Opening of Reading Room of the British Library

Opening of the Reading Room at the British Library on 2 May 1857. For a week, a curious public streamed in for a special open viewing of its domed ceiling, elevated stacks of gilt-spined books, and blue leather reading tables radiating out from its central core of power and knowledge, the librarian’s desk. After this spectacle, the doors closed to all except those holding Readers Tickets, who could access, open, and read books deposited in the National Library. Image: Exterior of the Reading Room viewed from the Great Court of the British Museum. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

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Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

Pre-Raphaelite Art Exhibit

Pre-Raphaelite Art Exhibit, Russell Square, London, from 25 May to 25 June 1857. This was the first exhibition devoted solely to the work of the Pre-Raphaelites. Image: Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti: albumen print. This photograph, from 7 October 1863, was reproduced as the frontispiece of: Rossetti, William Michael, Dante Gabriel Rossetti as Designer and Writer. London: Cassell and Company, 1898. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

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Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

Massacre of British at Cawnpore, India

Massacre of British at Cawnpore by Nana Sahib’s troops on 15 July 1857. Image: A contemporary engraving of the massacre at the Satichura Ghat, Cawnpore (now Kanpur), India. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

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Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”

Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864 and 1866

Image of Josephine Butler, Important Campaigner for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act Via Wikipedia

The Contagious Disease Act was initially enacted in 1864 with the goal of preventing sexual diseases within the armed forces. This Act allowed for any woman who was suspected of being a prostitute to be arrested and later was forced to endure medical checks for sexually transmitted diseases. If a woman was to be found with a disease, they were detained in hospitals for a certain period of time. The Act was later reformed in 1866 as government officials worked to spread the jurisdiction of the Act to more sites of military personnel as well as the civilian population. Both Acts were to be carried out and executed through the use of police force with the addition of purpose-built lock wards in which the women were confined to in the reformed Act of 1866 (McHugh 16). To begin with, the Contagious Disease Act was defended as a means of sanitary measures and to set proper moral views. The House of Commons Committee states in Acton’s book, “Although the Act has only been in operation for two years and a half, and at some stations only seven months, strong testimony is borne to the benefits, both in a moral and sanitary point of view, which have already resulted from it” (Acton 3). With a little over two years in action, the House of Commons Committee claimed they were making beneficial strides towards a more sanitary and moral environment with the implementation of the Acts. Overall, prostitution had seemed to fully diminish and society seemed to morally be doing better. In addition, Acton states “Only those utterly ignorant of what has been achieved, will be so bold as to deny the excellent effects produced by the Contagious Disease Act in the protected districts” (Acton 11). Once again, Acton claims that there have been beneficial effects in response to the Acts, and anybody who denies it is wrong. Acton’s idea is that whatever is good for the few is good for the many, regardless of how the Acts treat women as inferior to men. When the Acts first came about, government officials did not worry themselves too much of defending the purpose of these Acts, as there was no significant challenge to their legitimacy (Walkowitz 71). It wasn’t until the late 1860s where public opposition became prominent enough to where government officials had to begin to justify themselves. The start of the repeal movement recruited many extraordinary campaigners who found the Acts to be repugnant such as moralists, feminists, individualists, and other opponents of medical pretensions and military arrogance (McHugh 16). One campaigner who made unprecedented strides towards the repeal of the Contagious Disease Acts and is considered to be the leader goes by the name of Josephine Butler. Mrs. Butler saw prostitution as a social problem rather than a sexual problem and demanded equality of treatment with men (McHugh 21). Mrs. Butler was not alone, as those who wanted to repeal the Act made the same argument. It was unfair to treat the disease as if it is something only a woman could cause and there cannot be an Act that singles out one gender and punish them. The Acts were essentially made for the protection of males in which was assured through the inspection of females (McHugh 17). Once again, government officials mentioned the moral and social benefits of the Act and made post hoc fallacies arguing that since women are the gender with the disease, they must be the one causing it, which was entirely irrelevant to the initial argument in 1864. At the end of the day, these acts were intended to be the first stage in the creation of a moral and sanitary utopia. The Contagious Diseases Acts were consistent with a set of attitudes and "habits of mind" toward women, sexuality, and class that permeated the official Victorian culture.

