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Talk Like a Pirate Day: The Evolving Social Character of Pirates in the Golden Age

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is a parodic holiday which springs from a romanticised view of the Golden Age of Piracy, a glossy Hollywood adaptation where pirates with eye-patches and bushy black beards shout ‘Ahoy, Me Hearties!’, ‘Avast Ye’,... Read more →

Published 19th September, 2021 · 13 min read

Contextualising the MOVE Remains Within American History

Every aspect of US history is irrevocably tied to slavery. The repercussions of the trade in human chattel can be seen in the modern descendants of enslaved peoples, but also within the societal frameworks that make up modern America. There... Read more →

Published 19th August, 2021 · 16 min read

Pride is a State of Mind: The History of the Pathologisation of Queerness

The DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (used primarily in the United States), has had a rocky past, to say the least. The thing about deciding what is and is not a mental disorder is that it... Read more →

Published 27th June, 2021 · 16 min read

A Red Spectre: Remembering the Paris Commune on its 150th Anniversary

A City in Ruins150 years ago this week, Paris, which regarded itself as the ‘Citadel of Civilisation’ (Horne, 1965: 418), tore itself apart and lay in ruins. Black smoke billowed from every corner of the city and dead bodies lay... Read more →

Published 27th May, 2021 · 19 min read

The centenary of the partition of Ireland: Assessing the past, present, and future of the United Kingdom

To little fanfare, this month marked the centenary of the partition of Ireland. 100 years ago on 3rd May 1921, the separate self-governing states of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland were created under the enactment of the Government of Ireland... Read more →

Published 3rd May, 2021 · 11 min read

Cholera Pandemic 1830s

The rapid development of multiple mRNA vaccines in a year to combat a previously unknown virus is a triumph of biotechnology and the maturation of research years in the making. That miracle of science is culminating in a race to... Read more →

Published 19th April, 2021 · 8 min read

Fashion as a political statement in the American Republic

Fashion as a political statement is a concept one generally associated with the  20th and 21st centuries, despite the practical knowledge that this could not possibly be true. Dressing deliberately for the sake of politics has far reaching roots, in... Read more →

Published 24th March, 2021 · 16 min read

Women and War: Challenging the Archetype of Passive Women Throughout the Troubles

In times of war, women have traditionally been associated with peace, maternalism and caregiving; the nurses, the mothers, the symbols of national unity. This has perpetuated the notion that women have a homogenous experience of conflict, namely as non-violent, passive... Read more →

Published 8th March, 2021 · 12 min read

A re-evaluation of the legacy of James Marion Sims

History is always skewed by our perceptions of modern morals. What was once considered acceptable in the pursuit of science is no longer permissible. However, our perceptions themselves are influenced by the education to which we are privy. Take, for... Read more →

Published 28th February, 2021 · 13 min read

From the Archive: Scottish Rebel Songs

This article examines the development of Scottish nationalism in the twentieth century through an analysis of ‘Rebel Songbooks’. These songbooks reflect the turbulent, ever-changing landscape of Scottish society, identity, and politics. Detailed contextual notes and song descriptions provide valuable insight... Read more →

Published 3rd February, 2021 · 15 min read

Match Maker, Match Maker, Don’t Make the Match: Phossy Jaw and the Bryant and May Match Workers Strike

The history of something as simple as an everyday match or a ‘work appropriate blouse’ can be imbued with historical horrors. In fact, as we re-examine our past, the history of industrialisation and the fight for workers’ rights, we find... Read more →

Published 31st December, 2020 · 9 min read

From the Archive: Women’s Liberation and the CPGB

From the Archive: Women’s Liberation and the CPGBIn the 1970s, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was facing heavy membership losses and an ever enigmatic class revolution that had failed to materialise after half a century of toil. New... Read more →

Published 8th December, 2020 · 11 min read

From the Archive: America Abroad, 1891-1907

Our exciting new collection, Transatlantic Civil Society in Periodicals, 1767-1925, explores the evolving relationship between North America and Europe over three centuries. A period that encompasses the conflict of the American revolutionary era through to changes wrought by industrialisation and... Read more →

Published 23rd November, 2020 · 11 min read

History and identity: tracing the legacy of colonial history in modern French identity

In contemporary political debate, memories of empire have a potent appeal. The spectre of empire holds a certain allure, promising power, glory and greatness. Particularly affected by this have been the old colonial giants of Europe, including France. In this... Read more →

Published 23rd October, 2020 · 9 min read

Aid in Africa: hurting or helping?

The idea of aid took off in the 1920s/30s, when wealthier countries started to make regular donations to places including Latin America and Africa. Before this, there had been some sporadic donations in the 19th Century, but nothing as structured... Read more →

Published 8th October, 2020 · 10 min read

Miracle of Chile? The legacy of the Chicago Boys

Chile is often hailed as the ‘Miracle of Chile’ and is compared to the Asian Tiger economies, which boasted rapid economic growth between the 1960s and 1990s, paired with a huge improvement in the standard of living. Even today, it... Read more →

Published 26th August, 2020 · 9 min read

Assessing Soviet nationality policy: a state vested with the power to define, build and destroy nations

 Assessing Soviet nationality policy: a state vested with the power to define, build and destroy nations The concept of nations and nationalism within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was complex. The face of ‘Soviet nationality policy’ (SNP) shifted and... Read more →

