Category: History

1. Discuss the concept of “contemporary history” proposed by Geoffrey Barraclough’s An Introduction to Contemporary History. 2. Discuss Mark Mazower’s analysis of the challenge to democracy in the 20th century in his Dark Continent. 3. Discuss the impact of Eric Hobsbawm’s marxist views in his history of the 20th century, Age of Extremes. 4. Discuss…

Things have been quiet on here of late, thanks to essay deadlines. I hope readers aren’t put off. I have uploaded my latest essay on Islam here, if you feel like having a read. It’s not great, but let me know what you think.

Account for the success of the seventh-century and early eighth-century Arab conquests in former territories of the Roman Empire; how did Westerners view Islam and the Arabs? Any recommended websites/books?

Timewatch looks good tonight, BBC2, 9pm. We follow in the footsteps of Julius Caesar’s bloody eight-year campaign that saw a million die, a million held hostage and 800 cities destroyed. There will also be a preview of ‘Rome’ just after, the highly successful series that has been shown on HBO in the US. I think…

This one via Powerline. Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed about 15,000 tiny golden pieces that date back to the end of the third millennium B.C. – a find they said Wednesday matches the famous treasure of Troy. What a find that would be…

Very interesting archaeology: An Israeli archaeologist says she has uncovered in East Jerusalem what she believes may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by the Shalem Center, a neoconservative think tank in Jerusalem, and funded by an American Jewish investment banker who would like to help provide…

I meant to post about this last week, but it’s been a busy one. It always fascinates me how so much of what we learn in school about the Second World War is entirely devoted to how the US and Britain fought it. The battle of Stalingrad was an afterthought in the syllabus I was…

I see Matthew Yglesias has taken to reading Irish history. I’d been envisioning a pretty two-sided British/Protestant versus Irish/Catholic kind of history. But no! You’ve got your Anglo-Irish, your Old English, your Dissenters, etc., etc., etc. Quite the mess. Lee is perhaps the funniest historical writer I’ve encountered in a good long time (perhaps ever).…

A couple of hours out to sea from Tel Aviv, on a hot Mediterranean night in the 1980’s, I carefully picked my way towards the armoured personnel carrier secured on the afterdeck. My job was to remove a HiFi and a 12-bottle box of spirits hidden beneath the troop seating section of the vehicle The…