A Lecture by Professor Vernon Bogdanor (Brasenose College, University of Oxford)
The Coalition and the Constitution: The SU History Society in association with British Government @ LSE
The formation of the coalition government in May 2010 marked a number of firsts, not least being the first administration formed during peacetime. The wide-ranging number of political reforms embarked on by the new inter-party bodies, especially fixed-term parliaments and a referendum on the alternative vote electoral system have the potential to permanently alter the face of the British political system. In addition, moves towards a directly elected House of Lords and increased localism have also been mooted by the new government. The effects of these reforms form the basis of Professor Bogdanor's new book, "The Coalition and the Constitution", due to be published at the end of March 2011.
Vernon Bogdanor is widely accepted as being one of the leading authorities on the British Constitution and political history. He is currently a Research Professor at the Institute for Contemporary History at King's College London. Until 2009 he was Professor of Government at the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of Brasenose College and of the British Academy.
History Society Committee
A Lecture by Dr Anthony Beevor (Visiting Professor, Birkbeck College, University of London)
Title: From Berlin to Baghdad - How Warfare has Changed Date: Tuesday 18 January 2011 Time: 6.30pm Location: TW1.U8 Chair: TBC
The Twentieth Century has been one of almost continuous conflict. Even with the end of Total War in 1945, military action has continued unabated around the world, from the proxy wars of the superpowers in Vietnam to the coalition efforts in the Middle East. Next year will mark the 70th Anniversary of the B...attle of Stalingrad, the bloodiest in history, and the developments that have been seen in warfare since then has been the major influence on Professor Beevor's writings.
The development of military tactics and strategy will be the focus of this lecture, which will draw from a number of sources and events over the past seventy years.
Antony Beevor is Visiting Professor at the School of History at Birkbeck College, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 1997. He was educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst where he studied under the military historian John Keegan. His works include Stalingrad, which won the Wolfson Prize for History in 1998, and Berlin - The Downfall 1945, which was a top seller in seven countries.
For further information about the lecture, see the Facebook event here:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=172920442749558
We look forward to welcoming you to this event,
History Society Committee
The Big Fat History Pub Quiz of the Year
Our next social event will be on the Monday of Week Nine, hopefully after you've all got your final essays in! In order to take your mind off history, we've decided to hold a quiz based around history (perhaps we didn't think that one through). There will be several rounds and a rather wonderful set of prizes to be won as well as a limited supply of free drink (to quote Father Ted)
The kind-hearted members of the Faculty will be popping along as well lend their brain power to the various teams, careful though, they can be a competitive lot so do your best not to get yourselves caught in the crossfire.
If you want to bring a friend along, that would be great, although we will have to ask them for the princely sum of £1.50 in order to help cover the costs of the event!
Also, did we mention that they would be FREE DRINK available as well? It's going to be the best social event since the Feast of Chestnuts (although perhaps with less virility contests in the Papal Apartments...)
Kind regards
LSESU History Society Committee
Charles Esdaile: "Bullets, Baggages and Ballads: Forgotten Sources for the History of British Military Women in the 'Horse and Musket' period"
In this lecture, Professor Esdaile will look at the history of one of the more obscure areas of British Military History, the role of women in the pre-modern era. The lecture promises to be a fascinating one for students of many academic disciplines.
Charles Esdaile is Professor of Modern History at the University of Liverpool. He received his PhD from Lancaster University in 1986 and has been a senior lecturer at the Universities of Durham and Southampton.
Charles Esdaile is an historian working at the interface of military, political and social history. He is a leading specialist on Spain in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era, specifically the Peninsular War of 1808-14. His work has also ranged over the history of Spain in the whole period from 1788 to 1939, as well as the general history of the Napoleonic Empire
We look forward to welcoming you to this event,
History Society Committee
For our first social of the year, the History Society will be holding a meet and greet in the George IV Function room on the LSE Campus at 7:30PM on Thursday 14th October (this Thursday).
There will be free drink and bar snacks at the start of the evening, so please come along before the tab has gone and you have to pay for your own provisions! This is a great chance to meet your new committee and fellow history society members. Various members of the History Faculty have said that they'll be popping along as well, so please come early to ensure that you beat the crowd that will inevitably surround them.
