Conservative History Journal

Tory Historian was proceeding along Park Lane in a northerly direction and decided to cross over to have another look at the Animals in War memorial. It is, one must say, rather moving. Here are two pictures from it, both of the pack horses, looking sad and long-sufferi...

Tory Historian cannot let this day pass without mentioning the one event of modern history that can be described as catastrophic in every way: the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by the Bosnian Serb nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, backed by six co-conspirators.That shot fired in Sarajevo has been rather dramatically described as the one that ushered in the “real” twentieth century. Certainly its outcome – the two groupings of allies...

Seeing Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia” in its first revival since 1993 sent Tory Historian into a frenzy of musing about research, evidence and the obvious difficulty all historians face of how much of what we know we actually do know and how much of it we can prove.This, one hastens to add, is only one of the themes in what is probably Stoppard’s most intellectual and, possibly, finest play. (An unreserved recommendation to anyone who might get...

Tory Historian had yet another argument about Whigs recently, when buying a second-hand copy of Ophelia Field's "The Kit-Cat Club" in a well known and highly regarde West London bookshop.The owner of the bookshop, a somewhat leftish minded lady, seemed to be convinced that the Whigs were the forerunners of all liberal and democratic thinkers, not merely a group of families and individuals who managed to wrest power away from the Crown and tried to ensure that it stayed with them.Could this be a hang-over from the old Whig tradition...

June 22, 1941Start of Operation BarbarossaThe Germans invade the Soviet Union across the borders created in 1939 - in reality, eastern Poland and the Baltic States....

As every school child should know yesterday was Waterloo Day. Tory Historian decided on a picture and a map. Well, how can you discuss or even think about a battle without a map?As to why a day late? Tory Historian has a reasonable excuse - the technology, clearly on the liberal side, proved to be recalcitra...

We have received notice of the following talk that may well interest some of our readers:‘Winston Churchill in defeat: Why did Churchill lose his seat in Dundee in 1922?’a talk by Seth Thévoz Wednesday 1 July 2009, 8pm Churchill Room, Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square, London, WC1N 2ABMap: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=B502%2FBernard+St&daddr=51.523971,-0.121021+to:Mecklenburgh+Square&hl=en&geocode=FXMuEgMdmxn-_w%3B%3BFRw0EgMdPDL-_w&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=17&via=1&dirflg=w&sll=51.523495,-0.121305&sspn=0.003298,0.006866&ie=UTF8&ll=51.524232,-0.12086&spn=0.001896,0.006909&z=17(It’s...

The reason Tory Historian was cogitating about this was a book by Giles Hunt, entitled “The Duel – Castlereagh, Canning and Deadly Cabinet Rivalry”.It is rather an odd book in that it follows the career of the two politicians with the focus on their long enmity, which finally resulted in the infamous duel of 1809 that left Canning with a flesh wound (though it could have been very serious, Mr Hunt keeps reminding us) and the reputation...

Tory Historian was caught up in the excitement (well, a slight frisson) that surrounded the European elections, which, in fact, will change very little. It is time to return to books that matter. On the list are two very different volumes."Private Views - Voices from the Front Line of British Culture", put together by Peter Whittle, director of The New Culture Forum and published jointly by NCF and the Social Affairs Unit, is not precisely historical except in its background, but an analysis of the state of British culture (a...

June 6, 1944 D-Day...

Time for me to issue a call for articles for the Conservative History Journal or, if people prefer to go about it that way, ideas for articles. Get in touch either through this blog or the e-mail in the Journal.I am looking for articles or reviews on any subject that might be characterized as having to do with the Conservative Party, its members, MPs, writers and ideologues and the conservative movement as a whole in Britain and other countries. That is a very wide remit.On the whole I would prefer not to have articles about...

As ever, Tory Historian is appalled by the paucity of recent postings on this blog. Let us rectify it by reference to two books, at present in the bathroom, to be read in a particularly relaxed mood. Both are about the history of food and drink but approach the subject very differently, not just from a geographical and social point of view but from that of what is important intellectually. (Eeek should one be using words like intellectually...