Articles and Essays


In this section you can find details of my Open Access research for (in descending order); the Extreme Empire Project (Essays exploring the geopolitics, foreign relations and subjects lives of Imperial powers in the environmental or geographic extremes of their borderlands and outposts), Historical Essays (essays on wider history), Contemporary Analysis (essays analysing current political, economic and international events), and Using History (essays on the history of history writing, and how history can, cannot, and is, used beyond merely 'relaying' the past). 

I also recommend checking out my Indebted to History blog as further research and analysis on various subjects can be found there.  

Open Access research:
 I make a significant portion of my research freely available and accessible to academics and the public. If you use my work, please do remember to reference/cite me. 


Extreme Empire Project: 

Britain's Antarctic Empire: How whales and imperialism created an Anglo-American 'Special Rivalry' in the Antarctic (1946-1949)


Open PDF here


“Palmerston’s Opium War”?: The 1832 Reform Act, its attendant domestic contexts and their influence on the outbreak of the First Opium War (1839-42)


Open PDF here



China, Britain and France: A geopolitical comparative analysis of the East and West's leading imperial powers (1644-1911)


Open PDF here


‘[Shake?] at Royal Force’: British and Colonial soldier’s letters from the Boer War (1899-1902) and what they can say about Imperial and National Identities.


Open PDF here



The Profit Drive: The innovative success of the Dutch Vereenigde Oost-Indische (VOC) as an imperial model (1602-1700)


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Global Economic Integration, Gladstone’s Nightmare?: How did global integration contribute to increasing state intervention? (1870-1913)


Open PDF here




Historical Essays:

The Chagos Islands Dispute: Britain's current and continuing engagement with imperialism


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Is war, or the threat of war, a necessary factor for successful imperial decolonization?


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Was the British Empire really ‘a most extraordinary achievement’? A sweeping overview of the British Empire’s form, function and legacy (1500-1956) to judge the veracity of Tony Blair’s 1997 claim


Open PDF here


Roman Baths - More about 'being seen' than 'keeping clean'?


Open PDF here


Contemporary Analysis: 

The 2019 General Election Post-Mortem: The 'Red Wall' crumbling- Your guide to the consequences of the General Election (Part 1)


Open PDF here

Thumbnail artwork by SmokinDonut 


The 2019 General Election Post-Mortem (Part 2): The rise of the SNP, fall of the Lib-Dems and Boris Johnson’s future juggling acts


Open PDF here

Thumbnail artwork by SmokinDonut



Using History:


Rise and Stall? The Applied History Manifesto’s revival of Applied History


Open PDF here


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