Manchester Historian Issue 30

• The World Cup and Corruption in FIFA • Saudi Arabia & Egypt: Arab Cold War •Portugal: The Legacy of Portugal •Denmark: The Little Mermaid • Costa Rica: The Forgotten Colony • Germany & Sweden: The Refugee Crisis ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

WORLD CUP

Special Edition

Behind every story… There is History

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ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

Contents THE WORLD CUP & FIFA CORRUPTION History Of The World Cup..................................................4 Corruption In Fifa..............................................................5

GROUP A

Russia: A New Cold War.....................................................6 Saudi Arabia & Egypt: The Arab Cold War..........................7 Uruguay: Jose Mujica........................................................7

GROUP B

Portugal: The Legacy of Portugal.......................................8 Spain: The Catalan Crisis...................................................8 Morocco: Jews in Morocco................................................9 Iran: Ayatollah Khomeini..................................................9

GROUP C

France: Wine In Gaul.......................................................10

GROUP E

Brazil: Slavery To Splendour............................................14 Switzerland: Swiss Army Life...........................................14 Costa Rica: The Forgotten Colony....................................15 Serbia: The Father of Serbia............................................15

GROUP F

Germany & Sweden: The Refugee Crisis.........................16 Mexico: Frida Kahlo.........................................................16 South Korea: South Korea at 70 .....................................17

GROUP G

Panama & England: Foiling Fraud...................................18 Belgium: The Science of Religion....................................19 Tunisia: The Lost Roman City...........................................19

GROUP H

Australia: Albert Namatjira..............................................10

Poland: Poznan Protests..................................................20

Denmark: The Little Mermaid..........................................11

Colombia: Escobar’s Empire............................................21

Peru: Mysterious Machu Picchu......................................11

GROUP D

Argentina & Croatia: The Croats of Argentina..................12 Iceland: The Skaftár Fires.................................................12 Nigeria: The Lioness of Lisabi..........................................13

The Team LEGEND: EDITORS DESIGN COPY-EDITING MARKETING ONLINE * = HEAD

Japan: The Floating World..............................................21

INTERVIEW & HISTSOC UPDATE Interview With Alex Dowdall...........................................22

History Society Update....................................................23

Shannon Winterbone

Ellie Tivey Eva Tite

Helen Aron Amelia Beecham

Hannah Hall Leyla Ozcan

Eleanor Scrafton* Teagan Tallentire Levina Basra

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Senegal: Imperialism At Work.........................................20

Pip Woolley Tim Carney* Georgia Jackson*

Matthew Hobbs

Sean Jones

Tony Scott India-Rose Channon

Amy Leahy Abbie Llewellyn Annika Brooks

Matthew Worsick Fergus Selsdon-Games* www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

A Note from the Editors Well we’re reaching the end of another year and what a year it’s been! From American History to Gender and Sexuality we now welcome our third and final issue of the year on World History through the lens of the FIFA World Cup 2018.

The World Cup is due to take place in Russia this summer despite ongoing controversy involving Russian doping, racism, discrimination against LGBT contenders as well as the recent Salisbury poisoning. Many have contested against Russia’s position as host as a result of this but the Cup goes ahead despite this as the world holds its breath.

The structure of this issue is slightly different to our previous ones and is based on the 8 groups of 32 teams taking part in the World Cup this year beginning on the 14th June. For each team, we have an interesting and hopefully new and illuminating historical snapshot for that country. For example, our Moroccan article looks at Moroccan Jews in World War Two while our article on France looks at the history of French wine. Some countries provided significant historical links and so we have looked at the relationships between such nations. We hope you enjoy the new format; it’s been a challenge but we think it’s worth it!

THANK YOU to

our kind sponsors

@TheMcrHistorian

As editors we have immensely enjoyed making this paper as a way of shedding light on some important and controversial issues across world history. While we are sad to be leaving the paper behind as we finish our degrees, we are excited about its future potential of which there is plenty. Our journey as editors has been a wonderfully rewarding experience and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped us to make The Manchester Historian the best it’s ever been. From the team to the writers to those who have donated generously to ensure the print of this issue - thank you very much!

We really hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed making it and we encourage everyone to get involved in next year’s efforts. Keep an eye on the Facebook page for updates next October as the new team begin their journey.

We hope you enjoy!

All the very best,

Shannon, Eva, Pip and Ellie

Picture by: Tim Carney

This issue was crowdfunded.

Thank you to all our donors without whom this would not have been possible. We extend a special thanks towards:

Graham Winterbone Polly Weitzman Georgia Vesma Peter Jackson Maria Jones 3

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

Photo via: apnews.com

History of the World Cup This year’s FIFA World Cup is set to take place in Russia from 14th June - 15th July. It is the first World Cup to be held in a European country since Germany’s 2006 tournament, and it is the first ever to be held in an Eastern European country. It seems fitting, then, that the host is the Eastern European international giant, Russia.

This tournament does not come without controversy, however (as most international sporting events tend to do). With the last few years revealing multiple doping scandals in Russian sport, there seems to have been a gradual emergence of the East/West divide characteristic of the Cold War. Despite such political difficulties, the World Cup never fails to be a sporting event that captivates people worldwide. Saudi Arabia is even going so far as to purposely pirate every match following their loss of a sports channel during a spat with Qatar. This displays perfectly how the love of football has a tendency to overpower such political disparity.

In 1930 Montevideo, Uruguay became the first city to host the FIFA World Cup. Following football’s removal from the 1932 Olympic Games there was a call for the organisation of an international competition, which was answered by FIFA President Jules Rimet. Many successful European teams, such as Italy, Spain and Germany did not make the tournament due to Europe’s ongoing battle with economic depression, but Uruguay convinced some countries to participate by paying their travel expenses.

13 teams qualified to play an exciting 18 matches, which all took place in Uruguay’s capital city. Around half a million spectators enjoyed the games over the course of the tournament, with almost 50, 000 people

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witnessing the final match between Uruguay and Argentina. Whilst Uruguay emerged victorious, Argentinian forward Guillermo Stábile was inaugurated as the first top scorer of the competition.

As with any competition where the stakes are high, controversy is never far away. One of the most dramatic events in recent history occurred at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the first one ever hosted by an African nation. Drama and scandal unfolded in the quarter finals, when Ghana played Uruguay.

In the dying moments of the game, Luis Suarez, Uruguay’s star striker, deliberately handballed the ball off the line to prevent Ghana from scoring. Suarez saw red, and a penalty was awarded, but the pressure proved too much for Asamoah Gyan who missed the spot kick. Ghana ended up losing the game on penalties, and the last African nation left in the first African World Cup were knocked out in the most dubious of circumstances. This led to an intense debate over sportsmanship and gamesmanship, with some labelling Suarez a cheat, and others believing he was resourceful. This example goes to show, football is not always ‘the beautiful game’ This year marks the 21st World Cup and today the tournament is still tied up with political

and social controversy. The choice of Russia as host has been largely contested due to a series of scandals from discrimination to doping and the recent Salisbury poisoning.

Despite this, the tournament is set to go ahead on a budget of $10 billion.

Although scandals and tensions have been rife throughout the history of this game, it is important to also note the uniting and influential power of the Cup. Beginning in 1930 with just 13 teams and half a million viewers, the Cup has grown to a truly global phenomenon, with 32 teams taking part this year and more than 1 billion viewers tuning in for the 2014 final between Germany and Argentina.

It is clear that the FIFA World Cup has always and will always be tied up with political concerns but its ability to unite billions of people from all over the world is its indisputable power.

Shannon, Eva, Ellie and Pip

Photo via: foottheball.com www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

Photo via: Wikicommons

Corruption in FIFA When Muhammadu Buhari was elected President of Nigeria in 2015, he defined corruption as “the greatest form of human rights violation” as he announced that an estimated $150 billion had allegedly gone missing from Nigeria over the previous decade. In the same year football’s leading world governing body FIFA was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for alleged corruption and to say they were found ‘guilty’ is an understatement.

Firstly, it emerged that Jérôme Valcke, previous general secretary of FIFA, made a payment of $10 million to the South African football federation who then paid the money to accounts held by Jack Warner. Warner was the head of CONCACAF, and played a critical role in assisting South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Secondly, former FIFA Chief Executive committee member Chuck Blazer admitted to receiving bribes from South Africa in relation to the 2010 World Cup, and North African country Morocco who eventually missed out to France for the right to host sport’s most prestigious event 12 years earlier.

This opened investigation into the three World Cups succeeding 2010.

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil, although a largely successful tournament and in many ways the perfect nation to host the World Cup, Brazilian football federation chief Ricardo Teixeira, who helped Brazil host the tournament, was found to be corrupt. Teixera was found to be involved in criminal schemes and bribes of over $200 million (£132 million) in relation to money laundering.

@TheMcrHistorian

In total, 30 officials from FIFA and various continental organisations connected to FIFA were accused of being corrupt, and 18 of these officials were found guilty of playing a role in money laundering for FIFA, assisting a nations’ bidding process and earning TV rights money.

The 2015 case fuelled speculation about Russia and Qatar as they were awarded the rights to host World Cups in 2018 and 2022, despite alleged political corruptness in Russia under Vladimir Putin, and the fact that Qatar, a country half the size of Wales, has never qualified for a World Cup before. Russia and Qatar were cleared of any wrongdoing in their bidding processes, but something didn’t quite add up about the conclusion of the outcome.

In September 2014, a 350-page report produced by established American lawyer Michael Garcia apparently cleared the two nations of any wrongdoing in their bidding processes for hosting the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which England and the United States missed out on.

The report was never made public. Instead, Hans-Jochaim Eckert, a German Jurist and head of adjudication of ethical matters in FIFA, produced a 42-page summary of the Garcia Report two months later in which he announced that Russia and Qatar stayed within the law to secure their status as host nations of a World Cup for the first time.

It was questioned at the time, and following the notorious case of 2015, it becomes even clearer that what goes on behind closed doors in Zürich, Switzerland (FIFA’s headquarters) and other parts of the world is largely unknown to the public.

The man at the head of FIFA while all this was going on was Sepp Blatter. He wasn’t everyone’s favourite to begin with, but after the events of 2015 unfolded, big worldwide organisations such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Visa and Budweiser (all World Cup sponsors) called for Blatter to step down as FIFA president.

It led to a re-organisation of the FIFA cabinet, with Swiss-Italian football administrator Gianni Infantino winning the election of February 2016, edging out Kuwait Prince Ali bin Al Hussein who came second.

Infantino was not the people’s choice. Former Internazionale, Barcelona and Real Madrid star Luis Figo was widely touted to succeed Blatter after the Swiss businessman stepped down and was handed a six-year ban from participating in FIFA activities. But Figo, the Ballon d’Or winner in 2000, withdrew from elections in May 2015 and called the process to replace Blatter “anything but an election.”

The 2015 FIFA case confirmed what most football fans had suspected many years previously – that FIFA was a largely corrupt organisation playing a central role in many of football’s biggest alleged scandals.

