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Polychronicon 121: interpretations of the American Revolution
Teaching History feature
Polychronicon is a regular feature helping school history teachers to update their subject knowledge, with special emphasis on recent historiography and changing interpretation. This edition of 'Polychronicon'focuses on the interpretations of the American Revolution.
Polychronicon 121: interpretations of the American Revolution
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The Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949
20th Century Chinese History
In this podcast Professor Rana Mitter of the University of Oxford looks at why Mao Zedong was successful in achieving a Communist Revolution in 1949.
The Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949
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The Chinese Revolution of 1911
20th Century Chinese History
In this podcast Professor Rana Mitter of the University of Oxford looks at the causes and consequences of the 1911 Revolution.
The Chinese Revolution of 1911
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Maps, ICT and History: A revolution in learning
Article
Lez Smart outlines exciting new developments in digitalisation of maps which could transform pupils' work on continuity and change, on diversity of society, on local history and much more. Above all, he shows how easy to use (and how cheap!) this new resource will be. Lez Smart explains the opportunities...
Maps, ICT and History: A revolution in learning
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Changing views of the Russian Revolution
20th Century Russian History
In this podcast Dr Beryl Williams discusses how historians views of the Russian Revolution have changed over time in Russia and the West.
Changing views of the Russian Revolution
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Robespierre: a reluctant terrorist?
Article
After a revolution to remove the monarchy did the French revolutionaries create another leadership of power over ideals? William Doyle re-evaluates the reputation of the so-called architect of terror during the French Revolutionary years.
Two recent books reflect a seemingly endless fascination with the man whose downfall brought the end...
Robespierre: a reluctant terrorist?
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Film: Brezhnev's early life and career
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film Dr Edwin Bacon takes us through Brezhnev’s early life and career: his birth in Ukraine in 1906, the opportunities brought by the revolution, his role in the battle of Ukraine and his eventual arrival to the Politburo at the end of the 1950s. Dr Bacon looks at...
Film: Brezhnev's early life and career
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Germany
Links to Articles & Podcasts
Germany
An HA Podcast Series: Modern German History (1914-1948)
Building and assessing historical knowledge on three scales
Kristallnacht
Adolf Eichmann
Reading and enquiring in Years 12 and 13: a case study on women in the Third Reich
Podcast: Cold War Germany
German Women 1900-1945
Nazism and Stalinism – suitable case for...
Germany
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What Have Historians Been Arguing About... Chinese history?
Teaching History feature
Teaching Chinese history in the UK runs up against some immediate obstacles. It lacks the familiar staging posts of European history: Chairman Mao is among the few well-known names, and terms such as Cultural Revolution and Opium War may attract recognition, but are often not understood in detail. The situation...
What Have Historians Been Arguing About... Chinese history?
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The Cultural Revolution 1966-1976
Podcast
In this podcast Dr Yangwen Zheng of the University of Manchester looks at the origins, theatre and consequences of the Cultural Revolution.
Dr Yangwen Zheng's essential textbook Ten Lessons in Modern Chinese History is now available. Written for university entry-level students and A-level teachers and students, it uses primary sources to tell the...
The Cultural Revolution 1966-1976
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The Provisional Government and the October Revolution
20th Century Russian History
In this podcast Dr Beryl Williams looks at why the Provisional Government failed to establish liberalism in Russia between February and October 1917 and why it was the Bolsheviks that took power in October.
The Provisional Government and the October Revolution
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Recorded Webinar: Understanding Lenin’s Government, 1917-24
Article
In this webinar Dr Douds examines the nature of political authority in the nascent Soviet Republic and the institutional structures, practices and ideology of government in the Lenin period. She considers how Communist Party dictatorship and the monolithic party-state emerged in the early years following the October Revolution of 1917...
Recorded Webinar: Understanding Lenin’s Government, 1917-24
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HA News, Autumn 2025
Welcome to the spring 2025 edition of HA News magazine
Welcome to this packed autumn edition of HA News.
Alexandra Walsham unpacks the challenges, dilemmas and opportunities of AI in her President's Letter; and Abdul Mohamud lets us in on what got him into history.
We have reports on this year's awards evening and our annual conference, along with competition updates and winners. We also remember much-missed...
