History Commons^™

The Ghost Of Amritsar, Joe Horne

Honors College

The Ghost of Amritsar is a historical-fiction novel set in the British Raj during the first half of the 20th century. Through the lens of a Punjabi revolutionary, this thesis explores some of the roles played by the diverse identities of the Indian subcontinent during the Indian independence movement and the violence that followed the Partition of 1947. By observing the history of India and the British Raj, The Ghost of Amritsar attempts to analyze the period’s violence with a human, empathetic, approach.

The Siege Of Calais During The Hundred Years War: An English Perspective, 1344-1347, Jordan J. Bruso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the siege and capture of the port city of Calais in 1347 by King Edward III of England (1312-1377) during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). The capture of Calais was the culminating event of King Edward III’s 1346-7 military campaign in Normandy and France. This victory provided the English military with a strategically strong foothold on the European continent to conduct future military and economic operations. This thesis blends the methodological approach of “old military history” from the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries with “new military history” beginning in the latter half of the twentieth century in an …

The Effects Of Regional Separatism On Late Roman Identity In Fourteenth-Century Byzantium, Evangelos Zarkadas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how tendencies of regional separatism affected the political and ethnic contexts of late Roman identity during the course of the fourteenth century in the Byzantine Roman Empire. Fourteenth-century Byzantium was characterized by political fragmentation, significant sociopolitical changes and alterations, and subsequently a crisis of the Roman identity. The major question that the research will answer is: who was considered to be a Roman during the fourteenth century, and what did it mean for someone to hold that identity? The thesis will focus on two major and important geographical areas in the fourteenth century: the Principality of Achaia …

To Know The Land With Hands And Minds: Negotiating Agricultural Knowledge In Late-Nineteenth-Century New England And Westphalia, Justus Hillebrand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ever since the eighteenth century, experts have tried to tell farmers how to farm. The agricultural enlightenment in Europe marked the beginning of a long arc of new experts aiming to change agricultural knowledge and practice. This dissertation analyzes the pivotal period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in Germany and the United States when scientists, improvers, and market agents began to develop comprehensive ways to communicate agricultural innovation to farmers. In a functional approach to analyzing the negotiation of agricultural knowledge through its communication in things, words, and practices, this dissertation argues that the process of change …

The Holocaust In Białystok: Urban, Rural, And Forest Environments As Spaces Of Resistance, Survival, And Persecution, Dakota Gramour

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the German occupation of Poland in World War II, thousands of Jews escaped city or ghetto life by seeking refuge within rural villages or fleeing to the forests. Numerous factors shaped individual survivor experiences within these spaces. In particular, gender, age or familial status, environmental factors like weather conditions or terrain, as well as personal politics and language or technical skills, all molded how one could act or was forced to react in these spaces. This study emphasizes the unique two-way relationships between experience and three kinds of environments found in the Białystok District: the city of Białystok, small …

Orange Riots, Party Processions Acts, And The Control Of Public Space In Ireland And British North America, 1796-1851, Annie E. Tock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the state’s effort to control public space by passing legislation to suppress Orange Order processions in Ireland and British North America between 1814 and 1851. By the early nineteenth century, annual July Twelfth parades commemorating William III’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 became occasions for violent sectarian clashes in the streets of Ireland, New Brunswick, and Canada as celebratory Protestant Orangemen clashed with resentful Catholic opponents. In 1832 the British Parliament sought to put an end to these riots by passing the Party Processions Act, which prohibited Orange processions in Ireland. The Legislative …

Projecting Imperial Power: The Synods Of Aachen (816-819), Cliff Greco

Honors College

An important stage in Christian monastic reforms occurred in Aachen during the synods from 816-819 A.D. These meetings were brought about to bring uniformity and centralization to monastic practices within the Frankish realm of Charlemagne’s son, Louis the Pious (d. 840). The reforms were initiated by the emperor of the Carolingian Empire and guided by the reformist monk Benedict of Aniane (d. 821). Monastic dogma that was agreed upon included a drastic reinterpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict. Benedict of Aniane’s influence was evident within the synods. His monastic reforms were directed towards establishing stringent asceticism and Christian zeal. …

Wild Tulips, Lynne M. Holland

Garden & Yard

Staff picks for Maine Home Garden News plant of the month. Wild tulips, the flower that created Tulipmainia

The Projekti Arkeologjike I Shkodres (Pash): Combining Paleoenvironmental And Archaeological Data From A Balkan Lacustrine Landscape, The University Of Maine Anthropology Department

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

The Projekti Arkeolojike i Shkodres (PASH) conducted five years of interdiciplinary, diachronic field research (2010-2014) in the Northern Albanian region of Shkoder, targeting the plain and hills that ring Shkodra Lake. The project was designed to address changes in landscape, settlement, and land use, beginning in prehistory. Intensive archaeological survey of 16 square kilometers identified 15 sites of all periods, many of them multicomponent, and 175 prehistoric burial mounds. Four mounds and three sites were targeted for test excavations, allowing the beginnings of a regional absolute chronology. A program of geological coring is helping to clarify the varying size of …

Imperial Impulses: The Influence Of War And Death On The Writings Of Rudyard Kipling, Dylan J. Sirois

Honors College

This historical inquiry will focus on Rudyard Kipling's life, his works, and their relationship to British Imperialism. More specifically it will demonstrate how Kipling's attitude changed after World War One through his works. To understand Kipling and his place in the British Empire it is essential to understand the framework of imperialism at the time. Once an understanding of imperialism is formed it is possible to get to know Kipling and the world he grew into. The circumstances of Kipling's upbringing were undoubtably what drove him into his passion for empire, while his later experiences were what drove him to …

Great-Grandson Of Richard Wagner To Speak On Anti-Semitism In Germany, Joe Carr

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

The great-grandson of composer Richard Wagner, Gottfried Wagner, co-founder of the Post-Holocaust Generations Dialogue Group, will speak at 7 p.m. in Devino Auditorium, Corbett Business Building. His talk is sponsored by UMaine's School of Performing Arts, and the Departments of History and Modern Languages and Classics.

