Politics

Human society is always surrounded by politics of some sort. Whether it is the basic negotiation of leadership and obedience of rules for clans or soldiers or, the more sophisticated set up of the modern world the relationship of control and decision making is always around. Grouped together in this strand are articles and podcasts covering the systems of the ancient world in Greece and Rome, alongside the stories of revolution in Europe, the creation of treaties and alliances and the arguments amongst political parties today.

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  • Homosexuality in Britain Since 1967

    Article

    Harry Cocks marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act with an examination of what has happened since this crucial piece of legislation.

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  • 1968: the year of reckoning

    Article

    Hugh Gault explains why, 50 years later, 1968 is still remembered as a dramatic year. 1967 was 'the summer of love', and that spirit continued into 1968; but there were also many events in 1968 that were of a different sort, when the liberty of 1967 was accompanied by a...

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  • The LGBT civil rights movement in Britain

    Article

    This article has been created from the podcast of the same name on this website by Professor Sally R. Munt, University of Sussex. It has been put into article form by Paula Kitching, and the factual and arguments of the piece are those of the original author. 

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  • Rotha Lintorn-Orman: the making of a fascist leader

    Article

    Stephen M. Cullen draws out the influences and events that shaped one of Britain’s most significant fascist organisers and leaders.

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  • The German Revolution of 1918-19

    Article

    Simon Constantine examines the clashes between the Left and Right of Germany’s new Republic that helped to create the environment for future extremism and hatred.

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  • The Russian Revolution 100 years on: a view from below

    Article

    Sarah Badcock sheds light on how ordinary Russians responded to the revolutions of 1917 that sought to change their lot and bring them freedom.

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  • ‘Our March’: art and culture in the Russian Revolution

    Article

    Peter Waldron explores the role of art in communicating to the masses the ideas of politics and change in Bolshevik Russia.

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  • Out and About: on the trail of the Pentrich Rebellion

    Article

    Richard Gaunt introduces us to a revolutionary incident in mid-Derbyshire whose 200th anniversary is commemorated this year.

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  • Ending the French Revolution

    Article

    Malcolm Crook discusses why it was so difficult to end the most famous revolution of the eighteenth century and why it led to bloodshed and absolutism.

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  • A tale of two statues

    Article

    Dave Martin relates how the statue of one of our imperial ‘heroes’ prompted a campaign to have it taken down while the statue of another imperial ‘hero’ prompted a fund-raising campaign for its repair. As the tide of Empire ebbed across the globe vestiges of British rule remained, some great,...

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  • The End of Germany’s Colonial Empire

    Article

    Daniel Steinbach asks why the loss of the German colonies in Africa was perceived as a powerful symbol of Germany’s deliberate humiliation at the end of the First World War. Famously, Germany’s first and last shots of the First World War were fired in Africa. From its beginning to its...

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  • The Aztec Empire: a surprise ending?

    Article

    Matthew Restall explores current ideas about the end of the Aztec Empire. For an empire that existed half a millennium ago in a hemisphere far away, we have a remarkably clear sense of what brought the Aztecs down. Or at least, we think we do. Our general assumption is that the very nature of...

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  • The end of the Roman Empire

    Article

    Guy de la Bédoyère considers whether the Roman Empire ever really fell or simply went through endless processes of change that makes it an integral presence in our lives today. The fall of the Roman Empire is like the end of the dinosaurs. It’s one of the vast dramatic crisis moments we love...

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  • Out and about in Zanzibar

    Article

    Joe Wilkinson takes us on a tour of the island of Zanzibar, where the slave trade continued long after the British abolished it. Mention Zanzibar and most people will think of an Indian Ocean paradise, perfect for honeymooners, relaxing on the popular pristine white north-eastern beaches of Bwejuu and Paje,...

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  • Terriers in India

    Article

    Peter Stanley is working on the largely unexplored history of the thousands of British Territorial soldiers who served in India during the First World War using their letters and diaries. He is trying to discover what happened to these men when they returned to Britain. Did their service in India...

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  • Parliament, people or privilege: Do we need a better understanding of constitutional history?

    Article

    Join our panel, including Dr Alix Green, Professor Tony Badger and Professor Justin Champion as they discuss how recent polls and election results have confounded many pundits. Do calls to ‘give us our country back’ or ‘return our sovereignty’ suggest that many people in liberal democracies need a better understanding of...

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  • Populism, Progressivism and Trumpism

    Article

    Populism, Progressivism and Trumpism: third party, inter-party and intraparty candidates in campaigns for the American presidency Michael Dunne explores the complexities of American presidential political campaigning over the last 200 years. Vox populi, vox dei. The voice of the people is the voice of God. Since these words were first...

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  • Radicalism and its Results, 1760-1837

    Article

    Radicalism with a large "R", unlike Conservatism with a large "C" and Liberalism with a large "L", is not a historical term of even proximate precision. There was never a Radical Party with a national organization, local associations, or a treasury. But there were, and there are, "Radicals", generally qualified...

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  • Polychronicon 162: Reinterpreting the May 1968 events in France

    Article

    As Kristin Ross has persuasively argued, by the 1980s interpretations of the French events of May 1968 had shrunk to a narrow set of received ideas around student protest, labelled by Chris Reynolds a ‘doxa’. Media discourse is dominated by a narrow range of former participants labelled ‘memory barons’ –...

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  • Religion and Politics 1559-1642

    Article

    It is a truism to say that religion and politics were inextricably mixed in the seventeenth century. "So natural" wrote Richard Hooker,"is the union of religion with Justice, that we may boldly deem there is neither where both are not" Sir John Eliot observed that in the House of Commons...

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