Remember, there is free drink at the start of the evening, when you think that thousands of men signed up to join the Royal Navy because of the rum ration, you have to admit that it is a rather good deal. After all, it's not like we're asking you to sail around the globe sinking Napoleon's fleet…
…well, not in the immediate future at least.
Kind regards
The History Society Committee
Lecture by Professor Tim Blanning: 'The Triumph of Music in the Modern World'Date: Thursday, 4 March
Chair: Dr Tim Hochstrasser
The power and prestige of music in the modern world has given its practitioners extraordinary wealth and moral authority. This is taken for granted now and yet for much of Europe's history musicians have been mere servants. Mozart was booted out of the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg 'with a kick to my arse', as he expressed it. Yet today Bono, who was touted as the next president of the World Bank in 2006, travels the world advising politicians - and they have to seem to listen.
The rise of music and musicians in the West will be the subject of Tim Blanning's lecture, which will make use of an array of audio and visual material.
Tim Blanning is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College and of the British Academy.
For further information about the lecture, see the Facebook event here:
We look forward to welcoming you to this event,
History Society Committee
History Society Lecture by Professor David Reynolds: Churchill and Stalin: A Special Relationship?
Date: Thursday, 11th February
David Reynolds is Professor of International History at Cambridge University. He was awarded the Wolfson Prize for History, 2004, and elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2005. Author of 14 books, Professor Reynolds also regularly appears on television presenting programmes on twentieth century history.
For further information about the lecture, see the Facebook event here:
We look forward to welcoming you to this event,
History Society Committee
History Society talk with Howard Davies: Reflections of a former history student
Date: Monday, 1 February
Howard Davies studied for his undergraduate degree in Modern History and Modern Languages at Merton College, Oxford.
In this talk he will reflect on how his study of history shaped his career after graduation. There will be an opportunity for questions after the talk.
Before becoming Director of the LSE, Howard Davies worked as chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
In this talk, Sir Howard will consider how studying history can provide skills relevant to a wide range of non-academic career options. It is an unmissable opportunity for history students wondering how they will answer the question, 'what have you learnt from studying history?'
For further information about the talk, see the Facebook event:
Peter Hennessy lecture on 'Whitehall's Cold War Preparations for World War Three'
Date: Tuesday 24th November
Peter Hennessy lecture on 'Whitehall's Cold War Preparations for World War Three'
In his talk, Professor Hennessy drew upon recently declassified evidence about the British government's detailed contingency plans for the outbreak of a global conflict during the Cold War. In doing so, he gave some fascinating if chilling insights into the British secret state of the Cold War era, and some suggestions as to the possible consequences of a nuclear confrontation.
Peter Hennessy is Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary College, London and a Fellow of the British Academy. Before embarking upon his career as a professional historian in 1992, he was a journalist for twenty years with spells at The Times, The Financial Times and The Economist, as well as a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4.
Professor Hennessy has been described as 'a political historian and journalist who has himself become something of a national institution'. He is the award-winning author of the best-selling books The Prime Minister, The Secret State, Having it So Good, and most recently, Cabinets and the Bomb. He is a frequent broadcaster and is regularly consulted by all political parties on constitutional and historical questions.
For further information about the event, see the Facebook event here:
Quentin Skinner lecture on 'The genealogy of liberty'
Tuesday 17th November 2009
In this lecture, Professor Skinner looks at the genealogical history and philosophy of the idea of 'liberty', one of the central values in current political life.
Quentin Skinner is the Barber Beaumont Professor of the Humanities at Queen Mary, University of London, having previously held the distinguished position of Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge.
He has written extensively on the intellectual history of early-modern Europe, particularly on the Renaissance and the development of humanist moral and political thought, and on seventeenth-century political philosophy, in particular that of Thomas Hobbes. Professor Skinner is regarded as one of the two principal members of the influential 'Cambridge School' of the study of the history of political thought. He has been awarded numerous prestigious scholarly awards, and has been the recipient of honorary degrees from the Universities of Chicago, Harvard, and Oxford, among others.