School Essentials

Parliamentarian soldiers at a tavern, c1645

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British Civil Wars

Fought between 1642 and 1651, these wars were primarily disputes between Crown and Parliament about how the British Isles should be governed. But they also had religious and social dimensions, and witnessed the creation of the first national standing army.

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Why did the Indian Mutiny happen?

In 1857, Indian soldiers rose up against their British commanders. The reasons behind the rebellion stretch back to the origins of British involvement in Indian affairs.

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Decisive events of the Indian Mutiny

The 1857 rising was the biggest threat to Britain's colonial power during its rule of the Indian subcontinent.

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Edward Walker: Eyewitness to civil war

Sir Edward Walker was Secretary at War to King Charles I during the British Civil Wars. His papers provide a first-hand account of the Battle of Lostwithiel and offer many other illuminating insights on the wider conflict.

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Stepping into line

As the entire nation mobilised for the First World War, women took up new challenges. Many of these opportunities had previously been off limits, including military service.

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Drawn on the spot: War artists and the illustrated press

In Victorian Britain, it was the news of war rather than celebrity scandal that boosted the sale of newspapers.

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Korean War

In 1950, the Cold War significantly heated up, with the outbreak of the Korean War. The three year long struggle left millions dead, and its legacy still has explosive global impact today.

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Malayan Emergency

The Malayan Emergency (1948-60) was one of the few successful counter-insurgency operations undertaken by the Western powers during the Cold War.

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The Wipers Times: The soldiers’ paper

Full of the dark humour typical of soldiers at war, 'The Wipers Times' was one of the finest of many trench publications produced on the Western Front.

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Florence Nightingale: The Lady with the Lamp

Florence Nightingale was a legend in her own lifetime and one of the most famous women in British history.

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Boarding the troopship ‘Nevasa’ on route to Malaya, 1957

What was National Service?

National Service, a standardised form of peacetime conscription, was introduced in 1947 for all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 30.

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Battle of Naseby

Sir Thomas Fairfax led his troops to victory over King Charles I at the Battle of Naseby on 14 June 1645. His triumph won the First English Civil War (1642-46) for Parliament and ensured that monarchs would never again be supreme in British politics.

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Battle of the Somme

The 1916 Somme offensive was one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War. But it provided the Army with a tough lesson in how to fight a large-scale modern war.

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