History (History of War) MSt

<strong>The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.</strong> <br/><br/>The MSt in History (History of War) will provide you with the structural and intellectual framework to study all aspects of war from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present day. <br/><br/>The MSt is designed to improve your practical and intellectual grasp of research processes, ability to conceptualise and engage with historical problems, and enlarge your understanding of the historical and historiographical context in which your own research is set. The course can serve as either a free-standing graduate qualification, or as a springboard to doctoral study. Students wishing to proceed to doctoral study will be encouraged to develop their doctoral proposals during the first few months of the MSt. Skills training and option-choice are flexible and open-ended, to allow you to gain the knowledge and training needed to complete your research project.<br/><br/>By replacing the narrow approach of traditional military history with a broader agenda, you will be able to study conflict as part of the wider human past. With attention shifted away from the previous preoccupation with conventional wars between states, you will look at how armed struggles have been waged by a variety of different actors with hugely varying impacts on society, economy, culture and environment, as well as differing political implications.<br/><br/>The study of the history of war at Oxford is diverse geographically and spatially, as well as using multiple approaches to understand past conflicts. Further information about history of war research and activities can be found through the faculty website.<br/><br/>You are encouraged to engage with the faculty’s lively research culture of seminars, workshops, and discussions groups, which are programmed throughout each week, and sessions often involve leading international scholars. The faculty also runs the Oxford History Graduate Network, which fosters conversations and collaborations between graduate students. Interdisciplinary activities are available through The Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities (TORCH).<br/><br/>Course structure<br/>You will take one compulsory core course, two optional subject courses, and undertake an original research project.<br/><br/>Courses and research are supported by a skills programme for general historical or field-specific training. This structure gives access to a wide range of both general and specialised training within history.<br/><br/>You will work on an original research project throughout the course, under the guidance of your supervisor. You are expected to commit the Easter vacation and Trinity term to archival research and writing. You will be invited to present and receive feedback on your work-in-progress at a workshop specific to this course at the start of Trinity term. If studying part- time, you will be expected to complete the dissertation at the end of Trinity term in year two.<br/><br/>Additional lectures, classes, and tutorials take place in Michaelmas and Hilary terms to provide general and specific training. You will discuss what training you need to undertake your research project with your supervisor. Training available includes document and object handling, palaeography, oral history, text analysis software, GIS software, and statistical analysis.<br/><br/>Language training is also available, with the faculty organising special courses for historians in French, German, Spanish, and Italian. Other modern language courses are available through the University’s Language Centre. Courses in Latin and other medieval languages are also available. Further details on language learning can be found on the faculty website.