Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i History Extra

One of the most high-profile exhibitions of recent years arrives in Britain this month when Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh opens at London’s Saatchi Gallery. It’s testament to the enduring fascination with Egypt’s boy king, whose story is still cloaked in mystery. For this month’s cover feature, we asked Egyptologist Joann Fletcher to offer a new perspective on Tutankhamun through seven surprising revelations about his life, death and legendary tomb. You’ll find that on page 22. One of the historical ideas infusing the continuing Brexit debate has been Britain’s 20th-century decline, which saw a country that was once the world’s superpower eclipsed by a number of rivals. Whether or not leaving the EU might offer a chance to reverse this trend has become a central bone of contention. On…

In the summer of 1914, eastern Europe’s fate hung on a razor’s edge as the powers that ruled the region went to war, with Russia pitted against Germany and the Habsburg empire (Austria-Hungary). The battlefront stretched 600 miles, from Bukovina up to the Baltic. The Russian army, numbering a colossal 3.5 million soldiers, concentrat- ed on the front’s flanks. In the north, 22 infantry and 11½ cavalry divisions – around 485,000 troops – invaded Germany. The defenders were few, just 11 divisions, but they quickly won a stunning victory at the battle of Tannenberg, smashing the invasion. On the eastern front’s southern flank, in and around the Habsburg province of Galicia, much larger forces deployed. There, 53½ Russian infantry and 18 cavalry divisions faced 37 Habsburg infantry divisions and 10…

Oswald The pious conqueror Oswald (born 603/04) was forced into exile as a 12-year-old boy when his uncle, Edwin, killed his father, Æthelfrith, and took the kingdom of Northumbria. Oswald grew to manhood in the kingdom of Dál Riata. While there, the previously pagan Oswald embraced Christianity, and gained a reputation for martial valour and Christian piety. When Edwin was killed by Cadwallon, King of Gwynedd, Oswald remained in Dál Riata, only launching his own effort to retake the throne after Cadwallon had killed two other pretenders, both relatives of Oswald. Victorious at the battle of Heaven- field, Oswald brought monks from Iona to preach the new religion to the Northumbrians, in the process creating institutions that were able to survive his own death in 642. A cult rapidly developed…

Serhii Plokhy on an unexpected US-Soviet collaboration “Americans resided for about a year at three air bases on Soviet territory – the only case in which the US and the Soviets fought side by side together in World War II. My book tells the story of the transition to the Cold War, in which the personalities and places won’t be very familiar, even to those who’ve read about the Grand Alliance.” Daisy Dunn on the death of Pliny the Elder during the eruption of Vesuvius “Pliny landed at Stabiae where he stayed the night, trying to carry on as normal. But during that night the earth tremors intensified to such an extent that he realised that if he stayed inside the villa, he could well be trapped. He strapped a…

This long-awaited book brings to life a central episode in British history, when a crowded pro-democracy meeting held at St Peter’s Field in Manchester was violently dispersed by the state. In the ensuing chaos, 18 people died and up to 700 more were injured by sabres and truncheons, or trampled underfoot by cavalry horses and the panicking crowd around them. Poole’s painstakingly researched volume has been many years in the making. It holds a wealth of new material, of which the 46 illustrations are a welcome component. The author draws upon more than 400 eyewitness accounts of “the best-documented crowd event of the 19th century”, and successfully challenges previous historiography, notably the work of EP Thompson. Poole deftly explains why Peterloo happened in Manchester and not elsewhere in the rapidly…

How was the fall-out of the First World War felt across Britain? Lloyd George had pledged “to make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in”, but the economic aftershocks of the war would cause promised projects to be shelved, and as unemployment figures rose, disenchantment spread. On Peace Day, 19 July 1919, ex-servicemen marched through Manchester carrying banners that said “Work, not charity” and “Honour the dead, remember the living”. In 1922 around half a million veterans were unemployed. While some men fitted back into civilian life easily, others found the transition difficult. With the discipline and support network of the armed services taken away, some struggled – and many families, mine included, would face decades of coping with depression, alcohol abuse and violence. Why does the aftermath…

