilities have been repeatedly and traumatically targeted throughout modern history.  You'll evaluate how the meaning of stigma has changed during the last three centuries, and look at how commonalities can be detected across countries.

• The Making of the American Giant, 1861-1945

  How did the United States become the global superpower it is today? In this module, you’ll trace the transformation of America from a British colony at war with itself, to the most wealthy and powerful nation on the planet. You’ll examine the political history behind the rise of the United States, and America’s growing actions and ambitions on the world stage, from the American Civil War through to World War Two.

• Putting History to Work

  In this module, you’ll have the chance to do some work experience closely linked to your History course. You’ll have help to find a placement that will support your goals. Past placements have included:

  • The Ashmolean Museum
  • The Oxford Preservation Trust
  • The Royal Air Force Museum.

  The time spent in the placement will be about ten working days. After your placement, you’ll reflect on what you’ve learned. You’ll produce a review of achievements and deliver a poster presentation. You’ll also gain practical experience - from crafting a CV to the specific responsibilities involved in your working role - that will help kickstart your career after Oxford Brookes.

• Investigation and Discovery 1

  This module gives you the chance to research a topic that fascinates you. With support from a supervisor, you’ll choose, plan and carry out your independent research, gaining in-depth knowledge of your subject. You’ll also build great project management and research skills, which will help you in your future career.

• Investigation and Discovery 2

  This module gives you the chance to research a topic that fascinates you. With support from a supervisor, you’ll choose, plan and carry out your independent research, gaining in-depth knowledge of your subject. You’ll also build great project management and research skills, which will help you in your future career.

• The Crisis of the West: Mass Culture and Mass Politics, 1900-1939

  In this module, you'll  study the period of crisis that characterized Western European society from the close of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of World War II. 
  
  We'll consider a wide range of topics dealing with social, political and cultural developments in transnational and comparative perspective, which contributed to the prevailing sense of crisis that befell Western society during this time. 

Optional Year Abroad

Optional modules

• Year Abroad

  This module offers the opportunity to study abroad, experience a new culture, and apply your skills in different contexts to enhance your employability. It will help you develop self-management, cross-cultural communication, and interpersonal skills.
  
  You’ll receive support to secure a place at a partner institution abroad, where you can choose modules related to your degree or explore new areas that complement your studies.
  
  Studying at an international university will help you enhance your interpersonal skills through cross-cultural communication with students and tutors, allowing you to build lasting relationships. You'll also improve your study skills by focusing on your chosen areas of interest, gaining valuable international experience that will strengthen your CV.
  
  This year abroad module lasts for one academic year and is taken after the conclusion of your second year of study, once you’ve completed all your level 5 studies. Your year abroad is not credit-bearing.

Final Year

Compulsory modules

• Major History Research Project

  What historical questions matter most to you? In this independent research project, you'll pursue an original piece of historical research on a topic of your choice, supported by individual supervision and drawing on the knowledge and skills developed throughout your degree.
  
  You'll investigate, analyse and interpret historical evidence, developing your ability to manage a substantial project and communicate complex ideas effectively. You can choose to present your findings through a traditional dissertation or an alternative, public-facing format, such as a museum guide, educational resource, policy analysis or community history project.
  
  As the culmination of your studies, this module enables you to demonstrate intellectual curiosity, initiative and historical expertise while developing the research, communication and project management skills valued across a wide range of professional and academic settings.

Optional modules

• Advanced Study in History 2

  This module offers the opportunity to undertake focused, advanced study of histories of violence, identity and belief, focusing on how societies have understood and represented ideas of difference, justice, race and morality across time.
  
  You will examine topics such as:

  • Forensic Medicine in Western Society
  • Evil in European Thought and Culture: from Candide to Eichmann
  • Race and Racism: A Global History
  • Civil War in Comparative Perspective

  These themes invite you to interrogate how societies define humanity, legitimacy and otherness, and how these definitions shape historical change.
  
  Through engagement with primary evidence and historiographical debate, you will develop advanced analytical skills and a critical awareness of how cultural, scientific and ideological frameworks influence historical interpretation.

