School of Arts and Media (SAM)

School of Arts and Media (SAM)

MODULE OPTION BOOKLET

LEVELS 5 AND 6

BA (Hons) Contemporary Military & International History

Academic Year

2014 – 2015

Contents Page

General Notes on the Booklet ………………………………………………………………..………………
MODULE DESCRIPTIONS
SEMESTER 1 ……………………………………………………………………......
SEMESTER 2 ..…………………………………………………………………………………………

university-wide language programme .…………………………….………………………………

General Notes on the Booklet

FOR ALL CMIH STUDENTS

All undergraduate students currently in Level 4 and Level 5 must now choose their module options for next year. This booklet gives you a brief description of the modules, showing the level and the semester, and given alphabetical order.

Information regarding the modules on offer is contained in the following pages. If you require any further details, please contact the module tutor specified.

Module information for students going into Level 5:

You must select 2 designated History modules and 2 designated Politics modules over the course of the year (please refer to your Programme Handbook). Following OME, Programme Administration will check your choices to ensure this rule is met.

In Semester 1, you must take the compulsory modules Theories of War and International History 1789-1914 and choose one other module. In Semester 2, you must take the compulsory module Researching in History. You must then choose two other optional modules.

Module information for students going into Level 6:

In Semester 1 you must take the dissertation (double weighted – 40 credits) and one other option module. In Semester 2 all students take three option modules.

Module Descriptions

Semester 1

AIR POWER & MODERN WARFARE (H) (CRN 26117) LEVEL 5

This Level 5 module will cover the evolution of air power since its conception in the early twentieth century. The course will commence by examining the implications which air power has born for warfare and military practice, and will then trace its development during the First World War and the interwar years, focusing on strategic bombing, tactical air support, and naval air warfare. It will then explore the extent to which air power shaped the conduct and outcome of the Second World War, which was the first conflict in which air power was used on a massive scale. The course will then move on to explore the role of air power during the Cold War, with particular attention being paid to the arms race between the US and USSR, and their respective strategies for using air power to deliver their nuclear arsenals. It will also examine the role which air power has played in so-called ‘low-intensity’ conflicts such as Vietnam, the Arab-Israeli Wars, and the recent Gulf Wars, examining both the limits and uses. The module will conclude by exploring some of the implications of the most recent Revolution in Military Affairs, brought about by the development of ‘information-based’ weapons, and the implications which it holds for air power. The question of whether space-based weapons systems can be used on a large scale in future wars will also be examined.

Indicative reading:

· W. Boyne, The Influence of Air Power on History (2003)

· J. Buckley, Air Power in the Age of Total War (1999)

· J. Gooch (ed), Airpower: theory and practice (1995)

Assessment:

· one 2,500 word essay (40%); one two-hour exam (60% - final component)

THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT (CRN 28447) LEVEL 5

This module offers an introduction into the Arab Israeli conflict since the beginning of the 20th century by examining the main events and actors that have helped shape its course. You will gain familiarity with the key debates and narratives concerning the nature of Israel’s relationship with its Arab neighbours; the policies adopted by the main participants of the conflict; as well as the prospects and limits of regional and international attempts to reach peace. During the course of the module we will discuss the historical context and ideological currents of Zionism and Arab nationalism, the impact of European Colonialism on the emerging Arab state system, the era of Intra-State wars 1948-1973, and the following quests for peace. We also critically assess the political and policy-making processes in Israel and among Palestinian organizations from the PLO to Hamas, as well as examine the role of the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran.

The module also features a computer-based simulation where you can decide on issues of war and peace from the perspectives of the Israeli Prime Minister and Palestinian President.

Introductory reading

· Dowty, A., Israel/Palestine, Cambridge: Polity: 2012.

· Gelvin, J.L., The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2007.

