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Membership for curious minds
Information
Do you love history? Discover a community that shares your passion
The Historical Association specialises in bringing together people who love history and providing high quality history content for variety of historical interests.
Expand your historical horizons with a subscription to our quarterly magazine The Historian delivered directly to your door and access to...
Membership for curious minds
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Immerse yourself in history
Information
Historical Association membership is an enjoyable way to learn and expand your history knowledge, take part in local and national events, gain access to expertise and meet others with a similar interest in history.
Membership includes a subscription to our quarterly magazine The Historian delivered directly to your door and access to the...
Immerse yourself in history
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Film: Gorbachev - Downfall
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the USSR
Professor Archie Brown looks at the forces that led to Gorbachev's eventual downfall. He also examines the coup in 1991, the rise of Boris Yeltsin and the subsequent breakup of the Soviet Union.
This film is part of our film series that looks at Russian history through the lens of leadership from Alexander...
Film: Gorbachev - Downfall
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Film: Gorbachev - Interpretations
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the USSR
Mikhail Gorbachev’s leadership and period in office is remembered differently in different parts of the world. Professor Archie Brown discusses the different interpretations the have developed in the West and in Russia to Gorbachev and his legacy. He describes the impact and development of Post-Soviet Russia and how this has influenced...
Film: Gorbachev - Interpretations
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Film: Gorbachev - Foreign Relations
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the USSR
Professor Archie Brown discusses how Gorbachev fundamentally reformed Soviet foreign policy, redefined relations with the West, fostered closer personal relationships with former adversaries and how he transformed the Cold War world.
He examines Gorbachev's policy towards Eastern Europe and the fall of the Iron Curtain, and looks at how his new foreign...
Film: Gorbachev - Foreign Relations
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Film: Gorbachev - Domestic Reform
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the USSR
Emeritus Professor Archie Brown explains how Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 and describes the domestic and international situation the USSR found itself in at this point of the Cold War.
He discusses Gorbachev's political and economic agenda and priorities, looks at the support and...
Film: Gorbachev - Domestic Reform
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Film: From Khrushchev to Brezhnev
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film Dr Edwin Bacon reflects upon the instability of the Khrushchev era and how Brezhnev positioned himself as the perfect replacement for a Soviet Communist party desperate for stability in the wake of the Cuban missile crisis. Brezhnev would be the first amongst equals looking to move forward...
Film: From Khrushchev to Brezhnev
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Out and About in Ryedale
Historian feature
Tom Pickles explores Ryedale in Yorkshire, where an extraordinary network of churches bears witness to the social, political, and religious transformations of the Anglo-Saxon period.
Out and About in Ryedale
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Anglo-Saxon women and power
Historian article
Elite Anglo-Saxon women played a powerful role in the religious affairs and politics of their day and were important patrons of learning and culture.
Anglo-Saxon women and power
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Lucy Hughes-Hallett on telling an HA branch about a book
Historian article
Dave Martin interviews the author of Cleopatra: histories, dreams and distortions, winner of the Fawcett Prize and the Emily Toth Award.
Lucy Hughes-Hallett on telling an HA branch about a book
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Film: Introducing Professor Peter Mandler
Peter Mandler becomes the new HA President in May 2020
Professor Peter Mandler has accepted the position of President of the HA and will be taking over the position from Professor Tony Badger who will step down this later this year.
Peter Mandler was born in the USA in 1958, educated at Oxford and Harvard Universities, and has taught in Britain...
Film: Introducing Professor Peter Mandler
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Film: Yeltsin's agenda
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln), discusses the emergence of Russia as a democratic country and its nascent capitalist economy. He outlines how the issues Yeltsin faced in government such as the 1993 constitutional crisis, followed by the shelling by tanks in Moscow led to Yeltsin rewriting...