Works Cited:

Acton, William. Contagious Diseases Act, Shall the Contagious Diseases Act be Applied to the Civil Population? London, John Churchill & Sons, 1870.

McHugh, Paul. Prostitution and Victorian Social Reform. New York, Routledge, 1980.

Walkowitz, Judith R. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1980.

Opening of Girton College at Cambridge

https://editions.covecollective.org/sites/default/files/chronology-uploads/Girton_College%2C_Cambridge_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_87878.jpg

In 1869 the college of Girton at the University of Cambridge was founded by Emily Davies. Girton was the first women's college at Cambridge. Originally, Girton College was located at Hitchin, then shortly after opening moved to Girton where the campus remains today. Just two years later, in 1871, Henry Sidgwick opened a second college and residence for women in Cambridge which relocated to Newnham Hall and became known as Newnham College in 1875. In more recent times, the University of Cambridge opened two more women's colleges. New Hall opened in 1954 and Lucy Cavendish College opened in 1986.

Although Girton paved the way for women at Cambridge, Girton began admitting men into the school in 1977, while Newnham, New Hall and Lucy Cavendish all remain strictly women's colleges. In an article titled "English and American Colleges for Women," published in 1877, the writer talks about how even though Girton was a school at the University of Cambridge the students from Girton did not receive a University degree. In another article titled "Women at the University of Cambridge," it states that women did not receive degrees or full status until 1947. Women's acceptance into college was a step forward in the suffrage movement, giving women the right to attend classes, become more independent and have more job opportunities. When women finally received full status and degree, it became and an even bigger step forward, giving women and men a more equal education.

I received all of my information from articles "Women at the University of Cambridge," and "English and American Colleges for Women." All of the mapsites are women's colleges that I learned about in these articles along with Cambridge itself. 

Elaine D. Trehub. "Women at the University of Cambridge." The Victorian Web, November 27, 2016,         www.thevictorianweb.org/history/education/trehub/3.html

"English and American Colleges for Women." New York Times (1857- 1922), Feburary 18, 1877 pp. 6. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/93591529?...

First Delhi Coronation Durbar

1 January 1877 saw the first Delhi Coronation Durbar, organized by Viceroy Robert Lytton (Conservative) who called this event the "Imperial Assemblage." No one from the royal family attended, though the Prince of Wales visited India, 1875-76, to test Indian attitudes toward Britain and the royal family. This event in Delhi celebrated the 1876 Royal Titles Bill and proclaimed Victoria Empress of India, officially translated as Kaiser-i-Hind. Image: George Hayter, State portrait of Queen Victoria, 1860 (oil on canvas), from the Government Art Collection of the United Kingdom. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Julie Codell, “On the Delhi Coronation Durbars, 1877, 1903, 1911″

Criminal Law Amendment Act

Criminal Law Amendment Act passed on 14 August 1885. The Act raised the age of consent for girls from 13 to 16 and introduced the misdemeanor of “gross indecency” to criminalize sexual acts between men in public or private. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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Founding of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies

A photo of the NUWSS badge by W.O. Lewis Ltd, via museumoflondonprints.com

On October 16, 1896, approximately twenty leaders of women’s suffrage organizations in Britain gathered together at the Birmingham Conference to discuss the possibility of merging their individual societies into one joint organization. Because each society was fighting for the same overall goal-- women’s suffrage-- they decided that uniting their organizations would be a beneficial and powerful strategy (Hume 4, Vellacott 1). Thus, one year later, on October 14, 1897, the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, commonly acronymized as NUWSS, was founded. At its founding, the NUWSS had seventeen member societies, including many of the largest and most influential women’s suffrage organizations in Britain at the time (Hume 4). The seventeen member societies branded themselves-- and the NUWSS as a whole-- as a non-militant, constitutional, and non-party-affiliated organization united to achieve women’s suffrage (Holton 1, Hume 5, Vellacott 1).

