Prostitution is endemic to war. War zones in a wide variety of geographical settings and throughout the course of history, all share the fact that prostitution grows relation to the presence of soldiers. There have been many historical studies on this topic spanning the brothels that served the Western Front during World War One, to […]

A chronicle of the dynastic medieval royal family known to us as the Plantagenets, narrating the many turns of the wheel of fortune which so affected their fates. This book is magnificent right from the offset. Jones begins by pointing out that the Plantagenets were never the ‘Plantagenets’ at all; as with most historical epochs, […]

David Bowie morphed from character to character, challenging every norm along the way. In his most iconic stage persona, as Ziggy Stardust, he stated that he wanted “to tart rock up.” Aladdin Sane was his next, often remembered for his lightning bolt portrait on the album cover. The 17th century Rokeby Venus painting by Diego […]

Histories of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade typically focus on those enslaved in the North American colonies and often overlook its Southern counterpart. However, those enslaved in North America during the colonial period were a minority; only 6% of Africans were taken to the East Coast of North America between 1500 and 1870. Slave imports from […]

During the later years of the empire, the Ottomans were overtly portrayed by Europeans as callous and tyrannical autocrats who subjugated Christians in the Balkans. Such narratives portrayed the Ottomans as a brutish Islamic empire, whose only ambition was to persecute its Christian minority. Such a notion is not entirely accurate, as it fails to […]

As Britain suffers from railway strikes, collapsing franchises, and unreliable trains, Japan celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of their much beloved Shinkansen. October has been a month of wild fanfare honouring the service of the bullet train. Emotional commercials and commemorative merchandise are abundant. For Japan, the Shinkansen is more than just an engineering marvel. The […]

With the rise of globalization and multinational companies, plus with more mediums such as television, radio, print and the internet, the volume of advertising is increasing. It is easy to assume that advertising began with the inception of new media and the birth of the global economy post-WWII. Its roots, however, can be traced much […]

In this episode, Wilf Kenning spoke to 2nd Year History and Arabic student Marco Dryburgh on the topic of Orientalism, and it’s relation to Colonial Britain. Marco discussed the key features of Edward Said’s seminal theory, as well as explaining its relevance and pervasive performance in Colonial Britain, and how we can even see traces […]

Though macabre in appearance and plaintively bizarre, the concept of a train designed solely to transport bodies for burial became a respected and useful feature in Victorian life. With London’s population exploding during the 1850s graveyards became increasingly congested and piles of rotting corpses were a major public concern. Indeed, Victorian values surrounding death and […]

The Mayan civilisation lasted an extraordinarily long time from 2600 BC to the end of the seventeenth century; today, their descendants still live in Central America with millions of people still speaking Mayan languages. The merging of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideas and cultures from the sixteenth century colonisation of the Americas by the Spanish resulted […]

The Bengal famine kills between 1.5 and 4 million people, causes of death are considered to include disease, starvation and malnutrition. (Photo courtesy of William Vandivert, LIFE magazine) 4th March: The 15th Academy Awards were held, the above photo shows Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson in “Mrs. Miniver”, which received 12 nominations. (Film still, copyright […]

What do Björk, Massive Attack and Neil Young have in common? Despite the temptation to reply, people I’ve cried to in the car (looking at you middle-aged men still stuck in the hacienda), it might surprise you that each act has been part of a larger global effort to fight climate change with music.  In […]

Hello and welcome to the brand new history departmental newspaper; The Manchester Historian. We’re really excited about this new project, which will hopefully continue long after the three of us have graduated! Essentially, we wanted to establish a History community, and use the paper as a tool to promote stronger ties between students, staff, the […]

Hitler’s coming to power in January 1933 is steeped in ambiguity. On one hand, he was the leader of Germany’s largest political party, and was thus selected by Weimar conservatives to run the country and provide unity. On the other hand, the chancellorship was not decided by popular mandate and the Nazis won 33.09% of […]