Short course
Janus Years: Britain in the Twenties and Thirties
Course status:
Applications being accepted
Dates and time:
15/04/2027 - 17/06/202714:00 - 16:00
Study format:
In-person weekly
Fees:
£315.00
Book-ended by world wars, Britain in the Twenties and Thirties was haunted by fears – of economic collapse, the darker sides of the human mind, the inevitability of conflict, the powerlessness of reason, and the fear of political extremism.
But these years, leaving behind the narrowness of Victorian and Edwardian life, were also marked by the emergence of popular democracy, by new opportunities for individual freedom and an increased sense of personal identity. They saw a shift in the boundary between public and private spheres, with an increasing sense of social responsibility touching the lives of ordinary people, and a wider range of influences from outside Britain reaching ordinary people. New technology feeding into economic life, with new media and modes of transport, contributed to a more egalitarian world.
Students will be given the opportunity to explore the Janus quality of the inter-war years through its film, fiction and poetry, as well as looking at the views of contemporary commentators (e.g. H.G. Wells, Virginia Woolf, Harold Macmillan, David Low, J.B. Priestley, Tom Harrison and W.H. Auden) and the insights in more recent historical research into the period.
Book this course
Book your place online using the button below.
Courses starts Thursday 15 April 2027
This is an in-person course which requires your attendance at the weekly meetings in Oxford on Thursdays, 2.00-4.00pm.
Week 1: Life in the shadow of wars? We find instead a process of active transformation reaching deep into society and caused by internal political pressures, and the search for a new equilibrium with an altered world. Out of this a new Britain emerged, not one simply reacting to its past and in fear of its future.
Week 2: Putting the world back together again. A process of memorialising the First World War had as its primary purpose seeking to move on, with a return where possible to pre-war sources of prosperity. There was also a recognition that despite the global reach of its still vast empire and economic strength, Britain was no longer making the political weather as it had done before the First World War, and faced new types of difficulties.
Week 3: The rise of Labour. The transformation of British politics, caused by the rapid rise of the Labour Party under a considerably extended franchise, with the eclipse of Victorian and Edwardian Liberalism and the remaking of Conservatism under Stanley Baldwin, the dominant figure in British politics between the wars.
Week 4: Culture and society in the 1920s. The decline of the aristocracy, the closure of country houses, and the eclipse of high-brow culture. The rise instead of the middling sort, in the novels of H.G. Wells and J.B. Priestley.
Week 5: The world closes in: economic catastrophe and political extremes. Enormous strains on the world economy emanating from the United States, although Britain finds itself in a different position than, for example, Italy, France and Germany, as economic pressures drove politics towards the extremes.
Week 6: Britain’s National Government. A coalition to deal with the economic crisis under the Labour Party’s former leader, James Ramsay Macdonald, which created a new innovative politics of the centre, pushed political extremism to the margins, under full adult democracy for the first time.
Week 7: Economic reconstruction and social reform. Contrary to received opinion, under the leadership of Neville Chamberlain Britain underwent a major economic restructuring in the 1930s, and massive social reform from which a more equal society began to emerge
Week 8: Mass consumption and mass culture. Political and economic reforms were matched by the new forms of mass consumption and mass culture, popular press, cinema and radio, the movement of populations, wider education, new applications of science and increased prosperity for many.
Week 9: Imperial reconstruction and appeasement. The ‘command and control’ empire directed from London with the British Raj at its centre was quietly abandoned in favour of a ‘commonwealth’ model over the 1930s, presided over by a ‘People’s King’. Rearmament from the mid-1930s underlying the policy of ‘appeasement’ was a vast undertaking which gives the ‘appeasement’ of the European dictators in the 1930s a different aspect.
Week 10: Summary and conclusions. Starting and ending in war, the ‘Janus’ inter-war years were a time of huge changes, looking back with nostalgia to the past but also forging a new basis for Britain to face the future, immediately the world war, but beyond that an altered status on the world stage and a more progressive society at home.
Course aims
This course aims to enable participants to develop an understanding of Britain in the 1920s and 1930s and to explore the social, economic, political and cultural changes that shaped this period.
Course objectives
By the end of the course, participants will have been given the opportunity to:
- engage with recent historical research on interwar Britain and re-examine established stereotypes of the period
- examine Britain’s transition from its Victorian inheritance to explore the predicament of Britain as it emerged from its Victorian past and consider changing ideas about public opinion and the relationship between the public and private spheres in economic, social and political life
- develop an understanding of the chronology, key events and major forces that shaped Britain during the 1920s and 1930s
Learning outcomes
By the end of hthe course, students will be expected to
1. be aware of the main events of the interwar years in Britain, the main personalities and politics of the period and how familiarity with some of the revisionist arguments presented by more recent historians.
2. have gained confidence in analysing and presenting information and ideas, evident from class discussions or written work.
3. have experienced different approaches to an intensive study of a specific period of history, by looking at examples of films, journalistic accounts and social and opinion surveys, formal documents of the time and analyses by historians.
Level and demands
The Department’s Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, ie first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.
Teaching methods
Each session will start with a presentation by the tutor on the issues, and an account of the historical background. The tutor will use Powerpoint slides to illustrate the material and will provide a handout for each session including contemporary documents as a focus for class discussion. Each student will be invited to offer a short presentation on a topic in which they have a particular interest within the scope of the course. The aim for learning will be to build up through the sequence of topics a picture of the inter-war period.
Assessment methods
Only those students who have registered for assessment and accreditation, in advance of the course start date, can submit coursework/assignments for assessment.
Assessment
You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.
Dr Michael Redley
Michael’s doctoral work at Cambridge University was in the colonial history of Africa. He has a Masters Degree from the London School of Economics, and has taught various topics in politics and twentieth century history.
Academic credit
Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme (CATS Points)
Please note, students who do not register for assessment and accreditation during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun. If you wish to gain credit from completing this course you must register to do so before the course starts.
Only those who have registered for assessment and accreditation will be awarded CATS points for completing work to the required standard. Please note that assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail.
Learn more about the Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme.
If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee for assessment and accreditation.
Digital certificate of completion
Students who are registered for assessment and accreditation and pass their final assignment will also be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Information on how to access the digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course attended. You will be able to download the certificate and share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course fee (with no assessment) | £315.00 |
| Assessment and Accreditation fee | £60.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, or are a care-leaver in the UK, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Concessionary fees for short courses
Recommended reading
Recommended reading is optional and you are not required to purchase these books to study this course.
Library facilities
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Library, part of the Bodleian Libraries, for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are also welcome to use the Library for reference.
- More information about the Library can be found on the Bodleian Libraries website.
- This guide for Weekly Class students also provides further information.
Preparatory reading
- England and the Aeroplane: Militarism, Modernity and Machines / Egerton, D.,
- Sing as we go, / Heffer, S
- Parties and the People: England 1914-51 / McKibbin, R.
- The Morbid Age: Britain and the crisis of civilisation 1919-1939 / Overy, R.,
- The Good Companions / Priestley, J
- The Long Shadow: The Great War and the Twentieth Century / Reynolds, D.,
Module code: O26P411HIW
How to enrol
Please use the ‘Book now’ button on this page.
How to register for accreditation and assessment
To be able to submit coursework and to earn credit (CATS points) for this course, if you wish to do so, you will need to register and pay an additional £60 fee. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun.
If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.