Month: November 2017

Margaret Thatcher was born Margaret Roberts in Grantham on October 13, 1925 in Grantham. As the second volume of Charles Moore’s biography is being read (though not yet by me…

This, as it happens, came out before the second volume of Charles Moore’s magisterial (the only word one can use) biography and concentrates on just two years of Margaret Thatcher’s…

It is quite extraordinary and can be attributed only to a deliberate amnesia but I can never remember that November 22 is the anniversary not just of the physical assassination…

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay on December 30, 1865, the son of John Lockwood Kipling, an artist and teacher of architectural sculpture, and his wife Alice, who was one…

Most readers of this blog would have heard by now of the death of Cecil Parkinson, one of the big beasts of Thatcherite politics in the eighties. He was one…

I have just finished reading Joshua Rubenstein‘s The Last Days of Stalin, a book I can thoroughly recommend to all who are interested in post-war European history. By and large…

At dawn of June 22, 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Soviet Union. No, not the invasion of Russia. They moved fast, largely because the Soviet armed forces…

For another project I have been re-reading Edmund Crispin’s detective stories and reading a biography of Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin by David Whittle, an enormously charming and talented as well as,…

It is always difficult to work out who can be described as conservative if they are not Conservative and part of the British political scene. Harold Williams, a New Zealander…

October is full of battle anniversaries and this one is extremely important. The history of this country and, let us not mince matters, of Europe changed on October 14, 1066…

In Paris Tory Historian was told by two separate and very different people, both of whom are Parisians, that Sarkozy’s most popular move was his marriage to Carla Bruni. Oddly…

I have now finished Hugh Tulloch’s Acton,as blogged about here, and should like to quote a couple of paragraphs about Acton the historian, who remains a somewhat controversial figure. Here…

One cannot let this day pass without remembering the great event of November 19, 1863 when the Soldiers’ National Cemetery was dedicated at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months…

The French Revolution has perhaps attracted more attention in history than any other event and its study involves what other professional historians have said about it. THE MARXIST INTERPRETATION –…

The French Revolution (1789-99) was a period of social and political upheaval, which resulted in radical changes in France. The system of absolute monarchy, with feudal privileges for the aristocracy…

MAJOR INTELLECTUAL TRENDS Institutionalization of Disciplines – History, Sociology and Anthropology Darwin and Freud QUESTIONS – The Human Sciences became increasingly scientific and specialized in the latter half of the…

The Industrialization of Europe, occurred between 1780 and 1914, starting in Britain, and was marked by three phases, each associated with a different region and technology. The Industrial revolution refers…

The Industrialization of Europe, occurred between 1750 and 1914, starting in Britain, and was marked by three phases, each associated with a different region and technology. It was accompanied by…

The early 19th century in Europe witnessed revolutions not just in the political sphere but also in the cultural sphere. One saw the emergence of a new cultural movement –Romanticism…

What were the social and ideological factors behind the recurrence of revolutions across Europe between 1820 and 1848? Why did this tide ebb after 1850? SOCIAL FACTORS – In order…