In the early years, the role of the NUWSS was limited. Because each member society still functioned independently in its designated location and the NUWSS had no funds to support its members, the organization had little control over how the individual societies functioned. Instead of managing its members, the main duty of the NUWSS was to communicate with the Committee of Parliamentary Supporters of Women’s Suffrage (Hume 6, Vellacott 2). Direct communication with Members of Parliament was the first step in getting the government to hear and consider the idea of women’s suffrage (Hume 6).

Spearheading the NUWSS after its founding was Millicent Garrett Fawcett who served as the president of the organization from 1898-1919 (Holton 1, Hume 7-8). Fawcett had experience with women’s rights, as she grew up with a father who was a strong believer in feminism and a sister who helped to pave the way for women in the medical field (Holton 1). Fawcett and many other members of NUWSS were described as women whose personalities closely resembled that of a typical Victorian woman. They were kind wives and mothers and gentle, loving figures all around (Hume 13). While this helped create a sense of camaraderie among the societies in the NUWSS, it was not helpful in their quest to have their issues heard or considered by the government.

In general, 1897-1903 were building years for the NUWSS and were not as successful as perhaps the organization had hoped. The NUWSS tried to advocate for their cause, but they were often too gentle and did not fight to break the sex barriers to have their voices heard by Members of Parliament (Hume 9-11). After years of not having a single concern of theirs talked about in the House of Commons, the Committee of Parliamentary Supporters of Women’s Suffrage suggested that the individual member societies of the NUWSS directly approach Members of Parliament who lived in their area to communicate to them the importance of women’s suffrage (14). If Members of Parliament could be convinced women’s suffrage was an important cause, perhaps the entire Parliament would listen to the issue.

In 1903, after the Boer War was over and a General Election was approaching, the NUWSS had a change in strategy. In late 1903, two-hundred women from the NUWSS and other women’s rights societies met for a convention in London (Holton 1, Hume 20-21). What is argued to be the most important aspect of the 1903 convention was the idea that going forward, the NUWSS would establish new committees in every county in Britain and Ireland (Hume 21). These new committees would commit themselves to consistently speaking with Members of Parliament and electoral candidates about the women’s suffrage issue as well as informing the general public about the importance of women’s suffrage and encouraging them to only support candidates who supported the cause (Hume 21, Vellacott 2). These actions helped to establish the NUWSS as a united, governing body rather than a collection of individual societies (Hume 21-22).

After the 1906 election where the Liberal party secured its place in office, the NUWSS was hopeful that its campaigning efforts would lead the House of Commons to discuss women’s suffrage, but they were, once again, overly optimistic (Hume 23). After having no success in having their concerns heard, in July 1906, the NUWSS started a movement to speak to individuals in Parliament who were against women’s suffrage to try to convince them to rethink their position. Then, in October of the same year, the NUWSS announced it would sponsor a candidate who supported women’s suffrage (26).

While all of these efforts were steps in the right direction in the overall goal of achieving women’s suffrage, the NUWSS was still a fairly new and growing society. In the following years, the organization had its share of ups and downs. It organized public events to further campaign for this cause, and it was eventually renamed the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (Holton 4). The fight for equal voting rights for women continued into 1928 when it was finally achieved thanks, in part, to the work of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies.

Works Cited

Holton, Sandra Stanley. “National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (Act. 1896–1918).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 24 May 2008, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/96378.

Hume, Leslie Parker. The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies 1897-1914. Vol. 3, Routledge, 2016.