It will most likely be the case that the upcoming World Cup in Russia will be a success, but the organisation running it will continue to be asked questions of. In this world, what goes on behind closed doors is private and in some cases, corrupt. No organisation illustrates this more than FIFA.

Dane Massey 5

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP A

A New Cold War? Russia is a country no stranger to scandal.

Political corruption is perceived to be a deep-rooted problem in Russia, from the mysterious deaths of the Cipriani Five to Russia’s state-sponsored poisoning and their interference in elections both at home and overseas. Is the West entering another Cold War with Russia?

The so-called Cipriani Five – of whom Boris Berezovsky and Scot Young were two – were men who all met violent deaths in the years between 2010 and 2014. The deaths were all recorded as suicides. However, the men were believed to be inextricably linked to the Russian mafia through business – their deaths allegedly the result of the Russian mafia and Russian state-sponsored killers working together.

Berezovsky, an exiled Russian oligarch and vocal critic of Vladimir Putin, was found dead in his Berkshire home in March 2013. He had fled to London in 2000, after falling-out with his one-time protégé, Putin. Berezovsky had run the International Foundation for Civil Liberties – an anti-Kremlin vehicle used to campaign from overseas against the Putin regime. Yet, he was also a known investor in the failed Russian property deal set up by Scot Young called Project Moscow.

The first inquest into his death revealed that his injuries were consistent with hanging. It was believed he was depressed as the result of a number of failed investments and a lost lawsuit against Roman Ambrovich in 2012.

However, a second inquest in March 2014 saw the coroner record an open verdict.

Scot Young, the Scottish property tycoon, was the last of the Cipriani Five to die. He fell to

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his death in December 2014 – found impaled on the railings outside his fourth-floor flat in Marylebone, London. His death was recorded as suicide. In 2012, Young was allegedly hung out of a window of The Dorchester by members of the Russian mafia as threat to pay his debts. A Buzzfeed investigation from earlier this year alleged that US intelligence officials suspected Russian involvement in Young’s death. They accused the UK of conducting an improper investigation into Young’s ties with the Russians.

Yet, it doesn’t end with the Cipriani Five. A number of mysterious deaths where Russian involvement was suspected have taken place on British soil: from the cold war style radioactive plot of Alexander Litvinenko’s death to the ‘heartbreak grass’ poisoning of Alexander Perepilichnyy.

Most recently, was the Russian statesponsored poisoning of the former spy and MI6 double agent, Sergei Skripal. Exchanged as part of a US-Russia spy-swap in 2010, Skripal helped share the identities of over 300 Russian authorities to MI6. Mr Skripal was poisoned alongside his daughter Yulia with the Russian nerve agent Novichok. The highest concentration of the agent used to poison them was found on the door handle of his home in Salisbury.

The Salisbury attack came amid ‘a pattern of earlier irresponsible Russian behaviour’.

Theresa May responded to the ‘assault on UK sovereignty’ by issuing an ultimatum to Moscow. When Russia failed to explain how a former spy was poisoned in Salisbury, Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats, and the US and many European countries followed suit,

making it the biggest such expulsion since the Cold War-era.

This move was swiftly followed by Russia, who responded by ordering Britain to reduce its diplomatic staff to the same number as Russian diplomatic assignments in the UK. Yet they continued to vehemently deny any involvement in the March Salisbury attack.

At a UN Security Council meeting, Moscow’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzia said the UK is ‘playing with fire’. The UK’s UN representative Karen Pierce responded by likening Moscow’s requests to take part in the investigation to an arsonist investigating his own fire.

But as Putin tightens his grip on power with a landslide victory of 76.7% in his March re-election, his authority is not without great controversy. The election occurred amid scandal for the Kremlin. Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, meddling in US elections, a sustained campaign of cyber-espionage, violation of European airspace, funding of pro-Russians in Ukraine, and suspected murders on British soil all undoubtedly heightened tensions between the West and Russia.

Whilst there are echoes of the Cold War in the recent tensions between the West and Russia, such tactics are not unique to the Cold War era. This is not to deny the unpredictable nature of present tensions. But if this is a new Cold War then it is without the defending ideology that distinguished its forerunner.

Ellie Fraser

Photo via: bt.com www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP A

The Arab Cold War fact that Egypt was sponsored by the Soviet Union, and Saudi Arabia by America and Britain, tied these two conflicts together.

Nasser & Gaddafi, via: Pinterest.com The history of the Cold War has typically centred around the Western ‘battlefield’, however, an equally important war was being fought in the Arab world. The key players here were Egypt, under the leadership of President Nasser, and Saudi Arabia, under the Saudi monarchy.

Unlike in the West, the main area of conflict was not Communism versus Capitalism, but the notion of Pan-Arabism pitted against Islamisation. It is important to define PanArabism as a secular ideal in which all Arabs, regardless of nationality or religion, would be united as a single nation. This often coincided with Socialism, and a dislike of Western intervention in Arab politics. Whilst this may seem unrelated to the Western Cold War, the

Egypt’s President Nasser came to power in 1952 when he overthrew the monarchy and British imperialism. The peak of Nasser’s popularity was the creation of the United Arab Republic (1958-1961), a Pan-Arabic political union between Egypt and Syria. That Pan-Arab revolutionary ideas would spread from the UAR to British controlled areas like Jordan was a key fear that led the West to sponsor the Islamic policies of Saudi Arabia.

Indeed, over the next two decades, Iraq, Tunisia, North Yemen, Algeria and Libya all followed suit and created socialist republics.

These republics also adhered to Pan-Arabism, and wanted to spread their ideologies to other countries, trying to incite similar revolutions. This naturally posed a huge threat to the Saudi Arabian monarchy who, with the backing of the West, embarked on a programme of Islamic solidarity to work as a counterweight to Arabism. The particular sect of Islam that the Saudi state pursued is

known as Wahhabism, and whilst it worked successfully against Nasser’s ideology and prevented further uprisings, many Islamic scholars have regarded Wahhabism as the foundation for extremist groups like ISIL, and thus the Arab Cold War has left a massive legacy on not only the Middle East but international politics too.

Ostensibly, the end of the Arab Cold War can be pinpointed as the death of Nasser in 1970, as the period following this saw a decline in the power of pan-Arabism; however, its impact continued into the 21st Century.

Perhaps the most noteworthy example of this was Colonel Gaddafi, who became Libyan leader in 1969 following a coup against the western-backed monarchy. He adhered to PanArabic ideology and remained in power until the 2011 Arab Spring revolts. Thus, the Arab Cold War did not have clear-cut ending like the West did with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the repercussions of it have long outlived the conflict itself.

Rebecca Bowers

Jose Mujica Politicians being out of touch is a common grievance of the modern day electorate.

However, between 2010 and 2015 the same could not be said in Uruguay, where José Mujica, an austere ex-guerrilla who began his political career after 13 years of imprisonment and donated 90% of his salary to charity, served as 40th President of Uruguay.

Economic turmoil in the 1950s and 1960s led to social unrest and political disillusionment and it was during this period that Mujica joined the militant group Tupamaros. The Tupamaros aimed to catalyse change via guerrilla tactics, protesting the power structures that were failing the country.

However, the Tupamaros were repressed in the 1970s and after being shot six times and captured by the authorities, Mujica was eventually imprisoned for 13 years.

Nevertheless, in 1985, Mujica was chosen to deliver a speech conveying the historic decision that the Tupamaros were giving up militancy for legitimate politics. The new era of the Tupamaros began with the formation of a party that factioned into a coalition of leftist parties. @TheMcrHistorian

Mujica’s humility and charisma contributed to his party’s success as it quickly became the biggest faction in the coalition. The popularity of Mujica contributed heavily to the victory of Tabaré Vázquez who became the first ever leftwing president of Uruguay. When Vázquez’s term came to an end, the success of his tenure provided a convincing victory for José Mujica himself.

Unemployment stayed low and salaries rose. The economy was booming, and social policies such as legalising abortion and gay marriage, as well decriminalising cannabis, were also implemented. The Economist even chose Uruguay as “the country of the year” in 2013. Rejecting the presidential house in favour of living on his wife’s small farm on the outskirts of the capital and wearing casual attire represent Mujica’s dedication to his rejection of materialism and highlight why he was dubbed “the world’s humblest president”.

Mujica’s questioning of growth creation development strategies at the 2012 Rio +20 summit fascinated the international community. He asked “Does the world today

Photo via: Wikicommons have the material elements to enable 7 or 8 billion people to enjoy the same level of consumption and squandering as the most affluent Western societies?”

In spite of his captivating ideals, Mujica was not immune to Uruguayan criticism. Uruguay was becoming more consumerist and the solid economy was doing nothing to improve heath or education which was at all-time lows.

José Mujica’s plebeian form of populism inspired the globe to question the nature of the consumerist world we live in. As Uruguay and the rest of the world gets more materialistic and the problems of hyper-consumption in a globalised age persist should we blame Mujica for failing in his mission or ourselves for not acting on his words?

Tim Carney 7

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP B

The Legacy of Portugal was also the last to fall after the handing over of Macau to China in 1999. Their expansion opened up a huge amount of the world, with Portuguese discoveries leading to increased knowledge of the world’s geography and the dramatic improvement of cartography.

Photo via: Wikicommons Whilst European colonisation beginning in the late-fifteenth century is often associated with Columbus and the Spanish exploration, the Portuguese also engaged in a widespread programme of exploration at this time under Prince Henry, or ‘Henry the Navigator’. Although Columbus was not Portuguese and underwent his exploration under Spanish sponsorship, he was actually trained by the Portuguese following his marriage to a Portuguese woman.

Beginning with the capture of Cueta in 1415, and the discoveries of Madeira and the Azores in 1420 and 1426, Portuguese expansion took place across the Americas, Africa and Asia.

Their landmark discovery was Brazil in 1500 under Pedro Alvares Cabral. The Portuguese developed the first colonial empire, which

With the discovery of new lands, the Portuguese established new trade routes that not only expanded their Empire but led to the trade of new and valuable resources such as gold and spices. This, in turn, expanded their wealth the more they explored. Colonies were exploited by way of the purging of their natural resources and the abuse of their labour whilst all profits headed back to Europe. Further economic gains were reaped following the establishment of sugar cane plantations, which fuelled the economy of Brazil, Portugal’s most prominent colony.

Through looking at Brazil in particular, we can see the remaining legacy of Portuguese exploration. Portuguese remains the national language and the country has the most Roman Catholic inhabitants worldwide. The religion was introduced by the first settlers

and consolidated after the arrival of Jesuit missionaries throughout the 16th century.

However, colonial expansion had damaging human consequences. Natives were often annihilated upon the settlers’ arrival, from a combination of being unable to fight off European diseases and colonist violence.

Meanwhile, slavery was introduced in colonies across all continents, the most prominent example being Portugal’s involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Portuguese ships were amongst those who took captured Africans to become slaves in the New World, with a hugely extensive plantation system being developed in Brazil in particular.

