Winstanley College Spring Edition of HM

Contents Page Page 1 ; Cover Page 2; Contents page Page 3; Meet the History Society and a not from the Editor Pages 4-5; Was the Cold War Really “Cold”? - Dillon O’Brien Pages 6-9; Dunkirk Character Analysis and Comparison—Holly Nash.

Pages 9-16; The Making of a Modern Mercenary—Harry Marsh

Pages 17-18; The History of Music—Holly Nash Pages 19-21; Chernobyl—Anya Butterworth Pages 22– 24; How Has Greek Mythology Influenced Modern Day Culture? - Sharahan Arumainayagam Pages 25-26; The Forgotten victims of the Salem Witch trials—Holly Nash Pages 27-28; The 1967 Sexual Offences Act: How impactful was it? -Callum Foster Pages 29-34; Jack the Ripper— Luca Mawson Pages 35-38; Pink Triangle Prisoners; A Threat to the Aryan Race. — Imogen Yorke Pages 43-44; The Hadrian Wall trip — Alice Rushton Page 45; The Impact of Eleanor of Aquitaine — Isabelle Bailey Pages 46-47; How has Russia justified its invasion of Russia - Nathan Mitchell Paages 48-49; Who was Jack the Ripper? - Emily Redmond Pages 50 - 52: The History of Women—Eden Brennan

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Meet the Chief and Vice Editors Happy Easter everyone! I hope you have all had a splendid half term! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who worked so hard on the magazine this term. I have been able to work with our fantastic history society team to hopefully a magazine that you can enjoy. I have also had the pleasure of working alongside some excellent writers from High Schools across Greater Manchester as part of our Article Competition. Students in year 9 and 10 were asked to submit a historical article on any topic of their choice and our editorial team had a great time judging them!

There were some amazing submissions and we decided to award the first place prize to Anya Butterworth for her article on Chernobyl! It’s a fantastic article that you can find on pages 19-21. Second place prize went to Sharahan Arumainayagam for the article on Greek mythology and third place went to Jack the Ripper by Luca Mawson These were all excellent submissions and the ones that haven’t been picked were also Fantastic. Thank you to everyone who submitted.

-Alice Rushton , Chief Editor

Thank you all for writing these articles, they have been amazing to read and I hope everyone had fun writing their articles.

Special thanks goes to Railey Morton for helping putting together some of this magazine. Have an amazing time reading this magazine. Another special thanks to Eli Woods for assisting in the composition of the latter half of the magazine. Your help is much appreciated.

- Leon Jones, Assistant Editor

If you would like to come and join us on a Thursday Lunchtime in A6,then come on down! You would be more than welcome! Otherwise, email Maggie Appleton for further information.

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Here’s our History Society If you love history as much as we do, you should definitely check-out our History Society; we have organised historical bake sales, quizzes (as shown on the lovely picture below of a couple of our previous winners) , historical film club (Mondays in A5 at lunch) as well as exciting debate opportunities.

Thomas won our bake sale with his splendid Crusader Brownies:

Take a look at this AMAZING cake made for our bake sale…

Not many people can say they put a spitfire on a cake!

Celebrating Female Historians on Women’s History Day!

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Was the Cold War Really “Cold”?- Dillon O’Brien

The Cold War (1945-1991) got its name largely because the two main provocateurs, the Soviet Union and the United States of America, never engaged in direct combat nor conventional warfare - so it wasn’t a ‘hot’ conflict.

This interpretation came from three of the major schools of historical thought.

Orthodox historians have placed the blame upon the Soviet Union whilst revisionist historians prefer to conclude that America was at fault for the Cold War; post-revisionists provide a synthesis between the two other schools of thought.

However, this idea of the conflict being ‘cold’ has come under much scrutiny within recent historical thoughts and with the post-modernist historians. They have moved away from the convention of blaming either side and started to focus their studies on the features of the conflict and, in doing so, have contentiously declared the Cold War to be ‘hot’.

The core premise is that the Cold War was a global conflict and, despite no direct battle between the Soviet Union and America taking place, warfare erupted in

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several parts of the world such as: Afghanistan (1979-89), Guatemala (196096), Mozambique (1977-92), Korea (1950-53) and Angola (1975-2002).

It is crucial to acknowledge that the Cold War wasn’t just a conflict between the Soviets and Americans; it was a conflict between competing ideological spheres (communism vs capitalism). The aforementioned conflicts were a part of this, as both the USSR and US provided aid, weapons, and funding to various conflicts which were intended to facilitate the side with which they were ideologically aligned.

For example, during the Angolan Civil War, the two competing factions (the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, MPLA, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, UNITA), both served as Cold War surrogate forces. The USSR and Cuba indirectly funded the MLPA whilst the US and South Africa indirectly supported UNITA. The National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), a second US-backed movement, fought alongside UNITA however it disintegrated during the war. The conflict’s aftermath generated a devastating humanitarian crisis with a third of the nation’s population displaced. According to the UN, in 2003, 80% of Angolans lacked access to basic medical care, 60% lacked access to clean drinking water and 30% of children would not live past five. The national life expectancy fell to less than 40 years of age.

The Cold War was labelled as the US and USSR indirectly backing a major amount of these regional conflicts.

However, if one where to consider the sheer amount of conflict that took place during this period (all of which contributed to the goals of the respective sides of the war), one would conclude that the Cold War must undoubtedly be deemed ‘hot’ rather than ‘cold’.

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Dunkirk Character analysis and comparison—By Holly Nash While watching the movie Dunkirk (Nolan, 2017), I took a particular interest in the characters. This article will look at Alex (Harry Styles) and how he compares to the real -life soldiers during the battle of Dunkirk (1940). nearby destroyer but it’s sunk by a bomber. Mr. Dawson saves Alex and the other soldiers from a burning oil slick. They cross the English Channel, expecting that the retreat will earn them the scorn of the British public, but instead they are welcomed back as heroes! Overall, Alex is brave, a little hot-headed at times and is deeply suspicious about spies and moles especially after one bombed the ship he was on first.

Alex is a young British soldier—a Private in the British expeditionary force infantry. He was aboard a ship evacuating wounded soldiers before it was attacked by the German dive bombers; he was rescued by Tommy and Gibson who were trying to sneak aboard the ship. The three of them then board another boat that gets hit by a torpedo coming from a German U-boat. Alex and other soldiers hide inside a beach trawler outside of Allied perimeters - it being the only safe place until German troops shoot at the boat and it begins to sink. Alex becomes more suspicious of Gibson (who is silent) accusing him of being a German Spy and demands that he leaves the boat in hopes this would lighten the boat’s weight. The group abandons the boat without Gibson. . Alex and Tommy swim to a

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Here's a bit of background on the reallife events of the battle of Dunkirk (May 26th till June 4th 1940). Dunkirk is a small town on the coast of France and was the scene for a massive military campaign during WWII, some 338,000 British Expeditionary Force and other Allied troops were evacuated from Dunkirk to England as the German forces closed in on them. The operation was huge and involved hundreds of naval and civilian vessels which is why it became known as the ‘Miracle of Dunkirk’ and served as a turning point for the Allied war effort.

Soon after the Blitzkrieg (lighting war) attack in Luxemburg and Belgium, German forces invaded France – not along the Maginot line, which is what the Allied troops expected, but through the Ardennes Forest, moving steadily across the Somme Valley towards the English Channel.

The German Forces cut off all communications and transport between the northern and southern branches of the Allied forces, pushing several hundred thousand Allied troops in the north into an increasingly small sliver of the French coast. In the evening of May 26th, the British began the evacuation using the codename: Operation Dynamo. The Luftwaffe’s bombing attacks on the harbour slowed the process even when the RAF tried to delay the attacks and stop the Germans reaching the beach - which resulted in the loss of significant numbers of aircraft in the process. On the first full day, they were only able to evacuate 7,500 men and around 10,000 on the following day (May 28th).

Due to the shallow beaches, the Naval vessels couldn’t reach the shore. The Allies put out a call for smaller ships to carry the troops from the beach to the larger ships further out in the North Sea. 800 to 1,200 boats, many of them leisure or fishing crafts, eventually aided the evacuation from Dunkirk.

Harry Leigh-Dugmore was evacuated from Dunkirk as part of Operation Dynamo in May 1940. This is his story; despite inventing the tank, which revolutionised warfare, our thinking and training was still too firmly based on the idea of two opposing armies in holes in the ground. We were illprepared for the events of May 1940.

We spent the first eight months of WW2 digging holes in the ground to extend the Maginot Line to the Channel Coast. Then, when the Germans poured into Belgium, instead of sitting in those holes and firing their guns when the Germans got there, we drove on through Belgium to meet them – to the welcome and temporary delight of the Belgians. But we couldn’t hold them and began falling back.

From somewhere near Louvain, we began driving in convoy towards the Channel Coast until the military police stopped us at crossroads to allow movement the other way. We had been given no information about where we were going other than to follow the vehicle in front. But when we were allowed to continue, we had no vehicle to follow. Looking backwards, I could see that I was in the leading vehicle of a convoy of two.

When, after sometime, we had not caught up with the vehicle we were originally following, we stopped for a council of war.

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We queued for the best a part of two days for boats coming to the mole. When German planes flew over, bombing us and shooting with their machine guns, we spread as far out as possible but sportingly returned as nearly as we could to our positions in the queue. Eventually we boarded the Maid of Orleans - in peacetime a cross-channel steamer but now it was pretty well standing room only. We sat on the deck around a pair of Lewis guns mounted on the stanchion and tended by a bombardier RA. We loaded his magazines with one tracer to every five ball to give the approved ‘hosepipe’ effect. He brought down a Messerschmitt and we callously cheered as it crashed into the sea. We cast off from the mole at 0600 and tied up at Dover at 0900 – a long trip to circumnavigate the minefields. We got onto a train straight away and were off – to Aldershot, somebody thought – but I awoke at ten past midnight to find myself at Brecon in mid-Wales. Dunkirk was a time when the British skill at improvising shone brilliantly.

Other Films Like Dunkirk: (1) Hacksaw Ridge (2) 1917 (3) Fury (4) Darkest Hour (5) Land of Mine (6) Unbroken (7) The Prestige

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Making of the Modern Mercenary - Harry Marsh A mercenary (noun) is defined as a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army.

The History of Mercenaries Mercenaries are not new. They have been used in countless conflicts throughout history and were especially common before the creation of what could be seen as the modern state military. One of the first recorded uses of mercenaries was during the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, led by Xerxes I. Other notable uses of hired military power span from the ancient world through to the medieval and modern. For example, Greek (often Cretan) mercenaries were used by ancient Indian kings, and groups such as the German Landsknechts became some of the most formidable fighting forces during the late 15th and 16th century. Many of the most famous rulers and warriors were once mercenaries: such as Harold Hardrada, who served as part of the Varangian Guard, and even William the Conqueror’s ancestor, Rollo, who swore allegiance to King Charles the Simple of West Francia, in exchange for lands in what is now Normandy.

