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Brazil and the two World Wars
Article
Brazil and the outbreak of the First World War At the beginning of the twentieth century Brazil was on the periphery of a world order that revolved around decisions made by the great European powers. Although it was the largest and most populated nation in South America, Brazil possessed an...
Brazil and the two World Wars
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Film: Germany 1945-1991: Introduction
Film series: Power and authority in Germany, 1871-1991
Germany as a divided and defeated nation is explored through the lens of how the two new Germanys rebuilt their States politically and culturally. Professor Anna Saunders reflects on the different inequalities that existed between the two states and how stability was established between political leaders, even when political dissent...
Film: Germany 1945-1991: Introduction
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Penruddock's Rising 1655
Classic Pamphlet
Three hundred years ago John Penruddock of Compton Chamberlayne and a dozen other brave men paid with their lives for their failure to raise the West Country in the name of King Charles II against the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. They had been in arms barely four days, and their...
Penruddock's Rising 1655
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HA short courses: Terms and conditions
Information
Please read the short course terms and conditions carefully before you register for a place on the short course. By booking a place, you agree to adhere to these terms and conditions.
Please note that these terms and conditions are only applicable to the HA’s short course and do not...
HA short courses: Terms and conditions
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Virtual Branch Recording: The Fall of the English Republic
Article
Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658 sparked a period of unrivalled turmoil and confusion in English history. In less than two years, there were close to ten changes of government; rival armies of Englishmen faced each other across the Scottish border; and the Long Parliament was finally dissolved after two decades.
Why...
Virtual Branch Recording: The Fall of the English Republic
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The death of a hero: Vice-Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson
Historian article
Michael Crumplin comments on the injuries and illnesses that Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson suffered during his shortened career. His bold leadership style, much admired by his naval companions, inevitably led to a series of wounds. Using a combination of contemporary accounts and current clinical, anatomical and physiological interpretation, this article...
The death of a hero: Vice-Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson
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Blood and Iron: the violent birth of modern Germany
Historian article
Katja Hoyer discusses Germany’s unification 150 years ago: an event that cast a long shadow over the troubled young nation and would alter the course of European and world history.
Shivering in the cold winter air that drifted in through the windows of his temporary residence in Paris, Wilhelm I, King...
Blood and Iron: the violent birth of modern Germany
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A woman’s place is in the castle
Historian article
This article looks at the role of two fourteenth century Scottish noblewomen, on opposing sides in the strife between Bruce and Balliol, who were left to defend their properties during their husbands’ absences.
The Scottish Wars of Independence were fought over several decades of the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as...
A woman’s place is in the castle
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20th anniversary of 9/11 – a personal reflection
1st September 2021
I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing as the news began to reach me about there being a terrorist attack in the United States. It didn’t seem real and if I hadn’t been working in Westminster where these things are taken very seriously, I might not...
20th anniversary of 9/11 – a personal reflection
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'The end of all existence is debarred me': Disraeli's depression 1826-30
Historian article
During the years from 1826 to 1830 Benjamin Disraeli went through the slough of despond. His first major biographer,William Flavelle Monypenny, observed the ‘clouds of despondency which were now settling upon Disraeli's mind'. In his magisterial life of the great tory leader Robert Blake commented that ‘after completing Part II...
'The end of all existence is debarred me': Disraeli's depression 1826-30
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Essex Branch History
Branch History
Essex Branch - Early DaysEssex Branch was founded in 1920 or earlier and was active continuously until 1936. In 1920-1 the president was H. de Havilland of The Manor House, Great Horkesley, and the secretary Mr. E.T. Baldwin of Earls Colne Grammar School. There were 56 branch members and 8...
Essex Branch History
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Nottingham Branch History
Article
A major feature of the Historical Association's branches has been their strong links with a variety of voluntary organisations focused on, or with interests in, history. The Association's initial aims drawn up in June 1906 included 'Co-operation for common objects with the English Association, the Geographical Association, the Modern Language...