Published 18th August, 2020 · 13 min read

From the Archive: The Paris Peace Conference and Upper Silesia

Our popular primary source collection, 'Paris Peace Conference and Beyond, 1919-1939', provides a wealth of archival material relating to the tumultuous period in the aftermath of the First World War. The Paris Peace Conference was the formal meeting of the... Read more →

Published 7th August, 2020 · 10 min read

History in society – Reassessing the relevance of public monuments in the 21st century

Last weekend a statue of Edward Colston, a prominent slave trader, was torn down in Bristol during an anti-racism protest. The statue had been a source of controversy in the city for a long time and after years of fruitless... Read more →

Published 9th June, 2020 · 9 min read

In Conversation With...Stephen M. Walt

Stephen M. Walt is a distinguished academic who writes about international relations theory, grand strategy, and American foreign policy. He obtained a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under the late Kenneth Waltz, a... Read more →

Published 5th August, 2019 · 8 min read

Stranger Things, Nostalgia and Unintentional Meaning

THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS You've got to hand it to the producers of Stranger Things for using the same deus ex machina to solve the same problem three series in a row. At least this time around there was something of a... Read more →

Published 26th July, 2019 · 11 min read

The Radical Romanticism of Piracy

In Western popular culture, pirates have emerged as dashing heroic figures.Despite the fact that, on the periphery, most people are vaguely aware that there is a profound disconnect between the realities of piracy and the popular fantasy, we choose to... Read more →

Published 10th July, 2019 · 13 min read

Interpreting the Unthinkable

In September 2018 the UK’s newest Holocaust exhibition opened to the public. ‘Though Our Eyes’ tells the story of the Holocaust as experienced by 16 Jewish men and women who escaped or survived the genocide and made new lives in the... Read more →

Published 17th April, 2019 · 5 min read

In Conversation With...Andrew J. Bacevich

Andrew J. Bacevich is an historian and commentator who writes about American foreign and defence policy.He graduated from West Point in 1969 and served in the United States Army for two decades, including stints in Vietnam and Kuwait. After leaving... Read more →

Published 10th April, 2019 · 6 min read

The Problem with Apollo

The American ‘moonshot’ is arguably one of the most memorable moments of the Cold War, if not the 20th century. It captured the world’s attention with record global viewing figures on live television and cemented the success of America’s military-industrial-scientific... Read more →

Published 15th October, 2018 · 10 min read

Channel Islander Victims of Nazi Persecution: A Legitimate Heritage?

A casual stroll through any village or town in France will reveal memorials to those who died in concentration camps. Examine any war memorial and alongside those who died on the battlefield are lists of the glorieux martyrs de la... Read more →

Published 16th August, 2018 · 5 min read

The Fashionable Form of Holocaust Denial

What do Holocaust deniers deny? The most extreme among them deny that the Nazis’ the extermination of the Jews ever happened—or, if some portion of it did take place, the Jews were behind it. These include such notorious figures as... Read more →

Published 9th August, 2018 · 10 min read

The Politics of the World Cup

It was a magnificent finale to a tense group stage encounter. Standing at five and a half feet, Xherdan Shaqiri’s run wasn’t graceful, but with legs pumping like pistons, the Switzerland midfielder surged past the defender and stuck the ball... Read more →

Published 16th July, 2018 · 5 min read

Behind Enemy Lines: The Life and Death of Diana Rowden

On July 6th, 1944, Diana Rowden, Andree Borrell, Vera Leigh, and Sonya Olschanezky were executed by the SS at Natzweiler-Struthof, a concentration camp located near the foothills of the Vosges Mountains in Alsace. They had been transferred from a prison... Read more →

Published 6th July, 2018 · 2 min read

Pride in Perspective: Homosexuality in Britain Since 1967

In July 1967 the Sexual Offences Act decriminalized homosexual acts between men, making it legal between two men over 21 in private (though not in Scotland or Northern Ireland—those laws were finally abolished in 1980 and 1982 respectively).  This legislation... Read more →

Published 18th June, 2018 · 5 min read

Britain and the Second World War: Identity and Remembrance

The anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day on 8th May marks the end of the war in Europe and Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allies. As it coincides this year with the final year of centenary commemorations of the... Read more →

Published 8th May, 2018 · 6 min read

VE Day Through the Eyes of East Prussian Refugees

"I did not know then that the 8th of May 1945 was a special day. Whatever happened in the world ‘outside’, did not apply to us. Here, everything revolved around food, the acquisition of food and sheer survival… We did... Read more →

Published 8th May, 2018 · 5 min read

Women and Protest in 19th Century Britain

Does women’s history actually exist? If the lives and achievements of just over half of the population were fully acknowledged as a vital part of the human story then, by definition, it wouldn’t. The tendency to see women’s experiences as... Read more →

Published 5th April, 2018 · 6 min read

The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

25 March marks The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, a moment to remember those who suffered under slavery and to reflect upon slavery’s legacy in contemporary society. Between 1526 and 1867,... Read more →

Published 21st March, 2018 · 5 min read

Black History Month with British Online Archives

Black History Month is celebrated every February in the United States and Canada, as well as here in the United Kingdom in October. The idea started as a way of remembering significant people and events in African history. Black History... Read more →

Published 28th February, 2018 · 4 min read