Pushed into Pragmatism: British Approaches to Science in Post-War Occupied Germany

One of the most important dilemmas facing the British authorities when they occupied their zone of Germany at the end of the Second World War was what to do with German science. The contributions made by scientists and engineers to the Nazi war machine, in fields such as rocketry and submarines, meant that German science was both revered and feared, and was therefore closely linked to concerns about a post-war military resurgence in Germany. This article aims to chart the changing approaches which the British occupation officials adopted towards German science in this period. While the initial intention was to prevent Germany from ever waging war again, through demilitarisation, denazification and dismantling, the focus changed as British enmity shifted from a former adversary, Germany, to a former ally, the Soviet Union. Policy reflected this shift as technology transfer and the reconstruction of domestic German science won greater favour. This article aims to show that, in the face of growing hostility from the USSR and in the deeply suspicious climate of the early Cold War, Britain was forced to abandon its moral mission towards German science and adopt a far more pragmatic strategy instead.     

A Florida Fiddler: The Life and Times of Richard Seaman

In A Florida Fiddler, Gregory Hansen has done a masterful jobof bringing to life a portrait of a traditional artist, placinghim in the context of his geography, time, and community. Throughthe use of interviews, transcribed public performances, andobservation, the author lets Richard Seaman speak for himself,in his own voice, to tell his own     

Environmental impacts around the time of Norse landnám in the Qorlortoq valley,Eastern Settlement,Greenland

Palynology, radiocarbon dating, and open-section stratigraphies from archaeological trenches are used to examine the impact of human activity around the time of Norse landnám on vegetation and landscape associated with a small farm (Ø34) in the Qorlortoq valley, Eastern Settlement, Greenland (61° N 45° W). Peat deposits from a mire abutting the Norse ruins revealed a discontinuous palaeoenvironmental record containing a possible hiatus from ca. AD 410–1020. Palaeovegetational data were recovered either side of this period. Pollen assemblages suggest that open Salix scrub dominated the landscape during the pre-settlement phase. The later phases of landnám resulted in the creation of hay fields and heavily-grazed grassy heath. Site abandonment is reflected by a re-expansion of Salix. This occurs shortly before the onset of deposition of a Sphagnum peat, dated to cal AD 1420–1630 (2σ) and reflecting an increase in mire surface wetness, probably in response to a deteriorating climate. Radiocarbon dates were obtained on peat and plant macrofossils sampled from either side of the proposed hiatus at two different but closely-spaced (<20 m) locations across the mire. These produced significantly different dates for the cessation of peat formation in the pre-landnám period (cal BC 2130–1770 and cal AD 240–410 respectively), but near-synchronous dates for the recommencement of peat growth (cal AD 890–1150 for peat and a probably more reliable interval of cal AD 1020–1190 based on plant macrofossils). It is suggested that this hiatus may represent the first direct evidence for peat cutting in Norse Greenland.     

From Sorcery to Laboratory: Pandemics and Yanyuwa Experiences of Viral Vulnerability

The COVID‐19 pandemic has prompted renewed attention among health professionals, Aboriginal community leaders, and social scientists to the need for culturally responsive preventative health measures and strategies. This article, a collaborative effort, involving Yanyuwa families from the remote community of Borroloola and two anthropologists with whom Yanyuwa have long associations, tracks the story of pandemics from the perspective of Aboriginal people in the Gulf region of northern Australia. It specifically orients the discussion of the current predicament of ‘viral vulnerability’ in the wake of COVID‐19, relative to other pandemics, including the Hong Kong flu in 1969 and the Spanish flu decades earlier in 1919. This discussion highlights that culturally nuanced and prescribed responses to illness and threat of illness have a long history for Yanyuwa. Yanyuwa cultural repertoires have assisted in the process of making sense of massive change, in the form of past pandemics and the onset of sickness, the threat of illness with COVID‐19 and the attribution of ‘viral vulnerability’ to this remote Aboriginal community. The aim is to centralise Yanyuwa voices in this story, as an important step in growing understandings of Aboriginal knowledge of pandemics and culturally relevant and controlled health responses and strategies for communal well‐being.     

Seeing the Wood for the Trees: The British Foreign Office and the Anglo-American Trade Agreement of 1938

The Anglo-American Trade Agreement of 1938 was signed againsta backdrop of escalating unease in Europe and a faltering policyof appeasement of the dictators. It is widely accepted thatthe Agreement was concluded more for its political than forits commercial value. Yet the negotiations were no simple affair,dragging on for over nine months and coming near to breakdownon several occasions. The complex negotiations are well documented,but the role of the British Foreign Office in determining policytowards the Agreement is less well known. What emerges is apicture of internecine struggle between the Foreign Office andthe Board of Trade over the direction of the negotiations. Asthe talks became bogged down in technical detail, the ForeignOffice made repeated representations to put the political valueof the deal before commercial considerations and adopt a moreconciliatory stance towards the Americans. The pleas of theForeign Office were made all the more difficult thanks to Americaninflexibility and Washington's determination to bargain hard.The talks were eventually resolved in the wake of the Munichagreement when both sides realised the time was right for ashow of Anglo-American solidarity, and not because of the exertionsof the Foreign Office. Yet this examination of Foreign Officeactivity during negotiation of the Agreement is illustrativenot only of how the Agreement was closed, but also of the suffocatingpower of British appeasement policy and the very determinedbelief of the Foreign Office in the centrality of achievingcloser relations with the United States in this dark preludeto war. ^* The author would like to thank the British Academy for awardinga Small Research Grant to complete this article.     

An Irish revolutionary in Britain: Sean McLoughlin and the British socialist movement, 1920–22

Sean McLoughlin was a significant figure during many of the tumultuous events that rocked Ireland throughout the 1916–23 period. He played a leading role in the Easter Rising of 1916 and was prominent in both the republican and socialist movements in the years that followed. But McLoughlin was also an activist in the British socialist movement, where he was noted both as an outstanding public speaker and an advanced thinker. This article examines McLoughlin's activities within the British socialist movement and looks both at his impact and the contribution to the development of socialist thinking he made whilst there.