‘... the remarkable safety of ‘Distaval’ – the new non-barbituric sedative and hypnotic’ (Thalidomide: correspondence regarding the drug Distaval, 1960) Thalidomide was first developed in 1953 by CIBA, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, before being introduced to the market in the late 1950s by the German pharmaceutical company Chemie Grünenthal. Promoted as a safe and effective sedative capable of ‘warding off stress of physical or emotional origin,’ the drug quickly gaine

In exploring resistance and revolution, it's important to reflect on how resistance has evolved alongside the systems that seek to extinguish it. American history shows that state efforts to prevent dissent rarely succeed completely; governments keep adjusting how they manage unrest while protest movements constantly change their tactics. From the country's founding to today's technological age, the United States shows an ongoing back-and-forth where the state seeks stability

Ironically, the study of revolution remains dominated by privileged academics that have historically overlooked many of its most important contributors. Although the turn of the 21st century would have us believe that the struggle for female agency is complete, women continue to be marginalised in narratives of resistance. Women are characterised as passive victims of political upheaval, despite their central role in shaping liberation, not only for themselves but for their w

When Captain James Cook first landed in New Zealand in 1769, he marked the beginning of centuries of colonialist exploitation of the indigenous Māori population. Fascinated by a people they believed uncivilised and less than human, generations of Māori tradition and practice were appropriated and capitalised upon in the search for a trophy to commemorate this landmark British ‘discovery’. One custom that prompted significant curiosity was a practice named toi moko, which d

At the time of writing (6 March), Iran is undergoing significant bombing raids by the United States and Israel, with President Trump calling on Iranians to “take over your government. It will be yours to take.” It is a remarkable irony that Washington has called for Iranians to seize their own destiny, an identical call made in 1979 which initiated the Islamic Revolution in Iran. To understand the trajectory which Iranian politics may take in the long term, it is crucial to u

Many contemporaries and historians have argued that the revolution was, in part, a direct response to the policies of Klemens von Metternich, whose system of governance epitomised conservative repression. Metternich’s extensive use of censorship and a sophisticated network of surveillance curtailed political expression and stifled reformist ideas across the Austrian state. His determination to preserve absolutism ensured that dissent was not only discouraged but actively supp

Whilst today it may be hard to imagine a Fascist Britain, to the people of 1976, the threat was a very real one. As Britain further retreated into decline, the National Front offered the easy solutions for the nations’ recovery, and as such it seemed that Britain was on the brink of embracing fascist politics. By 1976, the NF was at the height of its popularity: having appropriated the populist racism of Enoch Powell, the Ugandan Asians crisis of 1972 provided the party wi

The study of enslaved resistance has often focused on acts of armed rebellion as evidence of enslaved agency and violent opposition to slavery. However, resistance against colonial authority was not always collective or dramatic. For the majority of enslaved people in America and the Caribbean, it took the form of acts of everyday resistance, which undermined slavery from within. Labour Resistance As enslaved populations were relied upon for their labour to produce cash cro

The Cambridge dictionary defines the word ‘revolution’ in a political context as "a change in the way a country is governed, usually to a different political system and often using violence." By this definition, the Reformation fundamentally does not qualify as a revolution. Nonetheless, the second definition frames it in a cultural context: "a very important change in the way people do things." Discussions of the Reformation's revolutionary nature become more complex. So why

The printing press should be considered a revolution. The invention marked the departure from the rigid Middle Ages that centred around the Catholic Church, to an ever-expanding, modernising world that began to prioritise the importance of literature and knowledge. The printing press began to spark ideas of revolution, most notably fuelling the Protestant Reformation, where Martin Luther’s 95 Theses directly challenged papal authority and the use of indulgences by the Church

Scotland renounced Catholicism in 1560, dismantling church hierarchies and replacing royal appointment of bishops with elected ones. The Kirk modelled a Presbyterian society on John Knox’s experience of Calvin's Geneva. With James VI becoming king of England in 1603, he aimed to unify the churches, but Charles I pushed further than his father had with reforming the Scottish church. In 1636 Charles, with encouragement from Bishop Laud, imposed the Book of Common Prayer on Scot

In 1649, England was in the midst of the greatest political upheaval in its history. The King was dead, the monarchy had fallen, and all the old certainties lay in ruins. As the nascent Commonwealth tried to assert its authority, radical movements with new ways of imagining England’s future began to emerge upon the fringes of the Revolution. The most radical of these were the Diggers who, led by Gerrard Winstanley, proposed fundamental economic change. Two hundred years befor

In the turbulent setting of fifteenth-century England – marked by the Wars of the Roses, in which the crown changed hands seven times over thirty years – few figures embody resistance as controversially as Margaret of Anjou. As Queen consort to the mentally fragile Henry VI, she faced significant opposition from the House of York, emerging as one of the most persistent political figures of the era. This article seeks to move beyond the traditional caricature of Margaret of An

In early 13th-century France, the county of Toulouse found itself the focus of Pope Innocent III's ire. It was an area that housed heretics who followed the Cathar religion – an amalgamation of various religions, including Christianity, that challenged the religious orthodoxy of the Catholic Church with conflicting accounts of spirituality. Between 1209 and 1229, the crusade waged against this group of people within the confines of Europe was the first of its kind to guarante

On the 15th of July, 1099, over ten thousand Christian soldiers forced their way into the Holy City of Jerusalem. What was to follow was one of the most infamous massacres of the medieval period. Thirsty, hungry, and exhausted from 5 weeks of siege warfare, the Crusaders were utterly brutal in their treatment of the city’s Muslim population. The chronicler Raymond d'Aguilliers describes the sack which followed the Latin victory with nauseating piety and reverence: "Indeed, it

On 15 June 1381, Wat Tyler, the elected leader of the Peasants’ Revolt, was killed during attempted negotiations in an audience with King Richard II, signalling the downfall of a revolt that had been building since the mid-fourteenth century. From this perspective, the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was an immediate failure in achieving its goals of equality and representation, but the long-term consequences tell a more complex story. Fourteenth century England was characterised by

Since the dawn of time, humanity always sought new ways to kill one another in war. The Medieval Era was no exception, having its fair share of military revolutions. The Hussite Wars of the early fifteenth century were one such instance of innovation. After attempts to swiftly deal with the growing Hussite heresy in Bohemia were metaphorically and physically thrown out the window in 1419, war was the only option left. Across Catholic Europe, many lords, knights and soldiers o

In a field outside Maxey in Cambridgeshire, there is almost nothing to see. The land is flat, the sky enormous, the earthworks long ploughed away. Yet beneath the soil lies a causewayed enclosure built around 3800 BCE, its ditches filled not with rubbish but with ritual: smashed pottery, animal bone, human remains, deposits laid down, covered, and reopened over generations. Etton was not a settlement. It was a place where people bound themselves to the land and kept returning

In 60/61 CE, Boudica, queen of the Iceni, led a revolt that unleashed devastation upon the early Roman settlements in Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium. With no voice of her own in the historical record,our knowledge of the revolt and the woman herself comes from Roman writers and what was left behind in Colchester, London and St. Albans. Textual evidence for Boudica’s revolt comes from Publius Cornelius Tacitus and Lucius Cassius Dio, Roman historians writing about Bo

The 1960 film 'Spartacus' is regarded as a cinematic masterpiece of its day, with an A-list cast including Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. However, its historical accuracy is questionable. Spartacus never had a romance with the daughter of a Roman official, nor did Crassus ever know Spartacus when he was a gladiator. So, who was the real Spartacus, and how did he cement his place as a symbol of resistance and freedom? To the surprise of many, Spartacus' origins were as a