On this day 5/5/1789: ‘Estates-General’ convened in pre-revolutionary France
Pre-revolutionary France was a country enveloped by crisis. Internal barriers, tariffs and trade restrictions hampered economic growth, much to the anger of the nascent bourgeoisie. Politically, power...
View ArticleFor Clément
Only a few days have passed and yet it feels to us like an eternity: since the death of Clément, we have been in a turmoil that has been difficult to handle. Without a doubt, nothing, not even the...
View ArticleOn This Day 27/7/1794: The Coup of 9 Thermidor
On 27 July 1794, 9 Thermidor Year II by the revolutionary calendar, the most radical period of the French Revolution was brought to an end by the arrest of Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Antoine de...
View ArticleOn this day 20/9/1792: The Battle of Valmy
The Battle of Valmy effectively saved the French Revolution from a bloody and reactionary premature end. A viciously counter-revolutionary Prussian army was advancing into France threatening...
View ArticleOn this day 5/10/1789: The Women’s March on Versailles
Following the euphoria of the storming of the Bastille and the establishment of the National Assembly in the Summer of 1789 the French Revolution stalled in the Autumn as the Assembly and King Louis...
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The Great War part I: Britain’s responsibility for war
This August David Cameron and the Queen will travel to Glasgow to initiate the United Kingdom’s official ceremonies marking the centenary of Britain’s declaration of war on Germany in 1914. Why Glasgow...
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The Great War Part II: Empires & Ambitions
The British education minister, Michael Gove, in a robust defence of Britain’s participation in World War One, argued it was, amongst other things, a fight to defend the liberal order against its...
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The Great War part III: a popular war?
There is a famous picture of crowds in Munich celebrating the outbreak of war on 1 August 1914 (see below). At the forefront of the crowd is a young Adolf Hitler, who would leave the square to seek...
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The Great War Part IV: Graveyard of the Empires
As Europe rushed to war in 1914 few could have forecast the demise of four empires – the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German and Ottoman – as a consequence of the conflict. If pressed there might have...
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The Great War Part V: The Aftermath
The First World War was followed by the two most tumultuous decades in the history of capitalism. A series of shocks left the international ruling class wondering if the system could hold. It did – but...
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