Course aims
This course will develop your knowledge and understanding of a broad range of historical topics ranging from modern British and German history, to the witchcraze of the 16th and 17th Centuries. Through your studies you will acquire and develop the skills of a historian.
Entry requirements
You will require a grade 6 in English and a grade 6 in history, in addition to the general entry requirements.
Course content
Unit 1 – From Pitt to Peel: Britain 1783–1853
This unit is bracketed by a study of two key Prime Ministers, William Pitt the Younger and Robert Peel. We will focus on the profound economic, social and political changes, which occurred during this period, as Britain transformed into the first modern industrialised nation in world.
Unit 2 – Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963
This unit looks in detail at German history between 1918 and 1963 to see how democracies and dictatorships manifest and compare them. We will firstly look at the Weimar Republic and the economic, social and political conditions, which paved the way for Hitler to take control in Germany. Then we focus on the years of the Nazi dictatorship and its political, social, and economic developments both in peace and during war. Finally, we will look at the fallout of the Second World War and the construction of East and West Germany, their differences, and how they develop competing visions of a modern Germany.
Unit 3 – Popular culture and the Witchcraze of the 16th and 17th Centuries
This unit is a much broader thematic study focussed on the early-modern period. We will investigate how the witchcraze developed, was sustained, and eventually ended in three unique settings by comparing the situation in Britain, Germany, and America. Through this you will develop an understanding of society and gain a perspective on thoughts and beliefs from a time very different to our own.
Course assessment
Three written examinations and coursework
Materials
A number of basic textbooks cover the syllabus and these will be discussed at the first class meeting. Dudley Sixth has access to an extensive library collection of history texts and use will also be made of Internet sources.
Progress
Higher Education, or a career in teaching, museum work, the public services, business, commerce.