This book discusses the crisis of the early modern state in eighteenth-century Britain and sets it in its European context. The American Revolution and the simultaneous demand for wider religious toleration at home challenged the principles of sovereignty and obligation that underpinned arguments about the character of the state. At stake was a fundamental challenge to the way in which politics was described. The Americans and their British supporters argued that individuals, by voting and thinking freely, ought to determine the "common good." These influential ideas continue to resonate today in the principles of "one man, one vote" and "freedom of thought."

Disabled veterans were the First World War's most conspicuous legacy. Nearly eight million men in Europe returned from the First World War permanently disabled by injury or disease. In The War Come Home, Deborah Cohen offers a comparative analysis of the very different ways in which two belligerent nations--Germany and Britain--cared for their disabled. At the heart of this book is an apparent paradox. Although postwar Germany provided its disabled veterans with generous benefits, they came to despise the state that favored them. Disabled men proved susceptible to the Nazi cause. By contrast, British ex-servicemen remained loyal subjects, though they received only meager material compensation. Cohen explores the meaning of this paradox by focusing on the interplay between state agencies and private philanthropies on one hand, and the evolving relationship between disabled men and the general public on the other. Written with verve and compassion, The War Come Home describes in affecting detail disabled veterans' lives and their treatment at the hands of government agencies and private charities in Britain and Germany. Cohen's study moves from the intimate confines of veterans' homes to the offices of high-level bureaucrats; she tells of veterans' protests, of disabled men's families, and of the well-heeled philanthropists who made a cause of the war's victims. This superbly researched book provides an important new perspective on the ways in which states and societies confront the consequences of industrialized warfare.

This book is about the principal writings that shaped the perception of Turkey for informed readers in English, from Edward Gibbon’s positing of imperial Decline and Fall to the proclamation of the Turkish Republic (1923), illustrating how Turkey has always been a part of the modern British and European experience. It is a great sweep of a story: from Gibbon as standard textbook, through Lord Bryon the pro-Turkish poet, and Benjamin Disraeli the Romantic novelist of all things Eastern, followed by John Buchan's Greenmantle First World War espionage fantasies, and then Manchester Guardian reporter Arnold Toynbee narrating the fight for Turkish independence.

Shortlisted for the 2021 Society for Army Historical Research's Templer Medal Operation Crusader, launched in November 1941, was the third and final British attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk and break the German and Italian forces in North Africa. After tough initial fighting, the British made important gains, only to be countered by a stunning breakthrough overseen personally by Lt. General Erwin Rommel. As the British situation teetered, the commander of the 8th Army, Lt. General Alan Cunningham, was relieved of duty by his superior, General Claude Auchinleck. This decision changed the direction of the battle and perhaps the war itself. Why and how Cunningham was relieved has been the subject of commentary and speculation since it occurred. Using newly discovered evidence, Alexander Joffe rethinks the events that brought about the sudden relief of the operation's commanding officer, including insubordination. The book then discusses how narratives regarding the operation were created, were incorporated into British and Commonwealth official and unofficial historical writing about the war, and contributed to British historical memory. Based on a decade of archival work, the book presents a new and detailed analysis of a consequential battle and, importantly, of how its history was written and received in the context of post-war Britain.

The turbulent years of 1895 to 1914 changed Britain’s political landscape for ever. They saw a transition from aristocratic rule to mass politics and heralded a new agenda which still dominates today. The issues of the period – economic modernisation, social welfare and equality, secondary and technical education, a new role for Britain in the world – were complex and difficult. Indeed, they proved so thorny that despite the efforts of the Edwardians they remain among the most pressing problems we face in the twenty-first century. The period has often been seen as one of decadence, of the strange death of liberal Britain. In contrast, Vernon Bogdanor believes that the robustness of Britain’s parliamentary and political institutions and her liberal political culture, with the commitment to rational debate and argument, were powerful enough to carry her through one of the most trying periods of her history and so make possible the remarkable survival of liberal Britain. In this wide-ranging and sometimes controversial survey, one of our pre-eminent political historians dispels the popular myths that have grown up about this critical period in Britain’s story and argues that it set the scene for much that is laudable about our nation today. --

