Victorian

Michael Langley introduces the prophet of free colonisation in Australasia.

Boycotting, sanctioned by the fear of violence, was a dreadfully effective weapon; T.H. Corfe describes how its widespread use made Parnell the “Uncrowned King of Ireland.”

During the opening years of the twentieth century, writes I.F. Clarke, many fantastic forecasts of the coming World War aroused widespread interest and alarm.

Parliament initially became troubled by the working classes 'thundering at the gates'. Curiously, writes Paul Adelman, it was the Conservative Party that benefited from Russell’s Reform Act.

During an industrial conflict that lasted five weeks and brought the Port of London to a standstill, writes R.B. Oram, the “close fraternity of the docks” struck for better working conditions and more generous rates of pay.

K. Theodore Hoppen describes how the victory of the ultramontanes in 1870 meant that for a considerable time the largest Church in Christendom adopted an attitude hostile to the modern world.

The Battle of Majuba Hill during the First Boer War, had immense political and military significance to British arms—and not only in South Africa. Its chief cause, writes Brian Bond, was a gross underestimation of the Boer’s tactical aptitude and courage.

For 80 years the Braganza dynasty guided the destiny of Brazil. How did Dom Pedro I and his successor come to reign in a continent of republicans?

Robert Blake traces the career of Edward Geoffrey Stanley, a low-profile leader who nevertheless became British Prime Minister three times: firstly in 1852; then from 1858-59; and lastly from 1866-68.

On November 17th, 1874, when Henry Morton Stanley marched away from Bagamoyo on what was to be his greatest exploring achievement, he was retracing his own steps of 1871 along the well-worn caravan route used by Burton and Speke in 1857; by Speke and Grant in 1860, and, writes C.E. Hamshere, many Arab traders before them.