• Advanced Study in History 3

  This module offers the opportunity to undertake focused, advanced study of environmental, religious and geopolitical histories, examining how belief systems, ecological change and military conflict have shaped societies from the early modern period to the contemporary world.
  
  You will examine topics such as: 

  • Dealing with Disasters: Environmental Change in Europe since 1500
  • God, Man, Spirit: Christianity in Western Society, 1500-1800
  • Religion and Magic in Everyday Life
  • The United States and the Vietnam War
  • American Grand Strategy in the Age of Civil War and Reconstruction

  Together, these areas explore how humans interpret and respond to uncertainty, crisis and global transformation.
  
  You will develop advanced skills in analysing change over time across environmental, cultural and political contexts, engaging critically with primary sources and scholarly debates to deepen your understanding of historical complexity.

• Investigation and Discovery Module 3

  This module gives you the chance to research an advanced historical topic that fascinates you and is not covered by the History course. You'll have support from a supervisor. You'll also further develop your independent working skills to an advanced level. You’ll choose, plan and carry out your independent research. Gaining a deep knowledge of your subject while improving your history research skills. 

• Political History: the Soviet Revolution, 1905-1941

  Why was Russia ripe for revolution in 1917? And how did a small group of revolutionaries manage to overthrow the Tsar and his regime?

  The Russian Revolution was one of the biggest upheavals of the 20th century. But the story of the revolution is much more than the story of Lenin and the Bolsheviks. In this module you’ll learn about the causes of Russia’s revolution. 

  You’ll explore:

  • the impact of the First World War on the Russian monarchy
  • the ‘Red Terror’ and the civil war that consumed Russia after 1917
  • what happened to national and ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union
  • how the revolution changed popular culture and family life
  • the rise of Stalin in the 1930s.

  You'll also learn about power struggles, and the paranoia and brutal purges of Stalin’s early years as the Soviet leader.

  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

• Political History: Britain and the Sea

  What does it mean to be an 'island nation'? And how does the sea affect areas like travel, immigration, economy and socialising? In this module, you'll examine Britain as an island nation. And you'll consider how this impacts Britons' lives - from gender and sexual identity, to trade and consumerism. You'll question topics like:

  • piracy and smuggling
  • the Royal Navy
  • trade and the British Empire
  • the seaside holiday.

  This module is subject to availability in any given year.

• Political History: The Unravelling of Russia

  What led to the downfall of the Russian monarchy in 1917? How did reforms by the Tsar bring about decades of turmoil and change? This module charts the path to the Russian Revolution. You'll explore exciting themes like:

  • the troubled emancipation of the Russian serfs
  • the industrialisation and modernisation of the Russian economy 
  • the revolutionary underground and the birth of modern terrorism
  • the flourishing of Russian culture and cultural politics
  • the rise of Russian nationalism and imperialism.

  This module is subject to availability in any given year.

• Social, Cultural and Medical History: Immigrants and Minorities in Early Modern England, c. 1453–1753

  Who was marginalised in early modern England? How did factors like ethnicity, sexual identity and nationality affect social standing? And how did the religious and political upheavals of the time impact minority groups? 

  In this module you'll explore:

  • the restriction and persecution of immigrants and minorities 
  • early modern prostitution, sexual minorities and 'deviant' behaviour
  • the re-establishment of the Jewish population, and the rising black population
  • the understanding of ethnicity, nationality and sexual identity in the early modern period.

  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

• Social, Cultural and Medical History: Life in Renaissance Italy

  What was life like for ordinary people in Renaissance Florence, Venice and Rome? Millions of tourists flock to these cities every year. But in this module, you'll explore beyond the piazzas and palaces. You'll  discover what life in 15th and 16th century Italy was really like. You'll examine:

  • how age, gender and ethnicity affected urban life
  • the impact of warfare, disease, natural disasters and climate change
  • the stories of people on the margins - like sex workers and the homeless.

  You'll emerge understanding the rich and complex history of this fascinating period.

  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

• Social, Cultural and Medical History: Religion and Magic in Everyday Life

  How does belief in magic affect our everyday lives? And how can religious beliefs shape our ideas and opinions? In this module, you'll explore beliefs - beyond the boundaries of religious institutions. You'll delve into the rituals, superstitions - and even cults - that have shaped our world view from the Middle Ages to the 19th Century. You'll examine:

  • the cult of saints and relics
  • angels and demons
  • ghosts and fairies
  • vampires
  • folk magic and divination
  • witchcraft and witch hunts.