Persian war—Photo from Sutori Global War on Terrorism On the 11th of September 2001, 4 planes were hijacked by members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda. American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre at 08:46am, followed shortly after United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Centre at 09:03am. There were 2,763 fatalities. At 09:37am, another American Airlines flight collided with the west wall of the Pentagon, resulting in 189 deaths. At 08:42am, United Airlines Flight 93 departed from Newark International Airport. At 10:03am, it crashed into a field in Pennsylvania due to the passengers fighting back against the hijackers. There were 44 fatalities. Total fatalities stood at 2,977 deaths, making it the deadliest attack ever on US soil.

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they are often not counted as part of a nation’s ground forces and can ergo be excluded from troop-level caps, reports about soldiers fighting in the region and casualty reports, making them a key asset in ensuring that political opinion does not sway too far in opposition to the conflict.

Finally, they also make it easier to fill the ranks after volunteer recruit numbers tire in the later stages of these ‘short wars’ and The attacks shocked the world and prevent controversial draft measures which prompted George W. Bush, 43rd President would otherwise be required. They are of the United States, to declare a ‘war on therefore not only a key strategic asset, but terror’ beginning with al-Qaeda. Afghana political one. istan, led by the Taliban and allies of OsaThe number of contractors only grew as the ma Bin-Laden, was set to become the conflict dragged on and other nations such first battleground of the war on terror. as Iraq and Syria became battlegrounds in War began on the 7th of October 2001 the global war. In 2009, the ratio contracwith US and UK airstrikes on strategic Taltors to troops in war zones was 1:1. In iban and al-Qaeda targets. Soon after 2016 it was about 3:1. In the same year, Kabul had been liberated and other ob75% of US forces in Afghanistan were conjectives had been secured, it began to become clear that the conflict would not tracted and only 33% of those contractors be as cut and dry as some had imagined, were US citizens, making them much hardand that it would involve a long, bloody er to track and hold accountable. Today, and drawn-out counter-insurgency opermore contractors are killed in combat than ation to keep the new transitional ausoldiers. However, these statistics are thority (later Islamic Republic of Afghanisomewhat diminished when accounting for stan) in power. the fact that only around 10% of these conThe reasons the US-led international coatractors are armed. Yet, the fact remains lition (ISAF) used mercenaries are plentithat the US, and therefore the UK by extenful. First, mercenaries are often much cheaper than a standing army and there- sion, is becoming much more dependent fore useful for wars that have not been in on the private sector to wage war and commit to defence strategies such as NATO, be planning for many years. Secondly, (and it either a reliance on actual combat troops possibly most importantly) contractors encourage mission creep; that being that or other contractor functions such as logistics.

Picture of the Taliban from the BBC News

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PMCs One of the most concerning developments in modern warfare is the emergence of groups known as private military corporations (PMCs). These are private security companies that carry out a plethora of functions, these being mainly raising foreign armies, boots on the ground combat and conducting intelligence operations. They therefore became instrumental in the effort to equip the Afghan Army for its role in counter-insurgency, following President Obama’s commitment in 2013/14 to begin lowering the level of US troops in Afghanistan, and transferring the combat burden to local forces.

They are extremely profitable. Around $128 billion was committed by the Pentagon to federal contracts for services including PMCs. To add to this, the largest of these groups will subcontract their functions to bodies that are then much harder to track and prosecute, and are often involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity. One such example is the British PMC ArmourGroup, which a US Senate investigation had found to have subcontracted 2 companies it codenamed ‘Mr White’ and ‘Mr Pink’. The investigation uncovered that they were linked to kidnapping, bribery, murder and other anti-coalition activities. Some of the most well-known PMCs include G4S, FDG Corp, DynCorp and the most infamous of all, Blackwater.

Blackwater contractors

Blackwater Blackwater was founded in 1997 by Al Clark and Erik Prince, and began by providing training to law enforcement, the US justice Department and military organizations. They received their first US government contract in 2000. Their name, adopted in 1998, was inspired by the water surrounding a 6,000-acre training facility in North Carolina that they had purchased the same year.

The company was particularly active during the Iraq War and was one of several companies carrying out the traditionally governmental functions of guarding officials and military installations and providing training and support for the Iraqi police forces, army and other armed forces.

Controversy soon arose as on the 16th of September 2007, Raven 23, a Blackwater team of 15 contractors, opened fire on a car in Nisour Square, Baghdad. Blackwater claims that their employers were attacked first, with the teams’ leader Jimmy Watson claiming that the team was ‘engaged with small arms fire’ from an ‘estimated 8-10 persons’.

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This statement contrasts with other witness report as not a single witness heard or saw any gunfire from Iraqis around the square. Whatever their provocation or lack thereof, it is clear that the massacre began when Nicholas Slatten, a Blackwater Guard, shot Ahmed Haithem Ahmed through the back of the head, killing him instantly. The team then shot dead Mohassin, Ahmed’s mother, who was also in the car, clinging to her son.

An ‘overwhelming barrage of gunfire’ was then released onto Iraqis who were trying to flee, according to the New York Times. In the ensuing chaos, reports claim that fleeing Iraqis were mowed down by machine gunfire, a driver was killed after a grenade was fired at his car. Contractors shot at cars, taxis and buses and according to Human Rights Watch, some helicopters circling above began shooting at the street. The event, now known as the Blackwater Massacre or the Nisour Square Massacre, concluded after around 20 minutes of shooting and the death of 17 Iraqis.

The incident sparked an interest in the actions of Blackwater and other PMCs in warzones across the globe. The Iraqi government called the incident ‘deliberate murder’, and a US army report called the shootings a ‘criminal event’. Blackwater has since gone through multiple sales and rebrandings, now operating under the name Academi.

Four of the Blackwater guards involved in the incident were prosecuted. Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder and received a life sentence, whilst 3 other guards (Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard) were sentenced to 30-year sentences each on multiple charges of voluntary and attempted manslaughter.

In December 2020, President Trump pardoned all 4 men of their crimes.

Unfortunately, even such minimal prosecutions are not commonplace for contractors.

The Legality of PMCs

The aftermath of the Nisour Square massacre

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The Geneva Convention Protocol 1 defines mercenaries as ‘unlawful combatants’: meaning that they do not have to be treated as ordinary combatants or given the same respect as prisoners of war.

They can, therefore, be prosecuted under civilian law of countries that they are captured within and can even be sentenced to capital punishment.

To further complicate the situation, the classification of mercenaries as civilians means that shooting at foreign mercenaries fighting on the opposite side of a war could be illegal. Furthermore, in 2001, the UN voted to pass The International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries 2001, which 35 countries ratified. The UK, US, Russia and China, are not signatories to the convention.

Images of torture in the Abu Ghraib prison facility

Investigators from the military concluded that ‘the US civilian contract personnel, third country nationals, and local conDue to their unofficial nature, contractors tractors do not appear to have been are often difficult to track and prosecute. properly supervised within the detention This becomes especially difficult when sub- facility at Abu Ghraib’. A suit was filed in contracting is involved as proper records of 2008 by three former Iraqi detainees who is contracted are rare. against CACI for their alleged directing and encouragement of torture, including Even the infamous torture scandal at Abu physical and mental abuse. The compaGhraib had links to private contractors. ny has tried to argue that it should be Translators and interrogators working for the companies Titan and CACI were alleged treated more leniently due to the legal to have engaged in the torture of prisoners doctrine of derivative sovereign immuniat the facility, located just west of Baghdad. ty that protects government contractors A classified internal army report named the from liability under certain circumstances. However, this has been rejected by single confirmed interrogator supplied by US courts and the case is yet to be tried.

CACI and the 2 confirmed translators supplied by Titan. Investigators found that the It is, however, important to note that CACI interrogator had falsified a statement mercenaries are not solely a Western asto the investigation team about the locaset. The Russian Wagner group has seen tions and activities of his interrogations and a large increase in activity in recent years his knowledge of abuses. The interrogator and operates as a hidden arm of Russia’s had also encouraged military police to ter- defence strategy in conflicts around the rorize inmates in a manner such that he globe, such as in Syria and Libya. Nota‘clearly knew his instructions equated to bly, they took part in an attack alongside physical abuse’. Another civilian, who is not pro-regime forces (equipped with arnamed in the report, was accused of raping moured personnel carriers and tanks) on a juvenile Iraqi inmate.

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American forces in Syria - showing the increased strength and boldness of such groups. The Kremlin has also employed mercenaries to fight alongside separatist forces in disputed Eastern areas of Ukraine such as Donbas. China has also joined on the growing trend, using mercenaries to defend its belt and road initiative.

The growing multitude and power of mercenary groups has changed the way in which 21st century warfare is fought.

It has made it increasingly difficult to bring those who break the rules of combat to justice. It is an alarming shift towards a less official form of conflict, and with the moral lines more blurred than ever, and it shows no sign of slowing down.

Sources:

Russia calls in feared Chechen soldiers to capture Kyiv—Photo from the Guardian

China Tests its Military Muscle in Africa— ISS Africa

https://www.corpwatch.org/article/privatecontractors-and-torture-abu-ghraib-iraq https://defenceindepth.co/2021/09/03/governments-and-mercenaries-a-new-era-of-cooperationafter-afghanistan/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/08/iraq-afghanistan-contractor-pentagon -obama/495731/ https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-corporate-soldiers-global-expansion-russias-private-militarycompanies https://silentprofessionals.org/blackwater/ https://www.youngfabians.org.uk/ the_united_nations_mercenary_convention_bans_killing_for_money_so_why_has_the_uk_refuse d_to_sign_it#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Geneva%20Convention,taken%20as% 20prisoners%20of%20war.&text=voted%20to%20pass%20a%20law,of%20mercenaries%20in% 20armed%20conflict. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse#International_law https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-rebuffs-defense-contractors-abu-ghraib-

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The History of Music - By Holly Nash Due to the genre’s ever-changing nature, the definition of pop music is dynamically pliable. In its application, pop music is a version of popular music that runs the highest hits. Pop is basically a form of contemporary music that distinguishes itself from folk, art and classical styles of music. Some of the elements that create a variance between pop music and the subgenres of popular music include repetitive structure, simple melodies, and danceable rhythm. Instruments used in pop music have a defining force of what goes around the genre. Pop music originated from the USA and UK. The genre started as a mix of various music styles that were popular around the early 50s. Some of the music types that led to the genesis of pop included jazz, county, bebop, rap and rock ‘n’ roll.

