Conservative History Journal

Some time ago this blog mentioned a new biography of Herbert Butterfield, the analyst of "Whig history". I was greatly surprised to see a piece about about Butterfield by David Gordon on the Mises website. It is, in fact, a review of yet another study of the historian, by Kenneth B. McIntyre. Somehow, I had not connected Butterfield with libertarianism but the article concentrates largely on his views on foreign policy and they had a certain amount in common with the views usually expressed by contributors to the Mises site....

Yes, indeed, the Battle of Waterloo. In remembrance a picture and a m...

An important day in the history of England, the Anglosphere and political ideas: on June 15, 1215 the Great Seal was attached to the document called Articles of the Barons at Runnymede. We know it better as Magna Carta, the document that is seen by many as the basis of the special English political development, away from the Continental one, a development that was taken up by the countries that can now be called the Anglosphere. One...

The Conservative History Journal has had many postings about Dorothy L. Sayers, one of the best-known detective story writers and creator of Lord Peter Wimsey, popular theologian, literary scholar, playwright and undoubtedly a conservative in all her thoughts. She is mentioned in the piece on scouting, described as being more anti-Semitic than John Buchan (one of TH's favourite postings), referred to in a general posting on the conservative...

Today is the anniversary of the ending of the Falklands War. On the day in 1982 the Prime Minister announced to a packed House of Commons that a ceasefire has been agreed between the British and the Argentinian forces. Those were the days, when Prime Ministers and members of the Cabinet made important announcements in  Parliament not on TV. Mrs Thatcher told the Commons land forces commander Major-General Jeremy Moore had decided...

The next event of the Conservative History Group will take place on July 5, when D. R. Thorpe, prize-winning biographer of Macmillan, Eden, Douglas-Home and Selwyn Lloyd, will talk about Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's infamous "night of the long knives", whose fiftieth anniversary falls on July 13, this year. The notice sums up: In July 1962, following a slew of disappointing by-election results, Harold Macmillan dramatically sacked seven members of his Cabinet. It was seen as a ruthless cull, and marked the beginning of...

Tory Historian spent Sunday on the river, trying to see as much as possible of the pageant, Monday wandering round Soho and Chinatown, watching the various parties and performances (especially the cooking ones outside Leong's Legends in Lisle Street, and Tuesday in Trafalgar Square and the Mall with an estimated one and a half million other people. It was impossible to take pictures so newspaper photos have to be used. Also...

Some time ago I heard about a letter General Eisenhower wrote on the eve of D-Day (D-day --1) to be used in case the invasion went horribly wrong. In it he completely shouldered the blame for the failure. As it happens, though the fighting of the first few days was hard and bloody, the invasion was seen to be a success very soon and the letter did not surface for another month. Interestingly, he dated the letter July 5 though it was clearly written on June 5. Even General Eisenhower's nerves were playing up. Here is the text...

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