Compiled by Fred Watson (Secretary, 1952-83) for the years 1951-85, and by David Smith (President since 1997) for the years from 1986 to the present.
Fred Watson wrote:
It may be of interest to know that originally the Forum was called ‘The Teaching of History in Grammar Schools’; the title ‘The History Teachers’ Forum’ (Cambridge Branch) did not appear until the fifth meeting held in Sidney Sussex. It was not until the 19th meeting held in Girton (1969) that the title was amended to ‘The Cambridge History Teachers’ Forum’ (since 1994 it has been ‘The Cambridge History Forum’). In the early years the conference was held in different colleges, including some weekend conferences, but from 1959 until 2003 the annual conference was held in Girton (since 2004 it has been held in Selwyn College).
Of those who met in the Prioress’s Room in Jesus for the original conference in 1951 only the following are still regular members of the Forum: Mrs Chamberlain, Miss Joan Williams, and myself. At least these are the only names to appear on the original list, although I feel that Frank Snow and Miss Heather Cubitt may have been there but not on the list. They were certainly at the second conference (the first weekend conference) held in Girton.
Originally the hope was that a number of other conferences might be established and there were conferences most certainly organised in Birmingham and Oxford (I attended a meeting there in New College). I believe there were others but how many of these, if any, still exist I do not know.
The conference was the conception of Jean Lindsay of Girton and of Miss M.T. Rhys, H.M.I. The first conference was arranged by Mrs Lindsay, and I, for my sins, was drafted in to organise the second conference in 1952 and, I fear, continued to do this job until 1983. Nick Williams took over in 1984.
One of the most important links has been with the University in that a don has always been our President, and without such an important personality it would have been almost impossible for the conference to have survived, let alone had four Presidents who have all, in their different ways, been the driving force behind the conference and any success which the conference has achieved is entirely due to their hard work and enthusiasm. They were Mrs Jean Lindsay of Girton, the late Professor D.M. Joslin, Pembroke, Dr (now Professor) D.E.D. Beales, Sidney Sussex, and Dr J. Steinberg, Trinity Hall (see page 7, below, for the continuation of this list down to the present).
1951 (Jesus)
H.E.Y. Hales, H.M.I., History Teaching up to Sixth Form
Miss Bettensby, H.M., Cambridgeshire High School for Girls, Books and
History Teaching
Jean Lindsay and Professor H. Butterfield, VIth Form Problems and University Requirements
1952 (Weekend Conference in Girton)
Friday evening. Professor D.W. Brogan, Philosophy of History
Sat. a.m. Examinations External and Internal. The entire morning was devoted to discussions about exams (including a panel of Examiners comprising Prof. J.M. Hussey, Dr R.C. Smail and Prof. R.R. Betts)
p.m. Miss M.J. Falconer, H.M.I., Books in History Teaching and Learning
Evening. John Saltmarsh, Medieval Life and Thought. Followed by a Programme of Medieval Poetry and Music to illustrate Mr Saltmarsh’s talk given by pupils from the Cambridgeshire High Schools.
Sunday. Further Group Discussions on Books, Broadcasting and A.O.B.
1953 (Magdalene)
a.m. E.E.Y. Hales, H.M.I., Syllabus.