“I could work out exactly where my grandfather would have been... the river was running red with blood” What are the origins of this new documentary? When I filmed an episode of [BBC genealogy series] Who Do You Think You Are? in 2013, I first discovered this incredible tale about the involvement of my maternal grandfather, Stanley Abbs, in the Second World War battle of Monte Cassino [which was fought between January and May 1944, and resulted in 55,000 Allied casualties]. However, because the episode already had so many amazing family stories to cover, they didn’t have the chance to feature it. What did you learn about the ‘D-Day Dodgers’ [a phrase associated with those assigned to Italy]? As we progressed with filming, the more it emerged that the phrase…

Ada Lovelace 1815–52 When did you first hear about Lovelace? I think I first heard about her in my teens, and made a film about her for Blue Peter in my twenties when I was fresh out of university. I’ve always felt an affinity with her, as she had both a creative and a scientific side. I remember being surprised so few people knew about this remarkable individual. What kind of woman was she? She was the daughter of Lord Byron, so naturally had a creative side, and just from reading her letters you can seen that she had a flair for words which would have been more apparent if she had become a writer. But her mother, Lady Byron, was a mathematician, and after she and her husband broke…

Alexander Watson I find the story of Przemyśl fortress extraordinarily dramatic. Early in the First World War, the future of Europe depended upon a multinational force of underequipped, middle-aged soldiers battling a mighty Russian invasion. Alexander recounts how a fortress siege changed the course of the war on page 30 Edoardo Albert When my archaeologist brother-in-law invited me to visit excavations at Bamburgh, I never imagined it would spark 20 years of research into the kingdom of Northumbria and its greatest king, Oswald the White Blade. Edoardo tells the story of Oswald’s victory at the battle of Heavenfield on page 62 Joann Fletcher Like so many people the world over, I’ve been dazzled by the contents of Tutankhamun’s tomb since childhood. And yet it’s only quite recently that the true…

On 1 December 1919, 100 years ago, the American-born viscountess Nancy Astor became the first female MP to take her seat in the House of Commons. She had won the seat of Plymouth Sutton, for the Unionist (now Conservative) party, after her husband Waldorf Astor had vacated it, on his elevation to the House of Lords. Nancy Astor claimed she had not originally held any ambition to be a politician but that her husband had “put the idea” in her head. As the first woman to enter a male-dominated parliament, Astor encountered widespread misogyny and condescension, in response to which she doled out several witty replies. “I find a woman’s intrusion into the House of Commons as embarrassing as if she burst into my bathroom when I had nothing to…

1 He was not a unique ‘boy-king’ – nor was his reign particularly brief Often described as a tragic boy-king whose 10-year rule in Egypt ended only too swiftly, Tutankhamun was not really unique in -either respect.-At-his-accession-inc1336 BC,-he-was-aged around eight-or­ nine, but this was not uncommon for an ancient-Egyptian-king.-In c2278-BC,­ King Pepi-II-of-the-Old-Kingdom-had-become­ pharaoh aged around six, requiring his mother-to-act-as-regent-until-Pepicame-of-age.-Similarly,-Tutankhamun’sgrandfather-Amenhotep-III-wasapproximately-10-years-old-at hisaccession-in-c1390-BC,-and-so-again­ had been guided by his mother in the role-of regent.­ Among-other-youthful-rulers,-Tuthmosis-III,-the-so-called-‘Napoleon-ofancient-Egypt’,-was-only-two-whenhe-became-pharaoh-in-c1479­BC-and,-later,-King-Ptole- my V, for whom the Rosetta-Stone-was­ produced, came to the throne-in 204-BC-agedonly-five.-King-Sesostris-I­(c1965–1921-BC)-had-even-boasted-that-the­ gods had considered him ready to rule when he was still in nappies, “not yet loosed from swaddling-clothes”.­ As-for-the-supposed-brevity-of-Tutankhamun’s-reign,-there-is-no-reason-to-consider-itas-such-in-a-world-where-35-was-the averagelife-expectancy,-and-where-even-the-elite-diedyoung-by-modern-standards.-His-owngreat-grandfather--Tuthmosis-IV-had-similarly­ ruled for a single decade, as did the later king Merenptah.-Ramses-I,-Sethnakht-and-Ramses­VIII-all-managed-only-a-few-years-at-most.-Therecord-for-regnal-brevity,-however,-is-surely-heldby-Ptolemy-XI,-who-was-pharaoh-for-only-18­days-in-80-BC.­ Even-the-common-claim-that-Tutankhamun’s­10-year-reign-was-insufficient-time-in-which-to­ construct him a tomb in the Valley of the Kings is-illogical,-since-the-huge-tomb of-Tuthmosis IV­(who-reigned-about-60-years-before-him)-wascompleted-and-decorated-within-his decade-onthe-throne.-In-fact,-earlier-Old-Kingdom-mon- archs…

