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The Centenary of the First World War: An unpopular view
Historian article
We are delighted to have an original article by Gary Sheffield in this edition of The Historian.
Gary Sheffield is Professor of War Studies, University of Wolverhampton. He is a specialist on Britain at war 1914-45 and is one of Britain's foremost historians on the First World War. He has...
The Centenary of the First World War: An unpopular view
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The Great Debate 2024: Speeches
Multipage Article
The final was held at the Vicars' Hall at Windsor Castle on 23 March 2024 and attended by 22 finalists from across the UK. This year each finalist needed to have taken part in a regional competition and one of three semi-final stages.
The competition question for this year was:...
The Great Debate 2024: Speeches
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Anne Herbert: A life in the Wars of the Roses
Historian article
May I introduce you to Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke? I'm very fond of this modern imagined portrait by Graham Turner, partly because of the colour and detail but chiefly because it conveys a respect for the people who lived in the past and especially for Anne herself. My interest...
Anne Herbert: A life in the Wars of the Roses
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The British Empire on trial
Article
In the light of present-day concerns about the place, in a modern world, of statues commemorating figures whose roles in history are of debatable merit, Dr Gregory Gifford puts the British Empire on trial, presenting a balanced case both for and against.
In June 2020 when the statue of slave-trader Edward Colston...
The British Empire on trial
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Film: Reimagining the Blitz Spirit
The mobilisation of World War II propaganda in our own times
Dr Jo Fox continued our virtual branch lecture series this July on the subject 'Reimagining the Blitz Spirit: the mobilisation of World War II propaganda in our own times'. Fox is the Director of the Institute of Historical Research and a well-known historian specialising in the history of propaganda, rumour and truth telling.
In this talk...
Film: Reimagining the Blitz Spirit
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The Willing Suspension of Disbeliefs
Article
There should be no hesitancy doubting his existence R. G. Collingwood is remembered today as a philosopher, a man with a wide range of interests, the core of whose work is in the Idealist tradition. He died in 1943 and although his work has subsequently not been widely celebrated the...
The Willing Suspension of Disbeliefs
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The Great Debate 2023: Speeches
Multipage Article
The 2023 Great Debate final was held on 25 March at the Vicars' Hall, Windsor Castle. The question for young people to address was:
“Why does history matter to me?”
Across the course of the day the judges and audience listened to talks on the personal experiences of finalists’ relatives in the...
The Great Debate 2023: Speeches
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The Historian 119: Women in History
The magazine of the Historical Association
5 Editorial
6 Queenship in Medieval England: A Changing Dynamic? - Louise Wilkinson (Read article)
12 Petticoat Politicians: Women and the Politics of the Parish in England - Sarah Richardson (Read article)
17 The President's Column
18 Strange Journey: the life of Dorothy Eckersley - Stephen M. Cullen (Read Article)...
The Historian 119: Women in History
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Beware the serpent of Rome
Article
On 14 February 1868, the Carlisle Journal reported as follows: … two meetings were held in the Athenaeum in this city , “for the purpose of forming an auxiliary to co-operate with the Church Association in London, to uphold the principles and order of the United Church of England and...
Beware the serpent of Rome
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Four faces of nursing and the First World War
Historian article
With the centenary approaching, article after article will appear on battles, the men who fought, those who refused, those that died, those who returned and those that made the decisions. There will be articles on the home front and the women that stepped into the men's shoes often to be...
Four faces of nursing and the First World War
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Podcast Series: Origins of the European Financial Markets
Multipage Article
In this podcast Dr Anne Murphy of the University of Hertfordshire looks at the early origins of the European financial markets from the Italian Renaissance to the present day. Dr Murphy also provides a useful introduction to finance, the stock market and the bond market.
Podcast Series: Origins of the European Financial Markets
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What Have Historians Been Arguing About... the impact of the British Empire on Britain?
Teaching History feature
The murder of George Floyd during the summer of 2020 and the ongoing ‘culture war’ in Britain over the legacy of the British Empire have reignited interest in imperial history. This focuses, in particular, on the question of the empire’s impact on Britain itself: on how the act of conquering...
What Have Historians Been Arguing About... the impact of the British Empire on Britain?