Miss M.T. Rhys, H.M.I., leading a Discussion on ‘The Teaching of History and O-Level’
p.m. Discussion on Books: a. Text Books; b. Historical Fiction; c. G.C. Morris, King’s, ‘What not to read at School’
G. Kitson Clark, Trinity, ‘19th-Century English History’
1954 (King’s)
a.m. Revd Phillip Hughes, ‘The English Reformation’
G.C. Morris, King’s, ‘Tudor Puritans’
p.m. Conducted Tour of the College
Miss J. Mitchell, Newnham, ‘East Anglia and the Cloth Trade’
1955 (Sidney Sussex)
a.m. Dr R.C. Smail, ‘Crusades’
E. Warne, Cambridgshire High School for Boys, ‘Teaching of Medieval History in Schools’
p.m. A.B. Hibbert, King’s, ‘Medieval Unity’
1956 (Girton 2nd Weekend Conference)
Sat. a.m. A Scholarship Paper set by a panel of Dons followed by a Discussion
p.m. Mrs H. Grant, Girton, ‘The Renaissance in Spain’
K.P. Harrison, King’s, ‘Science for the Historian’
Evening. F. Stopp, Emmanuel, ‘The Northern Renaissance’
Sunday a.m. A Discussion on ‘History for the Non-specialist’
1957 (Peterhouse) Third Weekend Conference
Sat. a.m. ‘Science and Arts Courses’ A Discussion led by A.D.C Petersen, H.M., Dover College, and J.A. Ratcliffe, Sidney
p.m. Conducted Tour of Corpus Library
5 p.m. Professor H. Butterfield
Evening. Professor G. Barraclough, Chatham House, ‘General History and European History’
Sun. a.m. Discussion on Books led by K.A. Hooton, Sec. of London Teachers Historical Association
‘Preparing for the General Paper’ Discussion led by Miss Burke and Mr E.A. Thompson
1958 (Clare)
a.m. E.E.Y. Hales, H.M.I.,‘Church and State in 19th-Century Europe’
Discussion on Middle School Teaching
p.m. Mrs E. Zeeman, Girton, ‘The Medieval Landscape’
Dr H.M. Taylor, Clare, ‘Pre-Conquest Churches of England’
1959 (Girton)
a.m. Discussion ‘The Problem of Reading in the VIth Form’
D. Joslin, Pembroke, ‘Recent Work in Modern English Economic History’
p.m. Miss C.B.A. Behrens, Newnham, ‘Enlightened Despots’
J.R. Bambrough, St John’s, ‘Plato, Politics and Professor Popper’
1960 (All conferences now held at Girton)
a.m. K.A. Hooton, London History Teachers’ Association, ‘The Teaching of Political History’
Dr E. Moir, Newnham, ‘Local History’
p.m. Sir Ivor Jennings, Master of Trinity Hall, ‘The Export of Constitutions’
A.M. Jaffe, King’s, ‘Charles I and European Art’
1961
a.m. Discussion on ‘The Problems of Teaching and Examining History’
p.m. M.I. Finley, Jesus, ‘Demagogues’
Revd Professor W.O. Chadwick, Master of Selwyn, ‘The Reformation and the Life of the Church’
1962
a.m. Prof. Asa Briggs, ‘The Study of History in a New University’
p.m. F.H. Hinsley, St John’s, ‘The Balance of Power’
D. Mack Smith, Peterhouse, ‘From Cavour to Mussolini’
1963
a.m. Revd Prof. M.D. Knowles, Peterhouse, ‘The Dissolution of the Monasteries’
J.H. Elliott, Trinity, ‘Trends in 16th-Century European History’
p.m. ‘Open Scholarship Candidates in History’ by a panel of Dons
Mrs M. Chibnall, Girton
Mr C.W. Crawley, Trinity Hall
Mr D.J.V. Fisher, Jesus
Mr P. Laslett, Trinity
R.L.W. Blake, Christ Church, Oxford, ‘Disraeli’
1964
a.m. Prof. R. Ashton, ‘History at East Anglia’
E. Miller, St John’s, ‘The Cloth Industry in Medieval England’
p.m. Dr R.E. Robinson, St John’s, ‘Imperialism Revisited’
D.H. Newsome, Emmanuel, ‘19th-Century Religious History’
1965
Mrs J.O. Lindsay, H.M., St George’s School, Edinburgh, ‘The Teaching of the History of Science in Schools’
Dr G. Kitson Clark, Trinity, ‘19th-Century English Political and Administrative History’
p.m. Dr W.R. Brock, Selwyn, ‘History at Cambridge’
Dr J.P.C. Roach, Corpus, ‘English Universities in the last 200 years’
1966
a.m. Mrs A.F.J. Brady, Norwich College of Education, ‘An approach to History in a College of Education’
B.G. Duden, H.M.I., ‘A Ship of the Line’
p.m. Q.R.D. Skinner, Christ’s, ‘Hobbes’ Political Philosophy’
Dr D. Thomson, Master of Sidney Sussex, ‘General de Gaulle in French History’
1967
a.m. Discussion on ‘Books in School’
Dr D.E.D. Beales, Sidney, ‘The Political Parties of 19th-Century Britain’
p.m. Prof. H. Butterfield, Peterhouse, ‘Charles James Fox and the French Revolution’
C. Lee, Extra Mural Board, ‘Images of Renaissance Man’
1968
a.m. S. Usherwood, BBC Producer, ‘Planning and producing a broadcast for schools: British History: Decisive Events’
Dr E.T. Stokes, St Catharine’s, ‘Modern Indian History and the School Curriculum’
p.m. Dr J. Needham, Master of Gonville and Caius, ‘China and the Barbarians 1450-1850’
Dr E.A. Wrigley, Peterhouse, ‘New Opportunities for the Study of English Population History 1550-1850’
1969
a.m. R. Watson (Longman, Green and Co.), ‘Sources for School History What Should Publishers provide?’
