MA Military History (Shrewsbury)

Course overview

The course provides a firm and varied grounding in the theory and academic practice of Military History. Certain aspects and periods of warfare are considered in depth. In mostly addressing the study of British Military History, content is chronologically broad and engaging, reflecting the huge and fascinating scope of the discipline.

Opening paired core modules enable the development of key study skills as a military historian, alongside the consideration of topics ranging from the Imperial Roman Army of the first century AD, to 20th-century warfare.

You then go on to study optional modules that examine particular periods or themes in Military History in greater detail.

These modules prepare you for the Research Dissertation or Research Extended Essay; either allows you to engage with wider scholarly conversations in Military History by conducting an extended piece of original research.

Why study this course with us?

The MA in Military History engages with traditional military history – campaigns, generalship, tactics and weaponry, for example. However, as the renowned 19th-century German military theoretician Carl von Clausewitz argued, "War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means". Accordingly, the course embraces scholarship more broadly viewing the place and effect of war and of the military within society as a whole, including logistical, economic, political and motivational themes; approaches collectively now considered as forming ‘new military history’.

University Centre Shrewsbury allows you to study at the heart of a rich military heritage. The town of Shrewsbury, the county of Shropshire, and the wider region have a Military History spanning at least 2,000 years. The shire has one of the highest concentrations anywhere of prehistoric Hillforts, and the Roman Army left its impact on the landscape. Shropshire is densely studded with earthwork and stone-built Medieval castles, and was heavily fought over during the English Civil War. The remains of military installations from both 20th-century World Wars still feature in the Shropshire countryside. Shrewsbury as the county town has had a long relationship with both the regular and part-time British armed forces. You will also gain PGCert and PGDip awards in this course.