HA News, Autumn 2025
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Will China Democratise?
Historian article
Michael T. Davis compares the parallels between the democratic expectations, or possibilities, of modern-day China with Britain's democratic evolution from the eighteenth century to the emerging democracy of the nineteenth century.
The future is an unfamiliar place for historians. Yet we stand on the edge of an historic shift away...
Will China Democratise?
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Recorded webinar: Britain's eighteenth-century tradition of popular riot and protest
Article
Eighteenth-century Britons were ruled by a restricted oligarchy of landowners and plutocrats. Yet the wider population had a proud tradition of assertiveness and readiness to protest. ‘Britons never will be slaves!’ as the chorus of 'Rule Britannia' (1740) announced pointedly (if somewhat ironically, in view of Britain’s role in the...
Recorded webinar: Britain's eighteenth-century tradition of popular riot and protest
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Newcastle and the General Strike 1926
Historian article
The nine-day General Strike of May 1926 retains a totemic place in the nation's history nearly 100 years later. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill was among those who attempted to characterise it as anarchy and revolution, but this was hyperbole and largely inaccurate for, as Ellen Wilkinson (then...
Newcastle and the General Strike 1926
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Introductory film: Lenin - Interpretations
Part of the HA Interpretations Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
Log in below to preview the introductory film - available to all registered users of the website.
This open access introductory film forms part of our ongoing film series on Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union. All the films are available through the Student Zone with corporate secondary membership. ...
Introductory film: Lenin - Interpretations
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James II, William III and the Glorious Revolution
Podcast
In this podcast Professor Tony Claydon of Bangor University discusses the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
James II, William III and the Glorious Revolution
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Kett's Rebellion 1549
Classic Pamphlet
On 20 june, 1549, the men of the town of Attleborough and of the neighbouring hamlets of Eccles and Wilby, in South Norfolk, threw down the fences recently erected by John Green, lord of the manor of Beckhall in Wilby, round part of the common over which they all had...
Kett's Rebellion 1549
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Vera Ignatievna Giedroyc: her missions of mercy, 1899–1932
Historian article
Historical research takes place in many forms and in many locations. This research, which has been translated for us, introduces us to an heroic pioneering Ukrainian woman surgeon.
During the Spring of 1932 in the Ukrainian city of Kiev, on a sunny day in March, a very small group of...
Vera Ignatievna Giedroyc: her missions of mercy, 1899–1932
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Russia & the USSR
Links to Articles & Podcasts
USSR
An HA Podcasted History of the USSR
Stalinism
Between the Revolutions
Nazism and Stalinism – suitable case for comparison?
Stalin 6th form podcast
Stalin, Propaganda, and Soviet Society during the Great Terror
After the Uprising of 1956: Hungarian Students in Britain
Russia & the USSR
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From Sail to Steam
Classic Pamphlet
From the time when primitive man first went adrift on a bundle of reeds or learnt to balance himself on a floating log, to the days where his descendants, no more than a few generations ago, raced scrambling aloft to trim the towering sails of a full-rigged ship, the skill...
From Sail to Steam
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The Great Revolt of 1381
Classic Pamphlet
The Great Revolt of 1381 began in South-West Essex sometime between late May and 2 June: contemporary narratives and record sources differ irreconcilably about the dates. It all started with the arrival of a royal tax commissioner, John Bampton, at Brentwood inBarnstable Hundred. He came to inquire into the evasion...
The Great Revolt of 1381
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History in the news: George Floyd protest in Bristol – Colston statue toppled
Primary History feature
The killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May 2020 sparked off protests against the way in which black people are treated both in America and many countries across the world. Thousands of people attended an anti-racist demonstration in Bristol. A group of the...
History in the news: George Floyd protest in Bristol – Colston statue toppled
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Into the unknown: changing technology and the history classroom
Teaching History article
John Simkin has an important tale to tell. He lived through the earliest forays of history teachers into computer technology in the classroom and he pioneered influential approaches through software publishing projects. His story of classroom teachers overcoming obstacles, battling scepticism and taking responsibility for forging the future is one...
Into the unknown: changing technology and the history classroom