Dr E.R. Norman, Jesus, ‘Irish History’
p.m. Dr T.C.W. Blanning, Sidney, ‘Joseph II’
Dr G.D. Evans, Emmanuel, ‘Radicalism and Dissent in 20th-Century America’
1970
a.m. Dr R.C. Smail, Sidney, ‘The Holy Places in Jerusalem then and now’
Prof. C.N.L. Brooke, Westfield College, London, ‘Medieval Towns: Can they be brought to life?’
p.m. Dr D.E.D. Beales, Sidney, ‘The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy’
Miss R. Young, The Castle Museum, Norwich, ‘Museums and the Teaching of History’
1971
a.m. Prof. Marcus Cunliffe, Sussex, ‘Approaches to Comparative History: America and Europe’
B. Chaplin and A. Ereira of the BBC talking about their Radio series ‘History in Evidence’
p.m. Prof. J.A.S. Grenville, Birmingham, ‘The Use of film in History Teaching’ followed by his film ‘The Munich Crisis’
1972
a.m. R. Watson and a team from the Longman Group led a Discussion on ‘History kits – What do Schools really need?’
Dr B.S. Pullan, Queens’, ‘The European Poor in the 19th Century’
p.m. Dr J. Steinberg, Trinity Hall, ‘Reflections on the Nazi Revolution’
1973
a.m. Mr S.M. Schama, Christ’s, ‘Urban Societies and Political Revolutions 1770-1800’
Prof. J.R. Jones, East Anglia, ‘The Interaction between English and European Politics 1660-1688’
p.m. panel of Dons, Dr D.E.D. Beales, Sidney, Mrs G. Sutherland, Newnham, Prof. J.R. Jones, U.E.A., Dr R.T.B. Langhorne, Univ. of Kent
‘What Dons look for in Undergraduate historians and what have their faculties to offer’
1974
a.m. Dr J.S.C. Riley-Smith, Queens’, ‘The Medieval Historian and Sociology’
Dr J. Fines, Chichester, ‘History and Integrated Studies’
p.m. Dr J. Iliffe, St John’s, ‘Tribalism in Modern African History’
1975
a.m. Dr A. Macfarlane, King’s, ‘The Historical Study of Kinship, Marriage and Sexual Behaviour in England’
Prof. J.R. Jones, U.E.A., see 1973
p.m. J.G. Slater, H.M.I., ‘The Present State of History Teaching’
1976
a.m. Dr N.O.A. Bullock, King’s, ‘Architecture and Politics in Europe 1918-1939’
Dr R.F. Tuck, Jesus, ‘Natural Rights in 17th-Century Europe’
p.m. Dr J. Barber, King’s, ‘The Role of the historian in the Soviet Union’
1977
a.m. Dr M. Hinds, Trinity Hall, ‘Some Approaches to Islamic History’
Dr J. Lonsdale, Trinity, ‘Kenya as a Case Study’
p.m. Dr J. Needham, Master of Caius, ‘The nature of Chinese Society’
1978
a.m. Jon Nichol, of History Resources, ‘Resource Based Learning and Simulation in History Teaching’
D.P. Dymond, Extra Mural Studies, ‘The Challenge of Local History’
p.m. Dr J. Steinberg, Trinity Hall, ‘What can we know about the past?’