Works Of Composers Imprisoned During The Holocaust To Be Performed At Umaine Concert, Joe Carr

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

During the Holocaust, a number of highly esteemed Eastern European musicians were imprisoned at Terezin Concentration Camp. There, under horrific conditions, they composed remarkable works of art that continue to speak to and about the immortality of the human spirit.

Thompson Document 18: Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Bridget Croft, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A final letter from Henrietta Thompson to Bridget Croft. It seems that the telephone conversation that prompted this letter was not an entirely felicitous one, and that Henrietta’s recommendation that Croft publish A Sense of Purpose was perhaps mistaken for a promise that Thompson would act on Croft’s behalf to that end.

Sir Hiram Maxim And His Gun: A Literary Trail, Charles Shain

Maine History

Hiram Maxim, born near Sangerville, Maine, in 1840, enjoyed a brilliant career as an inventor and self-promotor. His best-known invention, the Maxim gun, proved appallingly successful during the British imperialistic ventures in Africa at the turn of the century and later in World War I. In this article, Emeritus Professor Charles Shain traces the literary usages for Maxim ’s invention, both as noun and as a verb - describing the scything action of the gun as it mowed down an advancing foe. Charles Shain published and taught in the field of American Studies at Carleton College and for twelve years …

Peace And Reconciliation Studies_Peace Week Poster_Special Presentation, University Of Maine Peace And Reconciliation Studies Program

General University of Maine Publications

Photograph of a poster promoting a special presentation from Zev Kedem regarding his experiences as a "Schindler's List" survivor. The presentation was a part of the University of Maine's Peace and Reconciliation Studies' (formerly known as Peace Studies) Peace Week.

Thompson Document 17: Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Bridget Croft, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Henrietta Thompson to Bridget Croft warmly praising Croft’s A Sense of Purpose, which she had just received, and expressing her hope that Croft will attempt to have it published. Thompson also includes the abstract from her thesis which details the process by which she found Jack Croft and began corresponding with him in 1973.

Thompson Document 16: Letter From Bridget Croft To Henrietta Thompson And Two Selections From Croft's Manuscript, Bridget Croft

Henrietta Thompson Papers

Two selections of the manuscript that Bridget Croft sent to Henrietta Thompson on Feb 16, 1997. The first page describes Croft’s childhood in Ireland. The second selection is Croft’s description of the “allied” retreat from Burma. She describes the “hot and tough” trek by the Stilwell group, quoting sections of Henrietta Thompson’s work, but she also describes the retreat of the British Army. She takes the position that “the retreat [of the British Army] was made more difficult by large numbers of refugees trying to escape from Burma.” She fails to mention that the refugee families fleeing their bombed cities …

Thompson Document 15: A Letter From Bridget Croft To Henrietta Thompson, Bridget Croft

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Bridget Croft to Henrietta Thompson. Bridget promises to send Thompson a copy of her record of her life, which touches upon the experiences of her husband, Jack, who walked out of Burma with Stilwell in 1942.

Thompson Document 14: A Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Bridget Croft, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Henrietta Thompson to Bridget Croft. Thompson expresses surprise at hearing from Bridget Croft, the wife of a Walkout participant, Jack Croft, with whom she had a brief correspondence in 1973. Thompson warmly responds to Croft’s request for permission to quote sections of Thompson’s Walk a Little Faster, and asks to read Croft’s work when it is complete.

Thompson briefly refers to a perplexity inconsistency; Bridget writes: “Jack died on the 26 November 1955,” and yet Thompson tells Bridget: “I enjoyed so much my correspondence with him in 1972-73 and that he was pleased to receive a …

Thompson Document 13: A Letter From Bridget Croft To Henrietta Thompson, Bridget Croft

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Jack Croft’s wife, Bridget Croft. Bridget asks Henrietta Thompson’s permission to use a few sections of Thompson’s Walk a Little Faster in her account of her childhood and of her experiences as a nurse in India in the 1940s, where she met Jack.

Thompson Document 01: An Introduction To The Henrietta Thompson Collection, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A very brief introduction to the Henrietta Thompson collection.

Thompson Document 12: A Letter From Jack Croft To Henrietta Thompson, Jack Croft

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A response from Jack Croft to a letter from Henrietta Thompson. Croft was a British officer who had attended the Maymyo Military School in Burma, and in May 1942 walked out of Burma with General Stilwell. Here, Croft is evidently responding to a letter of inquiry from Thompson, who was attempting to discover more about various participants of the Walkout.

Thompson Document 26: Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Tun Shein, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Henrietta Thompson to Tun Shein, which is evidently in response to a letter Tun Shein had sent her. Thompson mentions some of their mutual acquaintances and asks whether either Tun Shein or his wife Lulu recognize any of the names on a list of Walkout participants who were then presumably still living in Burma, but whom she had been unable to meet during her brief visit.

Thompson Document 23: Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Tun Shein And Lulu, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter of introduction from Henrietta Thompson to two Walkout participants, Tun Shein and Lulu—who had since married and re-settled in Burma—proposing that she meet them in Burma in the summer of that year, 1972.