The Rolling Stones are a British band, prominently known for rock music but some of their songs made it into the pop genre. They formed in 1962, that drew on Chicago blues styling’s to create a unique visions of the dark side of post-1960s counterculture. The original members were Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. Later members were Mick Taylor, Ron ‘Ronny’ Wood and Darryl Jones. No rock band has sustained consistent activity and global popularity for a period as long as the Rolling Stones; more than 50 years after their forElvis Presley became the first artist to play pop music, mation they filled the largest stadia in the world. In the process, the Stones have becomprising of a fusion of the blues, rock ‘n’ roll and country music. He was a flamboyant personality, with come rock’s definitive, emblematic band: a seamless blend of sound, look and public imrelatively long greased-back hair and wild-colored clothing combinations, but his full musical personality age. The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. In didn’t emerge until he and the band began playing their onstage personae, Jagger and Richards with blues singer Arthur Crudup’s song ‘That’s All Right Mama’ in July 1954. They arrived at a startling established the classic rock band archetypes: the preening, narcissistic singer and the hagsynthesis, eventually dubbed rockabilly, retaining gard, obsessive guitarist. many of the original’s blues inflections but with his high tenor voice adding a lighter touch and with the Songs I recommend: Mother’s little helper basic rhythm striking a much more supple groove.

This sound was the hallmark of the five singles Presley released on Sun over the next year. According to Rolling Stone ‘it was Elvis who made rock ‘n’ roll the international language of pop.’ Presley came from very humble beginnings, raised by loving, working class parents, his family had little money and they moved from place to place frequently, by the mid1950s he appeared on the radio, television and the silver screen. Since his death in 1977 he has remained one of the world’s most popular music icons.

Songs I recommend: Can’t help Falling in love, Heartbreak Hotel, Burning Love

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Madonna; an American singer, songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Her immense popularity in the 1980’s and ‘90s allowed her to achieve levels of power and control that were nearly unprecedented for a woman in the entertainment industry. Returning to New York City, she performed with various rock groups before signing with Sire Records. Her first hit, ‘Holiday’ in 1983, provided the blueprint for her later material. Her melodic pop incorporated catchy choruses, and her lyrics concerned love, sex and relationship – ranging from the breezy innocence of ‘True Blood’ (1986) to the erotic fantasies of ‘Justify My Love’ (1990) to the spirituality of later songs such as ‘Rays of Light’ (1998). By 1991, she had scored 21 top ten hits in the US and sold some 70 million albums internationally. In 1998 Madonna releases her first album of new material after focusing on her film career, ‘Ray of Light’ a fusion of techno music and selfconscious lyrics; it was a commercial and critical success, earning the singer her first musical Grammy Award, among them the award for best pop album.

Songs I recommend: Material Girl, La Isla Bonita, Papa Don’t Preach.

Fleetwood Mac, a British blues band that evolved into the hugely popular Anglo-American pop-rock group whose 1977 album “Rumours”, was one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. The original members were Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. Later members included Danny Kirwan, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. After 1968, the band experienced more moderate success while undergoing multiple personnel changes (including Green’s departure and the addition of McVie’s wife/keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter Christine). A move to the United States in 1974 and the addition of singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham (the latter is an accomplished guitarist) infused the group with a pop sensibility that resulted in the multimillion-selling Fleetwood Mac (1975) and Rumours. Evocatively reflecting the simultaneous breakups of the McVie’s marriage and Buckingham and Nicks’ relationship, Rumours – which won the Grammy award for Album of the year – epitomized the band’s accomplished songwriting, arresting vocal chemistry, and rock-solid rhythm section.

Songs I recommend: Go your own way, Everywhere, Little Lies

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Ricky Martin is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, as his discography spans multiple genres, including Latin pop, pop, dance, reggaeton and salsa.

Dubbed the ‘King of Latin pop’, the ‘King of Latin music’ and the ‘Latin pop God’ he is regarded as one of the best Latin musicians. The charttopping single ‘Maria’ incorporated a mixture of Latin Music genres and became his first international hit. His international success was further solidified with his fourth album, ‘Vuelve’ (1998), which earned him his first Grammy award.

Ricky performed La Copa de la Vida at the 41st Grammy Awards, which was greeted with a massive standing ovation and is known as a game-changer for Latin Music worldwide. His first English album, Ricky Martin (1999) became his first US Billboard 200 number one. The lead single ‘Livin’ la Vida Loca’ is considered to be his biggest hit, topping both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Single Chart.

Songs I recommend: Livin’ la Vida Loca, Drop it on me, Vuelve.

Beyonce is an American singer-songwriter and actress who achieved fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B group Destiny’s Child and then launched a hugely successful solo career. She used her songwriting talents to pen her first solo album, ‘Dangerously in Love’ (2003). The album debuted to rave reviews and aided by the exuberant single ‘Crazy in Love’ which featured rapper Jay-Z, it topped charts around the world. In 2004, Beyonce won five Grammy awards - including best contemporary R&B album and best female R&B vocal performance. In 2006, Beyonce released her second solo studio album ‘B’day’ this featured several co-producers, including the hitmaking duo the Neptunes. Although much of the album carried echoes of 1970s-style funk, the pop ballad ‘Irreplaceable’ became its most successful single. In 2008, Beyonce released the double album I am…Sasha Fierce. Whereas the first half (I am) found her in a introspective mood, the second (Sasha Fierce) contained

One direction, British-Irish male vocal group whose stylish good looks and bright pop-rock sound captivated young fans around the world in the early 2010s. The members were Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. The group formed in 2010 on the British TV show ‘The X Factor’. Each of the five members auditioned and originally competed as a solo performer (which they are all now) but, early in the season, they were advised to pool their talents.

Taking the name One Direction, the boys (all just between 16 and 18 at the time) attracted substantial attention, especially from young viewers, for their charismatic stage presence and vocal skill. Their first album ‘Up all night’ (2011), filled with cheerily harmonized pop song about carefree revelry, first-time heartbreak, and other adolescent concerns was an immediate hit both at home and in other European and Commonwealth countries. It’s popularity was fueled in part by the song ‘What makes you beautiful’ buoyant empowerment anthem. While touring in support of the album ‘Four’ (2014), it was announced that Zayn had left the group. The remaining four members continued to tour, but had announced a planned hiatus shortly before the release of ‘Made in the A.M’ (2015) and the band members began issuing solo albums thereafter.

Songs I recommend: Little Things, Through the Dark, If I Could fly

songs better suited to the dance floor.

Songs I Recommend: Halo, Run the world, Dance for you

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Chernobyl—Anya Butterworth Nuclear power plants are a triumph, advancing society by generating electricity in a way that both prevents burning fossil fuels and saves money. In the late 1930s, a team of scientists led by Enrico Fermi conducted nuclear fission experiments, achieving the first nuclear chain reaction in 1942. After the Second World War, nations were keen to use nuclear power as a cheap source of energy and in 1954 the USSR became the first country to generate electricity for a power grid. It was such an advance in society that they built more. In 1977, work was completed on the first reactor in the region that would later become Ukraine.

Smoke billowed from within as the poison obliterated all purity between it and hell.

Three countries were immersed in toxic radiation. 31 people were officially to lose their lives as atoms of uranium ripped through them like bullets, lacerating every dead or living thing they touched. Containing the damage was an almost futile dream.

It all starts with one move. Followed by another, and another, all for one thing… control. Chess is a game of supremacy; each independent piece key to mastering the board. One fatal, yet unforeseen move and it’s game over. Chernobyl was not a game. 01:23:44 Saturday 26th April 1986 it was checkmate for everyone: they had lost to an explosion. A rupture beneath Reactor No. 4 blasted through thick concrete, emitting a radioactive plume that settled over the neighbouring city of Pripyat.

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‘Red Nuke Disaster.’ ‘Nuclear Nightmare Is Here.’ Within days the incident spread through the globe’s news headlines as it was considered the worst nuclear disaster in history. Yet the Soviet authorities denied everything due to the ongoing Cold War. With the immediate closing of borders, the incident focused on those suffering with the explosion. By 6:35, 186 firefighters had been called in to battle against the outcome, extinguishing all fires with the exception of the flames contained inside Reactor No. 4.

Thud... thud... thud... every boot, every jacket, every sock, was to be removed.

Contamination had to be controlled within the hospital because everyone who stepped foot inside was being put at risk.

Cries of desperation echoed throughout, drowning out numerous other casualties as the doctors prioritised those affected by the explosion. Barely conscious survivors were scattered across the wards.

If they hadn’t risked their lives, then the molten nuclear material above would have melted through the concrete, causing a catastrophic steam explosion as it hit the water, ejecting even more radioactive material into the atmosphere.

A man was rushed to the nearest treatment room: he stared straight up, looking at a fixed point on the ceiling as if the only place he longed to be was heaven. A single drop of red dripped from his nose, staining the pillow with a sign of approaching death. Stripping his clothes revealed the remains of what was left; it was as if his skin had also shed. Scorched blisters formed a milky-white coating; nails were non-existent, and a rotten smell emerged – the pain he experienced was unimaginable. Just a single touch and the poison would transmit from one person to the next.

A few days after the explosion, the three men ventured beneath the reactor to undertake their hazardous assignment, armed with only simple masks, waterproofs and torches. The glowing flicker of hope led the way, but it wasn’t long until all confidence was engulfed by the darkness. The unseen presence of radiation stalked them, their thoughts drowning out the thump of their hearts. Their windpipes were closing in fear and the water soaked up towards their knees. Every creak, every unknown sound daunted them, the continuous fear of radiation was the striking reminder of pain and death. After minutes of desperation, they finally found the valves, and the relief from the sound of rushing water embraced them.

18,000 people were hospitalised after the explosion, and the official death toll would continue to rise to 31. Although all fires were extinguished within six hours apart from the one inside Reactor 4, the situation was far from being under control. ‘The suicide squad’ they have since been called – mechanical engineer Alexei Ananenko, senior engineer Valeri Bespalov and shift supervisor Boris Baranov were the three men who stepped forward to undertake a mission which was like ‘finding a needle in a haystack’: to locate and manually turn down the valves in the reactor, draining the flooded basement which was contaminated with radiation.

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Meanwhile, from above, 3,828 men were put to the job of clearing ordinary looking debris that had been thrown onto the roof of Reactor No. 3. One by one, the men took the most important 90 seconds of their lives shovelling rubble.

Throughout the summer, the men put their lives forward, replacing the 60 remote-controlled robots which had already failed the task. The pressure poured over them, knowing that just a single mistake could cost their life. Panic was becoming a close, familiar enemy to many in such a short space of time. With a mask strapped to their face, breathing became heavy amongst the bleakness of what was left. Just one tear, one tiny rip within their clothing, meant there would be no way for them to win this battle.

