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Category: International
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‘Cama’: a play about a female Indian revolutionary at the time of the First World War
In a trench in Marseille the loyalty of three Indian soldiers is tested when the legendary Madame Cama asks them to surrender for the good of the motherland. Wi... read more
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‘The Radicalisation of Vir Singh’: a play about the challenges of serving as an Indian soldier in the First World War
Arjun sits restless and scared as he prepares to enter the battlefield for the first time. Inspired by compatriot Vir’s legends of mighty Sikh warriors, A... read more
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Big Ideas: The women’s war in the Middle East – women’s First World War service in Egypt, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and Palestine
Nadia Atia is Lecturer in World Literature at Queen Mary, University of London. Her research examines the literature and cultural history of the First World War... read more
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Portillo’s State Secrets
Researcher Tommy Norton introduces some of the 30 documents featured in the BBC 2 ten-part television series, Portillo’s State Secrets. He also talks about th... read more
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Writer of the month: Helen Castor on Joan of Arc
Helen Castor in conversation, discussing her new book, Joan of Arc: A history. Find out more about Helen Castor on her website. This podcast was recorded live a... read more
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One in six: the South Asian contribution to the First World War
One hundred years ago, undivided India provided Britain with a massive volunteer army in its hour of need. From 1914-1918 close to 1.5 million Indians served, f... read more
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India in the First World War
The National Archives’ principal military specialist William Spencer is joined by Brigadier Brian McCall, defence advisor in the British High Commission i... read more
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Lines on the map: records of international boundaries
The National Archives holds one of the largest and most important accumulations of maps in the world. They document the United Kingdom’s involvement in shap... read more
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Writer of the month: The Spanish ambassador’s suitcase
Matthew Parris and Andrew Bryson discuss their new book, The Spanish ambassador’s suitcase. Matthew Parris worked for the Foreign Office and the Conservat... read more
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Maps: their untold stories
Drawn from seven centuries of maps of places around the globe held in The National Archives, Maps: their untold stories offers a fascinating and unusual journey... read more
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From British bobby to Hong Kong copper
This year marks the 170th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Police. This talk traces the history of the organisation through the stories of a fe... read more
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War and Peace conference: Closing remarks: the First World War and intelligence
Closing remarks by Gill Bennett, former Chief Historian, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1995-2005. This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, War... read more
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Peacetime diplomacy and the New European Order
Professor Alan Sharp, of the University of Ulster, examines diplomacy after the Paris Peace Conference. This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, W... read more
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The road to war: The prelude to war
Dr Stephen Twigge, of The National Archives, outlines the political landscape preceding the First World War – the July Crisis. This talk was recorded live... read more
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Lines in the sand
Dr Juliette Desplat, of The National Archives, gives an overview of the consequences of the First World War for the Middle East. This talk was recorded live at... read more
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Wartime diplomacy: Getting global: American involvement
Dr Richard Dunley, of The National Archives, discusses American involvement in the First World War, particularly the three-way dynamic of British-American-Germa... read more
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Wartime diplomacy: The role of the Empire
Dr Bryan Glass, of Texas State University, examines the role of the Empire during the First World War. This talk was recorded live at the one-day conference, Wa... read more
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Finding my father in Mesopotamia
Jenny Lewis’s father fought as a young man in the First World War campaign in Mesopotamia – modern day Iraq, Iran and Syria. He joined the South Wal... read more
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Operation Unthinkable: Churchill’s plan for World War Three
Churchill’s top secret plan to attack the Soviet Empire was scheduled for 1 July 1945. British, US, Polish and German forces were to attempt to liberate E... read more
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The Keeper’s Gallery Talk 2014: The UK’s entry to the European Economic Community
James Cronan, Diplomatic and Colonial Records Specialist at The National Archives, outlines the events around the United Kingdom’s entry to the European E... read more
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Security Service file release February 2014
Professor Christopher Andrew, formerly official historian of MI5 and author of ‘The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5’, introduces... read more
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They gave the crowd plenty fun: West Indian cricket and its relationship with the British-resident Caribbean Diaspora
‘They gave the crowd plenty fun’ is a lucid study of the impact of West Indian cricket on those of Caribbean birth and descent in Britain. It traces... read more
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An introduction to the eighth tranche of colonial administration records released at The National Archives
Diplomatic and Colonial Records Specialist David Gilfoyle introduces the eighth and final tranche of files, now available on site at The National Archives, Kew.... read more
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Fundamentals of researching your Caribbean ancestors
Caribbean genealogist and family historian Sharon Tomlin discusses the basics in researching Caribbean ancestry, in particular at the records of people that h... read more