Portuguese exploration has therefore left a mixed legacy. Whilst navigators are glorified for their discoveries of previously unknown lands, the subsequent colonisation had devastating consequences, and resulted in not only economic exploitation but the decimation and unimaginable suffering of millions.

Lily Pearson

The Catalan Crisis

Photo via: Wikicommons Catalonia is a region in limbo. Since the semiautonomous province in north-west Spain held an illegitimate independence referendum in 2017, the population of 7.5 million has been in the dark − wondering what the Spanish government will decide for their future.

Unsurprisingly, the crisis has permeated into 2018 as the lasting effects of this messy affair are still being handled.

The importance of Catalonia to the Spanish state is paramount; it is one of their richest and most prosperous regions. Many Catalonians have felt that they have been propping up the Spanish economy since the 2008 banking crisis, subsidising large portions of the country with their taxes and receiving little in return.

The drive behind the independence struggle is

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rooted in history. Catalonia has a distinct past and vibrant identity that makes it culturally distinct from other parts of Spain. This can be traced all the way back to the 12th century when Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, married Queen Petronilla of Aragon, bringing the region under the dominion of the Aragonian crown. This incorporation continued into the 15th Century with the union of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, again uniting the two kingdoms as one. Catalonia had become just one part of a wider Spanish kingdom.

Despite this, Catalonians have been able to retain their unique culture. Not only do they have their own language, but they also have a separate flag and anthem. A renewed push for separatism came in 2010 when calls for the recognition of Catalonia as a separate nation within Spain were blocked by courts in Madrid.

According to their constitution, Spain is inseparable. The Spanish government worked indefatigably to quell calls for secession by curbing the spread of pro-independence propaganda; websites were shut down, voting stations were blocked off and protesters were

beaten for demonstrating. Even King Felipe heavily backed the pro-unity cause, coming down heavily on the Catalonian government for the resultant demonstrations.

When the Catalonians went to the ballot boxes on October 1st 2017, they voted 92.01% in favour of splitting from Spain. However, support for independence in Catalonia is not as unilateral as many politicians and media outlets would have people believe. Boycotts were called for by the pro-Madrid parties and with only a 43.03% turnout for the referendum, many have questioned the legitimacy of the proceedings.

Catalonians certainly have a divergent culture, but indisputably hold a triple identity; they are Catalonian, Spanish and European. The pro-independence government still has a long way to go before there is any realistic chance for the creation of their own state, but they have a duty to represent the entirety of the Catalonian population before starting a legitimate dialogue with Madrid over the future of the region.

Jake Gill www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP B

Jews in Morocco Often, our thoughts regarding the Second World War are centred on Europe. However, there were many other territories outside the continent which also experienced threat and conflict, including Morocco. Since 1912, Morocco had been a protectorate of France and by the 1940s it was home to more Jewish citizens than any other Muslim country. These two factors combined meant that the Armistice signed between France and Germany in 1940 signalled trouble for Morocco. The country came under the jurisdiction of the Nazialigned Vichy government and attempts to enforce anti-Jewish legislation soon followed.

Yet Moroccan Jews were not destined to suffer the same fate as the Jews in Europe, as they had a protector in the form of their sultan, Mohammed V. By 1940, European Jews were facing deportation and segregation, and concentration camps were soon to be established in Germany and Poland. The Nazis wanted to extend their anti-Jewish measures to all territories under their influence and officials in the Vichy government began to exert pressure on Mohammed V to enforce

such measures. The proposed anti-Jewish legislation included depriving Jews of the right to hold office, designating them as a lower class and depriving them of their citizenship, along with deportation to concentration camps. Mohammed V refused to allow such legislation and successfully blocked the ghettoization and deportation of his Jewish subjects. He even invited all Moroccan Rabbis to attend the royal throne celebration in 1941 to show his support for the Jewish community. Although Mohammed did allow some Nazi legislation to be enacted within his country, barring Jews from certain schools and official positions, he is largely regarded as a defender of the Moroccan Jews.

He continued to protect them in the years following the war, particularly in the wake of rising anti-Semitism after the creation of the State of Israel.

The legacy of Mohammed V and what he did for his Jewish subjects during the Second World War is clear in the numerous universities, airports, stadiums, public spaces and public roads bearing his name in Morocco and Tunisia. Furthermore, he received a

Photo via: Wikicommons posthumous honour in 2015 for his actions in protecting Moroccan Jews.

The situation for Moroccan Jews today still looks favourable. They are small in number due to mass emigration following the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the surrounding Arab-Jewish conflict, yet those that remain are an active and respected group in society. They are well-represented in government and receive support for their Jewish institutions. The extent to which this positive position can be attributed to the work of Mohammed V is debatable, but it cannot be denied that his humanist actions have left a legacy in Morocco that will not be forgotten.

Amelia Beecham

Ayatollah Khomeini Photo via: Wikicommons Ayatollah Khomeini is one of the best known figures in twentieth century Middle-Eastern politics. He is as divisive as he is prominent.

Many in the West label him a militant Islamist who hated western values and blame him for the establishment of Iran as a so-called ‘rogue state’. Many Muslims – particularly Shiites – see him as a spiritual leader and a champion against the meddling of the United States.

Khomeini was born Ruhollah Mousavi in Western Iran in the town of Khomein, at the turn of the century. He came from a long line of prominent Muslim clerics, and followed in their footsteps.

Having then taken his birthplace as his surname, Khomeini quickly rose to prominence as a teacher in the religious @TheMcrHistorian

school in Qom. He was an exceptional scholar in that his views were often at odds with those of the political and religious elite, who supported the secularisation and westernisation overseen by the Iranian monarchy. This clerical quiescence came to an end in 1961 when Khomeini became Grand Ayatollah. One of his first acts was to promote vehement opposition to the government’s westernisation. His enormously popular antigovernment rhetoric led to his imprisonment in 1963 and exile in 1964.

In exile until 1979, he was still Iran’s most beloved and important spiritual leader − fostering opposition from afar. His continued activism was a key factor in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, and he is credited with orchestrating much of the protest that led to the toppling of the Shah. Such was his popularity and prominence that he was brought out of exile and made the supreme leader of Iran.

Khomeini oversaw the Islamisation of Iranian political, societal and cultural life, but demanded that certain religious minorities

be treated well. His premiership was also characterised by the Iran-Iraq war, which raged for eight out of the ten years of his premiership. When Iran repelled the Iraqis, Khomeini’s place in the folklore of Iranian history was cemented.

The threat to stability caused by Khomeini’s rise to power and his promotion of the suicide of many Iranians during the war against Iraq, earned him infamy in the West. He also famously supported the attack on the American embassy in Tehran in 1979, and he controversially issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie in 1989.

While it would fair to characterise Khomeini as a fundamentalist, his conviction to his principles is impressive. After his death in 1989 he was still held as a hero by many for his spiritual and political strength.

Khomeini had a large impact in the Middle East and the world − whilst undoubtedly being a formidable opponent of western hegemony.

Dan O’Byrne 9

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GROUP C

Wine in Gaul Everybody drank wine in Rome. The high elites were known to enjoy gallons of alcohol at lavish dinners, whilst soldiers were encouraged to drink a litre of wine a day. This ritual was adopted to improve soldiers’ health and fitness. Between the fall of the Republic and the beginnings of the principate, adoration for Roman wine can be mapped by its influence on Roman provinces.

As winemaking spread across Rome’s Imperial territories, Gaul’s relationship with the Ancient capital was based extensively on its ability to produce and purchase the popular liqueur.

Although unclear, the Gauls cultivated the grapevine before the Romans occupied its territory. The arrival of the Greeks in 600BC led to new styles of winemaking being adopted. Eventually a trading network was set up between the Etruscans and Gauls. In the First Century BC, the Romans absorbed these trade routes.

Upon discovering Gaul, trading relations were established between local tribes of Gaul and the Romans. Wine was exported to Gaul in exchange for slaves. Both cultures placed

different value on their trading products: the Gauls loved wine more than their slaves.

After the Gallic wars in the First Century BC, relations between Rome and Gaul drastically altered.

Upon discovering that wine in Hispania was much cheaper than Roman produce, Gaul took its business elsewhere and purchased wine from their Spanish neighbours. The Romans were unfazed because their demand for slaves lessened after the War. More so, the increasing cost of importing slaves, imposed by the Emperor Augustus, made human trafficking far more expensive. Nonetheless, trade relations with the Romans changed following the war as the Gauls established textile manufacturing and forged gold and silver.

In the later First Century AD, Wine was imported from Gaul on an industrial scale, evidenced by the number of wine vessels that were discovered in modern day France. Thus, Diodorus Siculus believed that the Gauls were ‘besotted by wine’ especially because the drink was unmixed and was not moderated.

Photo via: Wikicommons Romans were able to profit from selling wine at home. In order to match this, wine had to be imported from Gaul.

Wine is still important to modern French history. Continuing to grow as an industry across the centuries, following the French Revolution, poor quality French wine was more readily produced. By the midnineteenth century, France’s wine industry enjoyed a period of prosperity, following the emergence of the bourgeoisie. However, wine regions in France continued to struggle across the twentieth century, with many facing a crisis of confidence. Presently, some wine regions have thrived in our current climate and French wine continues to be a popular choice amongst consumers.

Tom Verheyden

Albert Namatjira Photo via: artsreview.com As perhaps the most famous Aboriginal artist and one of Australia’s most well-renowned painters, Albert Namatjira still holds great significance today as a pioneer for indigenous Australian artistry. Namatjira’s work reflects the beauty of Australia’s landscape and particularly focuses upon the native flora Australia has to offer. The work Namatjira produced paved the way to economic success but this trajectory was not without obstacles, which were ultimately established by the racist laws that condemned Namatjira’s heritage.

In the late 1930s Namatjira began to create some of his first works, which subsequently received a flood of popularity and allowed him to exhibit in cities such as Adelaide and Sydney. These were very disparate worlds in comparison to Namatjira’s home in the

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desert region of the Northern Territory.

Born Elea and christened Albert after being received into the Church, Namatjira had taken an interest in sketching and painting and was thus encouraged to pursue these interests vocationally by missionaries in the area. By developing his skills, namely under the supervision of fellow painter Rex Battarbee, Namatjira quickly reached fame with his natural aptitude for art. His work typically concentrates on the Central Australian landscape with his best-known pieces depicting the infamous ghost gums.

His watercolour paintings of the Australian outback won him international celebrity.

Although he was steadily becoming rich and had made a great name for himself, Namatjira was not safe from the racial discrimination that pervaded Australian society. With the money he had earned Namatjira planned to build a cattle station; he was banned on the grounds of being an Aboriginal Australian. A similar occurrence happened again two years later when Namatjira and his wife Ilkalita attempted to build a house on land they had bought in Alice Springs, only for their permission to

be rejected due to their Aboriginal heritage.

Public outcry led to Namatjira and his wife being granted full Australian citizenships in 1957, which gave them the same rights as the White Australian population. Although this was a landmark moment for Australia, the rest of the Aboriginal population had to wait a further ten years to be granted the same rights.