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One move by another, the dreaded game went on for 25 years... It wasn’t until 2011 that the site was back open, but even then, it wasn't classed as ‘safe’. Radiation still defends its position, as its pawns are still in play against all that steps foot inside. Even with the king defeated, being ‘safe’ from the residual radiation is a long-lost dream, at least for another 20,000 years. Following the explosion, citizens from around gathered on the bridge of death to view the flames and smoke billowing into the night. Unseen stars of radioactive particles filled the air, as the wind carried them towards the innocent people who remained. They were the pawns in the proceeding battle – sacrificing themselves unknowingly to their opponent, each life would soon become a number. ‘A misfortune has befallen us.’ - Mikhail S. Gorbachev

This article was written by Anya Butterworth—a year 9 student at Fred Longworth High School pupil. She won our historical article competition for this term with this amazing article on Chernobyl.

Thank you for submitting it Anya! If you know someone in year 9 or 10 at High School, why not see if they would be interested in participating in our next competition? For more details, email Alice Rushton.

How Has Greek Mythology Influenced Modern Day Culture? - Sharahan Arumainayagam “I think that we need mythology. We need a bedrock of story and legend in order to live our lives ‘coherently.”

These words of Alan Moore perfectly describe the importance of mythology around the world. Mythology has always been, and still is, a way of maintaining people’s morals and explaining the experiences of man and the world.

Myths are as relevant to us today as they were to the ancients and continue to answer timeless questions, serving as a compass to each generation. Greek mythology has been around for more than 2700 years, and their fanciful yet intriguing concepts of man’s origin are still being told today, each in new and different ways. Even though Greek mythology is not realistically valuable to discovering ancient history, it is significant to understand the deeper meanings or morals of the story, and its contributions to modern-day culture.

The term ‘Greek mythology’ conjures up images of impossibly beautiful gods and goddesses, roaring beasts and courageous heroes. On the surface, they may seem like impossible flights of fantasy written by ancient philosophers. However, we need to keep in mind that these stories were written by people like Socrates, Homer and Aristotle, whose brilliant minds have made them immortal in human history. The truth is, Greek myths are not only rooted in reality but have helped shape modern thinking in many important ways. Knowledge of Greek mythology has long-influenced society in subtle ways. It has shaped tradition, directed political systems and encouraged problem-solving. For example, a fes-

Greeks influenced American democracy by allowing citizens to participate in government. Archimedes, the father of mathematics, Plato,the father of philosophical idealism and Hipparchus, the father of geometry, are only some of the greatest thinkers in the world that changed the way we see things. It would be fair to say that the whole basic concept of modern thinking can be traced back to Greek stories and the valuable lessons they taught.

In ancient Greece, these myths were a major part of their culture because this was how they passed down beliefs from generation to generation. For example, Pandora’s Box, a widely-known tale, was a continuation from an older story, the gifting of flames to the human race. Flames were once a luxury that only Gods could obtain; however this gift caused Zeus, the king of the Gods, to ruin Earth in his fury.

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He presented Earth with Pandora, the first mortal woman, and gave her a box full of all things evil. Dare she open it, humans would never be able to bring back their living utopia. Unfortunately, Pandora’s curiosity got the best of her and she opened the box, resulting in evil, plaguing the lives of innocent people. Although so much corruption was spread, one thing remained within the box: hope. Pandora’s Box provided a theme of curiosity and how it is a trait that can easily, and often does, bring people to their downfall. It explains the suffering within the world and the fact that human nature is flawed. This is linked to the Christian belief of the Original Sin, the first sin to corrupt mankind. It also signifies the importance of hope and constantly believing that things can get better.

Another example would be the story of Narcissus and Echo. Echo was a nymph (a mythological nature spirit) that was quite talkative.

One day, the wife of the king of the gods, Hera, grew suspicious of her husband’s affairs and decided to unknowingly question Echo.

However, Echo gossiped about her own personal life and took no interest in Hera's questions, so much so that the queen of the Gods grew annoyed.

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Hera cursed her ignorance and made it so that she could only repeat the last few words that she heard. One day, Echo stumbled across a blonde-haired youth hunting deer in the forest. His name was Narcissus.

Immediately, she fell in love. She went up to him hoping to express her feelings but was unable to due to her curse. Her lack of communication caused Narcissus to become short-tempered. He abandoned Echo in the middle of the forest and continued hunting as if she never existed. Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, happened to be nearby. Sensing Echo’s despair, she cursed Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection. Several months later, Narcissus’ lifeforce grew weak and he transformed into a beautiful white and yellow flower, named the Narcissus. Echo, mourning his death, imprisoned herself within a cave where she faded away until only her voice remained.

For eternity, she would repeat the last words she ever heard. This depressing tale presents the theme of revenge and how vengeance, even as a thought, will not bring happiness; only suffering. It explains the origin of echoes and the Narcissus flowers. It also brought about the term, ‘narcissism’, an excessive need to show interest or admire oneself. Both of these myths involve angering a God and its devastating effects on humans’ lives. Greek culture uses these myths to serve like propaganda, promoting religion and morals.

These myths were advised to people, and it helped them realise the difference between right and wrong. It helped them deal with how they ought to be modest and never think themselves eternal, or they may very well be refuted in the most terrible and inauspicious of ways. These myths give present-day individuals an insight at how people thought in the past, what they thought about imperative, how their ethics worked, and so forth.

Greek mythology has an ever-lasting link with the problems of society and modern-day culture. Good behaviour and mindful thinking can be implemented in children’s lives through the retelling of basic myths. Dealing with jealousy? Tell them the story of Hercules and Hera.

Being too ignorant? Tell them the story of Icarus and Daedalus. Greek Mythology is as relevant today as it was 2700 years ago. However they are much more However, Greek mythology has many aspects than a simple collection of enchanting that have no impact or have no real correlation fables. They can be described as psychoto us in the present day. The most obvious is logical allegories that deal with the comthat of mythology’s fantastical setting. The myths were first made so that the creator could plex and recurring problems in human existence. Greek mythology is a reflecgive their thoughts on ancient phenomena and tion of ancient civilisations and, though discoveries. But, thoughts often don’t come toit does not directly tell us about life in gether to form a full solution. This is where the Ancient Greece, it provides crucial inconcepts of the supernatural are implemented sights into historical events, culture and into the story. To tie one’s thoughts together, relationships interwoven within the the use of fantastical elements is included and words of these tales. As they are so crethese elements can be used repeatedly due to their limitless boundaries. Another aspect of my- atively imaginative, we realise those lessons subconsciously while enjoying a thology that has not much of a link to the modcaptivating reading experience. ern day is the problems the Greeks faced, back when war could be triggered by a snap of a finger. The myth of the Trojan Horse is based on a war between a Greek state and a Persian city caused by an affair.

The Persians were Euro-Asian people who created the Persian Empire, an empire that was a powerful rival to the lands of Greece and the later Romans. Eventually, they took over most of the mediterranean. Nowadays, full-blown wars are uncommon and being caused by something as simple as an affair is even more uncommon.

Nevertheless, these types of myths help us, as well as historians, understand the impact of the conflict raging across South-Eastern Europe indepth and what the priorities of Greek society were.

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The forgotten victims of the Salem Witch Trials—Holly Nash When people think of a witch they tend to think of women but that’s not always the case, in this article we will explore the male victims of the Salem Witch Trials. Scorned Women weren’t the only victims of Salem’s angry mobs, no fewer than six men were convicted and executed. These forgotten men of the trials found their lives in danger when convictions and rivalries surfaced during a period of distrust and terror.

George Burroughs, athletic Puritan minister. He borrowed money from the Putnams, a local family, took years to pay back the loan, though it was repaid the rivalry with the family and Burroughs moved out of Salem. When accusations of paranormal behavior swept through his old town, the residents turned against their old minister, accusing him of witchcraft and dragged him back to Salem, where is physical prowess which was a supposed symptom and used as an excuse to convict him. Before his executions, Burroughs recited the Lord’s prayer – a feat which accusers thought impossible for a witch – causing some onlookers to demand an immediate pardon, but he was hung anyway.

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John Willard, Salem’s deputy constable, developed doubts about the guilt of some of the accused, when he expressed his concerns, the accusers turned on him.

Willard’s wife’s grandfather, Bray Wilkins suffered from kidney stones, he asked a local woman for medical help, she told him that his ailment was likely due to witchcraft. Wilkins recalled that Willard had given him a strange look and decided that he caused the ailment, when his grandson suddenly died, Wilkins claimed that Willard was responsible, an accusations seconded

by Mercy Lewis and others. The Putnams, the same family that harbored a grudge against the minister previously mentioned, accused Willard of having killed their baby years before when she had died at just a few months of age, apparently he had been her occasional babysitter. The longstanding rivalries all led to the accusations of witchcraft, he was hanged along with Proctor, Burroughs and another man, George Jacobs Sr.

One of the most horrifying tales of Salem’s male accused is tale of Giles Corey, an 81 year old man who refused to admit innocence or guilt when he was accused of witchcraft. The stubborn refusal to stand trial as he didn’t wish to forfeit his estate to the government if convicted, horrified the village. Instead of waiting for him to enter a plea they decided to press him between two stones until he died. For days, he was tortured by the heavy weights, Corey, who had spoken out in support of his wife when she was accused of witchcraft, died three days before her execution. Due to his refusal to stand trial, he died in full possession of his estate, which was reverted to his heirs.

John Proctor was sat in the courtroom, watching his pregnant wife on the stand; she was being examined by a local judge on suspicion of witchcraft, watching the heated examination was bad enough, the tenor of the questions changed. John slowly realized that the questions the judge fired at his wife were more about his behavior than hers. Proctor spoke out vehemently against the trials, he thought the accusers were liars and had even beaten one of his servants for displaying what the town interpretated as signs of witchcraft. It was just a matter of time before the 60 year old merchant found himself in the crosshairs of Salem’s fear. Today many remember his name but not because of the real life story, Proctor was made into a character in Arthur Miller’s 1953 play The Crucible, the same goes for all the other men of Salem, if their stories are remembered at all, but the truth about Proctor, Corey, Burroughs and the other men is just as horrifying as fiction.

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The 1967 Sexual Offences Act: How impactful was it?

Well, more than is normally accredited to it. It is often seen as possibly just a piece of legislation, devised by Rot Jenkins, to blindside the public from Harold Wilson's poor economic decisions.

Critics often cite the fact that it was only “homosexual act in private shall not be an offence provided that the party’s consent thereto the act in private twenty-one years", meaning that only men aged over 21 could legally be in a homosexual relationship, to discredit the Act. By “in private” it means that they must be the only people in the building (not to say if they lived in an apartment building, they had to ask their neighbours to step out for a few minutes that would be very awkward). However, what can’t be overstated is the cultural change shook the stuffy, archaic, British establishmentarian culture of British society. Many were tired of the ideals held by previous generations and the first major Act of rebellion was staving through youth culture, with bands like the Beatles realising “St. Peppers” in May of that year, openly discussing themes of drug use (most blatantly in ‘Lucy in the sky with diamonds, which abbreviates to LSD). This new liberal legislation, along with reforms to abortion rights and divorce, was the government's new age of colour.

