Which history departments are most 'traditional'?

[PacificState]

Asking for a friend's son looking for UCAS advice. He's very political (conservative), objects to 'woke' discourse (sorry I know that's horrible shorthand - he's a nice kid - just quite libertarian).

Very interested in military - hoping to go on to Sandhurst post-degree, definitely army if he can.

He's already looking at War History degrees (King's and Hull) but not sure about remaining UCAS slots.

Do any history departments have a rep for being a bit more traditional these days? Maybe less social history, more 'great man' stuff, and robust on supporting a diversity of political opinion?

He's got good predicted grades, doesn't want Oxbridge.

Thank you

As I understand it from his mum, fitness is the thing he really needs to improve on - so tbh getting into some regular sport at uni would be a good idea. He's not unfit, perfectly healthy weight etc, just doesn't enjoy exercise that much. He knows this is something he has to improve on though if he's going to get in to the army.

Thanks again for all the advice, really useful. I did history at York many moons ago and yes it was fairly traditional then (kind of relentlessly Early Modern England (not even Ireland or Scotland!) - I wanted to do Jim Walvin's courses on African history and he went on a flipping three year sabbatical as soon as I arrived which was a rather massive failure of research on my part.) but tbh I'd assumed it had gone quite heavily towards the social side since I left, going by the phd research outputs from the department - interesting if that's not so much the case at undergrad level

What about a career in Military Law, if strategy is important to him? You can do it as a Masters - fascinating area with lawyers integrally involved in all conflicts in the modern age.
Might avoid the need for fitness 😀

PhD is surely peoples research interests and not core subjects and skills? You would expect to see a breadth of options at the top universities.

I don't know anyone who lost weight/got fitter in their first year at university!

Good for him

@bare oh that's an interesting idea, will pass it on

@TizerorFizz yes I was just absent mindedly seeing the department's tweets and not really registering that the postgrad outputs (which they seem to major on on social media) didn't necessarily reflect the undergrad course

@Whataretheodds ha!

I have a close friend who was into military history and then went off to sandhurst.

At A level he did CCF but wasn’t into sports.

He did history at Cambridge, then sandhurst. I think he did war studies MA at Kings several years later (not 100% sure, i think it was kings and there were several others on the course from the military).

He was then at Shriv, and did his PhD at Oxford.

He got fit because of his aspirations for sandhurst etc, but certainly when we were teens it was not his thing at all! So if he’s adamant about sandhurst, I wouldn’t worry too much about not being into traditional team sports.

He’s a lovely guy, I think he has more tempered/less woke views than other friends, perhaps… but more than anything you can always have a sensible conversation with him. Your views may be opposed but conversations are always interesting because he listens and is open to hearing different views and discussing things through with people in a a polite, sensible and reasonable fashion. I’m guessing that a lot of that came from his university experience?

He definitely needs to get fit if he wants to go to Sandhurst! It's hugely physically demanding and he will wash out if he can't keep up the pace.

University wise - Edinburgh/Durham/Exeter/St Andrews are more socially conservative. Birmingham/Lancaster/Aberystwyth have good military history options - not sure how Tory ish they are but I'm sure he's capable of finding his niche there. I went to Edinburgh originally as a stroppy punk kid (so not the norm at all) and had a fabulous time - there will be some from all sorts at any big university.

Def agree with the folk who say going to a good university far better in the long run than a not so good one where he can meet libertarians, esp as the odds are that he may well change hugely once actually at university.

I don't know anyone who lost weight/got fitter in their first year at university!

DD did, because she walked everywhere . We live rurally, and to get anywhere requires transport - public or mum's taxi. She went to a city university and did lots more walking.

None. Because stories of ‘great men’ and tales of military derring do aren’t academic history. They are the sort of guff retired colonels write and which gets sold in the ‘history’ section of WH Smith.

I'm not sure any university really takes this sort of stance anymore. I'd like to think it died out when we gave back the colonies!

@PacificState i notice this thread has resurfaced, I wondered what your friend’s DS chose?

@AvocadoPlant hello! He went for Hull, KCL (both war studies), Salford... not actually sure about his other two. Must check in with his mum to see how he's getting on. Lots of info on the thread was really useful - I passed it on and it definitely helped inform his choices I think.

Oh that’s really interesting - broad range of unis. Hoping he gets what he’s after - and thanks for the update 😊 @PacificState

LSE? They guy who founded UKIP, Alan Sked, was a lecturer there (now retired)

Labour has been in opposition for 12 years now, the rise of woke is a conservative thing.

St Andrews is on par with Oxbridge for history.
It’s also a very posh school. Tons of Eton boys and children of Conservatives.
Quiet small town.