Vellacott, Jo. Pacifists, Patriots and the Vote: The Erosion of Democratic Suffragism in Britain During the First World War. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

First Wireless communication across the Atlantic

Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi

At the turn of the 20th century, Guglielmo Marconimi, an Italian inventor and electric engineer, began investigating a means to signal across the Atlantic to compete with the transatlantic telegraph cables. Marconi established a wireless transmitting station at Marconi House, Rosslare Strand, County Wexford, in 1901 to act as a link between Poldhu in Cornwall, England, and Clifden in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. He soon made the announcement that the message was received at Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland (now part of Canada), on 12 December 1901, using a 500-foot (150 m) kite-supported antenna for reception—signals transmitted by the company's new high-power station at Poldhu, Cornwall. The distance between the two points was about 2,200 miles (3,500 km).

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Gavrilo Princip shooting the Archduke and his wife.

On the twenty-eighth of June, 1914, a young man toppled the fragile structure of world order with two bullets—one for Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, the other for the Archduke’s wife, Sophie. 

The royal couple were invited to the Bosnian capital of Saravejo, which was annexed by the Austrian empire in 1908, by General Oskar Potoirek to attend a speech in the city hall and inspect imperial military personnel. The shooting occurred just hours after a botched bombing attempt, about which the Archduke is recorded to have said to the military governor, “What is the good of your speeches? I come to Sarajevo on a visit, and I get bombs thrown in my face. It is outrageous” (The Times). After the failed bombing, the speech and the inspection of Sarajevo’s military parade, riding in the back of a roofless motor-car—as was common for the time—through the streets of Sarajevo among a crowd of thousands gathered to see the royal couple, they were shot dead (The Times). 

After the two shots were fired, the young gunman swallowed a cyanide pill but somehow survived (Jay 19). He was promptly pointed out by the crowd and arrested by Bosnian officials. That young gunman was nineteen-year-old Gavrilo Princip, misidentified by The Times in London as Nadjeliko Cabrinovitch just a day after it happened. Gavrilo Princip was one of three men involved in the assassination plot directly, and a member of the Black Hand, a group of Serbian nationalist extremists (Jay 19). He was too young to be executed by Austria-Hungarian law, so he was instead sentenced to life in prison in Theresienstadt, where he wasted away in solitary confinement (Jay 19). The Black Hand’s actions, carried out by Gavrilo Princip’s hand, is often considered to be the straw that broke the camels back with regards to stoking the flame of the first world war (Schmitt 70). 

This event is important to highlight when exploring historical examples of “toxic patriotism”, as Gavrilo Princip’s nationalistic mindset is ultimately what led to his involvement with the Black Hand and eventually to his shooting of the Archduke. Moreover, although Princip ultimately died for his actions, he was hailed as a martyr by many who viewed the annexation of Sarajevo and Bosnia as a bad thing, thus further stoking a ravenous nationalistic mindest which spiraled into WW1 (Jay 20). Similarly, this sentiment was mirrored in the attitudes of many of the nations which then involved themselves in the war—this idea of the romanticisation or the idealization of one’s homeland. To Princip, his homeland was under siege by a foreign power, infected and otherwise beautiful, and that is a state of mind which mirrors many contemporary examples of toxic patriotism—namely the January 6th insurrection at the United States capitol building.

In both this event and the insurrection of the U.S. capital building, the party responsible for the violence believed they were engaging in a fight to rid their homeland from an occupying force which tainted its natural goodness.  

Primary Source:

 "Austrian Heir and his Wife Murdered." The Times, 29 June 1914, p. 8. Gale Primary Sources, https://go-gale-com.

Other Works Cited:

 Jay, Martin. "The Manacles of Gavrilo Princip." Salmagundi, no. 106/107, 1995, pp. 14-21. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40548800. 

Schmitt, Bernadotte E. "The Origins of the War of 1914." The Journal of Modern History, vol. 24, no. 1, March 1952. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1871982. 

The Russian Civil War

 From the wake of World War I, Russia was divided. Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution. It is important to add that Lenin believed the only way to bring change was through violent uprising and not peaceful change. Once in power, Lenin had pulled Russia out of the war so the nation could focus on rebuilding, specifically by using Marxism to help build the communist state. This revolution and Lenin’s rise to power threw Russia into conflict quickly. Many different people rose up to push back against these Bolshevik ideals. 

