This course aims to consider the Great War in a Scottish context. Recent developments in the historiography, not least the publication of A Military History of Scotland, as well as much public comment about the history of the conflict during the centenary, make this an interesting moment at which to propose such a course. The seminars will consider the military history of the Great War from a Scottish perspective as well as looking at the effect of the war on Scottish political, economic and social history. The theme of commemoration will be addressed. A recent theme in the historiography, eg in Adrian Gregory's The Last Great War, has been the examination of the effect of the conflict in a local context. The resources of the NAS and the NLS provide opportunities for original student work in this area. Although the bulk of the course will be taught using the voluminous secondary work in this area there are opportunities to work with the local press in Scotland as well as collections of primary material in Edinburgh archives.

Content note: The study of History inevitably involves the study of difficult topics that we encourage students to approach in a respectful, scholarly, and sensitive manner. Nevertheless, we remain conscious that some students may wish to prepare themselves for the discussion of difficult topics. In particular, the course organiser has outlined that the following topics may be discussed in this course, whether in class or through required or recommended primary and secondary sources: war-related violence and atrocities. While this list indicates sensitive topics students are likely to encounter, it is not exhaustive because course organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in tutorials or seminars, or through the wider reading that students may conduct for the course.