History Study Guide 2025/26

What you can study

At Bristol you will become part of our community of historians. Our department includes historians of Britain and Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australasia, and even Antarctica. Whether you are interested in cultural history or political history, the very recent past or the pre-modern world, you will be able to explore the topics that inspire you and fire your imagination.

You will find units on:

slavery and race
revolutions and activism
gender and sexuality
decolonisation, empire, and imperialism
historiography and the practice of history

Pre-requisites

At UK universities, students specialise from their first year and rarely take units outside their degree subject. This means that:

Year 1 units are suitable for all students.
Year 2 units require some university study in the discipline.
Year 3 units require a strong background in the discipline.

Subject pathway students

If you have been nominated to Bristol on the Study Abroad (History pathway), you must take the majority of your credits from this guide.

Feature Unit

Histories of Britain - AFAC10021 (TB2)
Come on a journey through the British past as we explore the headliners and the little known stories of UK history.
Early Modern History: Britain & Ireland - HIST10063 OR Europe & the Wider World - HIST10065 (TB1)
Rebellion, discovery, renaissance: why not explore the early modern world with a focus on either the British Isles or Europe and the wider world? (See link in Y1 box below)
The Medieval World: Britain & Ireland - HIST10064 OR Europe & the Wider World - HIST10066 (TB2)
Crusade, prophecy, piety: why not explore the medieval world with a focus on either the British Isles or Europe and the wider world? (See link in Y1 box below)