There were two main groups that were opposing Lenin: the non-Bolshevik left, who had been finally alienated from Lenin by his dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and the rightist Whites, whose main asset was the Volunteer Army in the Kuban steppes. This “White Army” as they called themselves was the biggest opposition to Lenin. It was composed of many different groups but all to go against the Bolshevik Red Army. Multiple battles erupted all throughout Russia. While many of the smaller armies/movements struggled, The White Army held strong and was holding their own against the Bolsheviks. In late 1918, the Bolsheviks only really held power in the western industrial cities because of Allied Germany, treaties, and the White Army’s advances. 

Then in November 1918, World War I officially came to an end and the line of Eastern Europe were redrawn. Other countries pulled their troops out and the Bolsheviks saw their chance to push. The Bolsheviks sought dominance over the East and West. Their push east was not too successful, but into the east they spread quickly. With this push the Bolsheviks took dominance fast. This is largely due to the fact that the Bolsheviks had a singular, united goal and a strong leader behind it, while the White Army was more disjointed with many goals throughout the leaders. 

In 1919, the White Army was making progress towards Moscow but the Bolsheviks then made an alliance with the Black Army in Ukraine and stopped their advancement and pushed them back. By 1920, the White Army was all but destroyed in the East. The Whites could no longer effectively fight the Black and Red Army. Late 1920 saw Poland and Ukraine form an alliance and launch an offensive against the Bolsheviks in hopes to reunite the Ukrainian State. While they captured Kyiv they were met by a numerically superior Red Army. The Red Army then kept advancing farther into Poland but were halted and the Bolsheviks made a treaty with Poland. This guaranteed Polish independence but left Ukraine under Bolshevik control. With this, the remnants of the White Army fled. Even in this, Lenin saw more opportunity for power and control. With the White Army fleeing, this allowed Lenin to break his alliance with the Black Army and turn on them. They would eventually surrender in 1921. The Bolsheviks would then take over Georgia and Romania to finish off the White Army. The Bolsheviks annexation of the Far Eastern Republic in 1922 effectively ended the war and created the Soviet Union. 

The revolution and war displayed the ruthless power-grabbing mindset under Lenin and the Bolsheviks that has led to so much of what modern Russia has become. Lenin’s ideals and effect on history still have weight and repercussions in the present. Russia and Ukraine are still dealing with the trickle-down effect of this complex history. The grasping for power at the expense of others is still something that weighs on these countries as we can see in Ukraine today. 

Works Cited

 Reiman, Michael. “About the Russian Revolution of 1917.” About Russia, Its Revolutions, Its Development and Its Present, Peter Lang AG, 2016, pp. 13–24, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2t4dn7.4. Accessed 26 Apr. 2022

1921-22 - The Formation of the Irish Free State

Despite having a history of violence and distrust between the Irish Republic and England for years prior, from approximately 1916-1921, the Anglo-Irish war, or the Irish War of Independence, resulted in the formation of the Irish Free State. To conclude the war, the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed which declared the Irish Free State as an independent dominion similar to the then Dominion of Canada and the Commonwealth of Australia within the British Empire. Because of this treaty, the Irish Free State essentially had political independence, but the treaty included the Irish Free State as part of the British Commonwealth and included a heavily debated oath of allegiance that declared, 

  “I….do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free  State as by law established and that I will be faithful to H.M. King George V., his heirs and successors by law, in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of Nations” (Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland). 

There was a three-step process for the transfer of power from British rule that included a provisional government, an assembly of constituents to approve a constitution, and the election of the first parliament (Corcoran). Exactly one year after the treaty was signed, December 6th, 1922, the Irish Free State government officially gained political control under the leadership of Prime Minister William T. Cosgrave. The next day, Northern Ireland decided to remain separate from the Irish Free State. 