In anticipation of this monumental event for Australia, Namatjira’s success soared as he was elected as an honorary member of the Royal Art Society of New South Wales and awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.

Namatjira’s life was, however, sadly very short.

After being incarcerated for supplying alcohol to members of his family, in accordance with traditional Aboriginal customs, Namatjira died of a heart attack in 1959. Although his work has been arguably overshadowed now by dot paintings, a style of Aboriginal art, Namatjira is still recognised today as having produced some of Australia’s greatest artwork.

Shannon Winterbone www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP C

Mysterious Machu Picchu buildings are made from polished dry-stone walls, which are cut and fit so tightly together that there is no need for mortar, a technique so sophisticated and precise that it raises incredulity as to how the Incas built such an impressive city.

Photo via: Wikicommons The misty wonders of Machu Picchu have enticed travellers, writers and historians alike for many years. Being one of the most iconic, inspiring and grandiose archaeological sites ever discovered, it is fascinating that its exact former use remains, to this day, a mystery.

Deep in the Amazonian Jungle, situated atop a high mountain ridge in the Sacred Valley sits the Incan citadel of Machu Picchu. For many visitors to Peru and South America, the trip to Machu Picchu, a new seventh wonder of the world, is the long-awaited climax of their travels. Built in the fifteenth century, the city features more than 200 buildings, many of which are astronomically aligned, with astonishing panoramic views. The

The architectural treasures of Machu Picchu remained hidden for more than four centuries under the thick greenery of the Urubamba canyon. Indeed, its existence was not revealed to the outside world until 1911 when American historian, Hiram Bingham, discovered the ruins with the help of two Peruvian farmers.

However, despite its discovery more than 100 years ago, the reasons why the Incas built the site, how they used it, as well as their sudden departure from the city a century later, is still disputed by historians. Discovered

by Bingham in 1911, he originally believed he had found the ‘Lost City of the Incas’, where the last Inca rulers fought against the Spanish in 1572. However, Vilcabamba, the real ‘Lost City’, was later discovered on the Chontabamba River. Nowadays, there is the

general consensus that one of the great Inca rulers of the time, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, ordered the construction of the site as a royal estate for himself. Archaeological evidence also suggests that the Inca weren’t the only people to live at Machu Picchu. There is a further general agreement that the site served important astronomical, cosmological and sacred functions. The Intihuatana stone, located at the highest point of the site, was used to time the two equinoxes, as well as other celestial events and local shamanic legends believe this stone is the gateway to the spirit world. Why the Incas suddenly left this majestic site is thought to be explained by the destruction of other parts of the Inca Empire by the Spanish.

With continued excavation of the site and advances in technology, more clues will continue to be uncovered which will hopefully help reveal the purpose for the site’s construction, the activities that took place there and the reasons for its subsequent abandonment.

Georgia Jackson

The Little Mermaid The Little Mermaid is familiar to anyone who grew up watching Disney films, yet the original story written by Hans Christian Andersen is less recognised. Andersen’s tale results in the mermaid being given the ultimatum; to die with no soul, or murder the love of her life, after never winning the love of the human prince. The Little Mermaid sculpture that sits on the Langelinje Pier, captures this story as she has been gazing wistfully across the water, frozen in a look of sadness, for over 100 years.

national pride, crime, and political protest.

The Little Mermaid is Denmark’s most photographed statue, with more than a million visitors each year. Its popularity is undeniable with 14 re-creations in cities across the world, from Brazil to Romania.

In 2010, the statue even travelled to China for an expo in Shanghai, highlighting the statue’s role in civic pride. Nevertheless, the statue is occasionally met with controversy, for example, it was banned from Facebook for breaching its nudity guidelines.

The bronze sculpture was gifted to Copenhagen in 1913 by a Danish brewer, Carl Jacobsen, after he was captivated by a ballet performance of the fairy tale. Jacobsen was eager to have ballerina, Ellen Price, model for sculpture as she was the lead performer in the ballet, however, as she was unwilling to model nude, the sculptor’s wife stepped in.

Interestingly, fairy tale themes seem to follow this as according to “legend” the sculpture at the pier is not the original, as the original is kept at a secret location by the sculptor’s heirs.

The sculpture has been a victim to various forms of vandalism. She was beheaded for the first time in 1964, the was culprit never caught and the head never recovered. The second beheading in 1998 was taken a lot more seriously with murder squad detectives being drafted in to solve the mystery, and yet the culprit was still not found. Many rumours surrounded the beheading as a previously unheard of Radical Feminist Fraction made claims they had done it to ‘create a symbol of sexually fixated and misogynist male dream of women as bodies without heads’.

The statue thus continued to become a hub

The sculpture has become a symbol for @TheMcrHistorian

of political protest. For example, in 2003 explosives were used to knock the statue off her pedestal by anti-war protesters who were angry at Danish involvement in Iraq. In 2007, the mermaid was dressed in a burqa and head scarf as a statement against Turkey joining the EU. More recently, in 2017, the mermaid was daubed in red paint in protest against Danish whaling around the Faroe Islands. Due to the Little Mermaid’s popularity and status as a national treasure, it will be interesting to see how its role in political culture will be utilised in the future.

Tori Williams

Photo via: Wikicommons

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GROUP D

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

Croats of Argentina With the World Cup only a couple of weeks away, many will remember Maradona’s ‘hand of God’ in 1986 as one of the tournaments’ all time shocking moments. What they may not know, however, is that that hand was a quarterCroatian. In fact, around 250,000 people of Croat descent live in Argentina today.

The formation of this Croatian diaspora began in the mid-nineteenth century and continued steadily right up until the Second World War. A series of vine diseases in the coastal region of Dalmatia had ravaged the vineyards upon which so much of the region’s business depended, and so around 120,000 made their way across the Atlantic to the far more fertile Argentine pampas (lowlands). Around 5,000 more joined them when encouraged by shipowner Nikola Mihanović to make the journey.

Mihanović had emigrated to Buenos Aires from Dalmatia in 1868, and by 1918 operated Latin America’s largest shipping company. The opportunities presented by Argentine industry had become attractive in a Croatia which was still largely agricultural.

However, the largest single event in the history

of this diaspora came in the aftermath of the Second World War. On 6 April 1941, Axis powers had invaded Yugoslavia, and Croatian Peasant Party leader Vladko Maček had refused to do business with them. 10 days later, Ante Pavelić and his fascist, ultranationalist Ustaše party declared themselves government of a new Independent State of Croatia. Having aligned themselves with the Axis powers, the Ustaše were responsible for the deaths of around 500,000 Serbs, 30,000 Jews and 200,000 Croat dissidents. Therefore, when the war came to an end Pavelić, like so many Nazis, was forced to flee to Argentina where Juán Perón’s government were notoriously sympathetic to those in his situation. Far more important for the history of the diaspora were his supporters. Some 34,000 fled persecution from the new Yugoslav Communist regime and successfully sought asylum in Pavelić’s new home.

Strong ties between the two nations remain.

During the Croatian War of Independence which lasted from 1991 to 1995, Argentine President Carlos Menem defied a UN embargo and supplied Croat forces with weapons. In

Photo via: Wikicommons 2013, the arms supplied to both Croatia and Ecuador were found to total 6,500 tonnes, and Menem was sentenced to 7 years under house arrest.

Of course, as is the case with practically every diaspora, Argentine Croats are rapidly losing contact with their ancestors’ homeland. There are only 5,000 Croatian citizens living in Argentina, of which a miniscule 181 voted in the second round of the Croatian presidential elections in 2015. Nonetheless, Argentina is still home to the third largest Croatian diaspora in the world, so we should not underestimate Croat influence in Argentine history, nor vice-versa.

Jamie Barton

The Skaftár Fires In Iceland, the effects were at their worst.

The sulphur dioxide released by the lava flows mixed with atmospheric water, thus causing acid rain that killed plants. The Laki fissure also threw out fluorine, which settled in the grass and killed much of the grazing livestock. The famine that followed killed around 22% of the population. In the village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur, reports say that people continued to worship in the local church while lava flowed nearby.

Photo via: Wikicommons In 1783, the Grimsvotn volcano began an eight-month eruption through the Laki fissure in what came to be known as the Skaftár Fires.

Iceland had experienced earthquakes leading up to the eruption but was unprepared for the onslaught that followed, the largest eruption Iceland had seen in 1,130 years. For eight months, the volcano threw out so much lava that it has been compared to a flood, along with harmful gasses that found their way across the Northern hemisphere.

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Elsewhere, the sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere meant that the temperature dropped. In America, both George Washington and James Madison wrote complaining about the cold, and Benjamin Franklin blamed the fog that seemed to cover the sun’s rays, writing: ‘Of course, their summer effect in heating the Earth was exceedingly diminished.’ There is some debate as to whether Franklin’s assumption that the eruption was the cause of this was correct, but the eruption certainly had consequences in Europe and Russia.

Acid rain found its way across much of the

Northern hemisphere, destroying crops as it went. The resulting famine in France was the spark that lit the French Revolution. The summer was hotter than usual, and the winter much colder. There are also studies that suggest average mortality rates in England rose, though this cannot be entirely linked to the eruption. Even North Africa and India experienced droughts due to weakened monsoon circulations.

Concerningly, the Katla volcanic system connects to the same lava chamber as the Laki fissure. The Skaftár Fires remains a catastrophic eruption, one which would have wide-reaching consequences if it were to happen again. On 21 May 2011, the Grimsvotn volcano erupted once more, causing ash to fall over the UK. Flights were grounded, and many tourists were stranded until the ash was carried away by the wind.

Unlike June 1783, we now have some warning when the fissures do, inevitably, erupt, thanks to the Iceland Meteorological Office.

India-Rose Channon

www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP D

The Lioness of Lisabi A major figure in feminist activism and the Nigerian anti-colonial struggle, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a teacher, political campaigner, women’s rights activist and aristocrat in Nigeria. Born 25 October 1900 in the city of Abeokuta, she fought an exemplary battle for the emancipation and self-determination of women and, as a result of her unique political activism, Ransome-Kuti became known as the doyen of female rights in Nigeria; the Lioness of Lisabi; the Mother of Africa. But how did her position as a woman affect her work – and what is her lasting legacy?

In later life, Ransome-Kuti would become infamous for being the first woman in Nigeria to drive a car – but she was also the first female student to attend the Abeokuta Grammar School, in southwest Nigeria.

After she graduated in 1917, she continued studying in England, before returning to Nigeria to teach. In 1925, she married Reverent Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti. The Reverend had founded the Nigerian Union of Teachers and the Nigerian Union of Students and was to become a forerunner of the ruling National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons.

Subsequently Ransome-Kuti became active in the NCNC, heading the women’s wing.

Her feminist activism began to evolve in 1932 when she founded the Abeokuta Ladies Club (ALC) which, in 1946, became the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU). Initially, membership was mostly Western-educated or working-class women, but it expanded in 1944 to include market women. The group was focused heavily on campaigning against price controls, which would drastically limit the incomes of market women. Trading was one of the major occupations of women in Western Nigeria at the time. But the group also had broader goals, including improving educational opportunities for women and girls, enforcing sanitary regulations and providing better health and social services for women to access.

