History

Time has passed by quickly

During this semester, we dealt with the history and in particular with the decline of the British Empire. In order to approach this topic, different methods were used: foreshadowing, a chronological approach and drawing a link to the current situation.

This is it

So, as this is our last post to write it seems like another semester has already passed. For me these weeks have gone by so fast. When I noticed that we had to create an account on a website to publish posts and comments, I found myself in slight annoyance as I do not like to sign in on several websites I…

Final post

I was quite certain I knew a lot about British history, therefore, I was (not pleasently) surprised when first looking at the syllabus. Despite my general knowledge about the following topics and themes I knew no details whatsoever.

What I have learned

When we started our semester with this course, I didn’t know exactly what the British Empire was except for that the Brits were and still are very proud of it. Surely, names like Ghandi, Churchill or their prestigious Navy are known to pretty much anyone who has general knowledge. I’m not…

Britain’s gulag — pride in the Empire but no shame at all?

As someone who grew up in Germany where its history is always reflected self-consciously and is subject to remorse and shame, I was quite surprised to see that British people seem to gloss over great atrocities committed by the…

Suez Crisis: Sundown For The British Empire

When we talked about the Suez crisis in class I was wondering if that caused the end for the British Empire or whether that was just a foreseeable end of an already crumbling empire as the Suez crisis is often seen as “Britain’s last fling of the…

Apartheid — an Extension of Colonialism?

From 1928 until the end of the apartheid, the above was the official flag of South…

Hidden Killers of the Victorians ?

I came across a show called Hidden Killers of Victorian Homes which was written and presented by Dr. Suzannah Lipscomb on BBC Four — they shocked my slightly germophobic heart infinitely and gave me some understanding in what kind of an era people were living in.

The New Age Colossus of Rhodes…

How does one man achieve the position of supposedly being the architect of the conquest of an entire continent? While…