Babi Yar, a name synonymous with the Holocaust. On the 29th and 30th of September 1941 alone 33,171 Jews were killed by SS Einsatzgruppen death squads, assisted by the Wehrmacht and Ukrainian collaborators. The mass shootings continued until November 1943. The final death toll, which also includes non-Jewish victims, Romani, Soviet Prisoners of War and […]
The history of European integration can be traced back to 1306, and the idea proposed by Pierre Dubois that European princes should form an assembly in order to attempt to secure a lasting European peace. 706 years later, much of the continent is tied, to some degree, to the European Union evidenced by Greece’s recent […]
Popular images of the first transatlantic migrants depict fierce conquistadors in the South and pious pilgrims in the North, motivated by greed in the former case and obscure Puritanism in the latter. However, what really caused people to make such a radical journey in the centuries following the encounter with the Americas? What factors could […]
Manchester, the heart of evolution and the industrial revolution, including art, business, and cultures. The capital of the North. Although the weather is not very warm and welcoming, the people are! Anita Street: When the name ‘Anita’ comes to your mind, I am certain you must be thinking of a feminine Indo-European woman who has […]
The upheaval of the Spanish political sphere in the 1930s saw the emergence of two opposing women’s movements—the nationalist Sección Femenina (Female Section) and the anarcho-syndicalist Mujeres Libres (Free Women)—the aims of which varied immensely. Formed in 1934 and amalgamated with The Falange Española de las JONS Party under the 1937 Unification Decree, the Sección […]
Congratulations to Professor Frank Mort‘s group for winning the scavenger hunt during Welcome Week. Your first year at University will in many ways be the most challenging during your time here, and yet at the same time it can often be the most rewarding! You most likely never have been, and never again will be, […]
The ‘Seventeen Years’ of New China (1949-1966) is an important topic if you want to study how women’s rights changed in China. Since the founding of New China on 1st October 1949, the social status of women in Chinese society has changed dramatically, with most women gradually moving from domestic spaces to the public spaces […]
Pogrom means ‘to destroy, to wreak havoc, to demolish violently’, a word often used to describe the acts of violence directed towards Jewish communities throughout history. In British history, one of the most famous examples of thisisthe 1190 massacre in York. After the Crusades, anti-Semitic sentiments had begun to grow in England. Rumours had begun […]
Sati is a Hindu funerary custom where a widow immolates herself on her husband’s funeral pyre or commits suicide in another manner shortly after her husband’s death. The now-obsolete act first dates back to the fourth century BCE and is considered to have originated within the Kshatriya (warrior) caste in India. The practice was widespread among […]
In the Mexican state of Guerrero, teachers rampaged last week in protest of educational reforms, lighting fires, shouting anti-government slogans and attacking buildings with pickaxes. They fear that the proposed reforms will produce widespread dismissals and the privatisation of education. The London riots appear small-fry in comparison but protest and dissent are entrenched in the […]
I was lucky enough to interview the History department’s most electric member: DrYangwen Zheng. Joining the university and effectively starting its Chinese history curriculum, she has been on an academic warpath since 1995. From studying at Oberlin College and Cambridge, then teaching at the University of Pennsylvania and the National University of Singapore before finally […]
Manchester, long symbolised by its industrial history, nurtures an historic gem containing centuries of architectural and scholarly history largely hidden by the modern city around it. Chetham’s library, established under the will of Humphrey Chetham in 1653, is accommodated within a complex of medieval monastic buildings erected in 1421, and shared by the School of […]
In 1864, the first Contagious Diseases Act was introduced which aimed to tackle the rapid spreading of venereal diseases (VD) in garrison towns and ports in Britain. However, the legislation only policed women who were suspected of being prostitutes, forcing them to be sexually examined; if their tests came back positive, they could face legal […]
Manchester University may have produced more Nobel Prize winners than any other non-Oxbridge city, yet we can also make a claim no less necessary in retaining the peace and happiness of the human race; the university has produced a veritable bundle of comedy greats over the last 30 years. Where would TV comedy be without […]