070194 VO Vorlesung (2017W)

The series of lectures covers the history of Britain from the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 to the retirement of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1990. The prime emphasis will be on politics and economics, the secondary on social life and cultural affairs. A rough schedule of the lectures will include:
1. Introduction
2. Britain before 1914
3. The Great War: leaders and led, life on the home and battle fronts
4. The 1920s: Adjustment at home, and the limits of Empire
5. Britain in the 1930s: economic depression and the appeasement of the dictators
6. Backs to the Wall: Britain at war, 1939-1945
7. The first post-war Labour Government 1945-1951: domestic and foreign policy
8. Britain in the 1950s: “You never had it so good”(?)
9. Imperial withdrawal, 1947-1997
10. The 1960s: Labour returns to power
11. The 1970s: break-up of British consensus politics
12. Mrs Thatcher and Thatcherism, 1979-1990
13. Deutsche Zusammenfassung
Ziele:
To provide students with an insight into recent British history, to explain the role of the country in Europe and why it has declined in economic terms.

Methoden:
Lectures with images and film. Summaries of each lecture sent by e-mail.