The History Matrix focuses on the major forces and features of modern world history, departing from the narrative and skills imparted in the History Gateway course, World History: the Big Picture. Taking the late industrial revolution as a starting point (c.1850s), the course aims to explain the primary processes that have shaped the twentieth century in particular, as a means of understanding the world we now live in. We do not attempt to achieve complete global coverage in twelve weeks, rather we focus on themes and occurrences which had repercussions for all regions of the world. In particular, a focus of the course will be to determine the linkages and connections between east and west, in the interests of retrieving, as far as this is possible, a global history which is not dictated primarily by events in ‘Euro-America’. The main themes that will be examined include colonialism, modernity, nationalism, decolonisation, communism, fascism, total war, genocide, communications, development, feminisms, cold war, consumerism, globalisation and environment.

Chief Concepts to be covered include: Marxism in the interpretation of history; Orientalism; Modernity; Cultural History; Transnational history; Historicism, Race, Revisionism; Eurocentrism; Postmodernism; End of history. These topics act as a matrix for historical understanding at upper levels of study in the humanities.