· Hinnebusch, R./Ehteshami, A. (eds.), The Foreign Policies of Middle East States, Boulder: 2002
Fawcett, L. (ed.), International Relations of the Middle East, Oxford 2005

· Quandt, W. B., Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1967, Washington, DC 2005

Assessment:

· Two 2,500 word essays each worth 50% of the module mark (the second essay is the final component);

BRITAIN AND THE EUROPEAN RESISTANCE, 1939-1945 (CRN 27403) LEVEL 6

Dr Christopher J. Murphy

This module explores Britain’s role in encouraging and supporting resistance movements in Europe during the Second World War through the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the organisation established in July 1940 and instructed by Churchill to ‘set Europe ablaze’. The module makes extensive use of surviving SOE documents, now available at the National Archives, and considers their value within the context of official release policy and censorship under Section 3(4) of the Public Records Act. The module also makes use of interviews with former SOE personnel collected by the Imperial War Museum, introducing students to oral history and the problems to be encountered in both its collection and use. Through a combination of these sources, in addition to the wider literature on SOE, students will consider SOE’s relationships with both indigenous resistance movements and governments in exile, along with the organisation’s relationship with the Foreign Office and the impact of its activities upon British foreign policy. Students will examine a number of significant episodes in SOE’s history, both successes and failures, including the destruction of the Norsk Hydro heavy-water plant in Norway (Operation GUNNERSIDE), the German penetration of SOE’s resistance network in Holland (the ‘Englandspiel’ affair), and the plan to assassinate Hitler (Operation FOXLEY).

Recommended Reading

MRD Foot, SOE in France (London, 1966).

MRD Foot, Resistance: European Resistance to Nazism 1940-1945 (London, 1976).

MRD Foot, SOE: An Outline History (London, 1999 Pimlico edition).

WJM Mackenzie, The Secret History of SOE (London, 2000).

David Stafford, Britain and the European Resistance (London, 1980).

David Stafford, Secret Agent (London, 2000).

Bickham Sweet-Escott, Baker Street Irregular (London, 1965).

Peter Wilkinson and Joan Bright Astley, Gubbins and SOE (London, 1993).

Assessment:

Two essays - Essay 1, 2000 words (40%); Essay 2, 3000 words (60% - final component)

DISSERTATION (CRN 14525) LEVEL 6

All PCH staff

Students for whom the dissertation is compulsory will already have taken a compulsory Research Methods module.

Assessment: 100% double-weighted module

MEDIA, WAR AND DEMOCRACY LEVEL 6

Dr Cristina Archetti

War is not only fought on the battlefield. It is also a battle for perceptions that takes place before going to war, during the war, and continues long after a war is over in the memory and narratives about it. This module explores the way the development of communications technologies has, over time, affected not only the very nature and scope of war, but also the way the struggle for its perceptions and portrayals is being waged by policy makers, global media, and transnational audiences in democratic societies. This module brings together Politics, Journalism, Communications and History. Some of the topics we will cover are: information warfare, media management at times of war, war reporting, propaganda during WWI and WWII, the role of the media in the global fight against terrorism, war and popular culture, the future of war (drone technology, robotics, the role of social media...).

Indicative Reading

Bennett, W. L. and Paletz, D. L. (1994) Taken by Storm: The Media, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Gulf War (Chicago: University Of Chicago Press).

Gillan, K., Pickerill, J. and Webster, F. (2008) Anti-War Activism: New Media and Protest in the Information Age (Basingstoke: Palgrave).

Hallin, D. C. (1989) The "Uncensored War": The Media and Vietnam (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

Knightley, P. (2003) The First Casualty: the war correspondent as hero, propagandist and myth maker from the Crimea to Vietnam (Andre Deutsch Ltd).

Moorcraft, P.L. and Taylor, P. (2008) Shooting the Messenger: The Political Impact of War Reporting (Dulles, VA: Potomac Press)

Assessment:

Two essays of 2750 words each worth 50% mark (2nd essay final component)

INTERNATIONAL HISTORY 1789-1914 (CRN 30682) LEVEL 5

This module is core at second year level to all students on the Contemporary Military and International History and Contemporary History and Politics programme. It will provide a detailed analysis of most of the major themes and issues in British and continental European history between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Its main focus will be on the political and diplomatic development and consequences of the European alliance system, the emergence of Germany and Italy as new states, industrialisation as well as the major revolutions of the period. In addition to the French Revolution, the module will also examine the revolutions in France in the 1820s and 1830s, as well as the more widespread revolutions of 1848. The module will also examine the major developments in cultural and social international history and will demonstrate how it is impossible to have an adequate grasp of the events of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries without first understanding the 'shape' of the century that preceded both of these.

