HY4C1 One Unit
Fighting and Experiencing the Greater' War c. 1912-23
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Alex Mayhew
Availability
This course is available on the MA in Asian and International History (LSE and NUS), MA in Modern History, MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, MSc in History of International Relations, MSc in International Affairs (LSE and Peking University), MSc in International and Asian History, MSc in International and World History (LSE & Columbia) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: Students should write a short statement supporting their application to take a course. The Teacher Responsible will assign places on the course and their decision is final.
Deadline for application: TBC
For queries contact: For queries, please contact the teacher responsible for the course, as indicated on the course guide. Staff e-mail addresses are listed at https://www.lse.ac.uk/International-History/People.
Course content
The First World War was a turning point in the history of conflict and moment in which many features of our world began to emerge. To fully appreciate these changes, the war needs to be studied in the broadest possible temporal, geographical, and human framework. It changed systems, cultures, maps, and landscapes. Ultimately, it transformed the character of war and forced millions of soldiers and civilians across the globe to confront the brutal reality of modern, industrial, warfare. This module asks two distinct but overlapping questions: how was the war conducted, and how was it experienced? The first half of the course is designed to provide an overview of the conduct of the First World War before, in the second term, we consider how combatants and civilians (from Europe and beyond) experienced and overcame the traumas of the war. In the first half of autumn term, students will explore the historiography of the war, and the key events of the ‘Greater War’, c. 1912-23, stretching from the outbreak of the Balkan Wars, through the global theatres of 1914-1918, to the new conflicts that emerged between the collapse of Tsarist Russia in 1917 and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. After this, we will focus on five key themes that influenced the course of the conflict: political legitimacy and the home fronts; technology, tactics, and strategy; economics and economic warfare; diplomacy and neutrality; and challenges to international law. Next, in winter term, the module considers the varied experiences of war. In the first five weeks, seminars will interrogate military experiences (including those of frontline servicemen, colonial soldiers, and POWs), whilst the final five weeks of the year will focus on the ways that civilians (such as female factory workers, children, or occupied populations and refugees) were impacted by the conflict. Along the way, the module will provide varied opportunities to engage with the conflict’s cultural, global, international, military, political, and social historiography.
Teaching
20 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
20 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.
Formative assessment
2000-word Essay (AT); 1000-word Source Analysis (WT)
Indicative reading
H. Afflerbach, On A Knife’s Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War (Cambridge University Press, 2022)
S. Das (ed.), Race, Empire and First World War Writing (Cambridge University Press, orig. ed. 2011, 2013)
R. Gerwath and E. Manela, Empires at War, 1911-1923 (Oxford University Press, orig. ed. 2014, 2015)
S.R. Grayzel and T.M. Proctor (eds.), Gender and the Great War (Oxford University Press, 2017)
A. Gregory, A War of People’s, 1914-1919 (Oxford University Press, 2014)
J. Horne (ed.), A Companion to World War I (Blackwell Publishing, orig. ed. 2010, 2012)
J. Leonhard, Pandora’s Box: A History of the First World War, trans. P. Camiller (Belknap Press, 2018)
N. Lloyd, The Western Front: A History of the First World War (Viking, 2021) and The Eastern Front: A History of the First World War (Viking, 2024)
D. Stevenson, 1914-1918: The History of the First World War (Penguin, 2012)
A. Watson, Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918 (Penguin, 2015)
J. Winter (ed.), The Cambridge History of the First World War, Vols. 1-3 (Cambridge University Press, 2014)
J. Winter and A. Prost, The Great War in History: Debates and Controversies, 1914 to the Present, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Assessment
Course participation (10%)
Essay (35%, 3500 words)
Essay (35%, 3500 words)
Source analysis (20%, 1000 words)
The Winter Term essay (55%) will also include a 1000-word source analysis.
Key facts
Department: International History
Course Study Period: Autumn, Winter and Spring Term
Unit value: One unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 10
Average class size 2024/25: 10
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Leadership
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Specialist skills