History
About the programme
UCAS Code: BA Combined Honours (Y001)
Study from a broad programme that spans a wide range of times and places. Reach back into pre-history or fast-forward to the present day with topics covering the history of:
- Britian
- Europe
- North and South America
- the Islamic world
- South and East Asia
History at Newcastle has an excellent international reputation for research, which feeds directly into your teaching.
Explore and evaluate various forms of evidence, including written and material records and oral testimony. Develop skills in:
- critical analysis
- communication
- research
Your teaching in Stages 1 and 2 is a balance between lectures and seminars. In Stage 3, the emphasis is almost entirely on seminars. Your assessment is in a range of forms including:
- coursework
- documentary commentaries
- group presentations
- literature reviews and essays
- written examinations
Our course structure has its foundation in British, European and world history. This enables you to make informed choices about the particular history you'd like to choose as options.
Offered by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology
You can find out more about the various social activities, lectures and academic trips organised by our History Society
Students study either 40 or 60 credits from the list below in Stage 1.
Select the module code for specific module information including the module summary and aims, knowledge and skills you'll gain, and the module leader.
All Students are required to take the following compulsory module:
| Module Code | Module Title | Credit Value | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIS1100 | Evidence and Argument (Compulsory) | 20 | 1 |
Students can either pick one further module (if studying a total of 40 credits of History) or two further modules (if studying a total of 60 credits of History) from the following list:
| Module Code | Module Title | Credit Value | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| HCA1001 | Slavery | 20 | 1 |
| HCA1002 | Big History: From the Big Bang to Climate Change | 20 | 1 |
| HCA1007 | Stuff: Living in a Material World | 20 | 2 |
| HCA1008 | Global Ancient Histories | 20 | 1 |
| HIS1101 | Historical Sources and Methods | 20 | 2 |
| HIS1102 | History Lab I | 20 | 1 |
| HIS1103 | Histroy Lab II | 20 | 2 |
| HIS1104 | Public History | 20 | 2 |
| HIS1105 | What is History For? | 20 | 1 |
Students study either 40, 60 or 80 credits from the list below in Stage 2.
Select the module code for specific module information including the module summary and aims, knowledge and skills you'll gain, and the module leader.
| Module Code | Module Title | Credit Value | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARA2011 | Prehistoric Europe | 20 | 1 |
| ARA2091 | Archaeology of Roman Empire: The Roman World from Augustus to Justinian | 20 | 1 |
| ARA2092 | The Medieval World: AD 400-1500 | 20 | 2 |
| ARA2097 | Historical Archaelology of the Modern World (post 1492) | 20 | 2 |
| CAH2006 | Hellenistic Empires from Alexander to Cleopatra | 20 | 2 |
| CAH2017 | The Roman World from Hadrian to Heraclius | 20 | 1 |
| CAH2020 | Greek and Roman Religions | 20 | 2 |
| CAH2061 | Slavery in Greco-Roman antiquity | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2027 | Africa: History of a Continent | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2219 | Oral History and Memory | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2240 | Greece from ancient times to the 21st century: Interdisciplinary approaches to study of the past | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2300 | 1968: A Global Moment? | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2301 | Communications in Medieval World, from Europe to Asia: Prayer, Poetry, Pictures and Travel | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2303 | Contesting Reproductive Rights in the UK and Ireland | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2304 | Crafting History: The Dissertation Proposal | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2305 | War, Wounds and Disabilities in the Modern Russian, American and British Worlds | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2306 | Famines in History | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2307 | Germany and Central Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2308 | History and Film: Representing the Past | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2310 | Land and Society in the USA, Ireland and Scotland, c. 1840-1922 | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2315 | Violence in the American South: From Enslavement to Civil Rights | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2316 | Researching History | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2317 | The Aftermath of the War in Europe and Asia, 1945-1956 | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2318 | Revolutions of the Mind: European Thought, 1550-1750 | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2319 | Reformation and Revolution: Tudors to the Georgians | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2320 | The Supernatural: The Cultural History of Occult Forces | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2321 | Global Environmental History: From the 'Little Ice Age' to Greta Thunberg | 20 | 2 |
| HIS2322 | Diversities of Sexuality and Gender in History | 20 | 1 |
| HIS2323 | Britain since the 60s | 20 | 2 |
| LAS2030 | Comparative History of Hispano-America and Brazil: From Independence to the Mexican Revolution (1789/1810-1917) | 20 | 1 |
All Stage 3 HIS modules are capped at 20 apart from HIS3000, HIS3020 and HIS3030, which are not capped. ARA and CAH modules are not capped.