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Writer of the month: Suddenly, all roads led to Munich, 1936 – why I wrote Winter Games
Rachel Johnson discusses the writing of Winter Games. Rachel is a columnist, bestselling novelist and the ninth editor of the world’s oldest women’s... read more
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Australia in War and Peace, 1914-19
The ‘Australia in War and Peace, 1914-19’ research project is a major collaborative research project between the Menzies Centre for Australian Studi... read more
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The policy agenda of the British Government, 1945-2008
Peter John talks about his research mapping the policies the British government has been concentrating on since 1945. Using the Queen’s Speech, laws and b... read more
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Writer of the month: In conversation with Dr Gus Casely-Hayford
A session in conversation with Gus Casely-Hayford, talking about his recent book, The Lost Kingdoms of Africa, presented by Dr Gus Casely-Hayford. Dr Gus Casel... read more
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Rawdon Brown and the Brown Archive in The National Archives
Rawdon Brown was born in 1806 and, from 1833 until his death in 1883, lived in Venice, virtually without a break. There, he quickly became a self-taught expert... read more
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Geography, art and the sinking of the Mary Rose
King Henry VIII watched as the Mary Rose, pride of his Navy, suddenly capsized and sank whilst engaging a French invasion fleet off Portsmouth. This talk brings... read more
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Tracing Huguenot ancestors
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, many thousands of refugees fled from religious persecution in the Low Countries and France. These refugees left descendants... read more
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The strange journey of Edward Swarthye, an African in Elizabethan England: from the Spanish Caribbean to rural Gloucestershire
In 1597, an African man named ‘Edward Swarthye, alias negro’ appeared before an English court. He gave evidence that, at the command of his employer... read more
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Morbidity and mortality on convict voyages to 19th century Australia
Between 1803 and 1853 some 67,000 convicts were transported from England and Ireland to the British penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land, later renamed Tasma... read more
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Security Service file release October 2012
Professor Christopher Andrew, author of ‘The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5’, introduces highlights of the 29th release of Security Ser... read more
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Remembering Samuel Coleridge Taylor; African British musician and pan-Africanist
This podcast is an audio-visual presentation on the life of one of Britain’s favourite composers of the early 20th century and the first African to conduc... read more
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British Malaya
Diplomatic and Colonial Records Specialist Dr Dan Gilfoyle discusses some of the stand-out images from the Colonial Office Library’s photographic collection,... read more
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The War of 1812: from the British side
The War of 1812 features prominently in the history of the United States, especially in this bi-centenary year. But it is much less well-known in the UK, oversh... read more
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The Battle of the Somme: destroying enemy defences
This clip starts with a title card explaining how heavy guns are destroying enemy defences. We then see artillery crews under camouflage preparing a large howit... read more
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Women’s Army in France
This clip comes from a compilation film of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in France, 1917-1918. In this segment we see women with their sleeves rolled u... read more
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‘With the North and South Irish At The Front’ Official pictures of the British army in France-Fourth series
The opening titles tell us we are looking at the Ulster Division, probably from 1915-17. We then see huge numbers of soldiers from that division all posing, smi... read more
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Dublin After The Easter Rising
The film opens with titles locating scenes of the fighting in Dublin at Easter 1916. Several different shots follow that focus on the huge amount of damage caus... read more
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‘La Rivista Imperiale – Primo Annuale Dell’ Impero – Imperial Review – First Anniversary of the Empire – Part 2
This sequence opens with Mussolini being cheered by huge crowds in a parade through Rome. The action then switches to central Rome and a sombre procession. From... read more
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‘La Rivista Imperiale – Primo Annuale Dell’ Impero – Imperial Review – First Anniversary of the Empire – Part 1
Mussolini strides on to the parade ground and an Italian commentary immediately starts up. We see Mussolini awarding campaign medals to soldiers and to the wido... read more
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‘il Cammino degli eroi der marsch der helden’ – The Way of the Heroes – Part 1
This clip shows some ingenious machinery as Italian troops rig up some scaffolding to a truck and attach a screen to show a film from a projector mounted on the... read more
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‘il Cammino degli eroi der marsch der helden’ – The way of the heroes – Part 3
This clip opens with Italian troops in action and then moves swiftly to show flight crews loading aircraft with bombs. We see Italian troops and African allies... read more
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‘il Cammino degli eroi der marsch der helden’ – The Way of the Heroes – Part 2
The clip opens showing a vast supply operation with goods being loaded into an aircraft and then dropped to waiting troops. We see columns of trucks from the ai... read more
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US soldiers in a camp in France
This short clip shows a large number of US troops eating their rations. They are wearing their ‘doughboy hats’. Context US troops fought alongside British e... read more
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Inspecting Captured German Defences
In this short sequence we see Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig inspecting the wrecked remains of the Hindenburg Line, Germany’s strongest line of defences.... read more
