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What kind of a man was James I? Some descriptions make him seem like little better than a wild animal – yet the opinion of contemporaries who observed him as King of Scotland was far more complimentary. For example, the account of James written by M. de Fontenay (envoy to Mary Queen of Scots) written […]

Wolsey’s humble beginnings in Ipswich as the son of butchers did not hinder him from ascending to become one of the wealthiest and second most powerful people in England. Wolsey’s rise to power in both the ecclesiastical and secular realms was due to a mix of factors, including his exceptional character, outstanding intellect, and early […]

There has been much historiography concerning the development of the Cold War and its impact on British imperial policy. The Second World War had drained the nation’s wealth tremendously and a led to a geopolitical transformation where instead of Germany challenging the British Empire; the Soviet Union was now challenging America for global dominance. However, […]

Nuclear Weapons, explosive devices, designed to release nuclear energy on a large scale, used primarily in military applications. Nuclear weapons have been in existence since the Second World War, but it’s only up and till recently that the fear of them has grown. To discuss this statement fully it is important to first define three […]

Brecth’s “Mother Courage and Her Children” is a play with a great political and social context. Brecth was a bitter commentator in the devasting efecrs if war on politics and the human spirit and a masterful black comedian. Brecth wrote mother Courage to demonstrate that it is the great enterpeneaurs as a result of captialism […]

As both Britain and Germany were forced to direct all efforts of the nation’s people and resources into the war, the war was no longer fought only on the battlefield – a new front was created. The home front. The lives of civilians were greatly affected as their countries economies and supplies suffered and the […]

Vladmir Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks who seized power in November 1917. He died in January 1924 after a series of strokes that left him completely paralysed, and eventually killed him. When he died, he left no clues as to whom he wanted to succeed him as ruler of the USSR, even though […]

The race for power in Russia began following the recovery of the Russian economy when Lenin after suffering several strokes and paralysis eventually died in the January of 1924 leaving the Russian people in mourning.For many people at the time Trotsky seemed like the obvious replacement for the almighty Lenin, and it was perhaps because […]

Upon the commencement of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Lenin came back from his overseas exile to implement his strategies for the Bolsheviks. Despite holding only a small area of the country initially, the Bolsheviks managed to win the Civil War and seize power. This was due to the Red’s own organization and the failure […]

The Fascist regime in Italy has been widely criticised as being low on definite principles and instead concerned with behaviour and attitudes of mind. Historians like Tannenbaum have described the system as ‘in some ways the reign of journalists’.1 At the head of these propagandists was Benito Mussolini, an already accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and […]

The Third Reich, for Hitler, was supposed to have lasted 1000 years minimum, but it only lasted 12 years and four months. Many historians blame this on an individual that’s Hitler himself. Whether it is accurate or not to describe Hitler as a ‘weak dictator’ has been questioned for decades, leading to the heart of […]

When answering this question there are 3 main factors to consider: Stalin’s strengths, Trotsky’s weaknesses, and wildcard factors (luck or chance). Trotsky inadvertently plotted his own downfall, he was simply unequipped for politics and the power struggle, and his place was on the battlefield in a military uniform. Trotsky was an amazing orator but had […]

In his book Mein Kampf, published in 1925, Hitler discussed several ideologies and visions, including Gross Deutschland, autarky, lebensraum, anti-Semitism and the Aryan race. One of his nationalist desires was to unite all German-speaking people into Gross Deutschland. Hitler’s hatred for Jews was based solely on their perceived responsibility for everything he disliked and not […]

Fascist Economic failure can be seen from Mussolini’s entry to power in 1922 as the economy was in a dire state and to rectify the situation would have been problematic. Italy had very few raw materials; also it was divided culturally, between the modernising North and the backward South. Mussolini aimed to create autarky in […]

Mussolini’s accomplishment of consolidating his power in Italy required the alteration of Italian society while also promoting fascist beliefs among its people. According to Mussolini’s son-in-law, this process necessitated the revolution to affect the conduct of Italians. Mussolini aimed to indoctrinate young individuals with fascist ideology through education and youth policies in order to cultivate […]

Traditionalists have seen Mary’s reign as a failure; they believed that Protestantism was far too embedded and people wouldn’t accept Catholicism and the reversal of the Reformation, which was quite popular and strong, would cause a huge disaster. However, the Marian Reformation was, unexpectedly, quite successful. Mary, aided by her cousin Cardinal Pole, brought back […]

There had been an iron industry in Britain for about 2,000 years. It was on a small scale and located near the source of fuel i.e. charcoal, made mainly from oak trees. The main centres of production were the “Weald” in Sussex, the Forest of Dean and the “Wrekin” in Shropshire. During the 18th Century […]

The French Revolution initially weakened France as a major power, as it had to deal with its internal problems before focusing on any external activity. However, after Louis XVI was overthrown in 1792, it became apparent France was becoming strong again. France was traditionally Britain’s great rival, so a strong and powerful France meant Pitt […]

Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck both posed a threat to Henry VII. Both though threatened Henry but to varying extents and in different ways. A threat can come in a variety of forms whether it be a threat to Henry’s dynasty as a whole, economic prosperity or increased uncertainty. In this essay I will discuss […]

The Vietnam Renunciation Speech was a speech given by former American president Lyndon B. Johnson on the 31st of March 1968. It was a rather long speech of in total 4158 words. For this reason I have chosen a shorter passage of only 608 words, which I will analyse into more detail. The passage consists […]

Despite its inability to directly bring about the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam, the anti-war movement played a significant role in threatening the government’s votes due to its combination with media coverage and US forces’ failure. Jeffrey Record’s Vietnam in retrospect: could we have won? suggests that “The real domino in the Vietnam War […]

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria and heir to the Austrian & Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie the Duchess of Hohenburg, took place on June 28th 1914 in Sarajevo. The story centers around Gavrilo Princip, a student from Bosnia and a member of the Young Bosnia group, which consisted of fifteen […]