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Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico
Historian article
When the Spanish Conquistadores arrived in Mexico during the early sixteenth century there were many repercussions for the indigenous people. Their conversion to Christianity and the sacking of their temples are two of the most well known examples. However, it is often forgotten that the Aztecs had only a pictorial...
Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico
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Podcast Series: The Rise of an Islamic Civilisation
Early Islam
An HA Podcasted History of the Rise of an Islamic Civilisation featuring Dr Caroline Goodson of Birkbeck, University of London.
Podcast Series: The Rise of an Islamic Civilisation
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The Cold War
GCSE Fact Sheet
The Cold War on one page: This short factoid will help you to remember the key dates, events and personalities of the Cold war. Why not download it for your bedroom wall or folder?
The Cold War
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The role of Devon's militia during the Spanish Armada crisis
Historian article
The precise role of Devon's militia during summer 1588 has, until recently, been shrouded by the recurrent tendency of historians to misinterpret the primary function of the militias in the southern maritime counties. The basic idea put forward has been that their main role during the Armada crisis was to...
The role of Devon's militia during the Spanish Armada crisis
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The Great Spa Towns of Europe: a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Historian article
Catherine Lloyd introduces us to an international heritage initiative to celebrate ‘spa’ culture.
From ancient times, people believed that gods and spirits brought the means of natural healing. Step back in time to imagine an eerie wilderness, a glade in a wood, or a pool by a river, where the snow...
The Great Spa Towns of Europe: a UNESCO World Heritage Site
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Punk, Politics and the collapse of consensus in Britain
Podcast
2012 Annual Conference LectureShot by both sides: Punk, Politics and the collapse of consensus in BritainMatthew Worley: Reader in History, University of ReadingThis paper examines the way in which organisations of the far left and far right endeavoured to appropriate elements of British youth culture to validate their analysis of...
Punk, Politics and the collapse of consensus in Britain
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AQA Thematic Study on Migration
GCSE Guide
The AQA thematic study on migration is designed for students to gain an understanding of how the identity of the people of Britain has been shaped by their interaction with the wider world and also takes in invasion and conquest. Students must understand the ebb and flow of peoples into...
AQA Thematic Study on Migration
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The Medieval Empire
Classic Pamphlet
The subject of this pamphlet is one that, by general consent, takes a central place in European history in the middle ages. The history of the Empire, it has often been said, is co-terminous with the history of western Christendom; and Lord Bryce long ago described it as a ‘universal...
The Medieval Empire
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Polychronicon 145: Interpreting the history of the modern prison
Teaching History feature
On the morning of Sunday 24 January 1932 convicts paraded in the exercise yards at Dartmoor Convict Prison in Devon. Suddenly, inmates began to break ranks, encouraging others to do likewise. Some prisoners were shepherded into cell blocks by officers but control mechanisms quickly collapsed and the remaining inmates had...
Polychronicon 145: Interpreting the history of the modern prison
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A sense of occasion
Historian article
It is appropriate, in this bicentenary year of Mendelssohn's birth, to remember a great day in Birmingham's musical and social calendar. A day when the composer's Oratorio, Elijah, especially commissioned for the city's 1846 Triennial Festival to raise money for the Children's Hospital, was first performed in the newly refurbished Town...
A sense of occasion
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Film: A short history of Islamic thought
Article
In his book of the same name, A short history of Islamic thought, Dr Fitzroy Morrissey provides a concise introduction to the origins and sources of Islamic thought, from its beginnings in the 7th century to the current moment.
In this talk he explores the major ideas and introduces the...
Film: A short history of Islamic thought
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The Byzantine Empire on the Eve of the Crusades
Classic Pamphlet
This resource is a pamphlet titled ‘The Byzantine Empire on the Eve of the Crusades’ and written by R. J. H. Jenkins in 1953. As such, some of the scholarship has been updated since then, although it can provide useful historiography.
It is not strange that there should in recent...
The Byzantine Empire on the Eve of the Crusades
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The spy who never spied
Historian article
Claire Hubbard-Hall takes us on a wartime journey across the Atlantic.
On 30 June 1942, the Swedish-American liner SS Drottningholm docked in New York Harbour. As a diplomatic ship it had just completed its run from Lisbon (Portugal) to America. Standing at 538 feet long and 60 feet wide, painted white...
The spy who never spied
