Category: Ancient

How the Ambitions of One Emperor Led to Antisemitism Throughout the Roman Empire, by Noah Graham

Posted On By The Manchester Historian

The Roman Emperor Vespasian came to power in 69CE after a year-long and bloody Roman civil war, which had seen no fewer than four emperors. Having little legitimacy to his newfound and tenuously held position other than the strength of the legions which had proclaimed him emperor, Vespasian needed to validate his rule quickly. As everyone knew, the best way to garner public support in Rome was to decimate a foreign enemy, and Vespasian found the perfect target: Judea, a plucky province that had recently shaken off Roman rule with a rebellion in 66CE.

Category: African, Islamic and Arabic/Asian and Oceanic/Non-Western American

Missionaries: colonialism’s “agent, scribe and moral alibi”? By Shikhar Talwar

Posted On By The Manchester Historian

Colonialism is often defended as a moral mission, a mission to educate and civilise the non-western world, and often used Christian Missionaries to convey their message. However, this perspective stands to much debate, as through the years the Empires have often been questioned on what the true intentions behind colonialism were. Were they purely moral? Or were they based on profit, and excavating the best resources from foreign land?

Category: Modern Western

The Evolution of Dialects within the English Language, by Amelia Hope

Posted On By The Manchester Historian

Thus, from the fourth century, England or ‘Angle-land’, had an eclectic range of dialects emerging. Eventually, the Angles and the Saxons united to become the Anglo-Saxons, with the separate dialects combining into Old English. This was the earliest recorded form of the English Language. As the Anglo-Saxons predominantly resided in the north-east, traces of Old English are still recognisable today in the modern Geordie dialect, making it the oldest dialect in England.