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War Between British Forces and Irish Republicans
This film opens with titles proclaiming ‘Terror In Ireland’. We then see a scene in which a British checkpoint blocks an Irish street. The scene then switch... read more
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Colonial lives, careers and policies: researching printed papers of the British colonial governments
The printed papers of colonial governments held by the Colonial Office, including government gazettes and sessional papers of colonial assemblies and parliament... read more
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The Golden Stool: cataloguing Colonial Office records from 1900
In 1900, war broke out between the British and the Ashanti in the Gold Coast. The Colonial Office records from this year have recently been catalogued by volunt... read more
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An introduction to the first tranche of colonial administration records released at The National Archives
The National Archives is working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to transfer and begin releasing colonial administration records, referred to as... read more
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Finding your family in Canada
Researching in Canada is vastly different than researching in the UK. Records are especially different in areas originally settled by the French. This talk give... read more
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Overseas births, marriages and deaths: records in The National Archives
There is no single place to find all the birth, marriage and death records of the British overseas. However, The National Archives holds a substantial number of... read more
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The British Red Cross and its archives
The British Red Cross has long recognised the importance of its history and archive collection, maintaining an archive since the late 1960s. The talk outlines t... read more
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Security Service file release February 2012
Professor Christopher Andrew, official historian of MI5, introduces highlights from the 28th Security Service records release to The National Archives. The late... read more
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Anxiety, dread and disease: British ports 1834-1870
As Britain’s status as the ‘workshop of the world’ grew, so did the new industrial and trading towns. Ports became densely populated and ripe... read more
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Sovereign, squire and rebel: Maharajah Duleep Singh and the heirs of a lost kingdom
At the age of five years, Duleep Singh found himself on the golden throne of the Punjab, one of the most powerful independent kingdoms in India and a thorn in t... read more
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Untold histories: black Britons during the period of the British slave trade, c1660-1807
What was life like for the ‘average’ black person in England before the 20th century? Most were quietly getting on with their lives, seeking employm... read more
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The Hong Kong colonial cemetery
The National Archives provides a treasure trove of material for discovering more about our colonial ancestors. This talk focuses on the former British Colony of... read more
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The Berlin Wall 1961: the construction 50 years on
This talk covers the circumstances which brought about the construction of the wall, what it meant for Germany and the crisis it precipitated in the context of... read more
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The Second World War and Roche’s expansion to the West: a Swiss pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom
Roche was founded in 1896 as one of the very first industrial companies solely focused on the development and production of scientifically proven pharmaceutical... read more
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Hidden Women: uncovering the veil of silence during the partition of Punjab, India 1947
Dr Pippa Virdee of De Montfort University uncovers the hidden voices of Muslim women during the partition of the Punjab, India in 1947. Using first-hand account... read more
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The first Afghan war
In this talk, journalist and historian Jules Stewart will guide us through the 1838-1842 period of Afghan history. Just some of the events explored include the... read more
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Treaties in The National Archives
James Cronan introduces some of the most richly decorated and important documents held at The National Archives.... read more
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The South African empire
Historian Dr Anne Samson explores South Africas attempt to build an empire over the past century.... read more
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Researching the British Empire and Commonwealth
The British Empire existed for four centuries and, at its height, governed one quarter of the world’s population. Mandy Banton introduces the records of B... read more
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From Mountbatten to Patten: the last proconsuls and the ending of the British Empire
After the Second World War, the role of governors in Britain’s overseas territories changed. This talk examines the colourful personalities and mixed fort... read more
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The road to Jamestown – part 2
The second part of Sean Cunningham’s talk about how and why English sailors and the English Crown turned their attention to the New World of America in th... read more
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The road to Jamestown – part 1
Sean Cunningham talks about how and why English sailors and the English Crown turned their attention to the New World of America in the 16th century. This talk... read more
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The making of the Stalinist state 1928-1941 – part 2
The second part of this talk in which Dr Jane McDermid puts Joseph Stalin’s Russia under the microscope from the first of the Five-Year Plans to the outbr... read more
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The making of the Stalinist state 1928-1941 – part 1
Dr Jane McDermid puts Joseph Stalin’s Russia under the microscope from the first of the Five-Year Plans to the outbreak of the Second World War.... read more
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The creation of the Iraqi state: 1914-1974
A lecture by Dr Charles Tripp, Reader in Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, to mark the launch of Thomson Learning’s... read more