Ransome-Kuti spent much of her life campaigning for women’s votes. In the 1950s, she was one of the few women elected to the house of chiefs, her homeland’s most influential body. However, in 1951, RansomeKuti was unsuccessful in a campaign for a seat in the regional assembly as a candidate of the NCNC. In 1959, rejected for a second bid, she ran instead as independent. As @TheMcrHistorian

a result, the vote was split, ensuring an opposition victory. Ransome-Kuti’s following among Abeokuta women was increasing and her political influence in Nigeria was also growing. However, in 1956 her passport was not renewed by the Nigerian government; allegedly linked to communist agendas, her political activism had angered both her homeland and the British and American governments. Nevertheless, in 1960 she would become one of the delegates to negotiate Nigerian independence from the British government.

By 1946, with Ransome-Kuti’s help, the Abeokuta Women’s Union had expanded to over 100,000 members. They had, most significantly, begun the battle against the injustice and exploitation of market women in Nigeria. Under Ransome-Kuti’s leadership, the group were dedicated to addressing the concerns of all Nigerian women, working on issues such as suffrage, healthcare and other social services, as well as education.

Her activism has often been overshadowed by the work of her three sons, who also worked effectively in opposition to various Nigerian militia. In 1978, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was thrown from a third-floor window of her son Fela’s compound when it was stormed by military personnel. She passed away on 13 April 1978 as a result of her injuries.

Photo via: Wikicommons Today, perceptions of the role of women in Nigeria are skewed by persistent images of Nigerian women as helpless, oppressed and marginalised in society, often influenced

by Western ideas of feminism, which do not always coalesce with Nigerian desires.

In 1982, a Nigerian feminist conference prompted much backlash in the country.

Whilst Ransome-Kuti’s work in improving education amongst women had been successful, the changes to trade and market women’s lives was deemed too drastic.

The conference argued that polygamy was dangerous for Nigerian women but was met with backlash from market women. For them, polygamy afforded some level of autonomy on the difficult trading markets, as well as ensuring that their household was looked after while they worked.

Nevertheless, Ransome-Kuti’s campaigns and demands have undoubtedly changed the life of women in Nigeria forever. Wider access to education as the result of her campaigns has been considered the most important catalyst for change in Nigeria. Elite women are emerging, challenging modern Nigerian patriarchy and organising to ensure the changing political arena of Nigeria is wide enough to accommodate them and all other Nigerian women as the country continues to develop.

Becca Hamilton 13

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP E

Slavery to Splendour to be a taboo subject in Brazilian culture.

The last decade, however, has seen far more acknowledgement of and commemoration to their history. Cities like Rio de Janeiro and Porto Algere have both erected permanent memorials to honour the victims of trade.

Photo via: Wikicommons The words: ‘Transatlantic Slave Trade’ tend to evoke images of colonial powers such as Portugal, Britain and, of course, America. What most may not know, was that Brazil was one of its most major participants. During the slave trade era, Brazil imported more African slaves than any other nation involved. With expensive goods to produce and trade, such as sugar, gold and diamonds, Brazil’s demand for slave labour remained high from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth century.

Brazil was the last nation in the Western world to abolish slavery. By the time they had stepped away from the trade in 1888, around four million slaves had been imported from Africa to Brazil. This history has left its mark on Brazil and its people. Their unrivalled contribution to the trade used

Brazil’s workforce is still affected by the culture of forced labour that has seemingly persisted.

As recently as 2017, cases of exploitative working situations defined as ‘modern day slavery’ are still being discovered. A culture of exploitation and poverty has remained in Brazil, and it was against this backdrop that the spectacle of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics were held.

Comparatively sunnier than the London games before them, the Olympic-bug swept up the world as it tends to do every four years.

With the eyes of the world set firmly on Brazil, the extravagant Olympic Park transformed into a political tool. A frame through which awareness to Brazil’s remaining societal issues were highlighted.

With a 2017 report estimating that ‘thousands’ of workers in Brazil are still working in exploitative, slave-like conditions, it seemed somewhat paradoxical to the locals that the government were able to pump so much money into the Olympic spectacle, rather than tackling modern slavery at its roots. All this was exacerbated by reports of embezzlement and fraud at the highest levels of Brazilian government, and Brazil’s worst economic crisis since the 1990s. Mere months before they had assumed the international centre stage, riots had torn through the country and their president, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached. Vice President Michel Temer took his place during the games, as all of Rousseff’s Olympic invites were rescinded.

Brazil still seems to have a long way to go before their societal inequalities can be fixed. But it is undeniable that the spotlight shone on them by the international attention brought to the games had enormous effect.

Ellie Tivey

Swiss Army Life If you were asked to name one nation most associated with ‘neutrality’, Switzerland is often the first to come to mind. The landlocked European country is famous historically for remaining uninvolved in wars - excluding civil wars, the last conflict seeing Swiss involvement dates back to 1815. As of the 1798 invasion of the area we know as Switzerland today, the French First Republic were exercising control over the area they referred to as the Helvetic Republic. Napoleon sought to appease the disgruntled annexed population in a bid to curb uprisings in the region. He withdrew French troops in 1803 and established the Swiss Confederation, but this appeasement was not enough.

Switzerland pushed for autonomy and as Napoleon’s influence waned during his conflicts with European powers, the country was recognised at the 1815 Congress of Vienna as an independent, neutral nation.

From that point, Switzerland has remained outside of major international conflicts, most notably the World Wars. The World Wars were substantial events, with fighting spanning

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the European continent (and further afield), with millions of combatants and civilians caught amidst the fray. And yet, Switzerland remained largely uninvolved. How has Switzerland achieved such association with ‘neutrality’ throughout its lengthy history?

Switzerland has typically employed a practice of ‘armed neutrality’ in which the country strives to avoid international conflict by maintaining a strong military deterrent to protect itself. The central European nation boasts geographical features advantageous to this end. It is relatively small compared to neighbouring European countries and much of its border is mountainous terrain that discourages invasion. The difficulty of the terrain is compounded further by Swiss military doctrine - despite a historically small population (3 million as of 1900, 8 million as of 2017), a sizeable, well-equipped army and pool of reservists is maintained to further deter any potential invaders.

Despite this protective-minded approach, Switzerland has long been renowned for its military prowess and Swiss mercenaries

Photo via: Wikicommons were keenly sought by European nobles throughout the Early Modern period to serve in their armies. Switzerland’s status as a provider of military expertise to other nations contrasts sharply with the armed neutrality doctrine employed at home. Such services waned towards the start of the nineteenth century as Switzerland’s impact on the world evolved.

Nowadays, the country is involved abroad militarily only in UN peacekeeping efforts.

A developed and wealthy nation, the Swiss impact the world in new ways. Having founded the Red Cross organisation among other pursuits, it can be said that Switzerland today is a useful global force and enjoys such status likely due to self-minded, protective policies in the past.

Sean Jones www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP E

The Forgotten Colony poorest and least inhabited territories. It struggled to recover from the decimation of its native peoples and land, and developed a mostly agrarian economy amongst small communities. However, it never suffered the political turbulences of the more prominent areas under Spanish control.

Photo via: Wikicommons Costa Rica was first reached by Christopher Columbus in 1502. Excited by the prospect of a new source of wealth, he named it ‘Rich Coast’. When it was discovered that Costa Rica lacked naturally occurring riches, the country afforded little further attention from entrepreneurial Spaniards, and so it became a largely forgotten feature of the Empire. As across the majority of South America, the process of Spanish colonisation in Costa Rica was violent, leaving the native populations significantly depleted. The nation held little significance to the Spanish crown; it was continually governed very remotely, originally from Peru as a part of the Kingdom of Granada, until it became part of the Captaincy Central of Guatemala. Throughout the colonial period, it remained one of the

Arguably, this lack of interference by the colonialists led to Costa Rica’s stable development and relative peace following independence. They were granted independence, along with the rest of the region, under Guatemala’s leadership in 1821 without suffering the tragic losses and structural damage that many others faced.

It wasn’t until 1823 that the country saw any major political unrest, when a Civil War erupted between the Imperialists seeking to align themselves with the Mexican Empire and the Republicans who wanted Costa Rica to be fully independent. The two sides fought the issue at the Battle of Ochomogo, where the Republicans were victorious. The resulting state of Costa Rica did not gain much sovereignty however, as they initially joined the United Provinces of Central

America. When this collapsed, and Costa Rica became a fully independent state in 1838, it finally began to flourish. It could cease to be a forgotten feature of another framework and could exploit its true potential. Although Columbus dismissed it as a backwater because it had no gold or silver, the land proved perfect for the cultivation of more modern delicacies like coffee and sugar.

Since gaining independence, Costa Rica has largely avoided violence on its shores.

Unlike nearby Nicaragua, they defeated the US Filibuster William Walker, and staved off American intervention. Although the country descended into another Civil War in 1948, the conflict only lasted 22 days, and resulted in the abolition of the army and a new constitution. Since then, Costa Rica’s history of flying under the radar has enabled them to exist in far more comfortable and peaceful obscurity than much of the rest of their excolonial compatriots.

Sophie Marriott

The Father of Serbia Stefan Nemanja, Grand Prince of Serbia, ruled from 1166-1196, yet his influence stretches across history to touch the country today. Firstly, he extended the territory of his country, breaking free from the suzerainty of the sprawling Byzantine Empire, and laid the foundations for the territory that modern Serbia covers. He took advantage of the internal turmoil in the rulership of the Empire during the decade from 1180-90, conquering Kosovo, Metohija, parts of northern Macedonia and northern Albania whilst the Byzantines were left distracted and on the defensive.

Diplomatic ties were made with the German Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa before the start of the Third Crusade in 1187. The Grand Prince did not accompany the German Emperor on the crusade, but their meeting strengthened the Serbians’ position amongst their neighbours. Nemanja was defeated in an encounter with the Byzantines at South Morava in 1190, and although he was forced to give up some of the land he had conquered, he maintained the land from Kosovo to Prizren, and ensured the succession of his middle son Stefan in the treaty. @TheMcrHistorian

Aside from his military achievements, Stefan Nemanja and his family are known to Serbians for their great influence on Serbian Christianity. On his abdication in 1196, he joined his son Sava (later Saint Sava), at Mount Athos in northeast Greece. There he assisted his son in the founding of the monastery at Hilandar, known in subsequent years as a great focal point of the Serbian Orthodox Church – an institution that Sava was the founder and first archbishop of. The monastery became a centre of medieval Serbian culture as well as ecclesiastical leadership in subsequent years.

The Grand Prince was known for his piety throughout his reign, and it was no great surprise that he devoted his later years, until his death around 1200, to a religious life.

Religion was such a feature in the life of the Grand Prince that he was the subject of the earliest known hagiography and biography of Serbian origin, penned by his son Sava. This can be seen to begin a hagiographic tradition in the country. After his abdication and arrival in Greece, Stefan took the name Symeon,

Photo via: Wikicommons and was canonised shortly after his death, becoming known as St Symeon the MyrrhStreaming, not to be confused with several other sanctified Symeons in the Eastern Orthodox tradition!