Nottingham Branch History
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Harold Son of Godwin
Classic Pamphlet
To lecture on Harold Godwinson, earl of Wessex, King Harold II of England, in the year 1966 at Hastings is a presumption. We appear to know much about him, and yet in fact there are many gaps in knowledge. Much information, so plausible at first sight, proves unreliable on closer...
Harold Son of Godwin
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Film: Bricks and the making of the city - London in the 19th century
Virtual Branch
In this HA Virtual Branch talk Peter Hounsell drew on his recently published book Bricks of Victorian London, exploring the crucial role brick production played in the creation of Britain's capital and why the important place of bricks in the fabric of the city isn't always obvious.
Peter Hounsell has published...
Film: Bricks and the making of the city - London in the 19th century
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The Uses of History in the Twenty First Century
Historian article
During the last century or so there has developed a new ‘public role’ for history: the past as personal history, a vital element in the nourishing of people in society. During the past decades a new perception of what history is has manifested itself on two levels: first a shift of...
The Uses of History in the Twenty First Century
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Harriet Kettle, Victorian rebel
Historian article
Harriet Kettle had a remarkable life. She was on the receiving end of everything that the institutions of social control in Victorian England could throw at her, but resisted, survived and fought back.
Harriet’s defiance earned her references in the records of a workhouse, two prisons, two asylums and, in...
Harriet Kettle, Victorian rebel
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Films: Khrushchev – Interpretations
Film series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
(Student and corporate secondary members can view these films in our Student Zone)
Khrushchev came to power in the Soviet Union at a time when the whole region was used to living on a knife's edge. He appeared to usher in a more relaxed calm era as though that had...
Films: Khrushchev – Interpretations
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Interpreting an early seventeenth-century cottage at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum
Historian article
The Weald & Downland Open Air Museum (WDOAM), which opened to the public in 1970, is one of the leading museums of historic buildings and rural life in the United Kingdom. It has a collection of nearly 50 historic buildings - domestic, agricultural and industrial - dating from the thirteenth...
Interpreting an early seventeenth-century cottage at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum
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Archives
Briefing Pack
1. Local Archives
Local Archives Offices contain an enormous amount of information including Census records, newspapers and property records. They are a useful point of call when either verifying information found on the internet or conducting deeper research beyond what is available on the main sources of family history such...
Archives
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A land without music?
Historian article
It is sometimes said that England was a ‘land without music’ in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries – not so, according to David Fleming.
‘Between the age of Purcell and that of Elgar and Parry, we had to do without much musical life in our country.’ Or so wrote Simon...
A land without music?
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History Abridged: Language and the African continent
Historian feature
History Abridged: This feature seeks to take a person, event or period and abridge, or focus on, an important event or detail that can get lost in the big picture. Think Horrible Histories for grownups (without the songs and music). See all History Abridged articles
Africa is a huge continent...
History Abridged: Language and the African continent
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My Favourite History Place: Petra
Historian feature
Ghislaine Headland-Vanni visits the ancient city of Petra, in Jordan.
When you hear the word ‘Petra’ what images does the word conjure up for you? Maybe you have visited and know it already; if not, then like me you may not fully comprehend its size. I naively thought I could...
My Favourite History Place: Petra
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When was the post-war?
Article
There is a peculiar tension at the heart of scholarship about the years and decades after the Second World War. On the one hand, the political developments following the breakdown of the war-time alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union have spawned an enormous literature, in parts as old...
When was the post-war?
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Father of the Free French Navy: Thierry d’Argenlieu
Historian article
Thierry d’Argenlieu played a crucial role in the French Resistance during World War Two, but he does not fit the mould of the typical resister. Adrian Smith brings to light d’Argenlieu’s wartime experiences, and follows his career after 1945 as High Commissioner in Indo-China and member of the Carmelite order...
Father of the Free French Navy: Thierry d’Argenlieu
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Disease and healthcare on the Isle of Man
Historian article
Caroline Smith provides a perspective, past and present, of the experiences of epidemics on the Isle of Man.
In recent times health has been at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Epidemics and pandemics are not new, but the Covid-19 outbreak is probably the first to have such a noticeable effect...
Disease and healthcare on the Isle of Man
