The Top Hat

Brunel University History Society

Issue 001

The Top Hat

Nelson and Trafalgar

Inside this Issue Page 5

Page 3 Page 4

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Naval History Stephanie Corner

Editor’s Letter

Louis Adcock

Presidents Letter Tavinder Mangat

Page 8

Reviews

Laura Marriner

Page 7

Food History

Amy Copping

BUHS Page 9

Military History

Zander Oldring

Page 11

Cold War

Louis Adcock

Page 12

Historical Figure

Sara Brimble

Page 12

Coming Up

BUHS

Page 13

Bios

BUHS

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From the Editor

As editor of this newsletter I would like to welcome you.

Through this newsletter you will be able to observe what makes us tick as historians and hopefully will be able to discover interests of your own.

Whether drawn to our naval history, food history or any other sections that we think of along the way is not important. I only hope that you can engage with and most importantly enjoy the contents of this newsletter.

Should your intrigue take you even further than simply reading, anyone is welcome to become a contributor to this newsletter via the History Society.

I hope you like this first issue and thanks for reading, Louis Adcock Editor-in-chief

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From the President

On behalf of everyone on the History Society Committee I would like to wish a warm welcome to all new and returning students. This year we have a new addition to the History Society in the form of this brilliant newsletter.

The conception of this newsletter began many months ago as an idea in a committee meeting. Now the hard work of several months has culminated in a superb publication that as President of the History Society I am very proud to introduce. The first issue of The Top Hat showcases the literary talent of a number of History students. In this newsletter we have tried to include many different varieties of articles, ranging from the serious and academic, to the more light-hearted. As a monthly publication the newsletter will also provide students with updates and news regarding the History department.

You may already have been told many times and by several people that getting involved is a key part of being at university, and that is because it is absolutely true. It is up to you what you make of your time at Brunel. Do not idle it away by sitting back and doing very little outside of lectures, take part and contribute and enrich your own experience. This newsletter is one of many ways in which you can engage with History outside of lectures and the set curriculum. We encourage articles on diverse areas of History regardless of whether they are taught at Brunel.

I would like to thank everyone who worked on this issue, all our contributors and editors for their hard work and congratulate them on producing such an excellent first issue of The Top Hat. Tavinder Mangat President, History Society

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Horatio Nelson W

hen people think about naval history, they often cast their minds back to the Georgian era. There, a man known for his leadership and strategy within the Royal Navy had only joined the navy after being advised to by his uncle. However, he had rose to hold his own command at just 20 years old.

Nevertheless, this young man didn’t arrive flat packed and ready to win tremendous battles. The era was changing and with rapid expansion and opposition from new political opponents the competition was tough. Also, he himself

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perhaps approached battles a little too hastily and with an air of cockiness and there wasn’t always victory on the horizon.

The French revolutionary wars had many ups and downs for those involved.

The young man willing to leap into action against the French and Spanish for the Hanoverian kings was Norfolk born Horatio Nelson, more commonly known as Lord Nelson. He acquired this title in a battle which proved to be Britain’s greatest naval victory.

Lord Nelson, having just one arm after losing the other in the battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and having the sight of only one eye, managed to perform the most successful defeat of the

combined forces whom he had previously failed to block in and bring to battle.

This battle in 1805, the Battle of Trafalgar, is widely read about and discussed. It happens to be the most exciting naval accomplishment and many writers and presenters still talk about its success. Though the battle made Nelson one of Britain’s most heroic figures it also happened to be the very battle at which Nelson was fatally wounded and killed, packed into a cask of brandy and transported home to England for a state funeral.

On the 21st day of October the British fleet had only 25 ships of the line compared to the Spanish and French 33 ships. It looked to

A Legend Remembered be an inevitable British defeat.

However, due to Nelson’s inspirational leadership, the British, or shall I say notso- British Royal Navy were prepared.

The 18,’000 sailors fighting that day were not all British. Having been press – ganged into the navy and forced to fight for King and Country, 1,’400 sailors from 25 different nationalities were aboard the ships. Under Vice admiral Collingwood’s division aboard HMS Bellerophon was Samuel Marlow, ‘Sambo’ an ex-slave from Jamaica, Jon Hackett a black American, and Sherry Piccar a 13 year old powder monkey, who was French, strangely enough, fighting against the French.