1979
a.m. Dr J.S. Morrill, Selwyn, ‘The English Civil War’
D.C.B. Lieven, L.S.E., ‘Bureaucracy and Politics in late 19th-Century Russia’
p.m. A panel of teachers led a discussion on Mixed Ability Teaching
1980
a.m. Dr C.M. Andrew, Corpus, ‘The Third French Republic’
Dr R.B. Outhwaite, Caius, ‘Recent Work on Tudor and Stuart Inflation’
p.m. A Panel of Lecturers led a Discussion on ‘What do we look for in History Students?’
1981
a.m. Prof. D.E.D. Beales, Sidney, ‘Gladstone’s First Ministry’
Dr P. Burke, Emmanuel, ‘The Renaissance in the European Universities’
p.m. It should have been Dr C. Dowling of the Imperial War Museum but he was unfortunately ill. I believe we had someone from C.C.A.T. but, alas, I have neither a name nor his topic. But I seem to remember he was good value at such short notice.
1982
a.m. Dr B. Bradshaw, Queens’, ‘The Reformation now’
Dr A. John, Thames Polytechnic, ‘Women in Mining’
p.m. Prof. Q.R.D. Skinner, Christ’s, ‘Studying the History of Ideas’
1983
a.m. Dr R.W. Scribner, Clare, ‘The New Reformation History’
Dr R.P. Tombs, St John’s, ‘The Historian as Man of Action’
Prof. B. Supple, Christ’s, ‘The Industrial Revolution and the new meanings of “significant”’
1984
a.m. Prof. J.P. Kenyon, St Andrews, ‘The Revolution of 1688’
Prof. J. Holt, Master of Fitzwilliam, ‘Robin Hood’
p.m. Dr J. Pollard, Oxford Poly, ‘Risorgimento and Anti Risorgimento’
1985
a.m. Prof. G.R. Elton, Clare, ‘Tudor Politics’
Dr R.C. Trebilcock, Pembroke, ‘Is Economic History sentenced to the Computer?’
p.m. Dr H. James, Peterhouse, ‘The Weimar Republic’
Notes on the years 1951-85
For many years, until the middle sixties, there was a short business meeting. It was abandoned as rarely did anyone from the floor have anything to say. Until 1970 there were four lectures, the final one being after tea. We found that many people vanished at teatime so we abandoned the fourth lecture. There has always been a book exhibition, organised by Mrs Chamberlain and then by Miss Cubitt. The earliest charges were 7/6 for Lunch, Tea and Morning Coffee. For an entire weekend in Peterhouse, it was £2=2=6 (including accommodation). When we began regularly at Girton in 1959 the total charge was 8/6 per head. For many years there was always a professional topic unlocked in the programme. Indeed, the earlier conferences were almost entirely devoted to professional matters.
Notes on the years since 1986
From the 1994 conference onwards, the Forum’s title was changed from ‘The Cambridge History Teachers’ Forum’ to ‘The Cambridge History Forum’. Since 1997 we have given each conference a particular historical theme. The conferences continued to be held in Girton until 2003; since 2004 they have been held in Selwyn.
