Political and Economic History

Reading time: 6 minutes Our knowledge about the people who lived in Roman Britain has undergone a sea change over ...
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Reading time: 5 minutes In the shadow of the pyramids of Giza, lie the tombs of the courtiers and officials ...
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Reading time: 4 minutes Here’s an interesting fact: if you didn’t pay your insurance premiums in 17th and 18th century ...
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Reading time: 5 minutes History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme. Mark Twain As a society it is ...
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Reading time: 9 minutes On December 7, 2022, German federal police arrested 25 people who were allegedly plotting to violently ...
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Reading time: 4 minutes As a Roman historian, I’m struck by how often people ask why the Roman empire ended, ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes At Christmas 1939, Britons had been able to maintain a semblance of normality. The blackout prevented ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes Sometimes presidents are influenced by history books. Bill Clinton consulted Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History by Robert ...
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Reading time: 8 minutes Hamilton: An American Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda remains one of the best Broadway musicals of all ...
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Reading time: 5 minutes Between 1894 and 1908 a wave of women’s enfranchisement swept across Australia. Beginning in South Australia ...
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Reading time: 7 minutes Starting around 3,000 years ago, a wave of innovation began to sweep through human societies around ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes Gough Whitlam’s visit to China in 1971 is an iconic moment in the history of Australia-China ...
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Reading time: 11 minutes On 12 October 1865, John Davidson, a magistrate in the east of Jamaica, wrote to the ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes A Motu trading ship with its characteristic crab claw shaped sails. Taken in the period 1903-1904. Trustees ...
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Reading time: 7 minutes Our world has such a long, twisted history, it’s no surprise that some tales have been ...
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The Moon Landing, Before the First Steps Reading time: 10 minutes “We choose to go to the moon in this ...
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RESTORING ONE OF THE WORLD’S RAREST MAPS Reading time: 4 minutes In 1663, Europeans called Australia ‘New Holland’, New Zealand ...
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Five myths about the partition of British India – and what really happened Reading time: 6 minutes This August marks ...
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Reading time: 11 minutes The 1959 Cuban Revolution resulted in rule by a communist regime under Fidel Castro. This period ...
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Dispatches from Red Square: reporting Russia’s revolutions then and now Reading time: 9 minutes “No news from Petrograd yesterday”, was the ...
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Extraordinarily, the effects of the Spanish Inquisition linger to this day Reading time: 5 minutes From Imperial Rome to the ...
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Putin’s brazen manipulation of language is a perfect example of Orwellian doublespeak Reading time: 6 minutes If you’ve been paying ...
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ABUSE AND TENACITY: UKRAINE'S STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY Reading time: 10 minutes The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has rightfully outraged ...
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The wild decade: how the 1990s laid the foundations for Vladimir Putin’s Russia Reading time: 6 minutes Putin’s inauguration in 2000: ...
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B.C. FRANKLIN AND THE TULSA MASSACRE Reading time: 5 minutes On May 31, 1921, Buck Colbert Franklin peered up at ...
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Dag Hammarskjöld: a defiant pioneer of global diplomacy who died in a mystery plane crash Reading time: 5 minutes The idea ...
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William Cooper: the Indigenous leader who petitioned the king, demanding a Voice to Parliament in the 1930s Reading time: 7 ...
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ELIZABETH II: 70 YEARS OF A QUEEN Reading time: 7 minutes 2022 marks 70 years since Elizabeth II ascended the ...
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KAZAKHSTAN: A STORY OF ENDURANCE Reading time: 7 minutes As protests erupt across the former Soviet republic, the world watches ...
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THAT TIME PRIVATE US MEDIA COMPANIES STEPPED IN TO SILENCE THE FALSEHOODS AND INCITEMENTS OF A MAJOR PUBLIC FIGURE … ...
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A CONTINENT'S CURRENCY: 20 YEARS OF THE EURO Reading time: 6 minutes The central unit of money for much of ...
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WHAT LIES BEHIND THE WAR IN TIGRAY? Reading time: 7 minutes Ethiopian soldiers in 2005 on a hilltop outpost overlooking ...
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NEW RESEARCH SHOWS WA’S FIRST GOVERNOR CONDONED KILLING OF NOONGAR PEOPLE DESPITE PROCLAIMING ALL EQUAL UNDER LAW Reading time: 5 ...
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10 THINGS EVERY POLITICIAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT HISTORY Reading time: 5 minutes The federal Education Minister, Alan Tudge, has announced ...
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BRITAIN’S OBSESSION WITH THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND THE DEBATES THAT FUEL IT Reading time: 5 minutes The COVID-19 pandemic ...
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IN APPRECIATION OF SCHINDLER'S LIST Reading time: 7 minutes Revisiting Steven Spielberg's harrowing Holocaust drama on the 28th anniversary of ...