As a newly independent state, the first few months and years of the Irish Free State suffered from many internal issues (Corcoran). Conflict broke out into what is considered to be the Irish Civil War between those who approved the Anglo-Irish treaty and those who refused to recognize the state as a free state. Because of this internal fighting, the government of the Irish Free State had a primary focus on Law and Order and therefore passed acts such as the Public Safety Act 1923, the Punishment of Offenders Act 1924, the Firearms Act 1924, and the Treasonable and Seditious Offences Act 1925 (Corcoran). Ultimately, those in favor of the Anglo-Irish treaty won the civil war, and the fighting wasted many resources in a newly independent dominion (Corcoran). Despite the internal political fighting; however, a government was established relatively quickly which is significant as the Irish Free State is still separated from Great Britain and the United Kingdom in the 21st century and remains a heavy political discussion among cultures, citizens, and religion. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF3P7cdgU_I

Works Cited 

Cocoran, Donal. "Public Policy in an emerging state: The Irish Free State 1922-25." Irish Journal of Public Policy, vol. 1, no. 1, Dec. 2009.

Great Britain and Irish Free State. treaties.un.org, https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/LON/Volume%2026/v26.pdf#page=9. Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland signed in London on December 6. 1921.

The Irish Free State. , 2016. RTE The Week In Politics www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF3P7cdgU_I.

1928 - Women Over the Age of 21 Gain Voting Rights

In 1928 women twenty-one or older finally received the right to vote in the UK. This did not come easy to women and took a lot to accomplish. The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. “It was not until the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 that women over twenty-one were able to vote and women finally achieved the same voting rights as men. This act increased the number of women eligible to vote to fifteen million.” (Thevote). Some would later complain that the age should be lowered to eighteen, but this would not happen until 1967. The Representation of the People Act of 1918 helped pave the road to the Equal Franchise Act, it allowed women over the age of thirty who met a property qualifications to vote. Yet this left out a significant amount of women allowing only two-thirds of the total population of women in the UK to vote. It would unfortunately take another decade to reach the Equal Franchise Act allowing all women the right to vote with no restrictions except age. Many of the women who had fought for this right were now dead including Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Barbara Bodichon, Emily Davies, Elizabeth Wolstenholme-Elmy, Constance Lytton and Emmeline Pankhurst. However, the leader of the NUWSS during the campaign Millicent Fawcett, was still alive and attended Parliament to see the vote take place. Winston Churchill, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was opposed to women’s right to vote and argued that the country should not be put into the hands of a female majority. He was just one struggle women faced along with other hardships like being imprisoned, hunger strikes, and assault. Overall women are lucky to have the rights they do today and must never stop fighting to be just as equal as men.

Video about 2 minutes: https://it-it.facebook.com/JeremyCorbynMP/videos/jeremy-corbyn-votes-for-women/10156562425118872/

Video about 3 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WxDvkO7Pw8

Citations:

([email protected]), J. (n.d.). Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://spartacus-educational.com/W1928.htm

Millicent Fawcett on the passing of the Equal Franchise Act - archive, 6 July 1928. (2018, July 06). Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/06/millicent-fawcett-equal-franchise-women-vote-1928

Thevote. (n.d.). Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/thevote/

Women's suffrage timeline. (2017, August 16). Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/womens-suffrage-timeline

The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War took place from 1936-1939, it was between the nationalists and republicans of Spain. A main cause of the war was that the Spanish democracy was failing its people and not fulfilling their needs. Some saw this war as a precursor to World War II, which it very likely was. Nationalists were more conservative and traditional; republicans were socialist. General Francisco Franco became a prevalent nationalistic figure within the war. He deployed nationalist troops to seize cities of Spain. The war had many different layers to it, class differences, religious struggle, dictatorship vs democracy, and fascism vs communism. Again the idea of duality presents itself. There are always multiple perspectives when it comes to understanding the several layers of war. The nationalists ultimately won the war, yet there was still a political division and power struggle within the country. The war took place during the art exposition in Paris. This attracted more attention to controversial art. Picasso did many pieces on war and conflict, and Dora’s portrait can be interpreted as such. It can be seen as a display of anxiety in the Spanish people as well as those around the world.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/spanish-civil-war-breaks-out 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War 

The Blitz

Milkman walking through the rubbles of London during The Blitz.

