Syllabus
WEEK 1: The Earliest Times
WEEK 2: The Early Middle Ages
WEEK 3:The High and Late Middle Ages
WEEK 4: The Tudors I
WEEK 5: The Tudors II
WEEK 6: The Stuarts I
WEEK 7: The Stuarts II + 18th century politics
WEEK 8: The Industrial Revolution + the establishment of the empire + Napoleonic Wars
WEEK 9: The Years of Self-confidence: England in 19th century
WEEK 10: Great Britain 1910-1936
WEEK 11: Great Britain 1936-1945
WEEK 12: The Age of Uncertainty: Great Britain 1945-2000
Annotation
This subject aims to familiarise its students with the basic aspects of the historical development in The United Kingdom beginning with the early settlement and Celtic and Roman society established on the British Isles, continuing through the arrival of Germanic tribes, the establishment and development of Anglo-Saxon society, the ascension of William the Conqueror to the Hundred Years´ War, the ascension of the Tudors, Stuarts, the outbreak of the Civil War, the establishment of the republic towards the Industrial Revolution. Further on the students learn about the history of the 19th century – the establishment and development of the colonial empire until the dawn of the 20th century. Students also deal with the historical development of Great Britain in the 20th century: the participation in WWI, the interwar Britain, the participation in WWII, Britain in the post-war period and its role in gradual decolonisation and European integration.
It is necessary for the students to be prepared for the seminars doing regular and obligatory homework, namely compulsory reading (focused on the content and topic-specific vocabulary) which forms the basis for the following seminar discussions which are subsequently supplemented by teacher´s presentations.
Students make themselves familiar with the basic cultural and political development in the UK and its role in the European and also global cultural and political context. The knowledge gained at the seminars is going to help the students to make themselves oriented in current European politics and moreover in compulsory courses of English and British literature.