Historians seek to understand societies by studying change and continuity over time. Everything has a history. From a national constitution to modern consumer culture, from the rise of empires to environmental crises, from the human species to your family, studying history teaches you about the forces that have made the world in which you live. It helps you to understand the present by understanding its past.
The ANU is a national leader in History and offers a wide range of courses covering Australia, Europe, the Americas, and Asia, from ancient times to the recent past. Courses trace themes such as empire, war, terrorism, politics, economics, culture, ideas, identity, crime, health and the environment. Some focus on particular nations or regions, while others focus on global and transnational processes. Some courses focus on concepts and philosophies that underlie historical analysis or techniques of historical research. All our courses develop student skills in historical theory and method.
History is a core discipline in the humanities and social sciences. It gives students knowledge and skills that are valued in any professional context. Our students successfully pursue careers in academia, museums, government, diplomacy, NGOs, journalism, management, teaching and many other fields.
Learning Outcomes
- demonstrate understanding of multiple periods or cultures of the past;
- demonstrate critical understanding of key theoretical and conceptual issues in historical thinking and scholarship;
- examine historical issues by undertaking research, and analysing evidence, according to the methodological and ethical conventions of the discipline;
- construct an evidence-based argument or narrative in audio, digital, oral, visual or written form; and
- identify and reflect critically on the knowledge and skills developed in their study of History and their relationship to the contemporary world.
Relevant Degrees
Requirements
This major requires the completion of 48 units, of which:
A maximum of 12 units may come from the completion of 1000-level courses, and
A minimum of 18 units must come from the completion of 3000-level courses.
The 48 units must include:
12 units from the completion of the following compulsory courses:
HIST2110/HIST3110 - Approaches to History (6 units)
HIST3007 - Making History (6 units)
A maximum of 12 units from the completion of the following list:
ECHI1006 - The Australian Economy: Past and Present (6 units)
HIST1209 - Terror to Terrorism: A History (6 units)
HIST1214 - Empires in Global History (6 units)
A maximum of 36 units from the completion of the following:
HIST2022 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History (6 units)
HIST2070 - Emperors, Pilgrims and Crusaders: The World of Byzantium (6 units)
HIST2128 - Colonies and Post-colony: Nineteenth-Century Australia and its Legacies (6 units)
HIST2136 - World at War, 1939-1945 (6 units)
HIST2141 - The Cold War: 1945-1989 (6 units)
HIST2205 - Europe and the Atlantic World, c.1492-1776 (6 units)
HIST2206 - The Great War’s Battlefields: A Study Tour of Gallipoli, the Western Front and Paris (12 units)
HIST2211 - Global Environmental History Since 1945
HIST2214 - The Great War: The Conflict that Changed the World (6 units)
HIST2219 - Tudor-Stuart England, c.1485-1714: Politics, Society and Culture (6 units)
HIST2221 - The Birth of Modernity: Britain 1688-1848 (6 units)
HIST2226 - Nazi Germany (6 units)
HIST2227 - Australian Political History (6 units)
HIST2231 - Exploration: From Captain Cook to the Astronauts (6 units)
HIST2232 - Crime and Justice: Historical Dilemmas (6 units)
HIST2240 - Democracy and Dissent: Europe Since 1945 (6 units)
HIST2242 - The Soviet Union: From the Russian Revolution to the Collapse of Communism (6 units)
HIST3012 - Special Topics in History (6 units)
HIST3112 - Plagues and Pandemics (6 units)
HIST3133 - Race and Racism in Western Culture, c.1450–1950 (6 units)
HIST3142 - Indigenous Memory and History (6 units)
HIST3228 - The Enlightenment: Europe and the World 1660-1800 (6 units)
A maximum of 12 units from the completion of the following list:
ANTH2025 - Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective (6 units)
ARCH2004 - Australian Archaeology (6 units)
ARCH2037 - From Empire to Invasions: the Archaeology of Europe from the Romans to the Vikings (6 units)
ARCH2055 - Archaeological Field schools and Fieldwork Practice (6 units)
ARCH2058 - European Prehistory from Cultivation to the Celts (6 units)
ASIA2009 - The Making of Modern Japan: From Samurai to Economic Superpower and Beyond (6 units)
ASIA2016 - The Mongol Empire in World History (6 units)
ASIA2037 - History of Modern China (6 units)
ASIA2040 - The Making of Modern Korea (6 units)
ASIA2044 - Chinese History: The Imperial Period (221 BC - 1800) (6 units)
ASIA2045 - Lies, Conspiracy and Propaganda (6 units)
ASIA2270 - India Past and Present: The Impact of Pre-colonial History on India Today (6 units)
ASIA2072 - Taiwan: History and Culture (6 units)
ASIA2118 - Pollution in Past Societies (6 units)
ASIA2307 - History of Empire in Asia (6 units)
ASIA3011 - Samurai Society and Social Control in Japan (6 units)
ASIA3030 - History of the State System in South East Asia (6 units)
ASIA3272 - Truth and Falsity in Indian History and Politics (6 units)
CLAS2014 - Democrats, Tyrants, and Emperors: The Art of Government in the Ancient Mediterranean (6 units)
CLAS2015 - Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World: An Age of Transformation and Discovery (6 units)
CLAS3001 - Rome: The Eternal City from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages (6 units)
CLAS3003 - Faith and Belief in Ancient Greece and Rome (6 units)
ENGL2022 - Jane Austen: History and Fiction (6 units)
MEAS2000 - Iranian History and Culture (6 units)
MEAS2003 - Modern Turkey: History, Society and Culture (6 units)
MEAS2006 - Gallipoli: A Transnational History (6 units)
MUSI2234 - Music, History, and Culture (6 units)
PASI2002 - Australia in Oceania in the 19th and 20th Centuries (6 units)
POLS2100 - Genocide in the Modern World (6 units)
SCRN2003 - Film and History: Hollywood and Beyond (6 units)
WARS2004 - War in the Islands: The Second World War in the Pacific (6 units)
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