However, all those on the ship who played their part had a right to any prize money, which might have set them up

for life, and Nelson made sure everyone accepted their roles as he famously said “England expects that every man will do his duty”.

It wasn’t only weird that Nelson had foreign sailors fighting for Britain, but he had some oddly named ships too.

Nelson’s flagship was ironically called HMS Victory, a fitting name for the success of the British. As his ships followed the wind coming from the west, east towards the line of combined ships of the opposition, taking advantage of their Windward and Leeward line of attack, many of them had names worth writing about. There was Conqueror, and Leviathan, Minotaur, and Britannia, Orion and Pickle., Yes, I do mean Pickle. However, named weirdly or not, Pickle was the first of the ships to bring news of the victory to Great Britain and the ships rose to win and took 15 of the opponent’s vessels before Nelson’s death. A storm which

destroyed many of the captured ships leaving only 4 happened after all the fighting was through and Nelson had passed, so according to him, the British won a lot more than it really did., Bbut hey, he’ll never know.

It was on deck that Nelson was shot, and today there is a plaque on HMS Victory to show this, be careful if you visit it that you don’t trip over it too. After being carried downstairs, Nelson was attended to a lot, and often asked for updates about the battle. It is said he asked Hardy, his flag captain, to kiss him, but whether he did or not shouldn’t be what you are asking. What Hardy did do was make sure Nelson knew he had won so he could die victorious and not at a low in his career.

In Nelson’s final letter he asked that the Nation look after his mistress Lady Emma Hamilton and his daughter, originally and creatively named, Horatia. She went on to complete great challenges in her life just as her father had for the Navy, marrying a Reverend and giving birth to 10 children.

Stephanie Corner 2nd Year Undergraduate

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Origins of a Sweet Sensation I f you didn’t know already on October 4th Sweden celebrates the beautiful combination of two ancient foods: bread and cinnamon.

Although, probably neither you nor I are Swedish, one can agree that a hot, sweet bun with a mug of black coffee on a cold winter’s day needs to be celebrated.

The Swedish definitely know the importance of this blissful thing as they have a social institution centred round the idea of coffee and a sweet treat called fika. This is where they take a break from work, catch up with friends and family and traditionally enjoy a Kanelbulle; thus on October 4th this social norm is practiced.

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In modern day, one pictures the cinnamon bun as an American treat often swimming in calorific icing and jovially quadruple the normal size. However, its true sugar nib topped form is native

to Sweden and spiced with cardamom, as well as cinnamon, which the Vikings discovered when travelling through Constantinople.

Unlike cinnamon, Marco Polo the Venetian merchant of the 13th century did not mention cardamom in his travels. But, both were introduced to Europe more accessibly due to the opening up of trade routes in the 16th and 17th centuries by Portugal, Spain and England.

Therefore, one can speculate that Kanelbulle origins can stretch back as far as 1000 years ago when cardamom and bread came in contact with each other for the first time but the precise dates are as of yet unknown.

The cinnamon roll travelled with the English and German settlers in the 17th and 18th centuries leading to

the creation of the Schnecken, a descendant of the cinnamon roll which can be found in Philadelphia where the German culture resided. According to Dr. Ronald Wirtz the closest relative to the Kanelbulle or cinnamon roll is the Chelsea Bun native to Britain. The birthplace of this sweet, sticky bun was The Chelsea Bun House residing in what today is Pimlico Street in the 18th century.

For the time being I can only entreat you to try out a recipe and happily sink your teeth into the doughy goodness to get you through the weekly reading quota because it is all in the name of historical research.

Amy Copping 2nd Year Undergraduate

‘The Help’ - Civil Rights America Historical Entertainment - Arts, Books and Cinema

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s any reader of books will tell you, ‘the film is never as good as the book’. To compare a book to the film is very difficult as the words used and the imagination of the reader are distilled within two or three hours of cinematography. Thus comparing the two provides negligable benefits. Treating them as two separate stories, however, does.

Although fiction, Stokett has used some well known historical facts within the book to engross the reader and to allow the audience to truly experience these hardships. This book is superbly written and allows you to step inside the world of the characters.

However, several criticisms have been made, particularly to the depiction of the black men. The key historical events related to this novel would be the fight for civil rights in the second half of the twentieth century, as there

are references to some of the marches and movements made within the novel.Due to the fact that the novel is fiction, it cannot be used for any historical significance, despite its relation to the true events which occurred in America during the 20th century.