For Cleisthenes, timing was everything. And that time arrived in the late sixth century BC, when long-term background conditions and more immediate events coalesced fruitfully. The favourable background conditions were provided by a raft of economic and social reforms pushed through by Solon at the start of the century. These made wealth rather than birth the principal foundation of political entitlement. They also improved the lot of many of Attica’s poorest people and, in doing so, headed off the threat of revolution. Following Solon, the tyrant Peisistratus and his son Hippias gave Athens political stability and economic prosperity over a 35-year period, partly by seeing that Solon’s reforms were put into effect. But precisely because they ruled as tyrants, Peisistratus and Hippias also outlived their utility and acceptability. When Athens…

Athenian democracy was a matter not only of formal political institutions but also of culture, including what we today call high culture. Tragic theatre and public architecture both flourished, and in peculiarly democratic forms. Within 75 years or so of democracy’s founda- tion, Aeschylus had produced his Persians (a celebration of democracy as well as of the Salamis victory) and Oresteia trilogy; Sophocles had written his Antigone and Oedipus Tyrannus; and Euripides his Medea. All challenged the Athenian audiences to think deeply about the ideological as well as pragmatic basis of their democratic political institutions. In the 440s and 430s the Athenians also constructed the architectural miracle that is the Parthenon. Athens was a city of gods and goddesses as well as humans, and the divine patroness was indomitably warlike,…

18TH-CENTURY BRITAIN The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding (1749) Chosen by Joseph Crawford Henry Fielding began his career as a playwright, who became famous for his political satires on the government of Sir Robert Walpole. His plays so enraged the authorities that they passed a Licensing Act in 1737, banning the performance of any drama that had not been approved by the Lord Chamberlain. Knowing that permission would never be granted for any of his works to be performed, Fielding abandoned the stage and began writing novels instead, becoming one of the earliest and greatest authors of comic prose fiction in English. Tom Jones (1749) is Fielding’s masterpiece: a comic epic that describes how its outcast hero wanders across England against the backdrop of the 1745…

Born in 1443, Margaret Beaufort belonged to a Lancastrian noble family with royal ancestry. By age 13, she had been married twice, widowed and given birth to a son, Henry Tudor. Margaret went on to marry two more times and survived several regime changes during the Wars of the Roses, as Lancastrian Henry VI was deposed by Yorkist Edward IV, before Edward’s brother Richard III eventually took the throne. After the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, her son Henry Tudor went into exile, returning to England in 1485 to defeat Richard at Bosworth and claim the crown as Henry VII. Margaret survived her son’s 23-year reign, dying shortly after her grandson Henry VIII became king in 1509. Ellie Cawthorne: What makes Margaret Beaufort such a fascinating subject for a biographer?…

So much has been made of the evils of Germany’s Nazi past, and so clearly has the United States been cast as liberator of Europe from the Nazi yoke, that it seems initially surprising to suggest that the US could learn from Germany about how to deal with the legacies of racism. But this is the thesis that Susan Neiman, a philosopher specialising in the analysis of evil, advances in this compelling, personal account. Neiman is well placed to make the comparison. Growing up as a white woman in the American South, she experienced at first hand the legacies of slavery and persisting racism in the US. And as a Jew who lives in Germany’s capital city, Berlin, she is well placed to observe the ways in which Germans have…

Many books claim to detail Britain’s ancient past, but few are as absorbing, entertaining and subversively informative as this one. In examining the lost world of ancient Britain, Mike Pitts, archaeologist and journalist, is the ideal guide, describing recent discoveries and explaining their context and significance. The people who lived on these islands prior to the arrival of William the Conqueror in 1066 seldom intrude upon society today, except in a hazy and often ill-informed way. Prehistory is a period that has traditionally suffered much at school. Pitts, by concentrating on the places, people and artefacts of pre-Norman Britain, goes some significant way to rectifying this. The structure of the book, focusing on 10 British archaeological discoveries that have “been headlined around the world”, is artificial. However, the scope and…