Firstly, it’s important to recognise the dramatic change it was from the 1956 sexual Offences Act which completely criminalised homosexual relationships, in modern formal law since 1533. This Act in 1956 also lead to horrendous atrocities such as the dramatic increase of gay conversion therapy. Thankfully, this didn’t last too long as it was widely criticised by a large denomination of younger people, who immediately started the ball rolling for calls for its abolition.

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In 1968, "Homosexual Acts Among Males" by Wainwrights Churchill was the first book that openly talked about homosexuality and its history. Causing the British people to revisit concepts such as the Kinsey scale (the first theory of asexuality scale published by Alfred Kinsey in “sexual behaviour in human males" published in 1948) and encouraging the use of terms such as "pansexual" and "Bisexual" to become more widely used.

Arena Three was the first lesbian magazine in the UK that was set up in 1964. This helped many lesbians in the 1960s feel a sense of acceptance.

This nurtured a culture of LGBTQ acceptance, that ultimately lead to the creation of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. Jane Traies discusses how, what was a small homemade magazine

feebly stapled together, to a special document reserved in the British Library, due to its massive cultural effect.

Although female homosexuality wasn’t criminalised it came under the same level of prejudice as with men, with many refusing to acknowledge their existence.

Only three years after 1967, BBC broadcasted the first gay kiss in a performance of Edward 2nd between James Laurenson and Sir Ian McKellen (known to many as Gandalf in Lord of the rings or Magneto in X men). Sir Ian McKellen describes in a recent interview with the BBC discusses how the kiss “wasn’t out to shock people” but rather to perform a play that was written by Christopher Marlow almost 500 years before, which happens to have a gay lead. Ian McKellen would however later continue to fight for LGBT rights against section 28 (as he felt it was abhorrent when one Conservative chief whip described it as a “peace of red meat for the right") and also would become the face of the campaign for equal marriage rights in 2013.

Also in 1970, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) set up following the Stonewall riots in America to openly debate LGBT issues. They were not about law reform.

CULTURAL CHANGES ARE WHAT CHANGES SOCIETY. They met at the London School of Economics in 1970 but disbanded in 1973 due to the number of different opinions (understandable as it was the first time LGBT People could debate openly in this

The first UK gay pride was helped in London Hyde Park in 1972 with only about 1000 people in attendance, thankfully this number is tiny compared to the 1.5 million in 2019 London pride. Annually, along with LGBT history month help to centre people's attention, especially to atrocities such as those in Qatar, where people can still be executed for their sexuality. This was shocking to a still socially conservative Britain, a lot of whom felt that gay people should keep it private. However, this challenged this and presented the idea that for true equality, gay people should be able to express themselves to the same extent as straight people. It gave the calls for equal rights a voice that gained media coverage.

So, of course, the 1967 Sexual Offences Act was not perfect by any means and still contains, what would in the present be classed as, abhorrent homophobia in the most liberal reform. However, what it symbolised and what later followed helped to make the 20th century the most significant development of society in Britain, even unparalleled by the industrial, empirical age of the Victorians.

Callum André Forster

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Jack The Ripper— Luca Mawson Note – This contains content that some readers may find disturbing, discretion is advised.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Mary Ann Nichols

In the 1800’s of Victorian England, London was the largest city in the world, filled with people, trade and money.

One district of the city in particular, is an area known as Whitechapel. This area held poorly lit streets, alleyways, courts and overcrowded slums, almost resembling a maze. It was usually where the poor or unemployed would stay to find shelter and warmth. Police regularly controlled these areas throughout the night between the darkness of the city. However, the East End of London would hold a terrifying story between August-November of 1888, which would be remembered throughout history and not just in London, but around the world. One by one, women of the East End would fall victim to the vicious killer known as Jack the Ripper. Although the murders happened over 100 years ago, and a major manhunt plus a few close encounters, the killer, still to this day, has never been caught. The murders came to a sudden end and would leave behind one of, if not the greatest mystery in crime.

In the early morning of August 31st 1888, Robert Paul left his house on Foster Street to go to work. As he entered Buck’s Row, he happened to see a man standing in the road. That man turned to say “There is a woman lying on the pavement”. This man was named Charles Cross, and was also heading for work when he stumbled upon the body. The body was found around 3:40 AM. As the two inspected the corpse, they didn’t want to be late for work, and so, they headed away from the woman, hoping to tell a policeman on the way.

A police man eventually did come by and inspected the body just 5 minutes later, named PC John Neil, who arrived at the body, where he found a deep cut across the woman’s throat.

He sent at once for a doctor who arrived on the scene at around 4AM. Rees Llewellyn estimated that “She had not been dead more than half an hour”, putting the time of death around 3:30 AM. The woman in question was Mary Ann Nichols, who had her 43rd birthday just 5 days before the murder. What is interesting to note is that minutes prior to the killing, multiple police had patrolled the area and saw nothing amiss around 3:15 AM. When she was brought to the mortuary, a shocking discovery was made. The woman had been “disembowelled”. No organs were removed but Rees stated “several incisions running across the abdomen”, and also believed the killer had some “rough anatomical knowledge”.

Chapter 3: Annie Chapman On the morning of September 8th, John Davis, an elderly resident of 29 Hanbury Street, went downstairs into the hallway. The front door to the estate was wide open but the back door leading to the garden was closed, when John opened it, he found the bloodied remains of a woman on her back around 5:55 AM. Joseph Chandler was the first officer on scene around 6:10 AM. Dr George Phillips would arrive 20 minutes later, he said that the woman was “terribly mutilated”, the throat was deeply cut and the abdomen entirely lay open. The post mortem showed that 2 brass rings had gone missing from the woman’s hands; they were never to be seen again. The murdered woman was confirmed to be Annie Chapman, aged around 47 at the time of her death. The police were heavily critiqued for not being able to catch the killer, however, the killer had a major advantage over the police, as he left no evidence or murder weapon behind and they were also heavily understaffed. Though, nobody would expect the events of September 30th.

Chapter 4: The Double Event The killer had left no trace of evidence between the last sighting of her and the murder site, roughly 800 metres. It was believed that a single person committed the murder, a conviction that would become more real in the days that followed.

At around 1:00 AM on the morning of September 30th, Louis Diemschutz was travelling down Berner Street in a horse and carriage, the owner of a building situated on the road and next to Dutfields Yard. As Diemschutz entered into Dutfields Yard, he noticed something peculiar to his left, as he lit a match to see into the darkness, he found a woman, lying on her side next to the wall of the building.

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He later on stated that he didn’t know she was either “drunk or dead” and would rush inside of the building to check on his wife, who was fine. A small crowd of people then gathered around the body and people went to look for a policeman to help with the situation. The woman was Elizabeth Stride, and had emigrated from Sweden to London; she was around 44 at the time of her death.

Across the city, less than a Kilometre away, a more frightening discovery was about to be found. A policeman by the name of PC Edward Watkins patrolled the area around Mitre Square, and saw nothing suspicious around 1:00 AM. When he came back to Mitre Square around 1:44 AM, he found the mangled and ripped up body of a woman, lying on the corner of the square. Intestines were drawn out to a large extent, the throat dissevered deeply, the body had been torn up and she was missing a left kidney. This woman was named Catherine Eddowes, who was roughly around 46 years old at the time of her murder, and had at least 5 kids. There is a chilling theory, which is still proposed today, that the killer had been interrupted when Diemschutz entered Dutfields Yard and hid from him. When Diemschutz entered the building, the killer saw it as an opportunity to escape and search for another victim, less than 45 minutes later, Eddowes was found dead. At 2:55 AM, a bloodstained piece of fabric was found a few blocks away, it turned out to be a torn patch of apron from Eddowes, and on the wall above this cloth, there was a message written in chalk that read “The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing”.

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Still over 100 years later, nobody knows the author of the message, or if it had any link towards the killer.

Chapter 5: The Letters Days prior to the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes, some letters were sent to the police in London, supposedly by the Ripper, as they had been signed by the famous moniker of Jack the Ripper and had been written in red ink. In the “Dear Boss” letter, the ripper apparently tried to write in blood of the victims, but “it went thick like glue and I can’t use it” and resorted to red ink instead. Within the same letter, it said that the ripper would “clip the lady’s ears off and send to the police”. No ears were sent, however, the ear lobe of Eddowes had been “cut obliquely through”, possibly a botched attempt by the killer to keep his promise. George Lusk, a member of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, who were helping to catch the murderer was sent a letter, titled “From Hell”

” with a box, inside the box, was half a human kidney, and it was believed to be Catherine Eddowes kidney, but it could just be a prank by a medical student, or possibly from Eddowes, to this day, it is still unknown where the kidney originated from. As for the month of October, no murders occurred throughout that month, and it seemed that finally, everyone’s fears had died off.

Chapter 6: Mary Jane Kelly On the morning of November 9th, John McCarthy, the landlord of Millers Court, situated on Foster Street, realised that the tenants of Room 13 were behind on their rent. He asked for his assistant, Thomas Bowyer, to collect the money around 10:45AM. He would knock a few times without any response and decided to look inside from a broken window, what he found inside, is the stuff of nightmares. He found the severely mutilated body of a woman on her bed. The area was soon full of policemen, but the door to Room 13 was locked and it had to be forced open with a pickaxe. After entering, John McCarthy stated that “it looked more like the work of a devil then of a man”. The face was “hacked beyond recognition” and the throat was “severed all around, down to the bone” as described by PC. Thomas Bond. The body was monstrously disfigured and organs, flesh and blood spread all around the room and the body. Burnt clothes and

cloth were also found in the fireplace to the room, leading many to believe that the ripper burned these to use for light when murdering the victim. The murdered individual was identified as Mary Jane Kelly, a lot of her life is shrouded in mystery, but we do know that she was of Irish decent, and was roughly around 25 at the time when she was killed. A few days before the murder, she had been with a man named Joseph Barnett, separating with each other on October 30th.

Joseph last visited Kelly on the night of November the 8th and they apparently left on friendly terms. With that, we have arrived at the end of what is known as Jack the Rippers 5 canonical victims, so let us begin the manhunt of the possibilities of who the killer was.

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Chapter 7: Charles Cross

Chapter 8: Joseph Barnett

We previously mentioned Charles Cross to be the man who stumbled upon the body of Mary Ann Nichols on Bucks Row, he seems to be the innocent passerby who found the body of Mary whilst on his way to work. However, in recent years, it has been suspected that Charles Cross was in the act of murdering the victim when he was walked on by Robert Paul. Records at the time showed that Cross worked as a “Carman” and lived at 22 Doveton Street.

However, it is shown that the person living at this address at the time was a man named Charles Lechmere, this means that Cross possibly went under a false identity.

