Bernie Madoff created a Ponzi scheme which went unnoticed over 20 years and managed to secure $65bn of investment. How did this scheme work? Madoff set up an investment firm, which he would lure customers into entering, and promise a 10% return on their investment every year. He did not, however, invest this in stocks […]
Seppuku was part of the honour code of Japanese samurai and could be performed for several reasons. Literally meaning, “stomach cutting”, samurai would sacrifice their own lives by method of disembowelment. Performed by the shorter of the two swords samurai carried, the wakizashi could be used to cut open the abdomen, and then upwards toward […]
Leonardo Da Vinci was, without doubt, one of the greatest minds in human history who is often said to have been, scientifically at least, hundreds of years ahead of his time. However, this seems to be an idea that grates on the modern day scientist who cannot dream of being compared to such a man […]
The period of Barbarian Migration which marked the decline and fall of the Roman Empire covers quite a large period of history, ranging from the 4th century right up to the 9th. It is extremely hard to pinpoint exactly where each Barbarian tribe was at what time during the Migrations, as the written sources are […]
Seppuku was part of the honour code of Japanese samurai and could be performed for several reasons. Literally meaning, “stomach cutting”, samurai would sacrifice their own lives by method of disembowelment. Performed by the shorter of the two swords samurai carried, the wakizashi could be used to cut open the abdomen, and then upwards toward […]
The myths and legends of Ancient Greeks and Romans are more than mere stories of supernatural events. They reflect the collective consciousness of societies deeply connected with their natural environment. The Greeks and Romans viewed the gods and divinities which populated their myths as anthropomorphised representations of natural forces, and throughout ancient literature they had […]
A major topic of debate is whether the United States had the ethical right to decide to build the canal. At the time, Panama was part of Colombian territory, meaning the U.S. had to gain permission to build there. Resultantly, the Colombian Congress initially refused the U.S. the rights to construct the Panama Canal in […]
The ideological movement that developed in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, known universally as “The Enlightenment”, had a significant impact on the struggle for American independence. The ‘American Enlightenment’ combined an engaging political scene with a proactive military objective for sovereignty, creating a revolutionary war that was unparalleled in scope or ferocity in […]
Some of the largest and most well-known British environmental conservation movements exist in one of two camps. Both of these stem – remarkably unchanged – from before the industrial revolution. The first camp is entirely practical. By the late seventeenth century, England had seen a century of political upheaval and civil war, and was a […]
There are a number of unwritten rules that surface during an American Presidential Election with alarming alacrity. A small town in New Hampshire will be the first to declare its results after the 34 voters have cast their ballots, no Republican wins without taking Ohio’s 18 Electoral College votes, and the calamitous inevitability of something […]
The phrase “Bloody Mary” typically pertains to either the Tudor Queen, murderous ghosts in mirrors, or the eponymous drink. The first of these reigned over England from 1553-58 and remains a controversial figure today due to the roughly 300 Protestants she burned for heresy – a fate that earned them instant martyrdom. The condemnation of […]
Hello to our new freshers, and welcome back to returning students! We hope that you all enjoyed your summer and the first few weeks of the new semester. The 2014-2015 academic year has seen a growth in the members of the History Society committee. This year, the committee is determined to make the society, and […]
Students often complain about the Manchester weather, but in June 1919 one of our alumni, Sir Arthur Whitten Brown, braved freezing temperatures and lashing sleet, hail and rain to do what was necessary. If this sounds like your morning commute to lectures, bear in mind that Brown was somewhere over the Atlantic, clinging unprotected to […]
On May 3rd, 2021, Northern Ireland commemorated its 100th anniversary as a separate legal entity within the United Kingdom. This raised the question: how do we commemorate a state with a history of violence and discrimination? This essay doesn’t attempt to answer this question but explores Northern Ireland as a case study to demonstrate the […]