Stefan Nemaja is remembered as a founder of the modern Serbian nation, and is still a great focus of national pride. He reminds the Serbian people of their proud history; notably as Serbian national identity was fought for in the bloody conflict of the 1990s. He is also a symbol of Serbia’s strong religious identity to this day.

Amelia Woodhouse 15

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP F

The Refugee Crisis On the morning of 9th April 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered an attack on Norway. While 775 Norwegian Jews were arrested or detained in concentration camps, hundreds fled – most to Sweden – where they found safety and refuge. Hitler’s motivation for this attack?

To safeguard Swedish iron ore shipments to Germany, upon which it had depended since 1933.

Three years later, in October 1943, Hitler ordered the deportation of Danish Jews.

With the assistance of the Danish Resistance Movement, Sweden evacuated 7,220 of Denmark’s 7,800 Jews. This rescue, as well as the protection of Sweden’s own Jews, was made possible by its neutrality. Despite this neutrality, the Swedish press adopted a critical

Photo via: Wikicommons

attitude towards National Socialism, which strained the traditionally close diplomatic relationship between Germany and Sweden.

Fast forward 73 years. Escalating violence in Syria since the start of the Civil War in 2011 –constituting the greatest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War – has caused some 6.1 million Syrians to be internally displaced. Another 5.6 million have become refugees. In August 2012, the first Syrian refugees migrated to the European Union.

The EU struggled to cope with the influx of migrants, with countries entering debates over the moral, cultural and economic implications of admitting or refusing large groups of refugees.

As the crisis mounted in 2016, Germany and Sweden were the two most hospitable countries in accepting refugees, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel noting that ‘the fundamental right to asylum for the politically persecuted knows no upper limit.’ Of the 406,000 offered protection by EU members, 300,000 were offered sanctuary in Germany, and 44,905 in Sweden, in contrast to 1,850 accepted in the UK.

Whilst the Civil War in Syria has sparked a global crisis, it has arguably brought Germany and Sweden closer. In recent times bilateral relations between Germany and Sweden are largely problem free.

In January 2017, Chancellor Merkel visited Prime Minister Stefan Löven, and right-wing populism has emerged in both countries.

Whilst Sweden’s response to the crisis represents a continuation of its status as a humanitarian power, the hospitality of Germany, the author of the greatest refugee crisis of the twentieth century, may be seen to reflect its changing desires in the contemporary world; an example of its ability to learn from past mistakes; and a recognition of the importance of multiculturalism.

Considering that the Syrian Civil War remains ongoing, it remains to be answered whether humanitarianism will prevail in Germany and Sweden, or whether, given an increase in public antipathy towards refugees, they will adopt a different strategy.

Zeni Bellwood

Frida Kahlo The history of Mexican art ranges from the indigenous Mesoamerican art produced preSpanish conquest, to the more contemporary nationalistic Mexican Muralist movement.

Despite the diversity of the country’s artistic output, today Mexican art is almost synonymous with the name Frida Kahlo.

Although the name Frida Kahlo is inherently universal in popular culture today, Kahlo’s status in the art world has only developed over the past twenty years or so. Kahlo was born in Coyoacán, Mexico City in 1907.

Suffering Polio as a child, Kahlo was left severely disabled; her disablement being furthered by a serious traffic accident at the age of eighteen. These physical afflictions inhibited her ambitions to become a medical professional and as a result, she turned to art.

Kahlo’s style is most often described as Surrealist, combining realism with folk fantasy and magic. Her main inspiration was Mexican culture and society, with particular interest in the Folk culture of the country. This can be seen as the driving force behind her art throughout her career, from her involvement with the Mexican Communist Party in 1927

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to the founding of Seminario de Cultura Mexicana – an institution which aimed to promote scientific, philosophical and artistic activity within Mexico.

Despite her consistent level of activity within the arts, Kahlo was often merely dubbed as “Diego Rivera’s wife”. Rivera was often praised as the most important modernist of the art world. Indeed, most of Kahlo’s working life revolved around the work of her husband and this is reflected within her artwork; the first artwork of hers to be publicly exhibited was her Frieda and Diego Rivera portrait (1931) which is based upon their wedding photograph.

However, as Kahlo’s career progressed she became increasingly bold with her interactions in the public realm, thus creating a larger platform for her own artwork. 1937 and 1938 saw the climax of Kahlo’s artistic output, with works such as My Nurse and I and Memory, the Heart. A visit from the leader of the Surrealist group André Breton in 1938 led to her work being exhibited in Paris and her first solo exhibition in New York – increasing her global influence significantly.

Photo via: https://www.pinterest.com Despite Kahlo’s relatively covert status in the art world during her lifetime, described

by Breton as “a ribbon around a bomb”, Kahlo’s posthumous recognition has offered the art world a refreshing perspective on a multitude of issues ranging from; the role of the female in a highly masculine art world, to the importance of Mexican culture on a global scale. I would argue Kahlo’s work has revolutionised the world of art and its ideological values, and her fight to resist the mindset of inferiority serves as a model for underrepresented minorities working within the arts today.

Eleanor Scrafton

www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP F

South Korea at 70 The establishment of South Korea as an independent nation in 1948 is a significant moment in the history of the Korean peninsula and its people. Plans made by the major Allied powers at a conference in Cairo in 1943 outlined hopes for a unified Korea. This built upon the evolving nature of the peninsula dating back hundreds if not thousands of years, from the era of the Three Kingdoms of Korea up until the unifying of various local dynasties throughout the Medieval and Early Modern period. However, ideological differences within Korea lead to the formulation of two separate nations, North and South Korea.

This separation into two political entities and peoples was undoubtedly influenced by the ideological battleground set out following the end of the Second World War. The advent of the Cold War between the politically juxtaposed nations of the United States and the Soviet Union saw both nations attempt to gain an ideological foothold throughout the globe - capitalism versus communism.

Influencing developing nations to adopt or reject one another’s ideological tendencies was a key part of their foreign policy and as such, Korea found itself divided along these lines. North Korea appointed the communist Kim-Il Sung to lead their Democratic Republic with Russian support, while the US backed the anti-communist leader Syngman Rhee as the first elected president of the Republic of Korea in the South. For better or for worse, these two countries have been travelling on diverging yet interlinked paths ever since.

The Korean War began with the 1950 invasion of South Korea by the North, with Kim-Il Sung asserting his belief that North Korea had the right to rule over the entire Korean peninsula through this show of military strength. The first major conflict of the Cold War, it was an incredibly bloody affair. As a proxy-war between the US and USSR backed ideologies of capitalism and communism, troops and resources poured in from both sides. The North Koreans received Soviet and Chinese soldiers (over 1 million Chinese troops alone were sent to help fight) and materiel, while a coalition of United Nations forces saw troops sent from the US, UK and over a dozen other nations to support the South Korean military.

Three years of fighting came to an end in July 1953 with an armistice declared, although no peace treaty was ever signed, meaning the two nations are technically still at war.

The war ended at a stalemate, with over 1.2 million lives lost between the two sides.

Significantly, the creation of a demilitarised zone was established across close to what was the original border as divided in 1948.

Tensions between the North and South have persisted throughout the years, with both sides maintaining significant weapons arsenals ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice should tensions escalate beyond the brink again. A few isolated, minor skirmishes aside, it is thankful that no such reemergence of bloody conflict has occurred.

What has occurred however is the rapid development of South Korea’s economy, especially in the technology sector, making the nation one of the most wealthy and

Photo via: Wikicommons prosperous in South-East Asia today. Most notably during the 1970s under President Park Chung-Hee where a series of investments in infrastructure and a focus on exports led to an overall increase in standards of living and increased income. Park himself was assassinated in 1979 following eight years of autocratic rule during which the freedom of the press and political activities were curbed.

Protests and demands for democracy grew until the reappearance of a presidential election came about in 1987.

South Korea’s development economically and culturally soon saw greater outreach with the outside world. The capital Seoul hosted the 1988 Olympic Games, while the Republic was invited to join the United Nations in 1991.

The 1997 election victory of Kim Dae-Sung, formerly a political prisoner, also evidences how far democracy has evolved within South Korea from that of an autocratic state to one of a more accepting, fairer society.

South Korea today is seemingly far removed from what it was seventy years ago. The nation has established itself as culturally distinct, having preserved Korean tradition where necessary while embracing modernisation. An urbanised, technological hub within Asia, the South Korean people enjoy greater prosperity and democracy than perhaps imaginable at its inception.

Sean Jones Photo via: Wikicommons @TheMcrHistorian

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ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP G

Foiling Fraud On the 16 April, 2016, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, in association with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), published eleven and a half million previously confidential files.

These files consisted of emails, PDFs, text documents and other formats, and documented correspondences surrounding 214,488 offshore companies represented

by Mossack Fonesca, a Panamanian law firm. This held extreme significance, as the majority of these entities were so-called ‘shell companies’: establishments in offshore tax havens that were not illegal, but on the most part used to launder money and dodge tax.

The whistle-blower of the “Panama Papers”, as they came be known, remained anonymous, identified only by the moniker ‘John Doe’.

They did so out of fear for their own safety, highlighting other notorious whistle-blowers, such as Edward Snowden, as examples of the persecution they could potentially suffer once they went public. In an open statement, published on the ICIJ’s website, Doe explained their motivation for leaking the documents. They argued that ‘massive, pervasive corruption’ permeates our society, and that once they understood the content of the files, their conscience allowed them no choice other than to share the information with the world. Doe’s actions reveal a strange dichotomy within our society. Some people, such as the anonymous whistle-blower, still have the conscience and courage to step forward when they see an injustice. Despite this, Doe was forced to remain anonymous because large, powerful corporations and governments would punish them for their actions. There is clearly a moral imbalance at work.

Photo via: http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche

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When the Panama Papers were released, a strong connection to England became apparent. Not only had the then Prime Minister David Cameron’s father been the director of Blairmore Holdings Inc., a money management fund used to dodge tax that was managed by Mossack Fonesca, but over half of the shell companies were registered to British Overseas Territories, such as the British Virgin Islands. Ironically, the year before, Cameron had made a speech promising to tackle corruption and money launderers.

With the release of the Panama Papers, opaque tax laws within British Overseas Territories were exposed to be shielding the rich and corrupt. This revelation highlighted how the moral perversion of the super-rich permeated both English and international society. Furthermore, the revealing of Cameron’s connection to Blairmore, a firm named after the Cameron’s ancestral family home in Aberdeenshire, reinforced for many the sentiment that those in charge are firmly disconnected from the wider public. Although Cameron Jr. was not directly connected to his late father’s company, the association was close enough to make people feel uneasy.

The Camerons’ association with the Panama Papers was, unfortunately, part of a trend of many significant political figures being associated with the scandal.