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DOMINO THEORY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY When looking at the cold war and the way the United States went about ...
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PEARL HARBOR AND AMERICA'S ENTRY TO WAR The commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor also ...
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UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS ARE INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS EFFECTIVE? Reading time: 7 minutes Demonstrators in Zimbabwe chant slogans and wave flags during ...
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THE TEST OF TIME: THE OLDEST COMPANIES STILL IN OPERATION AND WHY THEY SURVIVED Today’s biggest companies are considered young, ...
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WHEN FRANCE EXTORTED HAITI – THE GREATEST HEIST IN HISTORY Reading time: 7 minutes Much of the reparations debate has ...
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CUBA WITHOUT FIDEL: FIVE YEARS LATER Reading time: 6 minutes For nearly 60 years, and for better or for worse, ...
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SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS AMERICAN INDIAN TREATY PROMISES, ORDERS OKLAHOMA TO FOLLOW FEDERAL LAW Reading time: 5 minutes The eastern part ...
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HOW A CYPRUS MUSEUM USES TECH TO MAKE THE PAST COME ALIVE What do you do when a building important ...
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HOW ONE WOMAN PULLED OFF THE FIRST CONSUMER BOYCOTT – AND HELPED INSPIRE THE BRITISH TO ABOLISH SLAVERY Estimated reading ...
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GENS DU PAYS: A HISTORY OF QUEBEC’S STRUGGLE FOR SOVEREIGNTY Reading time: 13 minutes Vive le Québec libre! The date ...
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THE FALL OF SINGAPORE Reading time: 14 minutes Japanese Soldiers enter Singapore. The Land Campaign Nothing in history is inevitable ...
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5 INSPIRING WOMEN OF HISTORY Reading time: 10 minutes Throughout history, the world has witnessed influential women take the world ...
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HOW THE AUSTRALIAN SECRET SERVICE HELPED OVERTHROW THE CHILEAN GOVERNMENT Reading time: 8 minutes Recently, documents came to light that ...
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SIX OF THE BEST WORLD WAR II FILMS World War II (1939-1945) was and remains the greatest conflict that humanity ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes By orchestrating China’s transition to a market economy, Deng Xiaoping has left a lasting legacy on ...
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THE LONG HISTORY OF MANDATED VACCINES IN THE UNITED STATES Reading time: 5 minutes Vaccines against smallpox during the Revolutionary ...
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THE IMPACTS OF CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION: HOW THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY CHANGED THE WORLD Reading time: 14 minutes The ‘Age ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes For most people, the term “Russian Revolution” conjures up a popular set of images: demonstrations in ...
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Reading time: 7 minutes A tank on its way to port for the Normandy landings in 1944. PA Archive The ...
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Reading time: 8 minutes Girolamo Savonarola, an Italian preacher and reformer, led an interesting life. His ideologies and strong stance ...
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Reading time: 7 minutes General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, a career military officer, was appointed Commander in Chief of the Chilean ...
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Reading time: 8 minutes In 1821, Gregor MacGregor, a seemingly ordinary man deceived banks, investors, the general public, and even ...
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Reading time: 9 minutes To understand what caused the Iranian Revolution, we must first consider the ongoing conflict between proponents ...
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AUSTRALIA’S FIRST KNOWN FEMALE VOTER, THE FAMOUS MRS FANNY FINCH Reading time: 7 minutes Fanny Finch’s 1856 voting card. Castlemaine ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes When crisis strikes, one imagines members of government or heads of state stoically dealing with the ...
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Reading time: 8 minutes Nearly 30 years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, and ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes French people travelling to or living in English-speaking countries are sometimes surprised when asked about their ...
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The Israel Air Force drew the Soviet expeditionary force in Egypt into a perfect, successful ambush, but pride was the ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons received its 50th ratification on October 24, and ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes When the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was ...
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Reading time: 8 minutes Since the global pandemic began, debate has raged over whether Tokyo should go ahead with the ...
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Reading time: 9 minutes The real-life story of French navigator Nicolas Baudin’s sea voyage to map the unknown coasts of ...
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ROME’S AUGUSTUS AND THE ALLURE OF THE STRONGMAN Reading time: 8 minutes The Roman emperor Augustus is held up by ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes There are moves afoot to scrub colonial businessman Benjamin Boyd’s name from the map. The owners ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies Winston Churchill arrives at Number 10 Downing Street with John ...
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Reading time: 8 minutes It remains one of history’s best-known naval tragedies – and mysteries. The loss of all 129 ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes The 1959 Antarctic Treaty celebrates its 60th anniversary this week. Negotiated during the middle of the ...
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Reading time: 5 minutes “Well-behaved women seldom make history” is a phrase frequently trotted out around International Women’s Day, and ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes Achieving the elusive dream of “world peace”, has long been an idealist and collectivist goal for ...