The Presidents of the Forum over this period have been:
Dr Jonathan Steinberg (Trinity Hall), 1974-90
Dr Sandra Raban (Trinity Hall), 1990-2
Dr Mark Goldie (Churchill), 1992-7
Dr David Smith (Selwyn), 1997-
8 March 1986
Tim Blanning (Sidney Sussex): ‘The French Revolution’
Hugh Brogan (Essex): ‘The value of American History’
Valerie Pearl (New Hall): ‘Gardens and cookery books in seventeenth-century London’
7 March 1987
Boyd Hilton (Trinity): ‘Religion and the dogma of free trade in nineteenth-century Britain’
Roger Schofield (Clare): ‘Reconstructing the Population History of England: an example of collaboration between local and University historians’
Lord Dacre (Peterhouse): ‘The Continuity of Revolution in Seventeenth-Century England’
5 March 1988
John Röhl (Sussex): ‘The First World War – some recent developments in the continuing controversy’
David Morgan (School of Oriental and African Studies, London): ‘The Mongol Impact on Europe’
John Vincent (Bristol): ‘Thatcherism’
4 March 1989
John Adamson (Peterhouse): ‘Barons’ Wars and Civil Wars – England 1639-1651’
John Iliffe (St John’s): The History of Famine in Africa’
Philip Bell (Liverpool): ‘Origins of the Second World War’
10 March 1990
Gillian Sutherland (Newnham): ‘Assessing Children – A Historical Perspective’
Patrick Collinson (Trinity): ‘Religion in the England of Shakespeare’s Youth’
Jonathan Haslam (King’s): ‘The Foreign Policy of the Soviet Union’
2 March 1991
Jim Smyth (Trinity Hall): ‘Nineteenth-Century Ireland: new perspectives’
Eamon Duffy (Magdalene): ‘Popular religion in the sixteenth century’
Jonathan Steinberg (Trinity Hall): ‘The Holocaust’
7 March 1992
Rosemary Horrox (Newnham): ‘Richard III: King or anti-king?’
Mark Goldie (Churchill): ‘The Hilton Gang: religious persecution in the 1680s’
Susan Bayly (Christ’s): ‘Fundamentalism and nationhood in India: the battle to repossess India’s history’
6 March 1993
Tim Blanning (Sidney Sussex): ‘The French Revolution and the primacy of Foreign Policy’
Susan Brigden (Lincoln College, Oxford): ‘The English Reformation’
B.W. Collins (Buckingham): ‘Southern Secession Revisited’
5 March 1994
Christine MacLeod (Bristol): ‘Whatever happened to the Industrial Revolution?’
John Henderson (Wolfson): ‘Plague and Society in early modern Italy: the case of Florence’
Mike Sewell (Selwyn): ‘The Decline of Britain: the Rise of the USA’
4 March 1995
John Morrill (Selwyn): ‘Oliver Cromwell’
Tony Badger (Sidney Sussex): ‘The Civil Rights Movement’
Bob Scribner (Clare): ‘Luther, Zwingli and Calvin: one reformation or many?’
2 March 1996
David Smith (Selwyn): ‘Oliver Cromwell: Where do we stand?’
Jonathan Parry (Pembroke): ‘Gladstone: Can we make sense of his character?’
John Barber (King’s): ‘Stalin reassessed’
8 March 1997: Theme: ‘Memoirs and Biography’
Peter Clarke (St John’s): ‘Margaret Thatcher’s place in history’
Eric Evans (Lancaster): ‘Lives and Lives and Times: Reflections on Historical Biographies’
Piers Brendon (Churchill): ‘Churchill: views and reviews’
28 February 1998: Theme: ‘From Cradle to Grave’
Ole Grell (Cambridge Wellcome Unit): ‘The social and religious rationale for a new system of welfare in early modern Europe’
Ruth Richardson (University College, London): ‘Dr Joseph Rogers and the Reform of Workhouse Medicine’
Ray Jobling (St John’s): ‘The Welfare State, 1948-1998’
6 March 1999: Theme: ‘Revolution’
John Sutton (Anglia): ‘Anatomy of the English Revolution, 1640-1660’
Chris Clark (St Catharine’s): ‘The 1848 Revolutions: a crisis of legitimacy?’
Justin Webb (the BBC): ‘Reporting revolution – a journalist’s view of political upheaval’
4 March 2000: Theme: ‘Fins de Siècle’
Peter Martland (Trinity Hall): ‘Listening to the Century – the 1890s’
Gary Dickson (Edinburgh): ‘The Medieval Fin de Siècle, 1000-1500’
Natalie Mears (Swansea): ‘The 1590s and the end of the Elizabethan era – but what kind of end?’
