Search | Gresham College

Fatal Months: Auschwitz and the End of the Second World War

The 2020 Alfred Wiener Holocaust Memorial Lecture Series - 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most lethal of all Nazi camps.

How Are Drones Changing Warfare?

Drones are changing the face of war in the 21st century for combatants and civilians. Today drones carry out targeted assassinations, bombings and intelligence-gathering, and the forces that deploy them aim to minimise the loss of life.

How to Survive a Massacre in Europe’s Wars of Religion

Europe’s Wars of Religion were fought against entire populations, and were punctuated by events remembered as atrocities: such as the siege of Leiden in 1573-4 or, most notoriously, the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacres in France in 1572.

Prohibition: A Battle in America’s Last Culture War

The lecture will show how Prohibition animated combatants on both sides, generating two Americas that were barely comprehensible to each other, and how the truce declared during depression and war would not last.

Charles I: The Court at War

During the Civil War Charles I’s court, denied access to its usual country residences, was forced to set itself up in a series of makeshift locations. The most important of these was Oxford which Charles converted into a large and well-organised courtly campus.

AI Weapons, War and Ethics

This lecture will explore fully autonomous weapons, the products of AI technology, and the arguments for and against their use.

The Ending of World War I: The Road to 11 November

This lecture will re-examine how the First World War ended, anticipating the centenary commemorations in 2018. It will discuss both why Germany requested a ceasefire, and why the Allies and America granted one.