Introductory reading:

· Bartlett, C.J., Britain and the Great Powers 1815-1914 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993).
Bridge, F. R., and Roger Bullen, The Great Powers and the European States System 1815-1914 (London and New York: Longman, 1980).

· Hobsbawm, E. J., The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848 (London: Cardinal, 1973).

· Jones, P., The 1848 Revolutions (Harlow: Longman, 1981).

· Mombauer, A., The Origins of the First World War: Controversies and Consensus (London: Longman, 2002).

· Stevenson, D., Armaments and the Coming of War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).

· Taylor, A. J. P., The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848-1918 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).

· Williamson, D. G., Bismarck and Germany, 1862-1890 (Harlow: Longman, 1997.)

Assessment:

· one 3000-word essay (35%) and one two-hour exam (65% - final component).

THEORIES OF WAR (H) (CRN 25189) (COMPULSORY for CMIH students) LEVEL 5
Dr Alaric Searle
Throughout the history of conflict, soldiers have developed theories in an attempt to understand the nature of wars and how to fight them. Today, many of these theories inform the decisions of military and political leaders. This module examines the ideas of several of the most influential theorists of war, including Sun Zi, Carl von Clausewitz, Antoine Henri Jomini, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and Sir Basil Liddell Hart. It also encourages students to use these theories as tools to enhance their study of historical and contemporary conflicts.

Introductory reading

· Peter Paret, ed., Makers of Modern Strategy: from Macchiavelli to the Nuclear Age, (1986).

· Azar Gat, A History of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Cold War, (2000).

Assessment:

· one 2500 word essay (35%); one two-hour exam (65% - final component)

Semester 2

ARMOURED WARFARE (CRN 26153) LEVEL 5
Dr Alaric Searle

The course will aim to introduce students to the technical characteristics of tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), their development and the uses to which they have been put in ‘big wars’. In particular, an examination will be undertaken of the significance of armoured forces during both world wars, in the Vietnam War, in the Cold War, the Iran-Iraq War, and the Gulf Wars of 1990-91 and 2003. At the same time, it is equally important that the military ideas which have driven the development of armoured warfare be understood. In the interwar period, tanks represented a major challenge to existing ideas, military structures and tactical concepts. The effect which the introduction of the tank into military organizations had in the course of twentieth century cannot be underestimated. Moreover, tanks have taken on a remarkable political symbolism when they are employed on the streets of cities, suggesting that there is much more to tanks than their use on the battlefield where they attempt to destroy other tanks.

Introductory Reading

· Barton C. Hacker, ‘Imaginations in thrall: the social psychology of military mechanization’, Parameters 12 (Spring 1982), pp. 50-61.

· J.P. Harris & F. N. Toase (eds.), Armoured Warfare (London, 1990).

· J. Kemeny, ‘Professional ideologies and organizational structure: tanks and the military’, Archives Europeennes de Soziologie, 24 (1983), pp. 223-240.
Richard E. Simpkin, Tank Warfare: An Analysis of Soviet and NATO Tank Philosophy (London, 1979).

· Patrick Wright, Tank: The Progress of a Monstrous War Machine (London, 2000).

Assessment:

· one 2,500 word essay (35%); one two-hour exam (65% - final component)

BRITISH COUNTER INSURGENCY SINCE 1945

Dr Samantha Newbery

This module will allow students to examine Britain’s varied involvement in counter-insurgency operations since 1945 in depth. After an initial engagement with the theories and principles of insurgency and counter-insurgency, the module will cover the cases of Kenya, Malaya, Northern Ireland, Britain’s continuing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some lesser known cases. Students will develop an understanding of the evolution of the British approach to counter-insurgency since 1945, including, notably, the roles played by political, military, policing, intelligence and local administration forces in the success or failure of the module’s case studies. The module will also demand an engagement with the literature that proclaims success in British counter-insurgencies and that belonging to the newer, more critical, school of thought.