The Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini understood more than other leaders of his generation the power of images and used them to great effect in building his personality cult which was central to Italian Fascism. In this illustrated webinar, Professor Giuliana Pieri will explore the evolution of the iconography of...

In this Virtual Branch Tim Franks, acclaimed BBC Journalist, talks about his personal history and identity drawing on his new biography The Lines we Draw: The Journalist, The Jew and an argument about identity.  We will delve into Tim's experiences as a journalist in some of the world's major conflict zones,...

Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658 sparked a period of unrivalled turmoil and confusion in English history. In less than two years, there were close to ten changes of government; rival armies of Englishmen faced each other across the Scottish border; and the Long Parliament was finally dissolved after two decades.  Why...

In this talk Professor Henrietta Harrison uses diary records to think about the experience of living through the revolution in China in 1949, focussing on what it meant to Chinese people, how they learned about its practices and ideology, and how this changed their lives - whether they were radical intellectuals returning...

The Dudleys thrived at the court of Henry VII, but were sacrificed to the popularity of Henry VIII. Rising to prominence in the reign of Edward VI, the Dudleys lost it all by advancing Jane Grey to the throne over Mary I. That was until the reign of Elizabeth I,...

Would US President John F. Kennedy have avoided the catastrophe that became the Vietnam War if Lee Harvey Oswald had not assassinated him in Dallas on that fateful day of 22 November 1963? This question – or a version of it – has animated discussions of the Vietnam War for...

9 December 2023 was the 75th anniversary of the passing of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (known as the UN Convention on Genocide). The convention was a clear statement by the international community that crimes of that nature should never happen...

How did a group of women activists with varied ideological backgrounds construct several important campaigns against fascism in the interwar period? How did this Women's World Committee against War and Fascism (Comité Mondial des Femmes contre la Guerre et le Fascisme) undertake effective humanitarian and propaganda work and forge extensive...

How did a man born enslaved on a plantation triumph over Napoleon's invading troops and become king of the first free black nation in the Americas? This is the forgotten, remarkable story of Henry Christophe. Christophe fought as a child soldier in the American War of Independence, before serving in...

In the 1950s, Britain fought a series of brutal wars against insurgents in the colonies of Malaya, Kenya, and Cyprus. How did people at home experience these wars? How did they learn about the use of torture and other unsettling tactics? And how did they respond to this knowledge? In...

In this podcast Dr Hester Vaizey looks at what life was like for East Germans and also examines what led to the collapse of the GDR and the impact of reunification.

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore the Great Revolt of 1381, better known as the Peasants’ Revolt, through a combination of animations, dramatised primary sources, and short presenter-led videos. This includes videos looking at the causes of the revolt, its...

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore the reign of Henry III, baronial grievances and the Second Barons’ War, including the 1258 Provisions of Oxford, the most radical scheme of constitutional reform to be attempted in England until the post-Civil War...

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students examine the campaign for women’s suffrage in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This includes videos looking at why the suffrage campaign started in the 1860s; introductions to the main suffrage organisations, their leaders and...

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students look at the development of trade unionism and workers’ rights in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The playlist includes videos examining the Tolpuddle Martyrs, New Unionism, the London Dock Strike and the Match Girls’ Strike...

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore nineteenth century social reform and its effect in changing, gradually, the role of the state. This includes videos looking at the New Poor Law, Factory and Education Acts and the campaign to repeal the...

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students examine the campaign and steps taken in the nineteenth century to reform Parliament. This playlist starts by asking what was wrong with Parliament before the Great Reform Act, before going on to look at the...

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students examine two of the most important reform movements of the early nineteenth century: Chartism and the Anti-Corn Law League, contrasting their tactics, leadership and success. The playlist also contains a number of readings of Chartist...

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore the Peterloo Massacre, looking at its origins, outcome and longer term historical significance. The playlist also contains 18 dramatised primary sources drawn from The National Archives and the Parliamentary Archives. These are designed to...

In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore the history of radicalism in the nineteenth century, including the Spa Fields Riots, the Pentrich Uprising, Luddism, the Swing Riots and the March of the Blanketeers. The playlist also provides an overview of key...