Russia, Germany & the Alliance System: 1872 -1914

Alastair Kocho-Williams, University of the West of England.

This podcasts deals with Russia, Germany and the system of alliances created in the late 19th Century. These alliances would prove to be crucially important in the build up to the First World War. The alliances are looked at, and questions are asked as to how significant they were with respect to the First World War, and if in fact were a contributing factor to its outbreak.

Contents:

1. The Bismarckian Alliance System (1871-1890)
2. The Franco-Russian Alliance (1893/4)
3. The Triple-Entente
4. Crises and the outbreak of the First World War

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The Black Power Movement in The United States

Kevin Yuill, University of Sunderland.

View free resources and further details related to the study of this topic.

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Attitudes to Early Twentieth Century Immigration in the USA

Kevin Yuill, University of Sunderland.

In 1924 Congress passed the Johnson-Reed, or National Origins, Act, declaring racial and ethnic background as the most important determinant in gaining American citizenship. Those with Asian backgrounds were barred altogether. This session examines both the run-up to this crucial legislation and its impact on immigration up until it was superseded in 1966.

Contents:

Immigration to the United States in the Nineteenth Century
The New Immigration from 1890
The International Events Affecting Attitudes to Immigration
The Campaign for Normalcy and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
The Immigration Act of 1924
Immigration after 1924

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View other free history presentations and resources produced by THF.

You can download to your mp4 player and/or mobile phone for free by visiting the THF Podcast Homepage or by subscribing to one of the RSS feeds below:

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The New Year - Forthcoming Podcasts

Dear All,

I hope that you had a great Christmas. I thought that I would let you know the timetable for the release of this year's podcasts. We have just launched two, as of January 1: "Cardinal Wolsey: Rise & Fall, 1509-1529" by Glenn Richardson (St. Mary's University College), following on from two earlier podcasts focussed upon Henry VIII, and a study skills podcast from Chris Prior (Leeds University) looking at constructing an historical investigation for the extended essay. In addition we will be releasing the following presentations at the following times:

8 January: The First World War: The Entente Powers (Professor John Gooch, University of Leeds);

15 January: The First World War: The Central Powers (Professor John Gooch, University of Leeds);

22 January: King Henry VIII: Aims as King (Dr. Glenn Richardson, St. Mary's University College);

29 January: Weimar Germany: Part I (Dr. Moritz Foellmer, University of Leeds);

5 February: Mussolini, the Armed Forces & War: 1920-1940 (Professor John Gooch, University of Leeds);

12 February: Weimar Germany: Part II (Dr. Moritz Foellmer, University of Leeds);

19 February: Weimar Germany: Part III (Dr. Moritz Foellmer, University of Leeds);

26 February: Why were there wars between the Lancastrians & Yorkists? (Dr. David Grummitt, History of Parliament Trust);

5 March: How far did Edward IV restore law & order upon his accession in 1461? (Dr. David Grummitt, History of Parliament Trust);

12 March: Reasons why the Yorkists had won the English Crown by 1461 (Dr. David Grummitt, History of Parliament Trust);

17 March: How serious a threat were The Yorkists to Henry VII? (Dr. David Grummitt, History of Parliament Trust);

2 April: How much support did Richard III enjoy as King? (Dr. David Grummitt, History of Parliament Trust);

9 April: How able a King was Richard III? (Dr. David Grummitt, History of Parliament Trust);

Well that's all for now. I hope you have a great new year.

Best wishes & thanks for your continued interest in The History Faculty.

Jonathan.

P.S. Please keep your feedback and requests coming in.

Summer Offerings & News

Well, we've been busy over the start of the summer and I thought I would just bring you up-to-date with what's new and upcoming. Finally, we've put two offerings from respected Stalin scholar Prof. J. Arch Getty (UCLA) up. In one standard podcast, Professor Getty demystifies Stalin and The Great Terror, a subject upon which Professor Getty is one of the world's leading experts. In the other we have a 50 -minute interview with Professor Getty by our own Dr. James Harris (Leeds), another leading authority on Stalin. The two chat about Professor Getty's career, his influences, his interests and, of course, analyse the work that has brought him to international prominence.