What is most compelling is that his commute between home and work coincides with the murders of the victims, except for Stride and Eddowes who were killed at a weekend; this would make sense as Lechmere would have had time off from work during a Saturday or Sunday. Another intriguing piece of evidence is that he worked as a butcher. He would die in 1920 at the age of 71 within Whitechapel, many case files have not survived however, so there is a chance that this man was the ripper. But there was another person we must discuss, and that is the man who was very close to one of the victims, and his name, is Joseph Barnett.

Barnett had lived with the final ripper victim, Mary Jane Kelly for quite some time.

He worked as a fish porter to pay the rent for housing and to keep Mary away from prostitution, but for some unknown reason, he was fired from his job and Mary went back to prostitution to make ends meet. It is confirmed that Barnett disapproved of Kelly’s prostitution and decided to kill one local prostitute to keep Mary off the streets, for some time, it actually did. Both of them would have a fight where a window was broken and Barnett was kicked out of Millers Court. It would also explain why Kelly was the final and most viciously mutilated victim, there’s a possibility that it was revenge for the break up. Joseph also said that the key to Room 13 had gone missing, so Mary would have to unlock it from the broken window close to the door.

On the other hand, people who believe that Barnett is the ripper share a different and darker explanation, the key never went missing, and Barnett had it on him the whole time. He would die in 1926 in the East End at the age of 68. A possible suspect who we haven’t mentioned yet, is the case of Aaron Kosminski.

Chapter 9: Aaron Kosminski Robert Anderson, one of the people who worked for the Whitechapel Murders Investigations had stated many times that Jack the Ripper had been caught, and was locked away from contact with anyone else. Robert described the man as a “low class Polish Jew” who was “safely caged in an asylum”. He had been identified by a witness who remained anonymous and said his motive for not testifying was because the murderer was a “fellow Jew”. Whilst Anderson never publicly stated the name of the suspect, Chief Inspector Donald Swanson revealed that the suspect’s last name was Kosminski. Melville Macnaghten said that Kosminski had a great hatred for women and that he had strong homicidal tendencies, which got Aaron taken to a mental asylum in 1889. However, an Aaron Kosminski was found to be different from the one that was described by the witness, they were sent to a mental asylum in 1891 and were reportedly quite well behaved, only on rare occasions they became violent, he would die in 1919. Suspect Kosminski on the other hand went to his asylum in around March of 1889, but after being sent there, he would die shortly afterwards. Recently though, a controversial DNA analysis would revive the idea of Kosminski being the Ripper.

Back in 1888, PC Amos Simpson reportedly stole a piece of Catherine Eddowes shawl from the crime scene; it was passed down from generation to generation before being sent for DNA testing in 2011. The DNA samples were then compared with Kosminski’s and Eddowes’; there was a match in both cases.

If news coverage is to be believed, then the case of Jack the Ripper has been solved.

But, there has been neither evidence of a shawl at the crime scene nor any evidence of Simpson being at the crime scene. Furthermore, a poor woman like Eddowes wouldn’t be able to afford an expensive item. So, the Jack the Ripper case still possibly remains unsolved and we may never know who committed the murders. Jack slipped through the hands of the police back in 1888, and he still slips through our hands today, remaining as one of the most brutal serial killers in history.

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Pink Triangle Prisoners; A Threat to the Aryan Race.

By Imogen Yorke This is not to say everyone was all-accepting, homophobia still subsisted during these times. Queer folk were still experienced hate crime and queer bashing. Pioneering sexologists who had pro-LGBTQ+ ideas were largely scorned, such as Magnus Hirschfeld. He founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and also the World League for Sexual Reform, which were the first advocates for homosexual and transgendered rights.

Hirschfelds ideas changed the way Germany thought about sexuality and gender, for the There were many nightclubs that catered to most part. There was a large public disdain gay clientele, and even queer-themed thea- for trans positive physicians in Germany. The tres. Many travelled across Europe to Berlin transvestites passes themselves had an eventual drawback when the Nazis came to to see these clubs and to experience this power as to obtain a pass you had to register booming queer nightlife. This time is often thought to be the most accepting and open with the state, which endangered anyone LGBTQ+ community that had been or will be with a record of being transgender or gender again until later in the 1970s. The most nota- nonconforming. bly striking example of this era's acceptance When the Nazis came to power, they quickly diminished this community, disseminating was the Transvestites passes. These passes any ideas that demanded more acceptance were a government sanctioned permission of homosexuality and gender non conformslip for gender non-conforming people to ing ideas. Many Germans agreed with this, walk in the streets of Germany wearing whatever they pleased, whereas before this feeling queer people tainted their 'perfect Germany'. The Nazis saw the value in their you could've been arrested for 'disturbing the peace' with your clothing. (Gender non- homophobic ideals and started their anti-gay purges. They saw the subculture as a threat conforming people are those who don't fit into gender norms such as masculine of fem- to their Aryan race. First, they closed a majority of gay bars and other queer publicainine.) tions. They attacked the Magnus Hirshfields sexology research institute, erasing decades of pioneering work by ransacking the institution and burning books. (Hirshfield was also a target himself, being gay and Jewish. In 1920, he was beaten by activists, and forced to exile in France. He died in 1935.) They also arrested and tortured gay men, (or anyone suspected to be gay.)

Before the rise of Hitler, Berlin was considered to be the 'Gay capital of the world' (Gay covering the whole as LGBTQ as an umbrella term.) Between the world wars, a queer subculture flourished in Germany, despite the laws opposing sexual acts between men. This community managed to grow around how ridiculous this law was. A key witness or a confession from a person committing the act were unlikely, making the law difficult to enforce.

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The Nazis forced them to give up any names of partners in an attempt to create a register of all the gay men in Germany, this was called the pink lists. The Nazis mostly targeted gay men, as they didn't produce children, and felt woman could, even by force. On June 28th, 1935, Nazi's revisited paragraph 175. (A section of the German criminal code which banned homosexual contact and outlawed sodomy.) This law remained standing until the 1950s. The law included harsher sentences and was a crucial turning point in the radicalization of prosecution against homosexuals, as the law was extended to 'criminally indecent activies between men'.

This let officers arrest men on little to no evidence. The men arrested under this law were referred to as 175'ers, and almost 100,000 men were arrested.

This paragraph didn't refer to lesbians, who did not have an official prosecution, as the Nazis felt it was better to not give the women ideas, and didn't see lesbians as corrupt by their sexaulites as the men were. This, however, doesn't mean they led liberated lives. Some high-ranking Nazis campaigned for more oppression towards them, although this was unsuccessful.

What's strange is some high ranking Nazi were thought to be queer, like Ernst Rohm, the commander of the Nazi party early militia force. Some even claim aspects of the Nazi ideology and propaganda had homoerotic imagery.

Ernst Rohm was seen in gay bars, before their dismantling, picking up male prostitutes in Munich. In 1932, Newspapers outted him. Surprisingly, Hitler defended him, Most women married during this time to stating that 'The private life cannot be an obavoid accusations because of them being ject of scrutiny unless it conflicts with the child-free, and some lesbian women were basic principles of national socialist ideolosent to camps after being caught. There gy.' Lots of closeted gay men in the commuwere placed as either political prisoners or nity saw this as a sort of affirmation. At asocial prisoners. The only known record of some point in the '20s the Nazi party was so a lesbian women was Ella S, who was 26 huge queer and non-Aryan folk felt they years old. The world lesbian was document- could find a community and sort of home ed by her name and she was placed with the there. political prisoners. Not much in known about her fate.

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Whatever affirmation that was there was destroyed relatively quickly, following the aftermath of homophobic purges in Germany, and a pivotal night called the night of the long knives (Also known as the Rohm purge) were Hitler ordered a mass genocide, during 4 nights the summer of 1934, Hitler and his private police rounded up and killed every SA member of significance. At least 85 of Hitlers political enemies were killed during these nights.

Much like other prisoners, they were subjected to brutality and medical experiments.

One of these first experiments was castration, performed at Buchenwald camp. (Also referred to as Auschwitz for homosexuals.)

Danish endocrinologist Carl Varrent castrated 18 homosexuals, before pumping them with male hormones. The point of this was to see if they would enjoy sex with the opposite gender, this experiment was suspended after a yellow fever epidemic plagued the camp. He later carried out similar experiThis ended up affected non-Nazi affiliated ments at Neuengamme camp. They were queer people as homophobic propaganda subject to sexual abuse, as the Nazis found a skyrocketed in its production. After this, the way to 'cure their sickness' by opening as SS largely looked internally, and arrested gay brothel and forcing gay prisoners into it. men in its own party.

Holes were drilled into the walls by Nazis to observe their behaviour. (The prostitutes Gay men were the first to be sent into consisted of Jewish and Romani women camps, forced to wear an A to identify them- from a nearby camp.) selves. This would later turn into an upsidedown pink triangle, which grouped them Among other mistreatment, they were also with paedophiles and rapists, each group of the blunt of hard labour, hauling clay and prisoners wore different signs to identify making bricks. Even in harsh weather, were them, for example Romani's wore brown tri- windows had an inch of frost on them, they angles and political prisoners wore red. were forced to haul carts full of clay uphill to Around 10-15,000 men were sent to camps. the pits, which proved difficult as the pits At first, queer prisoners were meant to be re had already been cleaned of clay. Despite -educated, not to be exterminated. However, the carts being on rails, what often hapthey were the most largely killed out of all pened was the carts would derail and barrel the re-educated prisoners. 55% of gay pris- downhill and crush already half-dead prisononers were killed, whereas 34.7% of Jehovah ers, who mostly didn't bother to move. They witnesses and 40% of political prisoners couldn't properly rest either, forced to sleep were killed. We have little information on in nightshirts and keep their hands above these queer prisoners, so it's thought to be a the covers to prevent masturbation. If you small portion of these prisoners were were caught during the multiple nightly transgender. checks, soldiers would take you outside, pour multiple buckets of water on top of you These prisoners faced a slightly different and force you to stand in the cold for a good hardship to other prisoners in the sense, hour. This often resulted in hypothermia, they were treated poorly by not only the rarely any inmates made it back from the guards but fellow prisoners. “They belonged hospital. to the lowest caste.” States Pierre Seel.

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Death rates were extremely high, 65% of arrested gay men died before the end of the war, an unknown amount committed suicide. L.D Von Classen-Nuedegg description of the death of 380 gay men whilst labouring in the cement factory. "We learned we were being separated by a penal order and transferred to another unit working in a cement plant. We trembled, knowing the death rate among workers in that factory were higher than anywhere else. We were guarded by soldiers holding assault rifles, and forced to run to our work in rows of 5. Forced to carry 20 dead bodies, those who remained were covered in blood by the time we got there.

