An enduring influence on imperial defence and grand strategy: British perceptions of the Italian Navy, 1935–1943

The Mediterranean was a vital artery of the British Empire. It was a strategic corridor, linking Britain to its Middle and Far East possessions and precious resources. Its control was a central tenet of British imperial strategy, yet by the mid-1930s, this faced a new challenge from Fascist Italy. The Italian Navy was central to expansionist aspirations and forced British reappraisals of the allocation of defence resources both in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. It therefore came to exert a generally under-appreciated influence on pre-war British imperial defence policy and war planning. Although consistently viewed as vastly inferior to the Royal Navy, it was still seen as an impediment to Britain's ability to deliver imperial defence across the globe, or conduct a worldwide war against multiple enemies. This view persisted even after important defeats were inflicted on it in 1940–1941, and continued right through to 1943. Awareness of the seriousness with which the British viewed Italian naval strength adds important context to debates about British strategy in the Far East and over Winston Churchill's preference for a ‘Mediterranean first’ strategy. Italian naval power played a greater role in shaping the Allied prosecution of the Second World War than is commonly accepted.     

财政与皇权的互动——北宋内藏库运作机制之演变

宋初以北伐为目的而设置的内藏库,依靠江南金银课利的固定上供渠道,以及与三司合作设置的市易务收入遗利,储备了大量的国家财政资金。这些财政资金,一方面应对高额的军费支出;另一方面,天子通过借贷给三司或政府,从而支配国家的行政运行,以提升皇权的效能。北宋一百六十七年间,皇权的提升与内藏库运作机制的发展演变交相辉映。     

蒙、元御容

御容,所指为帝后肖像,用于供奉、祭祀以及瞻仰,所有者可以是皇家,也能是臣下。本文讨论的主题是蒙元皇家的本朝先帝、先后肖像[1],拟解说它们的制作、形制,不同做法的文化差异、可能的遗存及其制作年代等,同时也概述了时代更早的御容和元代非皇家的御容。     

Imperial nationalism as the driver behind Russia's invasion of Ukraine

The roots of Russia's invasion of Ukraine are to be found in two areas. The first is the revival of Tsarist imperial nationalist and White Russian émigré nationalist denials of the existence of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Russian imperial nationalists believe the eastern Slavs constitute a pan Russian nation of Great Russians, Little Russians and White Russian branches of one Russian nation. The second is the cult of the Great Patriotic War and Joseph Stalin and the revival of Soviet era discourse on Ukrainian Nazis (i.e., nationalists). A Ukrainian nationalist in the Soviet Union and Vladimir Putin's Russia is any Ukrainian who seeks a future for his/her country outside the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Russian World and who upholds an ethnic Ukrainian (rather than a Little Russian) identity. The Russian World is the new core of the Eurasian Economic Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin's alternative to the EU's Eastern Partnership. In the contemporary domain, Ukrainian nationalists are Nazi's irrespective of their language preference or political beliefs and if they do not accept they are Little Russians. Putin's invasion goal of denazification is a genocidal goal to eradicate the ‘anti-Russia’ that has allegedly been nurtured by Ukrainian nationalists and the West.     

戴戡试评

戴戡是辛亥革命时进入政界的显要人物,数十年来对其评价多持否定态度。本文认为戴戡在护国运动和反对帝制复辟的历史关键时刻立场正确坚定,应作实事求是的评价。     

东魏北齐史官制度与官修史书——再论史馆修史始于北齐

东魏迁都邺城,学术文化中心转移,北魏太和以来积累的文明成果萃集邺下,为东魏北齐史官制度的发展与《魏书》编纂提供了良好条件,并由此形成了史馆修史与大臣监修制度。大臣监修与史馆修史二者一体,史馆是一专门修史机构,似在宫禁集书省与起居省内,已不同于北魏秘书省之史阁。大臣监修改变了北魏以来秘书监、丞典领国史的传统,入馆修史加兼著作,脱离了秘书著作系统。著作从秘书省游离出来,与集注起居形成更加密切的关系。东魏北齐沿承北魏,置集书省和起居省,北魏以守尚书典注起居,东魏北齐以散骑常侍等侍官监领或撰修起居注。史馆修史与起居集注,造就了《魏书》、《齐书》、《齐纪》等史书。东魏北齐史官制度变化的依据为礼制的修订,唐代礼多因循北齐,故其史馆修史制度亦上承北齐。     

东汉士人群体自觉意识形成原因考察

中国古代士人的群体自觉意识,萌芽于春秋战国时期,全面兴起于东汉中后期。其兴起之原因,一是土地私有化的完成,地主庄园经济的出现,尤其是东汉士人对劳动态度的改变,使士人生存方式发生重大变化,使其在经济上有了独立性,为其人格独立打下了物质基础;二是东汉统治者对士人尤其是对归隐士人的相对宽容,为士人自觉意识的培养提供了宽松的环境;三是士人队伍的扩大,尤其是中央官学规模的扩大和校舍的扩充,为士人个体自觉意识转化为群体意识提供了中心场所;四是东汉中后期宦官外戚专权,又为士人群体自觉意识的激发和张扬提供了外部条件。     

论洛阳古代墓葬的特点

洛阳古代墓葬在中国各地古代墓葬中的独特之处:一是皇家墓葬多,仅葬于此的帝王就有七个朝代40余位,在中国历史上堪称最多;同时,在皇家寝陵制度史上,洛阳帝陵每每有许多创新开风气的地方二是贵族和名人墓葬多,与皇家陵墓互相辉映,形成众星捧月之势。三是平民墓葬同王公墓葬交叉杂处,具有公共墓地的特点。四是洛阳墓葬被盗严重,可谓是“十墓九空”。五是洛阳墓葬出土文物多,影响大,被称为是实物的、石刻的中国历史。     

‘The Weary Titan Staggers under the Too Vast Orb of its Fate’. Post-Federation Australia and the Problem of Imperial Defence

This article investigates an under-studied aspect of the British/Australian defence relationship in the immediate post-Boer War period. The essential nature of the Australian Imperial Force was not an accident of 1914. Rather, as this article will show, the form, style and structure of the force that fought at Gallipoli was set in stone more than a decade before that famous name entered the popular Australian lexicon.