3 March 2001: Theme: ‘Odysseys and Voyages of Discovery’
Max Jones (Christ’s): ‘Between science and adventure: Captain Scott’s voyages of discovery’
Kate Pretty (Homerton): ‘The Vikings in the North Atlantic’
Bernard Hamilton (Nottingham): ‘The search for Prester John’s elusive kingdom’
16 March 2002: Theme: ‘Ireland’
Rory Rapple (Oxford): ‘The Rhetoric of Violence in Sixteenth Century Ireland’
Eugenio Biagini (Robinson): ‘Gladstone and the late-Victorian attempts to “pacify Ireland”’
Peter Martland (Pembroke): ‘Interpreting Ireland: John McCormack and the Irish Diaspora, 1910-1950’
15 March 2003: Theme: ‘Anniversaries’
Mike Sewell (Selwyn): ‘The Cuban Missile Crisis after Forty Years: New Evidence and New Perspectives’
John Guy (Clare): ‘Making Sense of Elizabeth I’
Chris Ward (Robinson): ‘Stalin and the Purges of the 1930s: What the Specialists Think’
13 March 2004: Theme: ‘War and its Legacy’
Tim Blanning (Sidney Sussex): ‘The Wars of Italian and German Unification’
Dan Todman (Queen Mary, University of London): ‘The Legacy of Total War: Britain, 1919-1998’
Rosemary Horrox (Fitzwilliam): ‘The Wrong Sort of War? Honour in the Wars of the Roses’
12 March 2005: Theme: ‘Turning Points that did not Turn’
Mark Nicholls (St John’s): ‘Why “Remember, Remember the Fifth of November”? The Significance of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot’
Holger Hoock (Selwyn): ‘Trafalgar: The strategic and cultural significance of a naval battle’
Hubertus Jahn (Clare): ‘Russia in 1905: Revolution as a Crisis of Modernity’
11 March 2006: Theme: ‘Constitutional Dictators?‘
Colin Davis (University of East Anglia): ‘Oliver Cromwell and the Dilemma of Constitutional Rule’
Michael Sonenscher (King’s): ‘The First Empire and its Historical Significance’
John Pollard (Trinity Hall): ‘Mussolini as a Constitutional Dictator’
17 March 2007: Theme: ‘Evil Empires?’
Sean Lang (Anglia Ruskin): ‘The British Empires and its Young’
Kevin Ruane (Canterbury Christ Church): ‘American Imperialism in the Twentieth Century’
1 March 2008: Theme: ‘”Good Queen Mary, Bad Queen Bess?” Tudor Monarch Reassessed’
Richard Rex (Queens’): ‘Mary I and Elizabeth I, 1553-1563: A Short Comparison’
Stephen Alford (King’s): ‘Tudor Monarchy and its Critiques’
7 March 2009: Theme: ‘How Wars End’
Gill Bennett (Foreign and Commonwealth Office): ‘1945: The End of the Second World War’
Mike Sewell (Selwyn): ‘1989: The End of the Cold War’
13 March 2010: Theme: ‘The Fall of Tyrants?’
David Smith (Selwyn): ‘The Fall of the British Republic’
Philip Morgan (University of Hull): ‘The Fall, and Fall of Mussolini’
19 March 2011: Theme: ‘Winners and Losers in History’
Andrew Pettegree (St Andrews): ‘The Reformation: Profit and Loss’
Edward Acton (East Anglia): ‘Who won the twentieth century in Europe: the Left or the Right?’
3 March 2012: Theme: ‘Catastrophes‘
Mark Bailey (East Anglia; and St Paul’s School): ‘The Black Death: Environmental Disaster or Economic Opportunity?’
Peter Fearon (Leicester): ‘Lessons from the 1930s Great Depression’
9 March 2013: Theme: ‘1963 – Fifty Years On’
Tony Badger (Clare): ‘Martin Luther King – Who Needs Him?’