From the view of three women: Abilene, a black maid raising her 17th white child; Missy, a sass-a-mouthing black maid who is frequently between jobs; and Skeeta, a white writer who decides to write based upon the experiences from black maids – known as ‘The Help’. As the story unfolds it expresses the prejudices and hardships undergone by the black maids of Jackson Mississippi throughout the 1960s. Many of Skeeta’s views and opinions caused huge issues and controversies for those close to her when focusing on this topic, as in racist America this was considered taboo.

Directed and altered for

the screen by Tate Taylor the 2011 adaptation of ‘The Help’ is in itself an easy to watch film, staring Emma Stone (Skeeta), Viola Davis (Abilene) and Octavia Spencer (Missy). This is a beautiful comedy-drama that all in all is not that different to the original novel, nevertheless to any reader of the book there are several noticeable alterations to the initial story line.

Once again it shares the same criticisms as that of the novel for the representation of the African-American society of the 1960s. Regardless of these alterations the film itself has received Academy award nominations including best picture, acting NOD for Viola Davis, and a win for best supporting actress for Octavia Spencer and on January 29, 2012, The Help won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast.

Laura Marriner 2nd Year Undergraduate

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The Great War

W

hilst many people appear to judge WWII as having the biggest impact on British Society it could well be contended that it was in fact the Great War. There is no doubt that the devastation of the Bblitz and the impact that the Hholocaust had on mankind’s understanding of oneself was radical. However, the First World War was instrumental in implementing changes psychologically, culturally, economically and politically.

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WWII led to an unrivalled and, an hopefully unrepeatable, of amount of bloodshed devastating entire continents. For that there is no comparison. The bloody conflict in Asia and the Ostfront was, perhaps, the most disturbing of all militarily.

What, however, makes the Great War unique was the fact it was the first to have such a major psychological impact both on the civilian population and the military. Being sat in trenches

waiting for death destroyed the stereotype of glorious war for the soldiers and destroyed masculinity.

Furthermore, as Samuel Hines contends, the subsequent impact of the war lead to a questioning of the mass death and thus the previous British Liberal notion of consistent progress. This is a point that Robert Graves and Alan Hodge eloquently bring out in their book, the Long Weekend.

Their argument focuses on how not only did hundreds of thousands die but many injured returned home and for the first time everyone in the country saw the devastating impact of war. Consequently, the public began to question if this is what we have chosen how is this progress?

This challenge of Liberal progress also had profound consequences for the British political scene. By challenging Liberal progress the public rejected the Liberal party,

And Her Great Impact

which was compounded by a split during the war between H.H. Asquith and David Lloyd George. As political commentator and part-time Historian Andrew Marr argues in his book, the Making of Modern Britain, this allowed for a rise in Socialism in the form of Labour and a Conservative dominance of the period. This was confirmed in 1924 with Ramsay MacDonald becoming the first ever Labour Prime Minister highlighting how the Great War changed British politics irreversibly.

The war also had a dramatic impact culturally challenging our previous conception of the world. The impact for this can be seen through a variety of lenses.

As J.B. Priestly identifies, the shift in powers that the war caused was reflected by an ‘Americanisation of Britain’ with a celebrity culture, increased advertising and cinemas. Further more, the war challenged our previous

notion of art and allowed a rapid expansion in Modernism and Art Deco both in painting, architecture and literature. This wase was accompanied by a conflicting idea of romanticism.

Historian Martin Pugh points towards how literature turned nostalgic about Britain before the war and in architecture there saw a rise in the construction of faux Tudor buildings.

Edwardian era.

“Homes fit for Heroes” was the proclamation of Prime Minister Lloyd George at the end of World War One. However, his promise could not be maintained because of the dramatic economic impact that an end to war brought about.

Once the world economic power, Britannia had been challenged by Uncle Sam. The war had caused a rise in British debts to around £7.4bn compared to around £100m at the start of war. Britain had shifted from a creditor nation to a debtor nation for good. She was thus no longer the Imperial power of the Victorian and

Zander Oldring 2nd Year Undergraduate

Whilst WWII can be seen as having a larger global impact the Great War had more permanent impact upon Britain.

The political shift as well as the economic shift was irreversible, whilst there was an explosion in, sometimes contrasting, culture.

