This website is the home for research undertaken by undergraduate students enrolled on the module IQ2/30920 in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. This module commenced in September 2021, and challenged students to conduct original research into the history, composition, engagements or politics of the British Army since the Victorian era. Working alongside module convenor Dr Christopher Phillips, students were provided with the opportunity to examine how soldiers, artists, photographers, journalists, film makers, politicians and others have sought to capture, harness, and utilise the British Army’s experiences of warfare from c. 1850 to the present day. The culmination of their research, undertaken between September 2021 and January 2022, was the production of a 3,000-word web page to be hosted on this site. The module ran again in the 2023-2024 academic session.
A selection of the materials created by the students is now available to access via the ‘Student Webpages’ menu above. This diverse range of projects is a remarkable testament to the breadth of interests within the student population in the Department of International Politics. Among the topics under investigation in 2021-2022 were: the experiences of women in the modern British Army; depictions of the British Army in Northern Irish murals; the evolution of tank warfare in the army during the Second World War; and the British Army’s representation of itself as a fighting organisation. In 2023-24, students tackled subjects such as: the development of British cavalry in the late nineteenth century; public memory of the First World War; sexual assault in the British armed forces; and the changing roles of animals in the British Army.
Upon completion of this module, students have acquired the ability to identify and evaluate original documents, to synthesize primary and secondary materials, to conduct and manage a self-directed research project, and to present the findings of their research online in an accessible and scholarly manner.
I hope that you will enjoy reading the students’ work, and if you would like any further information regarding The British Army’s Image in Battle, from the Crimean to the Present, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Christopher Phillips.
