Francis van Berkel

@sshmedicine.bsky.social @sochistorywar.bsky.social @vahs.bsky.social @aahmhistmed.bsky.social @eahnursing.bsky.social

Members and Followers, be sure to follow the #milwelfhist tag over the next three days to stay up to date with the wonderful goings-on @uni-graz.at for the 2026 MWHN conference

Holidaying in Marseille for the week and really pleased I got to start the trip with a visit to Mazargues War Cemetery. Just under 1,000 of those commemorated here were recruited from India, many of them serving in non-combatant roles.

Shaking Hands and the Politics of Touch in Early Modern England* ABSTRACT. Drawing on work in the social sciences on the handshake, this article examines the role of the handshake as a form of gestural communication and

From the current issue: “Shaking Hands and the Politics of Touch in Early Modern England”

by John Walter (@phaisessex.bsky.social)

#OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/past...

Fittingly, I was just reading some service notes on Rajput Regiments when I saw that this article by @donalh.bsky.social was published today.

The 8th Rajputs fought within India's NWFP in 1915, during the Mesopotamian Campaign in 1916, and took part in the suppression of the Iraqi Revolt in 1920.

Study in black and white, or, how to make a cleansed church the most fascinating thing on earth. Bavokerk in Haarlem by Saenredam, whose day has been today.

Delighted to share details of the upcoming hybrid workshop 'The Colonial Veteran in the Archive' to be held in Maynooth on June 25. This is part of the COLVET project funded by @erc.europa.eu You will find a draft schedule and details for registration here. Please join us on the day and share widely

Looks like a fascinating day, Dónal! I'm just sad I won't be able to catch all of it.

There’s only one problem with Labour’s immigration plans: they’re completely untethered from reality | Jonathan Portes The government’s new policy will take us back to an uglier, more dangerous place – and it’s not even supported by the data, says professor of public policy Jonathan Portes

"The government's argument sounds plausible. There's just one problem. It doesn't fit the facts. And the government knows it."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Great! Happy to help. Just send me a DM whenever you're ready.

Hi Chris, I should be heading there at the end of next week if that counts as "soon"?

Graphic for RHS article in History Workshop, 'Making the Case for History: A View from the Royal Historical Society'.

'Making the Case for History: A View from the Royal Historical Society': bit.ly/4cRjK37

The Society's President, Lucy Noakes, writes today on the profession and discipline @historywo.bsky.social

#skystorians

Likewise Dónal! Best of luck with the upcoming research and looking forward to talking soon.

It was great to present this at a really excellent couple of days put on by @milwelfhist.bsky.social!

Panel 2 still and on to @fvanberkel.bsky.social and his paper on paternalism, welfare and the British Indian Army after the #WW1

It's been four years since @juergenzimmerer.bsky.social & I called for pluralizing memory culture in Germany & lifting the taboo on comparison. As this week's cancellation of Omri Boehm's speech at Buchenwald for allegedly "comparing" the Holocaust & Nakba shows, our call remains crucial.

Very interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if France was indeed unique in that regard. The British gov. was reluctant for veterans to turn to the State in the first place. Also very much looking forward to Birmingham, although my research is also rather recent and tentative!

The Comrades also made a distinction between those who served in the FWW and those who served before. The latter would be admitted as 'Old Comrades'. Interestingly this was one of the many reasons the GoI classed them unsuitable for India.

Only a partial answer but the 'Comrades of the Great War' made combat experience an explicit qualification for admission. I haven't seen a specific ban on non-combat servicemen but their materials center a strongly martial identity. Unlike other preamalgamation orgs they also welcomed officers.

Very excited to announce our first COLVET workshop on April 02. The theme is New Directions in Veteran History and our keynote will be the brilliant Jelena Ɖureinović. This is a hybrid event and all are welcome to attend. Registration required. Please share widely.

Russia does not want to end the war, and the Trump administration has shown no ability to induce Russia to end the war. And so, predictably, the Trump administration blames the victim, blames Ukraine.

Der Präsident eines Staates, der seit drei Jahren geschunden und zerstört wird und dessen Bevölkerung vergewaltigt wird, muss sich vom US-Präsidenten vor der ganzen Welt anbrüllen lassen. Was für eine Schande

🚨New Blog Post🚨 I wrote this for the COLVET
blog on how West African veteran records can help us put a face on the Global Greater War and its impacts outside Europe. It includes ten brief biographies of West African veterans and their wartime experiences around the globe. colvet.eu/tracing-the-...

Poetic Battery Manuals – AHA In 19th-century India, some artisans learned the process of electroplating from Urdu-language manuals written in poetic form.

“Connect the zinc wire of the first battery / With the copper node of the second / Oh friend! If it is fastened, then both batteries / Undoubtedly will become joined together.” In #AHAPerspectives, read @amandazillo.bsky.social's #EverythingHasAHistory on how Urdu poetry and technology met. 🗃️

This looks fascinating @donalh.bsky.social. I don't suppose it's Zoom-enabled?

9. Pride in the Chartists & suffragettes who brought us and the world democracy; in the antislavery activists, and in those who welcomed Jewish refugees and fought determinedly against Hitler and Mussolini. We need a resurgence of that kind of patriotism.