Welcome to our collection of contextual essays covering politics.

To support libraries, researchers, and educators, we regularly commission academics to write contextual essays that explore topics using our digital primary source archives.

Our essays cover topics from diplomatic relationships, political movements such as Chartism, and the Irish Question: read any of our essays through the links below.

Colonialism and Empire | International Relations | Reform | War and Conflict

COLONIALISM AND EMPIRE

Imperial Communications

Máire ní Fhlathúin, University of Nottingham

From Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals

Literature and the Empire

Patrick Brantlinger, Indiana University

From Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals

The British Empire

Amy J. Lloyd, University of Cambridge

From British Library Newspapers

The British Empire in the Nineteenth Century

Máire ní Fhlathúin, University of Nottingham

From Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: GENERAL

Britain's Relations with France as Documented In SP 78

Nigel Aston, University of Leicester

From State Papers Online

British Foreign Policy, 1689-1790: Origins, Aims and Dynamics

Karl Schweizer, New Jersey Institute of Technology

From State Papers Online

News, Politics and People, 1603-1714

Jason Peacey, University College, London

From State Papers Online

The Role of the Ambassador and the use of Ciphers

Tracy Sowerby, University of Oxford

From State Papers Online

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: ASIA

British India and the Chinese Borderlands, 1869-1950

Alexander Morrison, New College, Oxford

From China and the Modern World

British-Ottoman Relations, 1713-1779: Commerce, Diplomacy, and Violence

Michael Talbot, University of Greenwich

From State Papers Online

China in the India Office Records: Three Case Studies

Jonathan Saha, University of Leeds

From China and the Modern World

England, the Ottomans and the Barbary Coast in the Late Sixteenth Century

Christine Woodhead, University of Durham

From State Papers Online

Representations of China in Punch

Hannah Lewis-Bill, Liverpool John Moores University

From the Punch Historical Archive

The Vulnerability of Hong Kong: Chinese Politics and International Relations

Mark Chi-Kwan, Royal Holloway University of London

From China and the Modern World

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: EUROPE

Anglo-Danish Relations, 1714-82

Michael Bregnsbo, University of Southern Denmark

From State Papers Online

Anglo-Russian Relations, 1714-82

Jeremy Black, University of Exeter

From State Papers Online

Britain and the Kingdom of Sardinia in the Eighteenth Century

Christopher Storrs, University of Dundee

From State Papers Online

Britain's Relations with France as Documented In SP 78

Nigel Aston, University of Leicester

From State Papers Online

Seventeenth-Century Scandinavia: the Evidence in the State Papers

Steven Murdoch, University of St. Andrews

From State Papers Online

The German States, Hamburg and the Hanse and their Relations with Great Britain in the Eighteenth Century

Andrew Thompson, University of Cambridge

From State Papers Online

The Hanoverian State and the Jacobite Threat

Nigel Aston, University of Leicester

From State Papers Online

Tudor England’s Relations with France

Simon Adams, University of Strathclyde

From State Papers Online

Tudor England’s Relations with Spain, The Holy Roman Empire and The Low Countries

Simon Adams, University of Strathclyde

From State Papers Online

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: UNITED KINGDOM

Ireland and the State Papers, 1603–1714

Charles Ivar McGrath, University of Durham

From State Papers Online

Scotland and Ireland in the Eighteenth Century: the British Dimension

Daniel Szechi, University of Manchester

From State Papers Online

Scotland and the 'British Problem', 1603–1714

Laura A.M. Stewart, Birkbeck College, University of London

From State Papers Online

The Irish Question, 1800-1900: Home Rule

Gerard Moran, NUI Galway

From British Library Newspapers

WAR AND CONFLICT

Confederate States of America

Eric Tscheschlok, Auburn University

From Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers

Punch and World War I

Mike Benbough-Jackson, Liverpool John Moores University

From the Punch Historical Archive

The American Revolution

Eliga H. Gould, Queen University of New Hampshire

From Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection

The Daily Mail and the First World War

Adrian Bingham, University of Sheffield

From the Daily Mail Historical Archive

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Any views and opinions expressed in these essays are those of the author in question, and any views or opinions from the original source material are those of the publication in question. Gale, a Cengage Company, provides facsimile reproductions of original sources and do not endorse or dispute the content contained in them. Author affiliation and information within them are correct as of the original publication date.

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Featured Archives

BRITISH LIBRARY NEWSPAPERS

Consisting of six parts, this series forms one of the largest collections of regional newspapers from the UK, providing an alternative voice to the major national newspapers. This project has digitised titles from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, providing over 200 years of rare documents.

CHINA AND THE MODERN WORLD

Explore unique, first-hand accounts of the cultural interactions and conflicts that gave rise to modern China through collections sourced from preeminent libraries and archives across the world, supporting research on the various aspects of China during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

DAILY MAIL HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1896-2016*

Part of our growing "middle market" collection of influential national newspapers that reflect twentieth-century popular culture and tastes, this archive gives researchers an alternative to the ‘newspapers of record’ – and includes the rare and difficult to access Daily Mail Atlantic Edition.

THE MIRROR
HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1903-2000

Aimed at a working-class mass-market audience, the Mirror became influential in shifting the course of British newspapers and journalism, starting the dominance of tabloids in the twentieth century—offering researchers a valuable left-wing, populist alternative to the major broadsheets.

NINETEENTH CENTURY UK PERIODICALS

This project was undertaken in response to demand from scholarly communities, and the two resulting archives support researchers in almost every subject area. They contain well known publications alongside obscure documents, covering everything from hobby interests to issues of global importance.

NINETEENTH CENTURY U.S. NEWSPAPERS

This archive provides full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from urban and rural regions throughout the United States, from the political party newspapers at the beginning of the nineteenth century to the daily publications that shaped the nation by the end of the century.

PUNCH HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1841-1992

This archive includes nearly 7,900 issues from all volumes of Punch, the world's most celebrated magazine of wit and satire. It contains Almanacks and special numbers, and in collaboration with Liverpool John Moore’s University, authorship has been attributed and made searchable using the ledgers.

SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BURNEY NEWSPAPERS COLLECTION

A well-known collection at the British Library, the original Burney volumes are in fragile condition and are restricted from reading-room use except as microfilm. This digitization includes more than 1,000 documents, allowing researchers to see the development of the newspaper as we know it today.

SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY NICHOLS NEWSPAPERS COLLECTION

John Nichols was a printer, Master of the Stationers’ Company, biographer, and historian. Made in collaboration with the Bodleian Library, Oxford, this digitized archive contains over 150,000 pages of printed text and contains some of the most influential titles in British publishing history.

STATE PAPERS ONLINE

Explore the full picture of early modern and eighteenth-century Britain and Europe: this major resource overcomes the fragmented experience of much historical research by combining papers with fully-searchable Calendars.

THE TELEGRAPH HISTORICAL ARCHIVE

Once the world's largest-selling newspaper, this daily newspaper is generally cited by press historians as the start of a new era of journalism. It is one of the few newspapers that notably changed its political leaning, and has contributors including British Prime Ministers and senior politicians.