Throughout the history of immigration and nationality law, woman have been treated differently from men. This book documents that history and the campaigns to give women independent status and equal rights. It traces the history of women's treatment under nationality law, from the Middle Ages when they had no independent rights, to the campaigns of the feminist movement in the early-20th century for women's right to keep their nationality on marriage, right up to the present day. The book also explains how racism and sexism have combined to treat women differently under immigration laws. This has been particularly evident in the rules of marriage, which have always made it more difficult for women than men to be joined by partners from abroad, but is also shown in the difficulties women face in bringing their children to join them and the stereoptyped views of women workers from abroad. Significant political and legal developments over the past decade have made new issues important. Much of the book was first published as "Worlds Apart". This book updates the entire text and documents significant recent developments. These include the growing importance of European institutions, and the situation of refugees and asylum-seekers. The book describes the measures being taken against refugees throughout Europe and the particular problems facing women refugees fleeing gender-specific persecution.

Deals also with British antisemitism from Cromwell's time to the present. There were objections against the admission of Jews to England in 1655, as well as attempts to restrict their rights in the 17th-18th centuries. Discusses pre-World War I antisemitic writers (e.g. G.K. Chesterton, H. Belloc) and the eugenics movement. Racial antisemitism was almost non-existent before 1914. Antisemitism reached a peak in Britain in 1917-22, but it was milder than in other Western countries. Relates, also, to left-wing antisemitism between the two World Wars. Ch. 3 (pp. 280-363), "Anglo-Jewry and the Holocaust, 1933-1945", deals with the reactions of Jews and non-Jews to the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust. Nazi antisemitism aroused revulsion in British society, even among conservatives and pro-Germans. States that Britain did more for refugees from Germany than any other country. British Jewry did all it could to rescue Jews to the extent that it understood their situation. During the war and the hostilities in the Middle East, there was an upsurge of antisemitism in the country but it receded in the 1950s. Contends that antisemitism in Britain was always a marginal phenomenon.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

In this engaging study, Walter L. Arnstein explores both the private life and the public role of the young princess who inherited Britain's throne as a teenager and who became the octogenarian symbolic head of the largest empire in the history of the world. Arnstein incorporates the findings of past studies and recent research (including articles of his own based on previously unpublished letters and journals) to shed light on often-neglected aspects of Victoria's life and reign: her concern with gender roles, religion, politics, and Ireland; as well as her involvement with both the controversial domestic issues and the great international conflicts of the era. Wherever the historical evidence allows, Arnstein enables the monarch to speak in her own words, demonstrating that Victoria was not only the queen who became an adjective, but also a highly-quotable, multi-dimensional human being. Concise, authoritative and attractively illustrated, Queen Victoria provides the economic, social, cultural and political background knowledge to make the life of this fascinating monarch intelligible even to readers unfamiliar with her now distant world.

The issue of devolution has often been one for polemic rather than reasoned analysis. This book places recent developments in the United Kingdom in their historical context, examining political and constitutional aspects of devolution in Britain from Gladstone's espousal of Home Rule in 1886 right up to the 1998 legislation governing the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly.As well as considering what devolution will mean for Scotland and Wales, and how it will work in practice, Vernon Bogdanor discusses parallels with earlier devolution debates, giving special attention to the issue of Irish Home Rule which dominated British politics from 1886 to 1914. He also examines the experience of devolution in Northern Ireland and analyses the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, as well as considering the impact and implications of the new arrangements for the government of Londonunder the Mayoral system implemented in May 2000.Devolution in the United Kingdom cuts across the boundaries of disciplines such as history, political science, and law, and will be required reading for anyone seeking to understand the significance of the most important constitutional development of our time.

This is the story of five legends of British history: Boudicca, Robin Hood, Macbeth, King Harold and William Wallace. All five of them can be said, by their lives and deaths, to have changed Britain for ever. Not because they were hugely successful (in fact, all but one died a failure) but because, even in their lifetimes, they were seen as symbolizing something greater than themselves. They lived during some of the most important periods of British history and at times of great change: the Roman occupation, the Saxon period at the time of the Viking raids and settlements, pre-Norman Britain and, finally, the high medieval age of chivalry, and the Scottish struggle for independence.