Photo via: http://nationalmagazine The most significant of world leaders who had links to Mossack Fonesca companies was the notorious Vladimir Putin. A trail, despite not directly involving Putin, can be tracked through his friends to reveal a kitty of around $2 billion. The money passed through a Russian bank, Swiss lawyers, the infamous Mossack Fonesca, onto offshore firms, and finally ended up in a ski resort with close ties to the Putin family. Whilst the fact that Putin was laundering money through this scheme may not come as a surprise, the sheer scale of the operation is shocking. This level of corruption wasn’t limited to Russia, either. Whilst some of the names are not so surprising, such as the King of Saudi Arabia or the son of Malaysia’s Prime Minister, others, such as the President of Iceland, reveal that the immorality of the super-rich is uncomfortably close to home.

Many in the West, including the English, have a sense of moral superiority over other, supposedly more corrupt, nations. We expect, or at least hope, that our values will be upheld by those in power. The Panama Papers scandal shattered that illusion. Whilst the Conservative manifesto may have promised to ‘continue to lead the world of tax and transparency’, one wonders whether the government have any real power to curb the corruption of the extremely wealthy. There are some positive signs. Charities such as Oxfam have made a significant effort to crack down upon tax dodging, corruption, and money laundering, by petitioning the government to make the laws surrounding British offshore havens more transparent. Despite this, efforts to push for a central register on these territories appear to be going nowhere. It seems that the widespread corruption and immorality exposed by the Panama Papers, with a root in Britain, is here to stay.

Pip Woolley www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP G

The Science of Religion

Photo via: Wikicommons It is fair to say that theology and science are schools of thought usually in conflict with one another. Nowhere is this apparent opposition clearer than in the conception of creation – how the universe came to be and where it came from. One man who superseded such contradictions, and employed both religion and physics to shape his understanding of the universe, was Georges Lemaître. Throughout his life, Lemaître managed to sustain his careers as both a Catholic Priest, and groundbreaking physicist.

Having served in the First World War and earning himself the Belgian War Cross, Lemaître began studying the unlikely trio of physics, mathematics, and priesthood. 1923

was a big year for Lemaître, he was ordained as a priest and accepted into the University of Cambridge as a graduate student of astronomy.

Although he was already making waves in the academic community, it wasn’t until 1927 that he published a report that brought him international fame -A Homogeneous Universe of Constant Mass and Growing Radius Accounting for the Radial Velocity of Extragalactic Nebulae (alas, he was not famed for his succinct, to-the-point titles). Lemaître had provided the first published estimation of the universe’s expansion – what later came to be known as Hubble’s Law. This outlandish publication provoked a reaction even from scientific juggernaut Albert Einstein, who firmly believed in a static universe and was reported to have said: ‘Your calculations are correct, but your physics is atrocious’.

It was in 1930, during a cosmology conference with The British Association, that Lemaître first proposed what he called The Cosmic Egg Theory – the idea that the universe expanded from one initial point, called The Primeval Atom. This is what we now know to be The Big Bang Theory and attribute primarily to the late,

great Stephen Hawking. By 1933, Lemaître had convinced Einstein of the legitimacy of this theory, and it wasn’t long before the rest of the international scientific community followed.

Although Lemaître’s credentials suggest he saw physics and theology as synonymous with one another, a small spat he had with Pope Pius XII in 1951 proves otherwise. Pius came out in support of Lemaître’s ‘Cosmic Egg’ theory stating that it was scientific affirmation of Catholic theology. Lemaître quickly retorted that the theory was neutral and had nothing to do with his religious beliefs and practices.

Lemaître died peacefully in 1966, having just learnt of the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation, which further supported his Cosmic Egg theory. He left behind him a legacy that has inspired many of the world’s most renowned scientists, and proven that theology and science can be employed in congruence to better our understanding of our meaning and purpose in this universe.

Ellie Tivey

The Lost Roman City also as leader of an informal but exceptional empire. It is even thought that Carthaginian navigators journeyed to Britain, under Himilco, long before Julius Caesar reached British shores.

Photo via: Wikicommons Today, the north-east coast of Tunisia evokes swooning images of glimmering white-brick villas, purple bougainvillea, and red hibiscus blossom − all against an exquisite backdrop of the Mediterranean Sea. Despite a wave of terror attacks in recent years, tourists still flock to its beaches, oblivious to the violent history echoing through its ancient streets.

The ruins at Carthage – including the Antonin baths and an amphitheatre modelled on Rome’s Colosseum – signify one of the only ancient cities to have posed a true threat to the Roman Republic. Its original Phoenician colony was founded around 3000 years ago, after the fall of its mother city Tyre. The city flourished as a supreme naval and commercial power, but @TheMcrHistorian

However, Carthage’s prosperity provoked a series of conflicts against the Roman Republic between 264 and 146 BC, known as the Punic Wars. Cato the Elder’s iconic phrase “Carthago delenda est” – “Carthage must be destroyed” – with which he supposedly concluded all his speeches, endures as an epochal portent of the symbolic city’s ultimate annihilation. Despite the efforts of their illustrious general Hannibal Barca, Carthage was sacked by the Romans in 146 BC, following a two-year siege of the city during the Third Punic War. The entire city was plundered and razed to the ground; the 50,000 Carthaginians who survived the blazes and Roman death squads were enslaved. As Scipio Africanus the Younger surveyed the great city he had set alight, he wept, grasping the hand of the historian Polybius, declaring it a glorious foreboding of the doomed fate of all great, human nations – even Rome.

Although the Romans vowed never to rebuild Carthage, Julius Caesar eventually ordered its restoration, which was initiated following his murder in 44BC. Within half a decade, the city had become the capital of the province of Africa and was to enjoy a spectacular future. By the early 2nd century AD, Carthage had become the second largest city in the Empire, following Rome, with an estimated population as high as 500,000. It was ranked alongside Alexandria, and its significance was further emboldened by Africa’s prominence as the ‘breadbasket of the Empire’.

Though Roman Carthage was in turn conquered by the Vandals in the 5th century AD, many of its wonders can still be traced today – the hill of Byrsa, temples to Juno, Jupiter and Minerva, a portico housing Roman sculptures, a circus, and a theatre constructed

by Hadrian. These are a lingering echo of Carthage’s remarkable past, mirroring the magnificence of Rome, yet also signifying the threat to Roman hegemony the city posed.

Madeleine Foster 19

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP H

Poznan Protests Photo via: Wikicommons There is perhaps no event in the history of modern Poland that captures the disorientating reality of the Cold War better than the Poznan protests in 1956.

The protests were initiated by workers of the H. Cegielski multi-factory complex over the sudden, uncompensated imposition of work quotas by the Stalinist fiscal authorities. Between 9am and 11am on 28 June, 100,000 residents of Poznan took to the Adam Mickiewicz Square and Zamek gardens to express dissatisfaction with working life under Soviet occupation.

This culminated in their violent suppression, resulting in 80 deaths and 1,000 casualties.

beginning of a timeline of spasmodic liberal expression in times of repression, yet they also kickstarted the Polish October.

They represented both Polish communism and Stalinism; inclusion and exclusion; and violence and honest political practice.

A constituent event in the ‘Polish October’, during which the character of Polish communism transitioned from Stalinism to a more localised, practical communism, the Poznan protests violently, and directly, confronted the Stalinist authorities.

Coinciding with Khrushchev’s famous On the Personality Cult and its Consequences, which was circulated widely in Poland, the protests presented the Polish Communist Party with an inroad into rejecting Stalinist cultism. After failing to control the reception of the protests in the West, the PPR elected the moderate Władysław Gomułka to herald change.

Yet the Poznan protests are inherently paradoxical. They embody a juncture between expressions of Polish national identity, and desires to placate imperious and pervasive Stalinism. They lie at the

Gomułka epitomised the messiness of Polish resistance to the USSR and of the Cold War itself. He was initially hugely popular, yet Gomułka’s regime quickly devolved into tyranny. His persecution

of the Catholic Church during the 1960s became an underlying factor in the enormous rise of the Catholic Solidarity movement in the following decades.

The protests were liminal in Polish history.

They offered a brief moment where Polish workers could partake in liberal traditions of associationism and freedom of speech to geographically and intellectually challenge the might of Stalinism. Yet they also premised the rise of Gomułka, who himself hated Stalinism but created his own signature authoritarianism. They occupied a middle ground between two oppressive regimes, yet utilised both violence and liberality to convey frustration with the status quo.

Yet the protests and ensuing October demonstrate to what extent the Polish knew, and didn’t know, what kind of political character they wanted to pursue, and how often they realised the status quo was socially and culturally damaging.

Jake Charles Sheppard

Imperialism at Work When readers consider the links between Britain and Senegal in the context of football, there may be a temptation to think of Papiss Cisseé conquering Stamford Bridge with an audacious outside of the boot effort in 2012, or Papa Bouba Diop dominating Premier League midfields. However, the history of Senegal is closely tied to that of a more sinister kind of imperialism, and it is only since independence in 1960 that Senegal has been able to enjoy national self-determination and expression.

Senegal’s imperial history began in 1444 when the Portuguese began trading in the area around the mouth of the Sénégal, namely on an island called the Gorée which would play a significant role in Senegal’s imperial future.

Soon they were joined on the westernmost tip of Africa by British, French and Dutch traders.

The conflicting aims of these imperial powers meant that a clash was inevitable, particularly as Senegal became a major point of departure for the Transatlantic Slave Trade. In 1677, the French took the Gorée, by now an important point for procuring slaves, in a move which would set the tone for almost 300 years of

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French domination, despite two brief periods of British rule. Slaves, gold and gum arabic provided economic attraction to the area and the impetus for the French to push further inland. In the mid-1800s, the French stepped up their involvement in Senegal, with a greater military presence. Following abolition, peanuts had replaced slaves as the most lucrative Senegalese trade. In 1895, Senegal was consolidated with France’s other West African territory under French West Africa. The inhabitants of urban Senegal had by now been recognised as French citizens, though there was an increasing drive for independence and greater autonomy. This was finally achieved in 1960, initially as part of the Malian Federation, although this union would only last a few months.

The impact of imperialism on Senegal can still be felt today, not least in the French language, which is taught to Senegalese pre-schoolers.

Less successful were efforts to replace Islam with Christianity in the nineteenth century; 95% of the population today are Muslim.

Indeed, if Saïdo Mané carries his current form into the World Cup we may see him celebrate with the sujood, the Islamic act of prostration.

More pervasive were the French attempts at controlling the Senegalese economy, which still suffers from overspecialization in groundnuts, making it susceptible to shocks in the world market, causing developmental problems.

Senegal has at least enjoyed peace since independence, which cannot be said of some other postcolonial African nations.

James Rabey

Photo via: Wikicommons www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

GROUP H

Escobar’s Empire Born on December 1st 1949, drug trafficker and narcoterrorist Pablo Escobar became one of the most infamous criminals ever. Dubbed the ‘King of Cocaine’, Escobar’s cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over $21.9 billion in personal income.

Escobar hailed from a modest background, his father a peasant farmer and his mother a schoolteacher. Yet from an early age Escobar packed a unique drive and ambition to raise himself up from his humble beginnings.

