On this day 2/11/1917: The Balfour Declaration
On 2 November 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a leading British Zionist, declaring British support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine: “I have...
View ArticleThe Scottish Lenin: the life and legacy of John Maclean
This article was first published on the Counterfire website on 21 February 2014 The anniversary of the outbreak of WW1 and the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence makes 2014 a particularly...
View ArticleThe Great War part I: Britain’s responsibility for war
This August David Cameron and the Queen will travel to Glasgow to initiate the United Kingdom’s official ceremonies marking the centenary of Britain’s declaration of war on Germany in 1914. Why Glasgow...
View ArticleThe Great War Part II: Empires & Ambitions
The British education minister, Michael Gove, in a robust defence of Britain’s participation in World War One, argued it was, amongst other things, a fight to defend the liberal order against its...
View ArticleThe Great War part III: a popular war?
There is a famous picture of crowds in Munich celebrating the outbreak of war on 1 August 1914 (see below). At the forefront of the crowd is a young Adolf Hitler, who would leave the square to seek...
View ArticleThe Great War Part IV: Graveyard of the Empires
As Europe rushed to war in 1914 few could have forecast the demise of four empires – the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German and Ottoman – as a consequence of the conflict. If pressed there might have...
View ArticleThe Great War Part V: The Aftermath
The First World War was followed by the two most tumultuous decades in the history of capitalism. A series of shocks left the international ruling class wondering if the system could hold. It did – but...
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