elinen

As a UK PhD student I would like to add some information/comments here. First of all, a PhD in history at schools like Cambridge/Oxford/LSE/UCL/Kings usually takes four years to complete, not three. Although some schools only offer three years of funding, it is generally expected that completing your project, particularly if you do an international or transnational history project, will take you around four years. There is extra funding available, and you also make extra money with teaching. If you study in London, there a a lot of teaching opportunities and some pay quite well. Regarding the job market, I have to agree that a UK PhD is not ideal if you want to enter the US job market full time. However, I do know quite a lot of people that did get a position in the US. There is of course more to the world than the US and there a loads of opportunities and postdocs in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, the Scandinavian countries, et cetera. Having said that, the job market in general is of course quite shitty. Finally, about archives and networks. My topic is very international so I frequently travel to the US for conferences and archives. It's of course more expensive and it takes up more time, but there is extra funding available for these kind of trips too. Most scholars travel a lot so I don't think your network would suffer substantially from doing a PhD in the UK. I hope this helps!

It really depends on what you want to focus on. In Cold War historiography, sources from the Soviet bloc are increasingly used so it is a new and exciting direction. However, if you're interested in US foreign policy in the Cold War, other languages might be more helpful, for example Spanish/Portugese if you're interested in US-Latin American Cold War relations.

Yeah, the weeks 'off' are usually very busy with studying/writing essays in the library

Of course, you're right.. I keep forgetting. It's a huge difference!

On this page, you can find the CVs of students who are doing their PhD in Economic History at the LSE. They all seem to have history backgrounds so that would be good news for you! http://www.lse.ac.uk/economicHistory/study/PhDProgramme/PhD-Job-Market.aspx Yes, it was at graduate level (mostly about Latin American development).

I did a couple courses in Economic History at the LSE and it was quite helpful, but I don't think it is necessary perse. I didn't learn any specific new skills. Especially if you already have connections with people who could potentially supervise you I don't think it's worth the money. The only thing I am wondering about, is that you might need to have quantitative research skills (statistics et cetera). However, they didn't teach those as part of the economic history courses I took (it was mostly studying the economic arguments, rather than the specific theoretical research behind it). But I'm sure your potential supervisors can tell you more about this.

(1) Dutch is my native language so I don't know how difficult it is to learn, it's quite similar to German so If you speak German it wouldn't be too hard (2) the sources (20th century) I use are all in Dutch (some stuff in French/English). I think from the 15th century on most material is in Dutch (as telkanaru said) (3) I'm not sure how difficult this is since I'm mostly doing 20th century history (4) the Low Countries Historical Journal is in Dutch and English, the languages most Dutch academics use and speak. Generally speaking, I think most secondary scholarship on the Low Countries is published in Dutch/English, but German/French material can be useful as well

I am (partly at least), send me a message!

It does happen. The LSE, for instance, has its own PhD scholarships and international (non-EU) students have received these. http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/students/moneyMatters/financialSupport/ScholarshipsLSE/PhDApp/LSEPhDStudentships.aspx

It's quite difficult to get funding for your PhD in the UK but most schools offer 2/3 funded places per year. Also, look at the ESRC http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding/funding-opportunities/research-grants/. I know at least a couple of history students who got their project funded through the ESRC (some international). I wouldn't recommend doing a PhD in the UK without funding, but I know some who do, and tuition fee is not that high (4,000 pound per year) so it can be doable if you find a good job on the side (preferably at the university you want to do your PhD at)

I'm using DevonThink. It works well (labelling files et cetera) but it isn't free. Some universities offer deals though.

I'm researching Central American relations with Western Europe in the final decades of the Cold War, both at a diplomatic and a transnational level.

Have you considered the MSc Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation at the LSE? It's cheaper than the double degree and the Empires core module touches on the Mogul and Qing empires. But generally speaking, LSE focuses more on modern history.

Hi! I think the blog from the University of Exeter is great! (it also won a prize if I remember correctly). http://imperialglobalexeter.com LSE recently started a blog as well so that might also be interesting to check out http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lseih/

I do know there is a German community in Nicaragua, might be interesting to look into