We have also been fimlming a series of 5 methodological podcasts by Kevin Yuill (Sunderland) and Chris Prior (Leeds), looking at using the internet as a study resource, how to read and research as an historian, writing skills and much more... These will take slightly longer to edit and finish because of the embedded links, images and so on but should be up for the beginning of the new school year.

As if this wasn't enough, we have also just finished filming a series of other podcasts which are about to be edited and will go online towards the end of September (or hopefully earlier ;-)). They are:

Glenn Richardson (St. Mary's) - four podcasts looking at Henry VIII, his decisionmaking, and the times in which he reigned.
John Gooch (Leeds) - two podcasts looking at the outbreak of the First World War, and a further podcast on Mussolini and his Generals.
Malcolm Chase (Leeds) - a podcast on studying Labor History, and more specifically Chartism, on the internet - not simply methodological, the podcast also contains much historical context.
Moritz Foellmer (Leeds) - 2 podcasts focused upon Weimar Germany and one on the rise of The Nazi Party and Hitler.

Additionally, at the end of August we will be filming 3 podcasts from Natalie Mears (Durham) talking about Elizabethan and broader Tudor History.

Please keep your comments, requests, and feedback coming in. It is a very important part of what we do and helps us to help you.

Best wishes,

Jonathan.

Material Culture

If you could choose 5 objects to represent you and/or your family in a museum exhibition, what would you pick? Go over to the Forum to add yours...

Need some inspiration. Why not have a look at some museum displays:

"Magnificence of the Tsars" at the V&A

Chartwell National Trust Property - Home of Sir Winston Churchill

Harry S Truman Presidential Museum & Library

New Forum - Who's your favourite president?

We are trialling a new forum and to get us off the ground, the first question we want to hear from you on is: "who is your favourite US president and why"? The forum can be accessed through this portal. So why not have a look? Additionally, you can use this forum to ask our historians any questions that you might have. Hope to see you there. Jonathan.

Photographs

We have started a new project on Flickr to collect photographs of historical buildings, sites, battlefields etc. We're not so much worried about the quality of the photos (although, it would obviously be good if they weren't blurred and that you could make out the main focal point!) but want to build up as large a documentary record as possible. If you've been on a school trip or holiday and recorded anything historical, please go to The History Faculty's group page on Flikr (http://www.flickr.com/groups/historyfaculty/) and upload away! Please don't forget to tell us what the pictures are of, and, if you know what geotagging is, please geotag them (this is not compulsory). Let's see how large a record we can create...

Site Updates

Kevin Yuill has added further reading and weblinks to his podcast on US Immigration.

Why not follow us on Twitter for historic quotations, questions answered, or just to see who's following us (i.e. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, Alan Partridge) or who we're following (i.e. Snoop Dogg, Hillary Clinton, Alan Carr & JLC, Larry King, Dalai Lama, and many, many more)?

or

become a fan on facebook and add your photographs of historic sites, buildings etc. to our own.

That's all folks!

New Reading Lists

An update on new resources available onsite:

James Harris has added timelines, further reading and synopses to his podcasts on Stalin's Economic Transformation of the USSR & Stalin's Rise to Power.

Similarly, Alastair Kocho-Williams has added further reading an information to his podcast pages: Russia, Germany & the Alliance System, 1872-1914 & Stalin's Foreign Policy, 1917-1924.

Natalie Mears (University of Durham) has provided an extensive reading list focused upon the Tudors.

Kate Ferris (University of Durham) has put together some introductory reading for the study of Modern Italy and, specifically, Mussolini.

Gaby Treglia (University of Durham) has provided a reading list to aid the study of Native American History.

Additionally, we continue to add online resources and web links to our resources page (which is now searchable, along with the podcasts).

Please don't forget to submit a resource if you think that it could help and/or interest someone else.