This was only the beginning of hell. Twothirds of prisoners died within 2 months, when killing an escaping prisoners benefited the soldiers. Killing a prisoner got them 5 marks, and a 3-day leave. They often used bullwhips in the morning, when they were forcing us down into the pits. 'Only 50 men are left alive,' The man besides me whispered a few days later. I recall a certain sergeant told me one morning, 'Enough is enough, wouldn't you like to cross to the other side of the fence? I'm an excellent shot, you know.'''

Schittkett is described to be a short slender man, with a feline trait to him. He moved silently through corridors and had a cold face which showed no hints to his emotions. His face only softened when conversing with his favourites in the labour detail, one from Lodz and a pole from France whom he called 'Bubi'. 'Bubi' had a plump face with feminine features, and its described there was nothing manly in the way he swished his hips when he walked. Capos assistant is described to be a young, husky German, who wore a black triangle. Later on, Himmler issued a new decree, which allowed gay men who submitted to castration and showed signs of 'good behaviour' (Heterosexual, manly behaviour) to be released from camps. This was not a good thing, however, instead they were assigned to penal Dirlewanger division, and sent into combat.

After the war, many of these prisoners did not return home. They left these camps as convicted criminals. Another 100,000 prisoners were arrested between 1945-1969. East Germany had softer penalties, but no financial reparations were provided for queer victims of the holocaust in any part of Germany, and many had to serve out the rest of Another account of homosexuality among their sentences that were established during Nazis was the reporting of relations between the Holocaust. Many of these men later a Dachau labour detail capo, named Georg went to change their names, where they lived and anything that could of been traced to their pasts out of fear and stigmatisation with post-war attitudes in Europe.

In his book, The Pink Triangles, Richard Plant states "Despite the fact they no longer had to wear the pink triangles that designated them, they remained marked to the end of their lives."

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Hadrian Wall Trip Alice Rushton On the morning of Friday the 18th of March, me and some of my fellow ancient history students travelled up to Vindolanda and Hadrian’s Wall, in Northumberland. It was a beautiful journey, and we even caught a glimpse of Lancaster University – it's in a lovely location if you are considering studying there and is only 1 hour 27 minutes from Hadrian’s Wall (if you ever fancied a day off campus). Hadrian’s wall was built by the Roman army under the orders of their Emperor Hadrian following his visit to Britain in 122AD. He wanted to secure the Roman Empire’s boarders in the province of Brittania. Vindolanda is only about 12 miles away from Hadrian’s wall and was a Roman fort built in around 85AD to guard the road known as the Stanegate – a road that stretched across the top of Roman Brittania. Ergo, Vindolanda was commissioned about 40 years before Hadrian’s wall. However, whilst we found the weather beautiful at Vindolanda, I doubt the Romans thought the same when they arrived in Britain after being used to glorious Italian weather!

But the weather was amazing and made the site seem like literal paradise one Earth! Sitting eating your lunch on the café's balcony overlooking the reconstructed Temple of the Nymphs and the quaint little stream beside it was truly picturesque!

There was so much to do and the recreation of so many monuments really helped to bring Vindolanda to life! They had even remade the Roman guard tower – which we all proudly took a picture beside. When building such structures, wooden cranes and hooks were required to hoist and lift heavy timbers and stones into position. It’s hard to believe that there were such advanced forms of equipment so long ago, but the Romans were highly skilled in construction and it’s hard not to be impressed by their creations! Vindolanda was chosen for the Roman fort because it was on relatively flat land and its steep sides provided good natural defences. And, to keep troops entertained, you have the Roman equivalent of chequers – which Leon and I tried however, it gets a bit hard to remember which stone is yours when they all look the same!

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After exhausting ourselves on Roman chequers, we strolled round the museum to find some very interesting artefacts such as a horse’s chamfron (horse’s ceremonial face mask). The museum had created a reconstruction of a chamfron that looked amazing! They were made from tough cow hide with a soft leather inner lining and decorated with bronze studs. Fragments of four more chamfrons have been discovered at Vindolanda. We also saw the skull of a young man from the north-west of Scotland and his severed head had been displayed on a pole near the fort at Vindolanda to make an example of what happens to rebels. We also saw an excellent display of Roman coins; some 2,500 Roman coins have been recovered so far – some dating as far back as past 100BC! Some of the more modern coin discoveries include those under Emperor Arcadius minted in 396 AD.

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Also in the museum, we got to see the Roman equivalent of many modern gadgets besides chequers. Romans had something called a Calendrical Clepsydra (a timekeeping device) and the historians at Vindolanda were able to find a fragment of this in 2008. The Calendrical Clepsydra was used to measure the hours of the day by tracking the level of water in a bowl as it dripped out of a small hole in the bottom. Romans divided their days into 12 daylight hours and 12 night-time hours which meant long daytime hours in the summer and short daytime hours in the winter. There would be dates marked on the rim of the Clepsydra which corresponded to the curving lines in the basin that would mark where the water level should be at different points in the day and night. This complicated but impressive form of manufacturing can certainly make us thankful we have watches today! And, whilst we may be used to sending our birthday invites via text or on a nice piece of decorated card, Romans used tablets to notify friends of all major events including birthdays, season’s greetings and - most importantly – a beer shortage! These tablets would be made from small parts of stone or wood, and they even have some real messages on display in the museum of Vindolanda! It’s remarkable that something made so long ago had been discovered and displayed thousands of years later!

And you might feel the same struggles as some of the Roman troops if you have a bar of dairy milk sat in your fridge that your sibling comes and snacks on. You may be tried of them stealing your food just like Romas were tired of it too! Generals even put their name on the pottery that would hold their food and one amphora at Vindolanda had “TAGOMAS” clearly inscribed on its handle to show the food inside was his and no one else’s. Tagomas; the struggle is real!

After marvelling over the Roman equivalent of our own items, we retreated back to the coach for a quick drive up to Hadrian’s Wall. When we arrived, we were greeted with a 3D cinema experience! A 15 minute video further explaining life on Hadrian’s wall and what may happen if you encountered some Scottish Barbarians as a Roman soldier! We were also notified of new excavation opportunities to take part in at Vindolanda! You would be required for 2 consecutive weeks and participants are accepted on a first come first served basis. The next round of applications goes live in November of 2023 and there would be the opportunity to get involved in fresh, untouched sites so you can be one of the first to uncover new archaeological finds!

For more information visit the Vindolanda site!

After relaxing in the cinema, we headed into the museum where you could make offerings to the Gods – including goddess Minerva (goddess of learning and wisdom) which is particularly good if you have an upcoming CAP! We then headed up the wall and you truly got a sense of how amazing this defence system would’ve worked as it was right on the edge of a huge cliff! You can see how the Romans really made the most of their natural resources and the landscape to optimise the efficiency of their wall. It was a truly spectacular trip and greatly supplemented our knowledge of Roman life. Thank you to Phill, Matt and Melanie for chaperoning and organising such a great day! For anyone who is interested in ancient history, I would highly recommend visiting!

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What Impact Did Eleanor of Aquitaine Have Throughout Her Life?

By Isabelle Bailey Eleanor of Aquitaine (approx. 1122 – 1204) was one of the most influential and powerful women during the Middle Ages. At the age of 15 she inherited her father's title and vast estate after his death, making her the duchess of Aquitaine. Eventually she would become the queen of France, the queen of England and lead the Second Crusade. Eleanor was very much adored by the public and was seen as a great ruler in a time when men held most of the power.

Eleanor, as queen of England, was no less obstinate than she had been as queen of France. She refused to stay at home and waste her time. She travelled far to preserve the kingdom, which Henry was consolidating at the time, and to give the crown a presence among the newly united cultures. She assisted in the administration of government ecclesiastical issues while her husband was overseas. Unlike her stale marriage to Louis VII, with whom she had two daughters, she had solidified her position by bearing eight children, five boys and three girls.

The impact that the marriage between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II had been that it strengthened England, this was because Eleanor introduced the feudal system to England. This was a social and political system that existed during the 9th and 15th centuries. Due to feudalism the king would own all the land in his kingdom. In spite of that, the land was granted to the people for service which would first be gifted to a baron for soldiers, working its way down to the common peasant (or serf). Unlike other political systems throughout history concerning social hierarchy, feudalism benefited everyone.

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Eleanors reign as mistress of her own domains in Poitiers (1168-1173), where she is said to have cultivated a culture of chivalry the medieval knightly system following the feudal system with its religious, moral and social code - among her courtiers, influenced literature, poetry, music, folklore and creating the tale of the Court of Love. Although some facts about the court are disputed due to centuries of accumulated legend and myth, it appears that Eleanor established a court that was primarily focused on courtly love and symbolic ritual, which was eagerly taken up by the troubadours – a French medieval lyric poet composing and singing in Provençal in 11th to 13th centuries, especially on the theme of courtly love - and writers of the time and implemented through poetry and song. This court was said to have attracted poets and artists, as well as contributing to a blossoming of culture and the arts. However, whatever court there may have been, it does not appear to have survived Eleanor's subsequent capture and imprisonment, which effectively removed her from any position of authority and influence for the following 16 years.

Eleanor’s children remained close to her during her imprisonment. After Richard I took over the throne, he released her and granted her more power over English politics. While Richard was away on crusade, Eleanor acted as vice regent. She still had considerable power over English affairs and she would continue to be an influential figure in medieval Europe until her death in 1204.

How has Russia justified their invasion of Ukraine? A Historical Onlook

By Nathan Mitchell

For centuries prior, Russia and Ukraine have always been one entity, as part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. However, nowadays, these two states have been split by a strengthened border. These lands, in Vladimir Putin’s eyes, have always been part of Russia, so how has Putin used this to his advantage to justify his much-wanted invasion of Ukraine?

The importance of these states as one entity would not become important until 1914, with the start of the Great War, when many Russian and Ukrainian forces were drafted off to fight on the front lines, which firmly brought unity between the 2 states and their populations were mostly seen as one. This gave Russia an excuse to invade as their populations seem linked in culture and language. However, in 1917, when the BolsheTo start off with, Ukraine and Russia have vik forces took power in Russia, forming the been part of one state for centuries. Starting Soviet Union (also known as the USSR) in off in 882AD with the formation of the 1922, many Eastern European countries, Kievan Rus, which is proclaimed as modern that were part of the Russian Empire, fought Russia’s predecessor. The Kievan Rus was for independence to get out of revolution. based in Kyiv (as the time known as Kiev), This list of countries also included Ukraine. which is Ukraine’s capital city today, so it is This declaration of independence was passed due to political instability, but during the Russian Revolution, these once independent states were now implemented into the Soviet Union.

clear that the 2 states have been close for centuries as Russia was founded in modern Ukrainian territory. Skipping a few centuries to 1793, when Russia took over Western Galicia (what is now Western Ukraine) from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - a state that was in eastern Europe. . This implementation of Ukraine into Russia allowed people sharing a common culture and language to move throughout a single state without crossing borders.