Thus the Great War’s impact is one massively understated.

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W

hile many are quick to state that the vengeful nature of the Treaty of Versailles helped cause World War II and that World War II created the bipolarity that allowed the Cold War to occur, the link in causality between the Great War and the Cold War is one that is more seldom discussed.

In this article, I will attempt to do exactly that in an attempt to answer the question that this article asks (in an over simplified fashion given the space available). This will be attempted by assessing the impact of the Great War on both the Second World War and the Cold War.

A way in which the Great War contributed to the occurrence of the Cold War

was that it allowed Russia to succumb to the forces of communism. Of course, without this happening, it is possible that capitalism would face no opposition and thus a conflict of ideologies such as that of the Cold War may not have been possible. Therefore, the impact of the Great War in terms of causing the Cold War is evident.

However, the view that the Treaty of Versailles contributed to the instigation of World War II, while true, requires clarification. It is important to distinguish between the actual fighting that took place in the Great War and the Treaty of Versailles as separate events, especially given the fact that the combat ended in 1918 but the Treaty of Versailles was not signed until 1919. It can consequently be argued that the

vengeful stance of Clemenceau in the negotiations leading up to Versailles in reaction to the Great War helped instigate World War II as opposed to the Great War itself.

Hence when taking into account this brief assessment, it would appear that there are grounds to suggest that there is more link in causality between World War I and the Cold War than between the two World Wars. This view could be further corroborated by the impact of the Great Depression and consequent rise of radical parties on the instigation of World War II. Louis Adcock 2nd Year Undergraduate

Freezing Relations - Cold War Causes

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Criticsm is Easy; Achievement is Difficult

W

inston Churchill is remembered as perhaps one of the greatest figures in British history due to his leadership through the Second World War. This is of course due to the fact that as a leader of a country during war time, he was an excellent speaker.

These speeches inspired the country and created hope at a time when Churchill had taken over the mantle from Neville Chamberlain. His resolute refusal to consider defeat, surrender, or a compromise peace helped inspire British resistance, especially during the difficult early days of the War. This kind of will power was crucial to provide hope and increasing moral at home.

His impressive achievements are many and enough to make any budding historian jealous, with accomplishments such as numerous celebrated books of histories and memoires.

without a great deal of hard work, passion and intuition that gives the drive to many historians to investigate the past and understand it.

His success, however, has often been scrutinised as self-centred, foolhardy and having abundant faults by his political opponents.

Churchill is a great role figure of diligence and perseverance as well of great humour and popularity. He noted that “life is not as easy as all that; otherwise we should get to the end too quickly,” showing that the difficulties and struggles are what make us, and the rest of your time should be reserved for what you enjoy.

A great self-critic, Churchill both presented himself as with faults but always correct. His largest triumph is his reception of the Nobel Prize in Literature. None of this would have been achieved

He truly believed that “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts” realising this means clarity of what is important to you and what can be your priorities. At the end of

the day Churchill himself said “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”

Sara Brimble 2nd Year Undergraduate

Coming Up...

BUHS Meet and Greet Venue TBC - Oct 10th BUHS at the Load of Hay - Oct 17th Richard Evans Comes to Brunel - Oct 17th 12

Who are you?

Hi, I’m Louis Adcock and I am the editor of this magazine.

My historical interests lie mainly in the 20th century with the two world wars and the Cold War being my areas of focus.

Hi, I’m Laura the magazine Media Review writer. From this you can probably gather that I enjoy reading and watching films, as well as writing the reviews for them. I’m interested in social history and the Second World War and Holocaust

Hey, I am Amy and am the administrator of the newsletter and the Treasurer of the History Society. I take particular interest in medieval and early modern history but am also exploring food history currently. Follow me via my blog if you want a laugh: http://thegirlinthebigglasses.wordpress.com/ 13

BUHS

My name is Zander and I currently occupy the glamorous position of producer. My interests are fairly wide ranging but focus mainly on Modern European history with a particular emphasis upon Stalin. If you feel the need to you can find my blog at: zoldring.tumblr.com

Hi I’m Stephanie. I am currently a second year history undergraduate. I have a particular interest in naval history and will be writing for the magazine frequently.

My name is Sara and I will be writing regular articles for the magazine as well as conducting interviews with Brunel’s history department. I am a second year undergraduate and my interests are not particular

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