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What is interesting about the world wars?
Article
In the past, the two world wars have been mainly studied as military history, focused on armies, campaigns and battles. Historians have concentrated on wars in Europe and in particular on the Western Front in 1914–18 and on the war with Nazi Germany in the west. This has given rise...
What is interesting about the world wars?
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Real Lives: The Reverend John Chilembwe
Historian feature
Our series ‘Real Lives’ seeks to put the story of the ordinary person into our great historical narrative. We are all part of the rich fabric of the communities in which we live and we are affected to greater and lesser degrees by the big events that happen on a daily...
Real Lives: The Reverend John Chilembwe
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Film: China's Good War
How World War II is shaping a new nationalism
In this lecture Professor Mitter uses film and other propaganda works to explore how key events of global history are being represented in China to develop a different understanding of its own past. The talk addresses a number of the factors for this change in how China is reflecting on...
Film: China's Good War
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Out and about in Zanzibar
Historian 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,...
Out and about in Zanzibar
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The Indian Mutiny - Pamphlet
Classic Pamphlet
Harrison's booklet takes an evaluative look, at not just the effects of the Indian Mutiny on Indo-British history, but at the reporting of this event over the years. He begins with a look at the prejudices of British writers and British historians' attitude towards the mutiny, highlighting the flawed confidence western...
The Indian Mutiny - Pamphlet
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The cultural biography of opium in China
Historian article
Zheng Yangwen shows that despite its association with trade, war and politics, opium was first of all a history of consumption.
Opium has fascinated generations of scholars and generated excellent scholarship on the opium trade, Anglo-Chinese relations, the two opium wars, and Commissioner Lin. The field has diversified in the post-Mao...
The cultural biography of opium in China
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How is the source base of the twentieth century different from that of earlier periods?
Article
Historians often debate when, exactly, the twentieth century began; that is, when the themes and trends that we have come to understand as defining this tumultuous, rapidly changing period first started, and when they ended. One place we can look to answer this question is the available primary resources that help...
How is the source base of the twentieth century different from that of earlier periods?
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The Legacy of the Z Special Unit in World War II
Historian article
The Spirit of Normandy Trust Essay Competition is aimed at young historians and organised by the Historical Association (as part of the annual Young Historian Awards). The 2023 winner in the Key Stage 3 (lower secondary school) category is Ayan Sinha, a pupil at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield. In this abridged...
The Legacy of the Z Special Unit in World War II
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Film: Rethinking the origins of the Cold War
Churchill's Great Game
In this HA Virtual Branch talk Professor Richard Toye explores Churchill’s response to the USSR and how his actions during the early Cold War years intersected with his views of traditional Anglo-Russian tensions and the legacy of the ‘Great Game’.
Richard Toye is Professor of Modern History at the University...
Film: Rethinking the origins of the Cold War
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Recorded Webinar: ‘Drawing the Line’: the 1947 Partition of India
Article
August 2022 marks 75 years since British India was divided at independence into two separate states: India and Pakistan (the latter including today’s Bangladesh). As with the 70th commemoration in 2017, this anniversary will trigger a great deal of collective remembering in Britain just as in South Asia itself.
Freedom from...
Recorded Webinar: ‘Drawing the Line’: the 1947 Partition of India
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Shadow states and armed struggle
Historian article
How did groups resisting the creation of new borders after 1947 use shadow state structures? Luke Rimmo Lego, Abigail Tamang and Sneha Singh with Laishram Bullion and Chinglai Ngamba Moirangthem explore the history of these structures and their development over the past half century.
Shadow states and armed struggle
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Glacier Tours in the Northern Playground
Historian article
Glaciers are on the frontier of the climate crisis. Their ongoing disappearance is one of its most visible effects. In this article, Christian Drury explores how tourists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries viewed and understood glaciers, and what they contributed to the history of environmental thought...
Glacier Tours in the Northern Playground
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The Chinese National Anthem
Historian article
The history of the Chinese national anthem gives Derek Ying a new perspective on society and culture from the era of the Qing dynasty to the People’s Republic of China. It reveals the strengths and weaknesses of different regimes, and the power of song to unite and divide...
The Chinese National Anthem
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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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What is interesting about the interwar period?
Article
The years between the Armistice of November 1918 and the German attack on Poland in September 1939 were undoubtedly a period of massive transformations. Public appetite to learn about specific aspects of this era remains strong. The making of communist rule in revolutionary Russia, the tribulations of Weimar Germany, the rise...
What is interesting about the interwar period?
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‘Zulu’ and the end of Empire
Historian article
In this article, Nicolas Kinloch examines the 1964 film Zulu. He suggests what it might tell us about the reality of the British Empire and asks if it has anything to say about the era in which the film was made.
One of the most successful British films of 1964...
‘Zulu’ and the end of Empire
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Eastern Nigeria market women and European businesses in colonial Nigeria 1900–29
Historian article
In this article Folusho Alabi reveals a relatively unknown story from the history of the British Empire. She analyses the issues and strategic manoeuvres in an ongoing struggle between Nigerian market women and the British colonial authorities in the early twentieth century. Despite an innate imbalance of power in this struggle,...
Eastern Nigeria market women and European businesses in colonial Nigeria 1900–29
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Filmed Lecture: Medlicott Lecture 2021 - Rana Mitter
How new is Asia’s ‘new era’?
The 2021 Medlicott Medal recipient was Professor Rana Mitter, expert on Modern Chinese history and politics. Professor Mitter's Medlicott lecture was on the subject of ‘How New is Asia’s “new era”?’.
Filmed Lecture: Medlicott Lecture 2021 - Rana Mitter
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The Victorian Age
Classic Pamphlet
This Classic Pamphlet was published in 1937 (the centenary of the accession of Queen Victoria, who succeeded to the throne on June 20, 1837).
Synopsis of contents:
1. Is the Victorian Age a distinct 'period' of history?
Landmarks establishing its beginning: the Reform Bill, railways, other inventions, new leaders in...
The Victorian Age
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Film: Stalin - Interpretations and Legacy
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Professor James Harris (University of Leeds) reflects upon how historical interpretations of Stalin have changed over time. Stalin’s legacy and influence continues to materialise in all subsequent Soviet and Russian administrations. The Man of Steel is used by politicians when they are looking for arguments to open...
Film: Stalin - Interpretations and Legacy
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Out and About in Washington DC
Historian feature
Not everyone loves the capital of the United States. To Ulysses S Grant, it was a ‘pestilential swamp’; to novelist Gore Vidal, a ‘city of the dead’. It is true that Washington still has its problems. The District of Columbia has the highest crime rate in the United States, and the...
Out and About in Washington DC
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After the revolution: did Cromwell, Washington and Bonaparte betray revolutionary principles?
Historian article
This article examines the aftermath of three epoch-making periods of change – the English, American, and French Revolutions. A comparison of the trio of military commanders who gained power as a direct consequence of these upheavals reveals how the very political radicalism which brought them to power also threatened to...
After the revolution: did Cromwell, Washington and Bonaparte betray revolutionary principles?
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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