FICTION Fight for the throne Over the course of 12 volumes, Bernard Cornwell’s Last Kingdom novels (and the accompanying TV adaptation) have served up fast-paced adventure stories set in realms populated by battling Saxons and Danes. This latest instalment promises more of the same, as we find protagonist Uhtred of Bebbanburg catapulted once more into bitter conflict, with an important oath to fulfil. WWII Best laid plans At Yalta in February 1945, the future of postwar Europe was decided, as the ‘Big Three’ – Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt – went head to head over how to put the broken continent back together for peacetime. Borders were redrawn, nations dissected. Preston’s account goes beyond the “Eight Days” of the title to explore how the spirit of collaboration quickly dissolved once the…

“If Charles Babbage is considered the father of the computer, Ada Lovelace has just as much right to be considered its mother” Ada Lovelace was a mathematician and writer. The only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron, she is best known for her work helping to develop Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, a calculation machine which is essentially an early incarnation of a computer. The mother-of- three died of uterine cancer in London aged 36, and at her request was buried next to her father in Nottinghamshire.…

An 800-year-old figure of Christ originally discovered in York has been returned to the city after a long absence. The 16cm-long object, which would have once been mounted on an enamelled cross, was found in the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey in 1826, before going astray and ending up in the possession of a German art collector during the 1920s. The unique artefact – which is believed to have been crafted in Limoges, central France – has been acquired by the York Museums Trust, and will now be going on display at the city’s Yorkshire Museum. Have a story? Please email Jon Bauckham at jon.bauckham@immediate.co.uk…

“As a racism row rumbles on, is it time to retire the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’?” There are storms buffeting the world of Anglo-Saxon studies. Like the narrator of the Old English poem The Seafarer, many scholars are feeling battered by “dire sea-surges” and “bitter breast cares”. And the waves are coming from across the Atlantic. In the United States the academic Anglo-Saxon studies establishment, white-dominated and long perceived as excluding of BAME scholars, is now facing a backlash. The first target is the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS), a body predominantly concerned with Old English literature and culture, which over the last 35 years has done a great deal to further knowledge of the pre-Conquest period but which now stands accused of institutional racism. Recently, one of its vice presidents, a…

“The people of Britain went to sleep – and woke up 11 days later” The 3rd September 1752 did not exist. Neither did the 4th or the 5th, or indeed any of the days up to the 13th. In Britain those dates simply didn’t happen. People went to bed on the night of Wednesday 2 September and woke the next morning to discover it was Thursday 14 September. They were not dreaming and they had not slept for 11 days. The lost days were the casualties of a new law. Under the Calendar (New Style) Act of 1750, Britain abandoned the old Julian calendar and adopted the ‘new style’ Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar had been created during Julius Caesar’s rule as dictator of the Roman republic, and for a…

‘Democracy’ is a loan word, borrowed from ancient Greek demokratia. This is a portmanteau term, composed of two parts: demos and kratos. Kratos is unambiguous: meaning ‘power’. But the meaning of demos is less certain. On the one hand, it means ‘the people’, as in all the people who went to make up the polis or citizen-state of the Athenians. On the other hand, demos could also be used to mean ‘masses’, the poor majority of the Athenian citizen body. If you were not a democrat, you perhaps didn’t mind the first meaning of demos. But the chances are you hated the second – to you, that could mean mob rule. In Athens, all free men over the age of 18 were entitled to vote – that included rich and…

Following the trauma of the Graeco-Persian Wars of 480–479, it was time for further internal reform, in a progressive, democratising direction. The men of the hour were Ephialtes and his junior adjutant, Pericles. Their key move was to strip any old, originally aristocratic institutions of their last vestiges of power and transfer that to the masses – to the people in both senses of demos. This was done by establishing people’s jury courts, and staffing them with jurors selected by the democratic process of the random lottery. Such jurors were also judges, not only of criminality but of the law too, and they were paid from public funds to perform this public duty. This system flourished until the Athe- no-Peloponnesian War of 431–404, when Athens was defeated by its perennial…

In 1291, some 200 years after the crusading movement was launched, the last great bastion of the Christian territories of the Holy Land finally fell. Over the course of April and May, Acre was besieged by the might of the Mamluk empire, led by sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Kamil. He brought to bear a terrible array of weaponry: trebuchets, arrowstorms and Greek fire were deployed on a vast scale, while his engineers set about undermining the city’s walls. The defence was led by the Templars and Hospitallers, with the help of other crusaders and citizens. They fought and died almost to a man: the Grand Master of the Templars was speared through his armour, lingering long enough to be carried back to the Temple to die in the company of his…