Mike Sewell (Selwyn): ‘JFK in the Post-Cuban Crisis Moment’
Richard Davenport-Hines: ‘The Profumo Affair – the English Modernisation Crisis of 1963’
1 March 2014: Theme: ‘How Wars Begin’
David Smith (Selwyn): ‘The Outbreak of the English Civil War’
Adam Smith (University College, London): ‘The Outbreak of the American Civil War’
Chris Clark (St Catharine’s): ‘The Outbreak of the First World War’
7 March 2015: Theme: ‘Nationalisms’
Clare Jackson (Trinity Hall): ‘Seventeenth-Century Nationalisms in the British Isles – and Twenty-first Century Constitutional Resonances?’
John Pollard (Trinity Hall): ‘Religion and Nationalism in Modern European History’
Archie Brown (St Anthony’s College, Oxford): ‘Nationalisms in the Soviet Union and its successor states in comparative context’
5 March 2016: Theme: ‘United Europe?’
Susan Brigden (Lincoln College, Oxford): ‘Reformation Diplomacy: Henry VIII and his Ambassadors’
Tim Blanning (Sidney Sussex): ‘Napoleon and the destruction of Europe’
Jonathan Steinberg (University of Pennsylvania; and Trinity Hall): ‘The European Union and the “Democratic Deficit”: is there one, how did it arise and can anything be done about it?’
4 March 2017: Theme: ‘Revolutionaries and Revolutions’
Robert Tombs (St John’s): ‘The Marxists’ Model Revolution’
Chris Read (University of Warwick): ‘Russia in 1917’
Jonathan Davis (Anglia Ruskin): ‘The aftermath and legacy of the Russian Revolutions’
3 March 2018: Theme: ‘Peace in our Time?’
Brendan Simms (Peterhouse): ‘Westphalia, 1648: an order for Germany and Europe and a model for the Middle East’
Adam Zamoyski: ‘The Congress of Vienna, 1814-15’
Geoffrey Hicks (East Anglia): ‘From Versailles to Munich, 1918-38’
9 March 2019: Theme: ‘Regime change(s)’
Andrew Spencer (Murray Edwards): ‘England, 1399: from Richard II to Henry IV’
David Smith (Selwyn): ‘The English Revolution of 1649’
Hanno Balz (Trinity Hall): ‘The Nazi takeover in Germany, 1933/4’
21 March 2020: Conference postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic
13 March 2021: Theme: ‘Summits and summitry: meetings that shaped the world?’ [held remotely via Zoom]
John Morrill (Selwyn): ‘The Putney Debates, 1647’
Piers Brendon (Churchill): ‘Munich, 1938’
Nicolas Kinloch: ‘Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1961’
12 March 2022: Theme: ‘Coups d’état’ [held remotely via Zoom]
Michael Hicks (Winchester): ‘Richard III’s 1483 coup’
Marisa Linton (Kingston): Napoleon Bonaparte and 18 Brumaire’
Rana Mitter (St Cross College, Oxford): ‘Internationalism and ideology: the fall of the Nationalists and the rise of Communist China, 1945-50’
8 October 2022: Theme: ‘The March on Rome- A Century On’ [a special conference to mark the centenary of the fascist seizure of power, held remotely via Zoom]
Celia Donert (Wolfson): ‘The New Europe: Revolution and Counter-
Revolution after the First World War’
Richard Bosworth (Jesus College, Oxford), ‘The March on Rome: a Centenary and its meaning’
Nathaniël Kunkeler (Oslo): ‘The March beyond Rome: the impact of the Fascist seizure of power in Europe’
11 March 2023: Theme: ‘Understanding Russia?’
Chris Read (Warwick): ‘Russia’s Perennial Border Problem: Imperial
Expansion or National Defence in the period 1854-1964’
and ‘The Western Gaze: Foreign Perceptions of Russia’
Jonathan Davis (Anglia Ruskin): ‘Stalin in the 1930s: builder and destroyer’
and ‘Russia after Communism: a troubled transition’
[Peter Waldron (East Anglia): Russia and the autocratic tradition in the period 1855-1964’- unable to deliver lecture in person]
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