During Stalin’s reign over the Soviet Union, he both benefited and worsened the Ukraine’s situation. This was because famine was wide-spread during these times, worsening their situation, but also Stalin’s 5-YearPlan improved their situation, as it increased industrialisation in the Ukrainian Socialist Republic. This increased the GDP-per-capita of the state and allowed for more purchasing power. Russia uses this investment of enormous amounts of money as a reason to justify its invasion as it has used its own finances to benefit Ukraine.

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Looking further into the future, we can skip to the era of World War 2, where in 1941, the Nazi Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union on June 22nd. The lands in Ukraine were particularly important for the Soviets at that time, as Ukraine is incredibly rich is iron ore and arable land. This meant that the Soviets had the resources to construct machinery to fund their war effort, and they had the land to grow much needed wheat to feed their millions of soldiers.

When the German army took over these lands, the Soviets were severely damaged by the loss of these much-needed resources. Many Ukrainians fled to Russian lands during the invasion to escape the Germans’ path of invasion. This meant that there was a large number of Ukrainians in Russian territory, strengthening the unity between the populations of the states.

These people who had evacuated Ukraine had close ties to the Russians, as they were the ones who controlled the lands the evacuees were now within. After the Germans were pushed out, most Ukrainians were moved back over to the lands they previously inhabited. With the facts above, Russia can use this as another justification to its invasion of modern Ukraine. After World War 2, Russia invested a lot of money into Ukraine, as it was beneficial to the state for providing wheat and raw materials. This investment gives Russia yet another reason to justify its invasion.

Not much really happened between the 2 until they became independent from each other as the Soviet Union was dissolving.

This was when Ukraine was dissatisfied with the territory it was given after its breakaway.

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They demanded Russia to give them more land and to push the border back, and to promise not to invade and take over the Ukrainian lands. In exchange, Russia would get all the nuclear weapons left on Ukraine’s territory, which numbered about 4,000 weapons. The exchange was made, and Russia moved back the border 20 miles back, giving Ukraine an extra 4,060 square miles of land. Skipping forward a few years, Russia felt cheated by the agreement, and took over parts of Ukraine, including Luhansk, Donetsk, and Crimea, which has now led up to current events with Russia’s invasion.

Overall, Russia has many reasons to invade Ukraine, yet the way that Russia has invaded Ukraine is condemnable, and most countries in the world do so.

Who was Jack the Ripper?

By Emily Redmond Jack the Ripper was a killer who is still unknown (and will probably never be identified) there are a couple of suspects who were never charged, and 5 victims also known as “the 5”. The five victims were Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizebeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly (all but one confirmed prostitutes) and all murdered in different parts of White Chapel, which is in the East end of London. All the murders took place between Friday 31st August 1888 to Friday 9th November 1888.

One of the reasons Jack the Ripper was never caught is because of Whitechapel, the streets were very narrow and compact with many easy escape routes like alley ways.

But that wasn’t the only thing keeping the police from finding the killer, White Chapel was a very poor area with many cramped houses with up to 9 people living in just one room and over 8,500 people renting rooms by the night, as a result of this it made it extremely difficult for the police to follow up leads ,as some people were moving around every night, so even if they knew who it was they may still have not been able to catch them.

Even though there was no modern day technology, the police tried many different tactics to find Jack the Ripper but none of which were efficient enough. One of the methods they attempted was to offer rewards for leads in the case, this didn’t work as they were getting fake leads or inaccurate ones.

Another method they attempted to find Jack the Ripper was to use blood hounds as sniffer dogs, this was actually a very good idea, but they were getting made fun of by the public so stopped using them which is a shame as they could have been a vital part towards solving the case. Another mistake the police made was that they moved the bodies straight after they had been found as they were concerned about people getting worried (even though fingerprint/DNA evidence hadn’t yet been discovered) there may have been some evidence still at the crime scene. Something else they tried, was for the police officers to dress up as women in hope that Jack the Ripper would come over to them this wasn’t the worst idea, but still no luck. Meanwhile, the police handed out 80000 leaflets Throughout the case there were five main suspects, one of the suspects was Prince Albert Victor. He knew the area of White Chapel as he visited the East end quite often. He had been pulled up on having an illegal marriage in the past and he also knew how to use a knife (this would have important whilst investigating the case, as Jack the Ripper was good at using a knife as he knew exactly where you cut to get vital organs and how to kill quickly). Prince Albert Victor also said that women gave him a disease, this could have been a motive, and he also knew Mary Jane Kelly.

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Another suspect was George Chapman, he lived in White Chapel and had a history of violence as he killed his 3 wives'. Adding to this he was also a trained surgeon which would have made it easy for him to be able to find the organs and kill quickly. He was also a barber, so he knew a lot of people.

Adding to the list of suspects, was Montague John Druitt. We don’t know if he had knowledge of White Chapel and he didn’t have a criminal record, however his dad was a surgeon, and he did have a motive as he had been blackmailed by a woman.

Shortly after the killings stopped, Montague John Druitt killed himself with £6,700 on him. Michael Ostrogg was also a suspect who had been in London since 1887 and did have a criminal record of thief. He was a Russian Doctor which gave him an advantage at knowing how to kill but he didn’t have a known motive, however he was classified as ‘insane’ on the 30th of September 1888. The final suspect was Aaron Kosminski he moved to White Chapel in 1882 and had a criminal record of committing brutal crimes, he probably knew how to use a knife as he was a barber, and he also had a motive because he hated women. Personally, I think the killer was George Chapmen as he had killed women before and lived in White Chapel so he would have known his way around easily. He was also a surgeon so he would have known how to kill, and he had experience in killing anyway.

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In conclusion, I think that one of the main reasons Jack the Ripper was never caught was because of the lack of modern-day technology and if there was more, I think that they would have been able to at least identify who the killer was. But because of the lack of technology, the police couldn’t even stay in contact with each other so if one police officer found the killer, they couldn’t just call for backup like nowadays.

But I also think the White Chapel area made it hard for the police to find Jack the Ripper as there were many opportunities for him to slip away.

The History of Women—By Eden Brennan Within the depths of history, there have been many obstacles for women based on their age, race and even gender. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many women started to campaign for women’s rights. The focus of their attention? The right to vote.

This became known as the suffragist movement. At this point in history, only men could vote, and women began to get frustrated by their mistreatment and, although initially starting as a peaceful movement, this eventually resulted in more violent methods in order to get peoples’ attention. During this time, two main political groups formed; the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and the Women’s Social and Political Union. Both groups led the path for women’s rights in what we see in today’s UK society, and provided a number of high profile political females, although they attempted to achieve this using very different methods.

In 1897 Millicent Fawcett started the National Union of Women’s suffrage which campaigned for the right for women to vote. She included certain males as she didn’t want women to be more fortunate but have the same equality as men. Fawcett argued that women were permitted take responsibility within society in various roles and were expected to pay taxes on earnings, yet were deemed not to have the capacity or intelligence to vote whereas men had this automatically. She set out to peacefully protest this in an attempt to change this practice and gain the vote for women. Later, Millicent’s movement became known as the suffragists’ movement. The movement was based on communicating peace to achieve their aims. Suffragists wanted their cause to be heard and would attend political meetings and campaign peacefully, they provided education for people Millicent Fawcett was probably one of the who needed to know more about the sitfirst feminists in Great Britain. Her husband, uation hoping that this would gain greater Henry Fawcett, was an advocate for womsupport and provide a peaceful solution. en’s’ rights and as a result Millicent became Millicent is considered to have been critiinvested in this. cal in improving women’s right and was the first woman ever to have a statue in London’s parliament square.

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Emmeline Pankhurst was a feminist leader and was in control of the Women’s Social and Political Union. She was born in Moss Side into a wealthy family and would go to meetings with her mother discussing women’s’ equality and this intrigued her into wanting to look further into the project. In 1903 her and her daughters, Sylvia and Christabel, founded the Suffragette movement via the Women’s Social and Political Union. As an English political activist and put all her effort into the movement and inspired many others of all ages and backgrounds to campaign too. In contrast to the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Emmeline’s approach was more militant and included aggressive tactics including acts of violence in order to change the situation.

Many women involved were disillusioned with earlier peaceful attempts to change the situation, were very determined and were prepared to go to extreme lengths in order to further their cause to improve women’s rights. As a result of their actions many women including Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters were arrested and imprisoned and went on to go on lengthy hunger strikes in a further protest however this led to force feeding of many of the women and the introduction of the cat and mouse Act which allowed the women to be released when they became too weak but to later rearrest them when they were recovered enough to begin aggressive campaigning again. Women were prepared to die for the cause, the most famous of these women is probably Emily Davison who died following running out in front of the King of England’s horse at the Epsom Derby.

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The actions of the suffragettes reached a wide audience of all ages, Bessie Watson was a 9-year-old Scottish girl from Edinburgh. She was also a pioneering bagpiper at a time when very few women played the pipes. Now known as the youngest suffragette in history! She started to gain a passion when her and her mother started going to political meetings. They were walking past and stopped at a WSPU building. They both came out members and were ready to campaign in different ways!

She played at large events for the women’s social and political unions, although she was always described as small and frail, her bravery suggested differently. During the war when women’s suffrage was on hold, still managed to represent her country and her political movement. Although she is just as or even more relevant than many key people in history, sadly her name is not as prominent as others yet despite this she was a huge credit to the suffragette movement!

World War One had a huge impact on both suffragists and suffragettes. They had to put their wishes on hold, however if they didn’t, they would have been in danger too. With a huge crisis happening around them and men going to war, they had to take charge. The fact they put their problems on hold for people who haven’t cared for their needs shows how they just wanted to be understood and heard. Women took up many jobs whilst men went to fight for their country. One of the main jobs was making weapons to go to war. This wasn’t an easy job as it was a hazard to the women, with reports that women died or were very badly injured due to the risks involved. Some women took up daily jobs that men would have done such as ambulance drivers, office cleaners, bus conductors and some even took up land army! Was the world war a boost for women? Would they have gotten the vote later if they didn’t stand up?

This is ironic as the ‘antis’ were women were going against the females risking their lives for their equal rights! Based upon the belief that gender differences would be eroded and undermine the gender roles that men and women had within wider society and domestic life. Many of the women who were ‘antis’ agreed that women were just as capable and intelligent as men however were created for different roles than men within society.

There is no doubt that the women’s political movement had a huge impact upon UK history and changed the landscape for women’s rights. Many of the women involved are now considered to have paved the way for the rights that women now have within modern society. The First World War had a major impact on the decision to allow the vote for women in 1928 but, without the brave women who led the way, the history of women’s rights could Today we discuss the success of the suffra- have potentially been significantly differgist and suffragette movement however, not ent. everyone was in support of their aims and there was a strong anti-suffrage campaign and movement. ‘Antis’ as they were called, were people who campaigned against women rights! Surprisingly, both men and women campaigned for the matter.

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