Film: Yeltsin's agenda
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Film: Brezhnev's agenda
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film Dr Edwin Bacon talks about Brezhnev’s change in direction and approach after Khruschev, making collective leadership work and the Kosygin reforms. Whilst there were changes from the era of Khruschev, Brezhnev’s response to the Prague Spring in 1968 showed that some things had not changed. The events...
Film: Brezhnev's agenda
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Film: Khrushchev - After Stalin
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Alexander Titov (Queen's University of Belfast), discusses the leading figures jockeying for power after Stalin died, the short period of collective leadership, growing calls for reform within the Soviet Union and how Khrushchev gradually sidelined all of his rivals on his way to becoming Premiere of...
Film: Khrushchev - After Stalin
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Film: Yeltsin's second term and legacy
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this final film on Yeltsin, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln), discusses Yeltin’s second term and how his public profile went from hero to growing embarrassment. Importantly he examines how Yeltin’s search for a successor that would secure his family’s security led to rapid changes in Prime Ministers in...
Film: Yeltsin's second term and legacy
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Film: Yeltsin - Early Life
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln) introduces us to the young Boris Yeltsin, a true product of the Stalinist years. He explores how a young Yeltsin caught the eye of the Communist officials, allowing him to work his way up from a civil engineer to the politburo. Dr...
Film: Yeltsin - Early Life
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Film: Brezhnev's legacy
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film Dr Edwin Bacon looks back at Brezhnev’s 18 years and how is has been described as an era of stagnation, producing an appetite for change from younger leaders such as Mikail Gorbachev.
Dr Bacon reflects that this was a period of relative peace, stability and predictability which...
Film: Brezhnev's legacy
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Forbidden friendships: taverns, nightclubs, bottle bars and emancipation
Historian article
The modern gay-rights movement has its origins in a 1960s New York ‘bottle bar’, but as Ben Jerrit explains, drinking establishments have been centres of gay culture and social resistance for centuries.
Forbidden friendships: taverns, nightclubs, bottle bars and emancipation
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Film: Khrushchev - Downfall and Legacy
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Alexander Titov (Queen's University of Belfast), discusses how Khruschev went from initially being a highly popular ‘man of the people’, to becoming an authoritarian, who alienated his colleagues through rudeness and constant unexplained policy shifts, and whose predilection for risk taking and gambles brought the world perilously...
Film: Khrushchev - Downfall and Legacy
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Film: Khrushchev - De-Stalinization
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Alexander Titov (Queen's University of Belfast), discusses how and why Khrushchev opened up discussions about Stalin and his legacy, the risk that people would blame the current leadership once the scale of repressions became known. Dr Titov examines the both the content of the secret speech (Stalin’s...
Film: Khrushchev - De-Stalinization
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Film: Khrushchev - Background
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Alexander Titov (Queen's University of Belfast), provides a profile of Khrushchev’s background and personality and how these influenced his politics and ideas.
Dr Titov takes us on a journey from Khrushchev's peasant beginnings in Kursk, his rapid rise in the communist party, his role in the purges, to...
Film: Khrushchev - Background
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Film: Gorbachev - Early life and influences
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
Emeritus Professor Archie Brown of the University of Oxford discusses Mikhail Gorbachev's early life and the influence it had on his later life and thinking. Mikhail Gorbachev was born to a poor peasant family of Russian and Ukrainian heritage in 1931. Badly affected by both the famine of 1930-33 and...
Film: Gorbachev - Early life and influences
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Out and About in Derry/Londonderry
Historian feature
Jenni Hyde was out and about in Derry in 2016 and describes how the sights of the city tell the story of a history which is so much more than just the legacy of the Troubles.
Out and About in Derry/Londonderry
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Kings and coins in later Anglo-Saxon England
Historian article
The study of Anglo-Saxon coins shows the sophistication of tenth- and eleventh-century government and of the economy. But they carried a moral and religious message too.
Kings and coins in later Anglo-Saxon England
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Homosexuality in Britain Since 1967
Historian 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.
Homosexuality in Britain Since 1967