The Blitz was an eight month long bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, especially East London, by the Germans during World War II. During this time, the Docklands in the East End of London, where the pub Limehouse is located, contained some of the city's most important hubs for imports and had storafe areas for necessities that were needed to support the war effort. Due to this, it became a huge target for bombing raids. The Germans believed that if they could cut off this major hub, that the United Kingdom would have supply shortages and the overall country would be weaker and easier to overcome. After the first night of the Blitz, there were over 1900 casualties, and by the end of it, over 47,000 houses were destroyed. They even bombed Buckingham Palace in 1940. After this period and after the war, the East End was almost completely destroyed and much of the land was in ruins, meaning that there was a lot of work that went into rebuilding the city. The men in this photo most likely would have been dockworkers who stopped by the pub after work and the woman in the photo could have been a sex worker trying to make money in a time when the world was rebuilding its wealth after the Second World War. 

Oakley, Malcolm. World War 2 and East London. East London History. 7 Oct. 2013.

     https://www.eastlondonhistory.co.uk/world-war-2-east-london/

     Accessed 27 Mar 2022.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. the Blitz. Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Aug. 2021.

     https://www.britannica.com/event/the-Blitz.

     Accessed 27 March 2022.

The economic downfall from the stock market crash caused the economy of the United Kingdom to do a tailspin and completely fall apart. With high unemployment rates and low demand for exports out of Europe, many people were scared of how they were going to be able to survive this time in their lives. Towards the end of the Great Depression was when World War II began. This photo by Bill Brandt takes place in the Docklands of London, on the East End. This was a hub for imports and exports for the United Kingdom and due to that, was a huge target for German bombers in the beginning of World War II. This was when the Blitz occurred for a period of about 8 months. The goal of the Germans was to weaken the country by not allowing it to get anything shipped in and for not getting anything sent out. After these bombings, London was nearly unrecognizable, and it took lots of hard work to rebuild the country back up to what it once was prior to the war. The time after World War II, when this photo of Charley Brown’s Pub was taken by Bill Brandt in 1945, was a time of growth, hope, and rebuilding. This was a time that called for all hands on deck. The men in this photo, most likely dockworkers, played a large role in rebuilding the country. They were the ones loading and unloading ships that were being sent in and out. They were the ones who were the backbone of the country who worked to make it a better place. In 1928, women in the United Kingdom were given universal suffrage. From that time up until World War II and beyond, more and more women began to be a part of the work force and become the “New Woman” that had many talents and skills.  During World War II, women had to step up and take the place of many of the jobs that men had to abandon to go to war. After the war, women believed that they should keep the jobs and be able to have a place in the work force.  This was an important period in time because although legally women were given equal rights in 1928 by Parliament, socially, there was still inequality between men and women. Women’s work towards the war effort showed men that they were capable and that they were deserving of their rights. Additionally, after World War II when many countries had to be rebuilt both physically and economically, the more help, the better. Therefore, I believe speaking about the newfound independence and freedom of women during this time is important to note when looking at this image. The men in this photo most likely would have been dockworkers who stopped by the pub after work and the woman in the photo could have been a sex worker trying to make money in a time when the world was rebuilding its wealth after the Second World War. However, I think that there is an argument that the woman in the photo is in fact not a sex worker and is a woman coming home from work. She may represent the modern woman at this time by wearing pants and a long coat, having short hair, and being in the Docklands of London, right where all of the docks were that were being loaded and unloaded. I believe that all three of these events: The Slump, the Blitz, and women entering the work force all had a great influence on this image.

India and Pakistan became independent.

Four nations (Dominion of India, Dominion of Pakistan, Dominion of Ceylon, and Union of Burma) that gained independence in 1947 and 1948

The Partition of India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. The Dominion of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Pakistan—which at the time comprised two regions lying on either side of India—is now the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People's Republic of Bangladesh.