Getting a criminal start as a petty thief stealing cars, he then moved into the smuggling business and eventually came to dominate the cocaine world.

In 1975, Medellin drug trafficker Fabio Restrepo was murdered. It is believed that his killing came at the orders of Escobar who immediately seized power of the cartel. At the head of the cartel, Escobar reportedly smuggled more than 15 tons each day, netting the cartel as much as $420 million a week. By the mid-1980s, he had an estimated net worth of $30 billion and was named one of the 10 richest people on earth by Forbes.

Escobar’s cocaine business enabled him to create an empire that became infamous not only for its wealth, but for its murderous reputation. Escobar was responsible for the murders of thousands of people including politicians, civil servants, journalists and ordinary citizens. His cartel claimed the lives of three Colombian presidential candidates, an attorney general, scores of judges and more than 1000 police officers. He was also implicated as the mastermind behind the bombing of a Colombian jetliner in 1989 that killed more than 100 people.

Making Escobar even more unique, rather than extradition, in June 1991, he surrendered to the Colombian government of President Cesar Gaviria. However, Escobar was allowed to build his own luxury prison called ‘La Catedral’ complete with a casino, spa, and nightclub and was guarded by men he handpicked from his employees.

Escobar remained at La Catedral for a year before escaping when authorities attempted to move him to a more standard holding facility.

A 16 month manhunt was launched before

Photo via: Wikicommons a firefight ensued on December 2 1993 in Medellin. Escobar tried to escape across a series of rooftops but he and his bodyguard were shot and killed by Colombian police, whilst the Medellin Cartel crumbled in his absence.

Assisting in the manhunt for Pablo Escobar were two American Drug Enforcement agents, Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, both of whom had been working on the Escobar case for years. Their story formed part of the backbone of the 2015 Netflix series Narcos which explores the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel.

Amy Leahy

The Floating World “The Floating World” refers to the pleasureseeking, urban lifestyle of the Edo period of Japan (1600-1868). This period of relative stability under Tokugawa Shogunate was one of prolific cultural output, especially in large cities such as the capital, Edo, which is now Tokyo.

Haiku poetry found increased popularity during this period, propagated by master poets such as Matsuo Bashō. Haiku was developed from Haikai, an earlier form of writing, derived from puns and satire. Bashō spent much of his life elevating Haikai into a more serious literary genre, playing an essential role in producing the modern Haiku. The poet’s work was hugely popular in Japan during their isolation period and found a global audience long after his death.

Around the same time as Bashō was writing, another writer, Ihara Saikaku, was publishing works of Ukiyozōshi (books of the Floating World). Written in vernacular Japanese, as opposed to the Chinese and classical Japanese that the elite used, these books first focused on the pleasure @TheMcrHistorian

Photo via: Wikicommons quarters of Edo, before branching out into tales of the townspeople and Samurai.

Due to their subject matter, Ukiyozōshi was not considered to be high literature and was not widely read by the upper classes, though they did become popular with the ordinary people of Japan.

Another important aspect of the Floating World was Ukiyo-e, a genre of woodblock printing that flourished during the Edo period. Woodblock printing was not new, having originated as early as the eighth century, though printing was restricted due to the high costs involved. By the 17th century, mass production was possible, allowing a greater proportion of the population to purchase prints. In its earlier period, from the late 17th to early 18th centuries, Ukiyo-e most commonly

depicted ordinary people, in a similar vein to Ukiyozōshi, with dancers, courtesans and the city taking centre stage. Later period Ukiyo-e illustrated nature and landscapes, moving away from the luxury and excess of the Floating World. This later period’s work particularly influenced the Impressionism movement in Europe, as is evidenced by the framing of Claude Monet’s work.

Theatre also thrived during the Edo period.

Both Kabuki (live actors) and Bunraku’s (puppets) live performances enthralled the townspeople, to the extent that Samurai would sometimes watch in disguise, as their attendance at plays was strictly prohibited.

Kabuki theatre evolved over the period, starting out as parodies of Buddhist prayers performed by all-female casts, to the more familiar form of all-male performers with more serious, dramatic performances. This alteration reflected the same societal change that impacted Ukiyo-e, the move away from luxury and excess to a more moralistic, reserved art form.

Alexander Deniston 21

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

I N TE R V I E W W I T H A L E X D O W DA L L The year 2018 marks the centenary of the end of World War One. In an exclusive interview with Manchester Historian, Alex Dowdall reveals his thoughts on the unique conflict.

Last November was the 99th anniversary of when World War One ended. This November marks the centenary – how do you expect the world to remember such an occasion?

That’s a very interesting question. I think I would have two responses. I don’t want to make any sort of prediction as to how it will be celebrated but what I would say is it will be interesting to see whether there will be the same amount of interest in November 2018 as there was in August 2014 because the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War was certainly a massive moment across the world.

The other thing that I would say is that I suspect the 11th of November 2018 will mark the end of the centenary, but the 11th of November 1918 certainly didn’t mark the end of the First World War. It’s a convenient end point, but for the participants who were involved in the conflict, things didn’t end on the 11th of November 1918, especially if you were living in Ireland, or the former borderlands of the Russian Empire, or Salonika – these are all areas where conflicts continue after the 11th of November 1918.

All warfare is brutal, but World War One was a unique conflict. It has been labelled ‘the first modern war.’ At the time, why was it so different than wars before 1914?

For example, the Napoleonic Wars.

There are many reasons why it was different, but I’ll point to two, both to do with its scale.

First the scale of the conflict, in terms of the geographical spaces in which the war is happening. It’s happening all over Europe but it’s also happening in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In this respect, it was a truly global war.

Secondly, the scale in terms of numbers of soldiers involved, and killed and wounded. During the Napoleonic Wars, the concept of the ‘levée en masse’ or the mass citizen army was first developed, but states weren’t developed enough to unleash the full potential of the mass standing army. But by 1914, the state

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has the bureaucratic capacity to mobilise most its adult population. Eight million served in the French army at various points in 1918 and 1919, but when you consider there was only 40 million people living in France in 1914 that’s an enormous amount. Of that number, about 1 million were killed.

“THE 11TH OF NOVEMBER CERTAINLY DIDN’T MARK THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR” There is believed to have been around 10 million civilian deaths during World War One. It was unprecedented warfare for soldiers, but it was also unprecedented life for civilians. How did civilians deal with the brutal conflict of war and get on with their day-to-day lives?

The targeting of wartime civilians was a central feature of the First World War. This was a new development, and contemporaries recognised it as such.

There were various ways in which civilians were targeted – aerial bombing, occupation, mass displacement, economic warfare and blockade. Part of the reason civilians were targeted on such a large scale was because they were mobilised to support the war effort in a whole host of ways – from industry, to charitable endeavours and fundraising.

Photo via: Wikicommons And the fact that civilians were also contributing to the war effort in these ways was used to justify the use of extreme violence against them.

Between 1914 and 1918, western Europe was under the cover of a brutal World War. But some European countries didn’t take part. For example, Switzerland declared a ‘state of siege.’ Could you shed any light on what life was like in Switzerland during World War One? The position of neutrals during WW1 is a fascinating one as you rightly point out. There’s been a lot of historical interest in the role that neutral societies played because it sheds a lot of light on how ‘total’ the First World War was.

If you start looking at nations like Switzerland you begin to realise that the war affected the entire world – even those nations that tried to stay out of it. So, as you say, Switzerland implemented a ‘state of siege.’

Part of that required the mass-mobilisation of all adult males of Switzerland. They were mobilised in to the Swiss army and sent to guard the frontiers against invasion. But Switzerland also mediated between the belligerents, hosted political refugees and anti-war activists, and aided refugees from occupied territories.

In many respects, it was as involved in the war as the belligerents.

Dane Massey www.manchesterhistorian.com

ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

History Society Update Following months of blood, sweat, and table plans, the History society teamed up with the Politics society to host the annual Summer Ball. Travelling into the heart of Manchester, guests arrived at the Mercure hotel from 7pm to be greeted with a glass of champagne. Guests mingled at the bar, had their picture snapped, and ogled their free half bottle of wine. Whisked to their seats, the meal was served. Through a range of courses from tomato and red pepper soup to toffee popcorn cheesecake, food was consumed, bellies were filled and wine was spilled. Then the dancing began. Classic throwbacks ensued from J-Lo to the Macarena. Rumours suggest that the Cha Cha Slide was played three times, but this has yet to be confirmed. Wrapping up the night at 2am, bow ties were unfastened and Ubers were called.

It was safe to say, everyone had a brilliant night and a terrible morning.

And that was a wrap for the events hosted by the 2017/18 Committee. We would like towelcome and introduce to you the new 2018/19 History Committee:

18/19 HISTSOC COMITTEE President - Tori Williams Vice-President - Martha Norman-Long Secretary/Treasurer - Daniel Bayes Social Sec - Charlotte Bying Trip Sec - Caitlin Moore Social Media Sec - Cariad Hughes Academic Officer - Albert Jennings Careers Officer - Bria Cotton We wish you all the best of luck for the coming year!

Photo via: Tiggy Hillbery The next day, while not quite recovered from the night before, the History Netball team took on the bravest of the History lecturers.

Not only did they partake in a Staff vs Student sports match, they also delved into the depths of Fallowfield. John Morgan, Mark Whelan, Chris Bannister, Luke Kelly and Rachel Winchcombe formed the Staff team, accompanied by a number of third year students. The event raised money for the Manchester mental health charity, MIND. Within the first minute, confusion arose as the staff team passed the ball to the umpire and fell into one another. Nevertheless, as they began to understand the rules, goals were scored for both sides. Whilst the lecturers triumphed against the History Football team in 2017, their valiant effort this year was nomatch for the History Netball team, captained by Chloe Hickson. After 4 tight quarters, the History Netball team were victorious with a final score of 21-11.

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YOU! Do YOU want to boost your CV and have your writing published?

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Anyone is welcome to write for The Manchester Historian! f:@TheManchesterHistorian t:@TheMcrHistorian e:manchesterhistorian@gmail.com

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ISSUE 30 | MAY 2018

A Sporting Chance If it’s black you want then black you will get. Each sunrise a ball kicked from one end of a blue field Sails across to a black goal mouth and sinks into it and all The lights in the stadium plunge out, But the game never ends for another begins in a field On the opposite side of this bigger ball we are all pinned to Which responds to a giant kick as it spins around in an Even bigger blue field, a ball wary of a hot foot, gearing up So it seems, not for another kick, once and for all, More for a death-dealing embrace, As if a Euclidian dribble started eons ago Is brought to an instantaneous stop, A one-foot catch (not kick) and immediate burn up.

I cannot help but think this with the World Cup When I hear about your lock up and the case Made against you by the giant state, I see this global football as you and the big foot Of the Big Bang wielded at us all is like the boot Swung at you that sends you into a black hole For a portion of your life that adds up to an embrace Of this oil-slicked planet by our sun in a starlit stadium; Black for you means black for me for kingdom come.

- Fred

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D’Aguiar

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