Lacing tea with poison and slipping arsenic in to soup, this is what comes to mind we talk of murderesses of the Victorian age. Fuelled by a rumor-driven press and cases of notorious killers like Marry Ann Cotton, the 'Angel of Death', or Christiana Edmunds, the 'Chocolate Cream Killer', death by poisoning was a great anxiety of Victorian Britain. But what about those women who were wrongly convicted? What about the suspects who fell victim of a biased jury and unrelenting press? In Misjudged Murderesses , Stephen Jakobi takes a forensic approach to examine the trials of six women falsely sentenced for crimes they didn't commit. With the aid of primary sources, and in two cases the ready assistance of descendants and local journalists, the validity of their convictions is questioned. Highlighting common factors in poisoning cases that led to ostensible miscarriages of justice, Jakobi shines a light on a flawed and inconsistent legal system.

4th August 1968 is a significant date in the annals of railway history as it witnessed the end of steam traction on British Rail. This book is a tribute to the men and machines of the much lamented steam era and is a diarized, month-by-month account from 1962 until 1968.

In this collection of essays and articles best selling author Mark Girouard writes of places he has visited in town and country. Mixing erudition with anecdote, he offers fascinating insights into both buildings and their inhabitants. He tells how he first became interested in architecture, describes the country houses which he visited as a boy, provides an authoritative interpretation of the origins of English rococo art, analyzes the formation of an English seaside resort, recreates the Georgian architecture and polite society of Jane Austen's world, and traces changing attitudes toward the landscape in architecture from eighteenth-century Britain to twentieth-century America. Old Slaughter's Coffee-House in the mid-eighteenth century; Holdenby, an Elizabethan great house built by a royal favourite who was called by one of his contemporaries "a mere vegetable of the court that sprung up at night and sank again at noon"; Belvedere, the eighteenth-century Irish country house that was witness to a tragic story of adultery and revenge: these are just a few of the buildings described by Girouard in these delightful essays on architecture and society in bygone eras in England and Ireland. Written with his customary wit and elegance, this collection of Girouard's finest essays illuminates not only architecture and social history but also the man who has explored both with such elan.

On November 5, 1688, William of Orange, Protestant ruler of the Dutch Republic, landed at Torbay in Devon with a force of twenty thousand men. Five months later, William and his wife, Mary, were jointly crowned king and queen after forcing James II to abdicate. Yet why has history recorded this bloodless coup as an internal Glorious Revolution rather than what it truly was: a full-scale invasion and conquest by a foreign nation? The remarkable story of the relationship between two of Europe's most important colonial powers at the dawn of the modern age, Lisa Jardine's "Going Dutch" demonstrates through compelling new research in political and social history how Dutch tolerance, resourcefulness, and commercial acumen had effectively conquered Britain long before William and his English wife arrived in London.

The period from 1910 to 1939 was one of the most explosive in British working class history. Them and Us looks at how the class struggle--embracing the struggles of women workers, immigrant workers, the unemployed and the fight against fascism--was fought in these years. The Labour Party and trade union leaderships were key players in the conflict, but their actions were often intended to undermine working class struggle. The ruling class had much to thank them for. Today when the working class is under a sustained and unprecedented attack from the Tories, Them and Us is an essential reminder of how past struggles were fought, of the unscrupulous nature of our enemy and of the need for militancy and solidarity to defeat them. John Newsinger draws on the words and actions of working class activists--and of their enemies--to bring to life key episodes in the struggle. Defeating the attempt to solve the current crisis at the expense of the working class requires a level of struggle that has not been seen in this country for many years. This is what we have to work towards and build for. Them and Us is a vital contribution to this fight. John Newsinger (1948- ) is a British Marxist and professor of history at Bath Spa University. Publisher's note.

This biography looks at the man, the period and its significance in Scottish history by brushing away the dust of legend that blurs the image of the young pretender. The author makes clear how Charles Edward became the Bonnie Prince Charlie of legend and folk memory. As the biography is based almost entirely on contemporary sources, Charles emerges directly from 18th century Europe with all its political and dynastic intrigue and the insights into familiar and unfamiliar events which emerge explain the unwavering appeal that the prince has exerted for so long.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.