Cannon

Become a historian and learn how history’s most dramatic events – revolutions – have shaped our world

Module details

  • Offered to 2nd Years
  • Mondays 16.00-18.00
  • Planned delivery: On campus (South Kensington)
  • Two-term module, worth 5 ECTS
  • Available to eligible students as part of I-Explore
  • Extra Credit, or Degree Credit where your department allows
Degree credit module options by departmentHow to enrol

This module explores the modern history of revolutions, since approximately the late eighteenth century, helping you to understand the complexity, variety, common themes, and dynamics of historical processes that entail fundamental change. From France in 1789 to Donald Trump’s failed coup of January 2021, it studies revolutions from across the entire globe and more than two centuries.

The primary focus is political, but it also evaluates revolutions in economies, manners, and culture. From the Industrial Revolution to China’s Cultural Revolution, you will become familiar with many key developments in modern history. By undertaking independent research and writing essays, you will also become a more sophisticated and capable scholar.

Please note: The information on this module description is indicative. The module may undergo minor modifications before the start of next academic year. 

Information blocks

Learning outcomes

Barricades and fires in Tunisia, at the beginning of the Arab Spring (January 2011)

On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

  • Demonstrate a systematic knowledge of some of modern history’s most important revolutions.
  • Assess the variety and complexity of the past.
  • Find, evaluate, and synthesise evidence drawn from a wide range of sources.
  • Write lucidly and argue convincingly.
Indicative core content

Tableau

This module explores the modern history of revolutions, since approximately the late eighteenth century, helping students to understand the complexity, variety, common themes, and dynamics of historical processes that entail fundamental change. From France in 1789 to the Arab Spring and beyond, it studies revolutions from across the entire globe and more than two centuries. The primary focus is political, but it also evaluates revolutions in economies, manners, and culture.

Topics covered include:
  • Theories of revolution
  • The French Revolution
  • The Haitian Revolution
  • Britain’s Industrial Revolution
  • The 1848 Revolutions
  • The Taiping Rebellion
  • The Russian Revolution
  • The Spanish Civil War
  • Nazi Germany
  • China’s Cultural Revolution
  • Decolonization in the twentieth century
  • Feminism and Gender Roles
  • Religion and Magic in Modern History: Secularization and Revival
  • The USSR:1922-1991
  • The Iranian Revolution
  • The Arab Spring
Learning and teaching approach
We ensure you will be engaged in active learning through well structured but also informal lectures, as well as two opportunities per session for small group based discussion. We encourage you to ask questions, consider competing arguments, empathise, brainstorm, discuss, and also answer questions from the module leader. Classes are held in a friendly, supportive and open-minded atmosphere, which encourages debate and discussion. Mini coaching-sessions on effective writing and scholarly research are held throughout the module.
 
Live learning sessions will be augmented with the following digital tools:
  • Introductory videos, evocative images, reading, and additional resources are provided on the Revolutions and the Making of the Modern World Blackboard Page.
  • You will be emailed each week, before class, with links to relevant podcasts and videos.
Feedback
  • Essay marks, annotations, along with detailed written feedback and advice for improving your writing in future, will be provided for both pieces of assessed work.
  • You will be invited to arrange 1-1 meetings with the module tutor, if you wish, for further essay feedback and advice.
  • In the weeks before essay submission, you will be invited to submit provisional essay plan, for comment and advice from the module leader.
Assessment
  • Coursework: Essay - 2000 words (50%)
  • Coursework: Essay - 2000 words (50%)
Key information
  • Requirements: You are expected to attend all classes and undertake approximately 85 hours of independent study in total during the module. Independent study includes reading and preparation for classes, researching and writing coursework assignments and preparing for other assessments.
  • This module is designed as an undergraduate Level 5 module. For an explanation of levels, view the Imperial Horizons Level Descriptors page.‌
"Great module!"
"I really appreciated how the lecture provided us with different content from our everyday lectures, approaching a new topic every week. While we might not be experts in each of those, the additional content is still available if we wish to learn some more about them."
"The module is really fascinating... a fresh change of mind between all this science."

Got any questions?

Contact the lecturer
Dr Thomas Waters
t.waters@imperial.ac.uk