Study European History
Courses Online & In London

April 1943, some 40,000 starving people were still incarcerated in terrible conditions within the Warsaw Ghetto. A few hundred among them – predominantly young people – led an armed rebellion against the Nazis. This course explores the incredible story of their uprising but also reveals the background of Warsaw's vibrant but increasingly endangered Jewish life in the decades before the uprising. It describes the many forms of resistance that took place after the Nazi invasion, highlights key individuals who played a role, and provides an opportunity to reflects on different aspects of this tragic but inspiring episode during the Holocaust.

Explore the revolutions of 1848 across Europe, uncovering their causes, key actors, and varied outcomes to assess whether the continent truly reached a turning-point—or missed its moment to change. 

Explore late Byzantine culture through its Mediterranean outposts, from Mount Athos to Mistra and Monemvasia, where the Byzantine ethos persisted, adapted and flourished in art, architecture, philosophy and monastic life.

This course examines the long-term decline and fall of the Soviet Union, and the attempts to rescue it in the 1980s

Note: if you already took the course “Communism in the USSR” in a previous year, then this course is not recommended.

2026 marks the 900th anniversary of the death of Urraca, Queen of Leon, Castile and Galicia. A remarkable woman who ruled on her own terms as the first European queen regnant.

What led to the Great War? Come and analyse the territorial, political, diplomatic and socio-economic transformations of Europe from the last quarter of the 19th century to understand how the continent descended into hell in 1914.

Step into the world of murderous, usurping kings and those who were fortunate only to endure captivity. In considering royal deaths we ask: who had an argument with a poker; who was killed by a pig, and who died on the toilet?

Building on the exploration of ten Sites of German Memory 1,  this course will introduce and discuss ten further locations, concepts and people that enjoy a special significance in the Germany’s collective memory.

Explore the political and social history of the Soviet Union from the death of Stalin in March 1953 to the fall of Khrushchev in October 1964

Note: if you already took the course “Communism in the USSR” in a previous year, then this course is not recommended.

This course offers a broad survey of German history from the sealing of the country’s division by the Berlin Wall to its unforeseen reunification in 1989-90 and its aftermath.

This is an advanced course intended to use film as a primary source in exploring the history and culture of the Soviet Union in greater detail.