History@Portsmouth

University of Portsmouth's History Blog

Tag Archives | imperialism

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The Fitzroy Report, 1904: How the poor physical condition of Boer War army recruits prompted social change

Following the end of the second Boer War in 1902, the government appointed an Inter-Departmental Committee to investigate why so many would-be recruits had been in poor physical condition. The Committee, chaired by civil servant Almeric FitzRoy, has become known as the Fitzroy Report.  Second-year UoP history student Ben Hessey discusses the report, what it […]

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La Marseillaise: has the song that unified the French republic become too divisive?

David Andress, Professor in Modern History at Portsmouth, has recently published an article in The Conversation on the recent controversies surrounding the French national anthem, La Marseillaise. Dave is a historian of the French Revolution, and of the social and cultural history of conflicts in Europe and the Atlantic world more generally in the period between the […]

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Nationalism, Regionalism and British identity in early 20th century England

Dr Melanie Bassett is a Research Associate for the Port Towns and Urban Cultures project. She also teaches undergraduate units in History. Here she talks about her chapter which is published in the Four Nations Approaches to Modern ‘British’ History. A (Dis)United Kingdom? edited collection, which is out now. In 2015 I gave a paper […]

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Image taken from Miskito Hatchet in British Museum collection httpwww.britishmuseum.orgresearchcollection_onlinecollection_object_details.aspxobjectId=669732&partId=1.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend: An examination of the relationship between the Miskito and the British.

“Abigail based her study on engagement with, and critical examination of, a wide range of sources, from secondary ones to printed Calendars of government records and original Treasury Papers which revealed expenses for gifts to the Miskito to ensure a positive relationship. Extant artefact and pictorial evidence, though scant, was also employed. There was adept […]

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