Students are allowed to take a maximum of two specialist subject modules; one in each Semester. Students studying 60 or 80 credits in History can do so by taking two special subject modules (one in each Semester) plus non-specialist modules that are not capped i.e. HIS3000, HIS3020 and HIS3030, or the ARA, CAH and LAS modules from the list below.
| Module Code | Module Title | Credit Value | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIS0001 | Semester 1 substitute for stage 3 HIS capped special subject | 20 | 1 |
| HIS0002 | Semester 2 substitute for stage 3 HIS capped special subject | 20 | 2 |
Students who wish to undertake independent research in History may wish to choose one or more of the following modules:
| Module Code | Module Title | Credit Value | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIS3000 | Reading History (Not Capped) | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3020 | Writing History (Dissertation) (Not Capped) | 40 | 1&2 |
| HIS3030 | History and Society (Not Capped) | 20 | 2 |
Students may select modules from the following (Note: all specialist HIS modules are capped at 20):
| Module Code | Module Title | Credit Value | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARA3013 | Early Medieval Britain | 20 | 2 |
| ARA3016 | The Archaeology of Byzantium and its Neighbours | 20 | 1 |
| ARA3031 | Historical Archaeology of Britain 1500-Present | 20 | 1 |
| ARA3100 | Archaelogies of the Middle Sea: An Armchair Voyage Across the Prehistoric Mediterranaen | 20 | 1 |
| CAH3005 | City of Athens: Power, Society and Culture | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3131 | Violence and social transformation in China and Taiwan, 1940s-1980s | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3135 | The Nazi New Order in Europe | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3206 | The Irish Revolution, 1879-1923 | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3219 | Living Together: Christians, Muslims and Jews in Medieval Iberia | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3220 | British Foreign Policy since Suez | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3221 | Birth Control in the 19th & 20th Centuries | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3232 | Civil Rights and Armalites; Northern Ireland since 1969 | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3235 | Genocide and Justice in the Twentieth Century: From the Armenian Genocide to the International Criminal Court | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3240 | Civil Rights in America, 1948 - 1975 | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3295 | Royal Portraits: Christian Kings and Kingship, c.870 - c. 930 | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3321 | Viking-Age Scandinavia | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3326 | Women in Colonial South Asia: Tradition, Reform and Modernity | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3335 | Europe and the Ottoman Empire, 1453 - 1798 | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3336 | Punishing the Criminal Dead: Crime, Culture, and Corpses in Modern Britain | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3337 | Russian Cities and Culture from Peter the Great to the Revolution | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3341 | Lunatic to Citizen? Madness and Society since 1900 | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3344 | The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1961 - 1990 | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3346 | The Rising Generation: Youth, Age and Protest in Post-War Britain | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3347 | Consuming Empire: Global Trade and the Transformation of Britain, c. 1688-1820 | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3350 | Travelling the Mediterranean: Passages from Antiquity to Modernity | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3351 | Buddhism and Society in Medieval Japan | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3352 | The Renaissance World of Machiavelli, 1450-1550 | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3354 | Unfree Nation: Enslavement in the United States form the Colonial Era to Reconstruction | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3355 | The Gulag: A History of the Soviet Camps - Origins, Experiences and Aftermaths | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3356 | Radical Black Archives in the U.S - Sound and Image | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3357 | Coffee, Chocolate and Tobacco | 20 | 1 |
| HIS3358 | Shariat meets Common Law: History of Gender Reform and Colonialism in Tunisia, Egypt, and India | 20 | 2 |
| HIS3359 | Nineteenth Century Aotearoa New Zealand: Maori, Pakeha & Tauiwi | 20 | 2 |
Get in touch
If you have any questions about choosing this subject as part of your Combined Honours degree, contact us and we'll be more than happy to help.
Subject adviser
Dr Joseph Lawson - School of History, Classics and Archaeology