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Reading time: 7 minutes With the prophets of doom foretelling that we’ll see massive inflation in 2021 and the crash ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes This year marks the 200th anniversary of the battle of Carabobo, a major battle in Venezuela’s ...
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Reading time: 5 minutes The Dutch Revolt, the conflict that created an independent Netherlands free from Spain, also created a ...
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Reading time: 4 minutes In her new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson writes that the ways ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes Once the centre of Nazi ideology and power, the German capital of Berlin was extremely important ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes The new Netflix series Shadow and Bone opens with cartographer Alina Starkov crammed into the back ...
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Reading time: 8 minutes The Dutch colonial empire was a large collection of territories that spanned the globe from the ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes 60 years after its initial construction, the memory of the Berlin Wall remains a potent ...
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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes The Scramble for Africa is often recognized as the beginning of colonialism and European Imperialism ...
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Africa’s World War: The Congo War Reading time: 5 minutes 5.4 million people died in the deadliest war in modern ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes The 200th anniversary of his death (1821-2021) renews discussion on how the former Emperor should ...
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes By Michael Vecchio READ PART ONE of FIVE GREAT HISTORICAL FILMS Gandhi (1982) Dir. Richard ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes The battles between Britain and France following the French Revolution and into the Napoleonic Wars ...
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Estimated reading time: 11 minutes Robert Clive, a general of the East India Company, was despised by his contemporaries – ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes Sectarian rioting has returned to the streets of Northern Ireland, just weeks shy of its ...
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When the infamous Zong trial began in 1783, it laid bare the toxic relationship between finance and slavery. It was an unusual ...
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HIGHLAND CLEARANCES: CHANGING A CULTURE Reading time: 5 minutes Cultures, customs and traditions change as time passes on, but sometimes ...
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HUBRIS AND MISCALCULATION: THE FAILURE OF THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION Estimated reading time: 6 minutes By Michael Vecchio The ...
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Estimated reading time: 8 minutes By Sturt Manning, Cornell University. Columbus famously reached the Americas in 1492. Other Europeans had ...
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Estimated reading time: 11 minutes Fallen Empires and Civil War By Caitlan Hester The popular view of the First World ...
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes By Richard Shrubb. The Roman Empire was arguably the most successful empire in history, eclipsing ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes The Pentagon has approved leaving 5,000 troops deployed indefinitely to protect the U.S. Capitol from domestic ...
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes By Madison Moulton. The causes of global inequalities between the West and the East is ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes From the cave paintings of Montignac to the Mercator Projection and beyond, maps explain how ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes By Michael Vecchio Many years of fighting and an estimated 85 million people dead; the ...
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes By Richard Shrubb. The abolition of slavery by the British Empire would cause an economic ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes By Robbie Moore, University of Tasmania. The gleeful manipulation of GameStop’s share price is not ...
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes By Lidia Thorpe With 26 January looming, many Australians will be ashamed of the fact ...
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Estimated reading time: 11 minutes In the history of warfare, there have been mismatched conflicts where skilled forces have been ...
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Estimated reading time: 11 minutes The Greenwood neighbourhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma was a hub for black business and wealth from ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes For a shining example of ancient warfare and the cause of the world's first recorded ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes By Madison Moulton Fake news has become a popular buzzword. However, the phenomenon is not ...
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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes By Fergus O'Sullivan World War 1 was a conflict that engulfed entire continents and swallowed ...
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Rachel Wood, Australian National University Radiocarbon dating has transformed our understanding of the past 50,000 years. Professor Willard Libby produced ...
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Reading time: 11 minutes The Civilisation Program, the Indian Removal Act and the Cherokee Trail of Tears, 1776 - 1860 ...
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There may be many historically based films, but only a few can be rightfully called striking, emotional, and informative. As ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes The history of the lead up to WWI is undoubtedly dominated by Europe. European powers understandably ...
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Decolonialising India's Persianate Age Reading time: 6 minutes For the last 1,000 years and until very recently, scholars have held ...
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By Michael Vecchio. Most history enthusiasts will eye the release of a new film on a historical topic somewhat sceptically, ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes It’s important to take historically-based art, whether a painting that condenses a battle or the acclaimed ...
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Plenty of video games are marketed as being historically accurate, but few truly are. In ...
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Reading time: 3 minutes The working day as we now know it was the result of international, cross-industry labour efforts ...
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Reading time: 6 minutes The Great War was a major turning point for virtually all European countries, but not too ...
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By Caitlan Hester. Native American Mound-Building Civilizations For over 5,000 years the Eastern, Southeastern, and the Midwestern U.S. were populated ...
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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes By Richard Shrubb. With the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1834 the ...
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Battle of One Tree Hill, Australian Frontier Wars Reading time: 7 minutes The Battle of One Tree Hill in 1843 ...
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