  This module is subject to availability in any given year.

• The History of Crime: Forensic Medicine in Western Society

  How have doctors contributed to crime history? And what's the relationship between medicine, society and the law? In this module, you'll examine the history of forensic medicine. You'll explore how medical knowledge can influence attitudes toward crime. And you'll consider how medicine has affected criminal investigations. You'll look at examples from the Medieval period through to the 20th century. And you'll delve into:

  • death investigations
  • 'expertise' and the role of witnesses
  • forensic science
  • mental health and crime
  • crimes of sex and sexuality.

  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

• The History of Crime: Witchcraft, Magic and Belief in Early Modern Europe

  How did the population of early modern Europe come to believe that there were evil witches in their midst? And what's the relationship between popular belief about evil, society, and the law? In this module, you'll examine the history of witchcraft in early modern Europe until its relative demise in the middle of the 18th century. You'll explore who was accused of witchcraft and why, as well as what happened to them. You'll consider how contemporaries thought about and dealt with witches in England, Scotland, Europe and North America. You'll delve into:

  • Witchcraft beliefs
  • Trials of witches and individual witch hunts
  • The theories offered by historians as to why this happened
  • The rise and fall of witchcraft in the early modern world
  • The enduring place of the witch in popular culture

  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

• The History of Crime: In Cold Blood: Violence in the Modern Era

  Why does violence intrigue us? And why are we captivated by stories of crime and criminals? In the twentieth century, crime came under the spotlight in Britain and America. In this module, you'll examine murder and mayhem in modern British and American life. You'll explore:

  • The rise of serial murder and its perpetrators
  • The cult of the gangster and those who became Public Enemy #1
  • The ways in which crime came to be fought in the modern era
  • The debate over the death penalty.

  And you'll come to understand how violence influences our beliefs on crime and criminals today.

  This module is subject to availability in any given year.

• History of America: Land of the Free: Slavery and Servitude in American History

  Many of us are familiar with the history of American slavery, a history which conjures up images of cotton fields, runaways, and civil war. But forced labour took many forms throughout United States history. This module explores the experiences of those who were ensnared in various coercive labour systems in the United States from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, including not only enslaved black people but also European indentured servants, Chinese coolies, and Mexican peons. Through this, students on this module will gain a new understanding of the complexity of what slavery was, and its legacies today. 

  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

• History of America: The Vietnam War

  What was behind the Vietnam war? What transformed America from a disinterested observer to an active combatant, with over 500,000 soldiers in deadly conflict? In this module you’ll examine America’s role in Vietnam. You’ll consider the decisions of multiple presidents - and how these steadily escalated America’s involvement in Vietnam. You’ll examine the military side of the conflict - and unpick key debates on military strategy. You’ll also explore the consequences of the war, and how the conflict impacted America at home.
  
  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

• History of America: American Grand Strategy in the Era of Civil War and Reconstruction

  Why is the American Civil War so controversial? Both when it was fought in the 1860s, and now, over 150 years later? In this module you’ll explore the origins of the conflict. You’ll uncover the aims of both the Union and the Confederacy. You’ll investigate the strategies and tactics they employed. And you’ll consider the international impacts of the conflict.
  
  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

• The History of Ideas: Evil in European Thought and Culture 1750-1950

  What meaning does the concept of “evil” have in an age when religion is in decline and science is on the rise? In this module you will study case studies labelled by contemporaries as “evil” - from natural disasters to political repression to mass murder - and explore how intellectuals from a variety of backgrounds struggled to understand and come to terms these events and phenomena in the modern world of reason, rationality and science.

  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

• The History of Ideas: On Race and Racism

  What is race? The concept of race, of course, has a history, and in this module you’ll trace the development of the concept across three centuries, right up to the present day. The module will take a global perspective, introducing you to alternative understandings of race and the development of racism. We will examine the treatment and influence of race in:

  • science
  • the study of history
  • the rise of imperialism
  • in former colonial territories.

  This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.