This module is designed as an introduction to the history of Wales from c.1750 onwards, a period replete with profound transformations. Intense industrialisation during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, based on the coal, iron and steel and slate industries and primarily located in South Wales, together with large-scale in-migration and urbanisation, fundamentally reordered Welsh society and economy. At the same time, Welsh identity was further reshaped by religious and cultural developments whilst Wales acquired a reputation for political radicalism which is still nurtured today. During the twentieth century social, economic, cultural and linguistic changes have undermined familiar symbols of Welshness whilst momentous new governmental configurations have been inaugurated following the 1997 devolution referendum and the creation of the Welsh Assembly. All these developments have ensured that the Wales’s modern experience has been a complex one, and has given rise to divergent, contested, even controversial interpretations of Welsh identity. As well as in academic works and literature, this ‘history’ is now also available for consumption as part of the `heritage industry' and in television documentaries.

 ·       To introduce students to a broad outline of the history of Wales from c.1750 onwards and the complex question of Welsh identity as constructed and interpreted during this period; 

·       To enable students to acquire an understanding of the history of modern Wales by examining a number of key themes and episodes in modern Welsh History, including industrialisation, protest, politics, popular culture, the fortunes of the Welsh language, and the history of Cardiff;

·       To encourage students to engage with a variety of historical and historiographical perspectives on modern Wales, and to consider in detail the work of one historian, Gwyn A. Williams;

·       To introduce students to concepts such as 'class', 'gender', 'identity', 'nation' and 'popular culture' as a foundation for more detailed analysis in Years Two and Three;

·      To encourage students to consider how the past is both used and made in areas beyond that of academic historical practice, particularly in heritage sites and museums and in television documentaries.

The module will be delivered via a programme of lectures which will introduce students to the main factual and conceptual issues to be discussed and analysed during the module.  Students are also required to attend seminars related to lectures, in which key issues and topics are analysed and discussed further.

Knowledge and Understanding

On completion of the module a student should be able to:

·       to demonstrate a broad outline knowledge of Wales’s development during the modern period and of significant general themes such as industrialisation and its consequences, and the dynamics and implications of demographic, political, social and cultural changes and changes in language use

·       to demonstrate a critical understanding of a range of historical approaches used to analyse the history of modern Wales;

·       to demonstrate a critical ability to gather, assimilate and interpret historical knowledge.

Intellectual Skills

On completion of the module a student should be able to:

·       to demonstrate, as a necessary foundation for more detailed analysis in Years Two and Three, an understanding of concepts such as 'class', 'gender', 'identity', 'nation' and 'popular culture';

·       to use a range of techniques to initiate and undertake analysis of information.

Discipline Specific (including Practical) Skills

On completion of the module a student should be able to:

·       to identify strengths, weaknesses, problems and/or peculiarities of alternative historical interpretations and historiographies;

·       to develop causal explanations of historical processes;

·      to deepen understanding of the broad themes and developments considered in the course through case studies of the ‘heritage industry’ in Wales, the historian Gwyn A. Williams, television history and the history of Cardiff.

Transferable Skills

On completion of the module a student should be able to:

• to evaluate the merits and demerits of alternative views and interpretations;
• to formulate and justify their own arguments and conclusions about a range of issues in the setting of seminar discussion;
• to present, accurately, succinctly and lucidly, and in written or oral form their arguments;
• to use a range of information technology resources to assist information retrieval;
• to organise their own study methods and workload;
• to work as part of a team in seminar or tutorial discussions.

Summative assessment takes the form of one 2,000-word essay (excluding empirical appendices and references).

Topics which may be covered include:

1. Industrialisation and its consequences c.1750-1914
2. Culture and society in the nineteenth century
3. Popular Culture
4. Economy and Society between the Wars
5. Economy and Society since 1945
6. Politics in 19th and 20th century Wales
7. Devolution and the Referenda of 1979 and 1997
8. Women and Gender in Modern Welsh History
9. The History of Cardiff Part 1
10. The History of Cardiff Part 2

John Davies, A History of Wales (1994)

John Davies, A History of Wales (revised edition, 2007)

Geraint H. Jenkins, A Concise History of Wales (2007)

Philip Jenkins, A History of Modern Wales 1536-1990 (1992)

Gareth Elwyn Jones & Dai Smith (eds), The People of Wales (1999)

R. Merfyn Jones, Cymru 2000: Hanes Cymru yn yr Ugeinfed Ganrif (1999)

Kenneth O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880-1980 (1982)

Dai Smith, Wales: A Question for History (1999)

Gwyn A. Williams, When Was Wales? (1985)